overcrowding???

by **greasemonkey24** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:33 pm

my fish did consist of, 17 silver sharks, 5 blue peacocks 1m 4f, 20 electric yellows, 3 gold spotted plecos, 1 common pleco, 2x common bristle nose, 2 chinese algae eaters, 2 rainbow sharks, 9 blue dolphins, 10 crimson tides, 4 venistus (spelling might be off lol) and 12 other unknown cichlids

by **natalie265** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:48 pm

17 silver sharks? Otherwise known as bala sharks? If you aren't over stocked now, you will be!

by **yasherkoach** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:43 pm

I agree Natalie - bala shark or silver shark grow over one foot long

see, the problem with fish keepers at first, is they see all these cute cool little fishies in the store, buy as many as they can, put them all into a tank and do not think of the future -
- the future says: unless you have an Olympic size pool, the fish you have in this current tank will either prey and kill one another or die from stress or worse yet, the ammonia will shoot above the chart on the chemical test paper

my advice: hand the 17 sharks back to the store or purchase at least a 1,000 gallon tank

don't mean to be harsh, but truth can be brutal at times, and this is one of the times...it is one thing if you have 80 cardinal tetras (not a bad idea, by the way)...but even 4 silver sharks in this one tank is maximum

please please think twice about this situation (I do appreciate your honesty in regards to what type of fish or their sizes)

by **Alasse** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:40 pm

Yep as i said overstocked :)

The common pleco will get massive also, and you will end up with ropes of pleco poop over everything. Gold Spot Plecos also can get to 30cm
So you have potentially 4 poop machings, yeah they look good, but they are super messy!

2 rainbow sharks? Not adult size i bet, cause when they are you will end up with 1 rainbow shark, they do not like their own kind and 1 will bully the other one to death!

Bala sharks get massive and are flighty! They need to go.

by **greasemonkey24** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:03 am

my sharks are only 5cm at the moment and they swim mid way down my tank and dont bother any fish they are happy im teaching my daughter how to look after fish as when i think she is confident enough they will be hers oh an didnt know they are called bala sharks fish shop told me "silver sharks" lol. i now only have blue peacocks, elec yellows, plecos, 2 bristlenose, rainbow sharks, algae eaters and 10 unknown cichlids

by **yasherkoach** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:24 am

I agree with Alasse, a rainbow shark is like the redtail shark I have - ONLY ONE or else one will die...the only way around this is to have an enormous tank, like over 500 gallons, that way, there is enough room for each fish to set up a territory far from the other one

blue peacock (just one needs a good 50 gallons)

Electric Yellow Cichlid can be quite aggressive during feeding

Pleco and/or Bushy Nose Pleco (Bristlenose) are usually, I think, peaceful fish - you have many semi-aggressive fish

on the algae eater, is it either a Siamese or Chinese eater

silver shark aka bala sharks, well we know about this now

you really need at least a 500 gallon tank for these fish (1,000 is optimum)

by **Alasse** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 8:06 am

Not meaning to be rude. You are teaching your daughter how to incorrectly keep fish. Not the best start.

Some of the fish you have, wether you wish to admit it or not, are definately unsuited to your tank.

You should be teaching her to keep fish in the correct way, and that we cant all house the pretty fish we might like, they have needs and if the needs are not met, it is inhumane

by **greasemonkey24** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 9:59 am

none of my fish are aggresive or fight they all get along quite fine and if u reed properly its says "" my tank did consist of"" sharks and others my plecos are small and common pleco is only 20 cm ive had him over 18 months and hes doing just fine with my others i dont intend on keeping all these fis and they take years to grow to full size.... my yellows are NOT aggressive fish at all wether feeding or just being fish all these fish have been perfectly fine with each other for over 6 months with no aggression or problems and if u read again i said my algae eaters are chinese please read correctly before you comment. my rainbow sharks get along just fine none of my bully or pick on each other what so ever im teaching my daughter how to feed fish correctly as she is known to over feed fish in the past i have a 8ft by 2ft by 2ft currently being made for her room and the "" bala sharks "" that will be ready in 3-4 days so that will be plenty big enough and as fish keepers you should all know a fish will only grow to the size of the tank it is in therefore they wont get as big as u say if they are in a smaller tank

'
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by **greasemonkey24** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 10:38 am

copy of an article from cichlid forum

As you most likely know, African cichlids are very territorial. This is because in nature, they establish territories to ensure their survival in these crowded conditions. With their own territory, they have a spot to graze and to prey on small invertebrates in the sand or mud. Fish which consume the same food are driven off for obvious reasons. Females are only allowed into a male's territory if she is willing to mate. And males of the same species are driven off because they are competiting for breeding with the females, in addition to competing for the same foods. By keeping your fish well-fed, you can control and manipulate their aggression. That is why I feed them 3-4 times a day. Or you could feed them less often, but a little more each time. (You can also curb aggression by heavily stocking your tank -- this way, not one fish takes all the damage, and cichlids tend to lose each other more easily in the crowd. If you are going to heavily stock your tank, make sure your filter can handle to load!)

by **Alasse** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 10:38 am

As experienced fishkeepers know , fish only grow to the size of the tank, is total rubbish and a complete myth.

What that is actually called is stunting, you are dliberately stunting the fish's growth which in turn shortens their life span and generally slightly distorts their bodies. It i not 'cool' to do this and if you cant house a full sized non stunted fish you should NOT be keeping it at all!

I'd like to see photos of the 8x2x2 when its done, sounds great.

overcrowding???

45 posts • Page 3 of 5

overcrowding???

45 posts • Page 3 of 5