MimiDawn
New Member
OMG! YOU ARE SO RIGHT! Long ago, when we started keeping fish, we had no idea how large pleco actually get and put a baby along with several other fish into a 30 gallon tank. BIG MISTAKE! Thankfully, we realized it quickly and upsized but by the time our pleco passed away at well over a decade old, she was about 18 in long!!Unfortunately the stocking you have is "broken" although it may not appear so right now. The common pleco for example would need around 200 gallons+ once full grown since it will reach 2 ft. All of your other fish need at least 6 of each species to be content and to thrive. Keeping them in smaller than recommended shoal size is detrimental to their long term health. I do not recommend adding any other fish to this tank until you fix the stocking you currently have.
You certainly seem to know what you're talking about also. Just thought I would ask.. I saw someone on here talking about using bettas as "fancy feeder fish," for a dragon bichir. Long ago, I made the mistake of putting a beta in the same tank as a dragon bichir... thinking that the beta was too large for the bichir to choke down. WRONG! I don't think that beta was in the tank more than a couple minutes before you could only see his tail fins, sticking out of my bichir's mouth... It then took the better part of an hour for the beta to work its way through the bashir's system, just like watching a Python swallow a large food item. He could have choked, gotten sick, died, etc it's definitely not a mistake I would ever make again. I just think that the person's talking about using beta as "fancy feeder fish," is out of their mind and going to end up killing their other animals.
I personally, used to look at fish tanks pretty much like living decor. Now that I've had them a few decades they are as much my pets as my service dog, my other dog OR my cats, WITH PLENTY OF PERSONALITY TO MATCH!
CURRENTLY HAVE:
Pleco
Peacock Eel
Dragon Bichir
Blood Parrot Cichlid
...I would LOVE to have another electric blue crayfish or a dragon goby again BUT, I don't have quite the right tank for that right now. ?
? Fishies are PETS, NOT LIVING DECOR! ?