Hello Everyone, New To The Board But Not To Fishkeeping:)

[SG-1]

Hi there nice to meet anyone who reads my 1st post Been into fish a long time, I have a 125G tank, and in that tank I have:

1 Yellow Lab Cichlid
1 Jack Dempsey
1 Melanochromis auratus
1 Texas Cichlid
1 Angel Fish
1 Large Bala Shark
1 Large Red Tail Shark
1 Common Pleco
1 Chinese Algie eater
1 Cobalt Blue Cichlid

Now Ive had people tell me Im crazy to mix some of these cichlids with other tropical fish, however the experiment has really been a huge success, Ive found that Large Bala and RTS make excellent tank mates for other Cichlids. Despite popular belief, they all get along beautifully! The RTS is the only one that really has any history of nasty behavior. He will sometimes chase around the Melanochromis auratus who is still smaller but nothing serious, about 4 years ago when I first started keeping fish, the RTS was one of my 1st and he was fine as a youth but after getting big, he killed alot of my 1st fish (A bala, a rainbow shark, a catfish, and a betta), Ive found with full grown RTS though that if you keep em with larger fish they really behave much better. Ive had 0 deaths and 0 serious agression problems now for the last 2 years!! the Jack is my newest edition, hopefully he will be able to blend in with the rest of the community as well! Just moved the majority of these guys about 2 months ago from the 46G tank they grew up in or outgrew to their new 125G home which they seem to be really enjoying If anyone here is interested I will try to take some pictures and post them later

 

[Piltdownpaul]

Hi there- Keep your eye on the chinese algae eater. They advertise in the shops that they are community but are seriously territorial when they get older. I evicted mine because it chased my other fish all over the tank - A well bossy fish

 

[SG-1]

Hi there- Keep your eye on the chinese algae eater. They advertise in the shops that they are community but are seriously territorial when they get older. I evicted mine because it chased my other fish all over the tank - A well bossy fish

Thanx for the tip! I actually did have him in another smaller tank at one point and he was a little agressive, in the tank he is in now though there really arent any other fish he can bully, he is another one actually that the RTS will chase around from time to time.

 

[babybell911]

Yay pics please!
Welcome to the forum

 

[raptorrex]

Hi there nice to meet anyone who reads my 1st post Been into fish a long time, I have a 125G tank, and in that tank I have:

1 Yellow Lab Cichlid
1 Jack Dempsey
1 Melanochromis auratus
1 Texas Cichlid
1 Angel Fish
1 Large Bala Shark
1 Large Red Tail Shark
1 Common Pleco
1 Chinese Algie eater
1 Cobalt Blue Cichlid

Now Ive had people tell me Im crazy to mix some of these cichlids with other tropical fish, however the experiment has really been a huge success, Ive found that Large Bala and RTS make excellent tank mates for other Cichlids. Despite popular belief, they all get along beautifully! The RTS is the only one that really has any history of nasty behavior. He will sometimes chase around the Melanochromis auratus who is still smaller but nothing serious, about 4 years ago when I first started keeping fish, the RTS was one of my 1st and he was fine as a youth but after getting big, he killed alot of my 1st fish (A bala, a rainbow shark, a catfish, and a betta), Ive found with full grown RTS though that if you keep em with larger fish they really behave much better. Ive had 0 deaths and 0 serious agression problems now for the last 2 years!! the Jack is my newest edition, hopefully he will be able to blend in with the rest of the community as well! Just moved the majority of these guys about 2 months ago from the 46G tank they grew up in or outgrew to their new 125G home which they seem to be really enjoying If anyone here is interested I will try to take some pictures and post them later

you will find you are not the only one who doesn't follow the rules welcome!!

 

[SG-1]

Thanx for the warm welcome, I was half expecting a lecture so its nice to know not everyone else here conforms to the usual rules either!

