Can Anyone Id This Fish For Me Please?

[tracyw]

She wasn't moving much when I got home from work last night and when I moved the bigger fish into the new tank she didn't try and move away from the net at all - so I knew something wasn't right.
She had no marks or anything on her body but she wasn't full of life like she normally is.

she picked up a little bit before I went to bed but this morning she was dead.

So I now have 3 males in my new tank - would these be able to stay together? They were all really hungry this morning and ate all of their food - Makes me feel bad that they were in such a small tank before.

How long before I can add other fish now? was possibly going to go and have a look on sunday and see what there is at LFS

 

[tracyw]

I've had a better look at your suggestions and so far I am really liking
JD
Blind Cave Tetras
Pictus Catfish

and still uncertain on the plecs - any suggestions on these - or any to definately avoid?

Would that pretty much be my tank stocked when I have added all of them?

 

[Wills]

3 Male cons and the JD would probs be your max cichlid wise but then a trio of pictus catfish and say 8 blind cave tetras would work very nice as well - the cave tetras do get quite large so as do the pictus actually so would count towards your stocking quite a bit - if you decide to go with the pictus make sure you look at lots of photos on the internet and know really well what their markings look like as there are a lot of pimelodus species and some of them grow to a monsterous 2 foot long but once you know what to look for its easy to see what they are.

So yeah after this I would say you are very near the end of your stocking but you would still have a little room for something like the swordtails I mentioned - you will likley see these at the lfs and they come in all sorts of colours. They also come with a variety of line bred finnage which gives them long flowing tails for example, I would avoid these as they will get nipped in that tank but a trio of these would work quite well with 1 male and 2 females - they will inevtably breed in your tank but the bigger fish will eat the majority of the fry but some may survive through to adulthood - this sounds a little harsh but it is exactly how it happens in the wild and why fish like swordtails give birth to live fry rather than laying eggs and due to how fast they give birth over and over again yeah see what I mean?

When you go to the shop just have a really good look around and see what you like Just remember you need tough fish and its often best to see something, come home and research it and then go back for it.

So far as adding fish to this tank now I would wait two weeks just to let the filter level out a little but I would rehome the remaining 2 cons pretty soon because in an unfiltered tank they will be having all kinds of problems with the water.

Wills

 

[tracyw]

The one surviving con is still in my old tank and I have just put a clean filter sponge in so it is still up and running with the original water and a clean sponge,

Thanks for your suggestions with numbers of fish,
I am going back to LFS this weekend to see what they have out of the ones that I want to add, They did have a lovely JD there last week, if its still there would it be too soon to just add that one this weekend?

I'm getting impatient!!!

 

[Wills]

awww did you loose the female? In the small tank with no bacteria in the filter the con in there is going to be exposed to high levels of ammonia and nitrite which will kill him off eventually its kind of like adding a fish to a new tank straight away.

Why not take the 4th male to the shop when you go at the weekend if you dont want to keep him?

With the JD see if you can pay for him at the weekend and then wait for a week or so or keep testing your water for nitrite and ammonia and see if you get any spikes deal with them as need be and take it from there. Then possibly if the water stays right till the weekend lets say Sunday - possibly add the JD but then again keep a strict eye on the water quality and make sure you dont get any ammonia spikes and if you do get on some water changes to keep it under control.

One other thing I would recommend would be to get a tank divider the first two weeks of adding semi adult/ adult cichlids is always tense and they might need dividing for a few hours sometimes but it will work its self out but both of the fish are capable of killing each other so in the volatile first few weeks it needs to be monitored though you may get lucky and the JD will most likley assert him/her self as tank leader and the cons will accept it but if you have a particular bull male con he might take offense to it so tank dividers are just best there as a precaution.

Wills

 

[tracyw]

Thanks Wills,

The JD I saw was slightly bigger than what the cons are at the moment, but will get a tank divider when I get him just in case!

 

[bullit]

as i said before, you could keep them with malawis. you could get quite a few new fish then, in multiple colours. just a thought