General Feedback And Advise

[fry_lover]

Okay, its just a general advice seeking issue, nothing urgent, but i would like to start formulating a plan for the near future. I must admit, i am always going to keep this tank on the slightly heavily stocked side, but need to balance that with bread and butter responsible fish keeping (obviously getting so many parrots wasnt that responsible), also having the GT in there is not rocket-science intelligent stocking.

If you cant get over the Parrot issue, i dont mind you not contributing obviously, but please just dont come on and have a dig at the Parrots, as that will be useless in terms of the point of the thread

Not that i have experienced it personally, but i dont think i should have to go in the Hybrid Forum if i have Blood Parrots, just to get some general feedback on my mixed cichlid tank.

Okay, here's all the info below of tank. How i ended up with x8 Parrots, hmmmm, that was a bit / very silly really (i own up)

My immediate thoughts are to work on moving the Green Terror and a few Parrots to another tank of mine or pehaps move them on all full stop, simply because this tank can obviously not accommodate all these fish for the rest fo their lives!

Anyway, other info

London Tap Water, so pH about 7.6 to 7.8, hardness about 12 (General) and 8 (Carbonate) when last tested, approx figures

Filtration, Juwel Internal Jumbo, Eheim 2026

Decor, sand and quite a bit of bog wood, also some terrocota plant pots

Parameters, never have ammonia or nitrite, test weekly, nitrate ranges from 40 to 60 mg/l (my tap water ranges from 10-20)

Water Changes are actually high, simply due to stocking, not because of problematic readings, i change 30% every 3-4 days, since i really decided to commit to working hard on the tank due to stocking. Previously did about 40% once per week. Been doing new w/c routine for last month or so.

Issues in tank (that are plain to the eye), NONE, except perhaps some terrortorial behaviour from the Green Terror, which is to be expected. The Parrots actually really all get on, and any issues seems more like "playing" to me, in that it doesnt seem vicious at all.

Okay here we go, the figures immediately below the fish are what i believe to be the "normal" expected full size in aquaria, correct me if wrong, but i am talking about "normal" expected growth, not the max figure just because one person, somewhere has seen one fish who exceeded expectations!!!

The figures to the right of the fish indicate current total inches of that species in the tank

Currently my tank is 1.0" per US Gallon, obviously i highlight currently!!! EDIT: as pointed out by others and agreed by myself, this is not that relevant i guess

1x Blood Parrot 6â€￾
8-10â€￾

7x Blood Parrot (averaging 3.5â€￾) 25â€￾
8-10â€￾

4x Female Convicts (averaging 2â€￾) 8â€￾
4-5â€￾ (Females)

2x Female Jade Eye Cichlasoma Spilurum (averaging 2â€￾) 4â€￾
3-4â€￾ (Females)

3x Kribensis (averaging 2 ¼â€￾) 7â€￾
3-4â€￾

4x Dwarf Jellybean Convicts (averaging 1.5â€￾) 6â€￾
2-3â€￾

1x Rainbow Cichlid 3â€￾
4-5â€￾

1x Green Terror 3â€￾
8â€￾ (female) 12â€￾ (male)

4x Bristlenose( averaging 3â€￾) 12â€￾
4â€￾ (female) 6â€￾ (male)

1x Flying Fox 3â€￾
5-6â€￾


29 Total Fish

Total In Theory 156â€￾ (fully grown)

285 litres
approx available water in tank, it’s a Rio 300

63 UK Gallons
77 US Gallons

Size (in terms of actual water usage)
47.5â€￾ length
21â€￾ height
19.75â€￾ depth

 

[jayjay]

Why are you working out inches per gallon? It's all about the area the fish have to claim, not inches per gallon when it comes to cichlids.

When those fish grow older they will claim territories and pairs that decide to breed will also be taking over sections of the tank. Are you positive the convicts are female at only 2", they may well lay eggs on their own any way.

 

[fry_lover]

Why are you working out inches per gallon? It's all about the area the fish have to claim, not inches per gallon when it comes to cichlids.

When those fish grow older they will claim territories and pairs that decide to breed will also be taking over sections of the tank. Are you positive the convicts are female at only 2", they may well lay eggs on their own any way.