 

[callum_parsons]

pics please

 

[SG-1]

pics please

Lol you got it, Ill take pictures sometime today and post em B) I do have one full tank pic I can post now though

 

[Sambo]

Cool tank! Although i think it would look nice with various plants in the tank.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

glad it's working out for you, there's no rule book for fishkeeping and calculated risks are no problem, so long as it's thought through and there's a back up plan. You get some of the best most unusual tanks that way. Generally the lectures are reserved for the 'I've got 12 oscars and 20 neon's in my 10g tank and it's fine I won't listen to a word you say' brigade.

What ph do you keep your tank at to keep them all happy?

 

[SG-1]

Cool tank! Although i think it would look nice with various plants in the tank.

I got really tired of the cichlids uprooting all the plants in my last tank so I decided to leave em out in this one

glad it's working out for you, there's no rule book for fishkeeping and calculated risks are no problem, so long as it's thought through and there's a back up plan. You get some of the best most unusual tanks that way. Generally the lectures are reserved for the 'I've got 12 oscars and 20 neon's in my 10g tank and it's fine I won't listen to a word you say' brigade.

What ph do you keep your tank at to keep them all happy?

lol funny post You know I havent checked my ph in years, I know I can feel the eyes rolling but ive never had to, I keep it pretty clean, I never miss a weekly water change of approximantly 25-30%, and ive always made sure my fish have ample filteration. Right now Im running a fluval FX5 which is suppose to work for a tank up tp 400g, truning out something like 625g an hour, 2 rotating powerheads, and 6.5 feet of the bubble tubing along the back of the tank. I actually cant even remember the last time I lost a fish or even had one get sick So I guess my secret is just lots of filteration and weekly water changes and a maintained temp of around 80 degrees and these little guys are pretty happy campers

 

[Miss Wiggle]

glad it's working out for you, there's no rule book for fishkeeping and calculated risks are no problem, so long as it's thought through and there's a back up plan. You get some of the best most unusual tanks that way. Generally the lectures are reserved for the 'I've got 12 oscars and 20 neon's in my 10g tank and it's fine I won't listen to a word you say' brigade.

What ph do you keep your tank at to keep them all happy?

lol funny post You know I havent checked my ph in years, I know I can feel the eyes rolling but ive never had to, I keep it pretty clean, I never miss a weekly water change of approximantly 25-30%, and ive always made sure my fish have ample filteration. Right now Im running a fluval FX5 which is suppose to work for a tank up tp 400g, truning out something like 625g an hour, 2 rotating powerheads, and 6.5 feet of the bubble tubing along the back of the tank. I actually cant even remember the last time I lost a fish or even had one get sick So I guess my secret is just lots of filteration and weekly water changes and a maintained temp of around 80 degrees and these little guys are pretty happy campers

ha ha don't worry, i don't check my tanks if nothings wrong, often for years. just wondering if you'd made any effort to alter it in any way when you decided on that fish combo. As I'm sure you know the africans generally prefer a much higher ph to your cichlids, so was wondering what comprosmise you'd reached.

if it aint broke don't fix it and your obviously doing well by them so don't worry!

 

[Chac]

Welcome SG-1

Nice Tank BTW

But I prefer your Anubis Super Soldier Avator

 

[SG-1]

[/quote]

ha ha don't worry, i don't check my tanks if nothings wrong, often for years. just wondering if you'd made any effort to alter it in any way when you decided on that fish combo. As I'm sure you know the africans generally prefer a much higher ph to your cichlids, so was wondering what comprosmise you'd reached.

if it aint broke don't fix it and your obviously doing well by them so don't worry!
[/quote]
Ive got to say, I definantly subscribe to the same game plan, if it aint broke dont fix it

Welcome SG-1

Nice Tank BTW

But I prefer your Anubis Super Soldier Avator

Hahaha very nice, someone who knows what my avatar is! I knew Id feel at home here

 

[Chac]

You will find This funny - SG1 Hamster Dance