Here's my piddly tank and fish!

[Sicy]

Seems everyone has such huuuuuuuuuuge tanks! I dont know how you do it. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my little tank and two fish

I need to get some more live plants. Problem is, the pet stores plants look disgusting and there are not many 'fish only' stores around here.

That's my fish. Exciting huh?

 

[Vip]

cute little tank there mate, watch out for that Auratus they are super agressive and are known to kill convict cichlids and others.

 

[JoKeR]

Errr

That tank looks like a 5 galon tank tank

ANd those fish look huge

 

[Sicy]

What's a Auratus ?

Well.. it is indeed a 5.5 gallon tank. The yellow fish is not that big and has not grown really at all in the 2 years I've had him, but the orange one has grown a lot in the past year. I've had the tank for about 2 years. When I first started I didnt know anything about fish, and of course if I were to do it over I would have started with tetras or bettas or something, not Cichlids. But, they are happy fish with no problems, and have lived fine this whole time, except for low ph which I am working on at the moment!

 

[Vip]

Him is a Her yellow ones are yellow the male turn black but both are super agressive, cute looking tank but dont add any other fish.

 

[JoKeR]

U need to know some info on what u buy....

I think VIP Will provide teh answer...

 

[Sicy]

So wait, which is a her? How do you know the sex of fish.. I always wondered.

And yes, the yellow one turns brown sometimes, does that mean he's mad?

No I am not adding any other fish.. I know Cichlids are aggressive and need their space.

Can you suggest some plants maybe? I have a small limestone rock that I am going to add for the ph, it is really low, like 6.4

 

[Auratus]

The Auratus looks like it's older since her color has dulled some. How big is she?

The OB looks pretty big, maybe you could work on upgrading in the future?

 

[Sicy]

She (lol) that's funny.. is about 2 inches. I've had her the longest, since the beginning, so about 2 years now.

What's OB?? I never knew the kinds of these fish, just that they are African Cichlids.. this is very interesting!

I'd love to get a 10 gallon at least but I want to wait because I may be moving soon.

 

[Auratus]

Just a guess, but did you get these fish at wal-mart? They sell "assorted african cichlids" in the tanks around here and they often sell those two cichlids. Also, the live plants you have look like aponogetons, the bulbs you get in the package at wal-mart.

The Stripes fish you have is a female Auratus. You can tell she's a female because she is yellow. Male Auratus turn black when they mature.

Your other bigger orange fish with the spots is an OB peacock. Maybe you could look up some info on them on google.

 

[Vip]

And yes, the yellow one turns brown sometimes, does that mean he's mad?

No I am not adding any other fish.. I know Cichlids are aggressive and need their space.

As Auratus and myself stated on how to sex them, but if its turning color it might be un-decided so it might turn out to be male MAYBE.

As for plants i wouldnt really worry about because sooner or later they will dig them up them selfs and rip them apart, i suggest more of a rocky looking tank with caves.

You know cichlids are agressive but the Auratus is in a legue of its own when it comes to agressive cichlids, they rate VERY high, mine rips into my 3 convicts with no problems at all and bugs alot of the other fish and once almost killed my OB peacock as well.
Belive us when we say it dude keep an eye on that fish, there like the Piranha of small african cichlids.

 

[juliethegr8t]

It's a very cute tank, and the fish are gorgeous, but as other people have said, those fish should be moved. That OB is gonna get big, freshmike on this board has a pair of males who are crazy aggressive and huge. He can tell you how large they are, I forget. Anyways, even if yours is small, that's too small of a tank and I hope you can rehome them. Cichlids can never live in anything smaller than a 10 gallon, and then only if they are something like rams or shell dwellers.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, it's just pretty important stuff and I hope you can get it all fixed.

 

[Sicy]

Cichlids can never live in anything smaller than a 10 gallon

Well they've lived fine for almost 2 years, I mentioned that earlier, so obviously I'm doing something right. lol. It's not like I just bought these fish yesterday. I watch them every day. They've never been sick or super mean. I never see them fight each other either. The yellow one almost always hangs out by himself at the top or in one of the decorations. I know they should have a bigger tank but right now I dont have the time, money or room for it.

I did not get the fish at Walmart. I got one at a fish store and the other at Petco, along with the plants.

So yeah.. just wanted to share pics

 

[juliethegr8t]

Alright let me rephrase. Cichlids can live in that small of a space, but shouldn't. I could continue, but I think you're feeling jumped on and that was totally not my intent as I know exactly how it feels, and I apologize. No hard feelings I hope, it just really caught me off guard to see this.

 

[bubbles12003]

nice fish
just to let you know big tanks are easier to take care of, i had started with a 5.5 gal. had alot of ph and amonia problem, i went to a 10 gal. still some prob. so i then upgraded to a 20gal. 33gal. and a 55 gal. i haven't had any ph or amonia probelms, no blury water