I didnt say the inches per gallon was important or that i was basing my stocking on that formula.

I agree with you about territory and cichlids in relation to using the inch per gallon rule.

I know the convicts are females as they are all part of old breeding pairs i had. I sold the males and kept the females.

 

[shroob]

I cant find your question, could u rephrase it in a shorter version?

On a sidenote, your tank is way overstocked.
I would look on removing atleast half of your stock sometime in the near future. 8 convicts and the GT alone will probably be havock.

I suggest you think hard about the fish you like the most, then remove the others depending on which fish you choose.

 

[fry_lover]

Fish will be moved on, its just a question of where, when and what fish.

I am hoping to keep as many as possible, i currently own x4 tanks that are all same size (give or take) all are about 48x22x20 ish and about 80(ish) US Gallons.

x2 of my tanks are Cichlids and Odd Balls, really i'd like to have x1 for Cichlid / Oddballs and it be in the 6x2x2 or 7x2x2 region,

The short-term / mid-term plan (in next 3-4 months) is to sell x2 tanks (the cichlid and oddball ones), get atleast a 6x2x2 (ideally bigger) instead and settle on a workable Cichlid / Oddball combo, combining some of the fish from the x2 tanks and moving on the ones that are not suited.

EDIT: i have un-bolded the Inch Per Gallon statement from my original post, as by bolding it, perhaps i have indicated some kind of legitimacy in it in trying to justify my set-up, which is not my intention

 

[fry_lover]

I cant find your question, could u rephrase it in a shorter version?

On a sidenote, your tank is way overstocked.
I would look on removing atleast half of your stock sometime in the near future. 8 convicts and the GT alone will probably be havock.

I suggest you think hard about the fish you like the most, then remove the others depending on which fish you choose.

Hi Shroob

Yes of course it's over stocked, i dont deny it,

It's x4 Convicts not 8, perhap thats still x4 too many, but its not 8

I agree with your post

In terms of my "question" its what it says in the subject title, its obviously a long post, i am not expecting that much back to be honest, i just thought peeps might want to suggest the best combination from a mixed up combo i currently have, considering the tank size.

This would come in handy if the upgrade doesnt happen soon enough

Just throwing the info out there and seeing what comes back, it might be helpful, it might not be.

Maybe i'll just end up with all the replies being "your tanks overstocked" which it is, so i wont grumble.

 

[jayjay]

Right, to simplify this a little.

8x Blood Parrot
4x Female Convicts
2x Female Jade Eye
3x Kribensis
4x Dwarf Jellybean Convicts
1x Rainbow Cichlid
1x Green Terror
4x Bristlenose
1x Flying Fox

In an 80ish gallon tank.

The GT could kill all the other fish depending on its temperament.

There are 8 convicts if you group the jellybeans with convicts.

 

[fry_lover]

Right, to simplify this a little.

8x Blood Parrot
4x Female Convicts
2x Female Jade Eye
3x Kribensis
4x Dwarf Jellybean Convicts
1x Rainbow Cichlid
1x Green Terror
4x Bristlenose
1x Flying Fox

In an 80ish gallon tank.

The GT could kill all the other fish depending on its temperament.

There are 8 convicts if you group the jellybeans with convicts.

Okies, cheers,

Well i see the GT and the actual number of Parrots as the main concern, although any breeding between Female Con's and Male Jellybeans would not help (if there are any males, all my Jellybeans have orange bellys, although i am sure that doesnt mean 100% females)

EDIT:

Right, the following action is happening in the next few days, to atleast have a "theme" for the tank, and that "theme" can be Parrots and Bristlenose (with the Kribs also staying)

So, its off the sales we go for... preference completely given to good / appropriate homes, not looking to make as much £££ as possible,

x4 Female Convicts
x1 Green Terror
x1 Rainbow Cichlid
x2 Female Jade Eye

The Flying Fox can stay

That still leaves me a lot of Parrots, but i will have a more consistent tank in terms of inhabitants. And i think it will look better anyway, rather than a mish mash of fish. A plan will still get formulated to allow for the Growth of the Parrots (i.e. an uprade or moving some of them)

I will post some pics tonight anyway, of how it currently looks.

See my advert if your interested in any of my fish, will be posted later once i get some pics