My Severum

[signman]

the tank will be cycled for about a week when I get it tuesday. It is not a severum, that much we have established. The convicts don't bother the angels as the angels swim to the top of the tank, and the convicts at the bottom. do you think my new 400 litre tank will be overstocked with the fish I have listed?

I have had the plec since september, and yes, he is a big boy but I have no alge in the tank at all. I have had all the fish since september (my birthday) and I know it is a mish-mash of breeds but it seems to be working, and there seems to be a good hirachy.

 

[Davo86]

I have had all the fish since september (my birthday) and I know it is a mish-mash of breeds but it seems to be working, and there seems to be a good hirachy.

you will rarely see problems with juvenile fish, but just wait for the GT to mature, then you'll find you''ll have a bit of bother.
you will also need to research your 'severum' to see whether he may cause you problems if and when he gets any bigger.
Personally i would rehome the green terror

 

[signman]

thank you for your advice mate

 

[G_Sharky]

Hey signman...you don't have to cycle your new tank if your current tank is matured right now all you have to do is put the fish on a bucket with an airstone and transfer all of the water, substrate, decoration, and the filters from the old tank to your new tank and wait till the heater adjust to the right temp and accumulate the fish properly....I do this everytime I upgrade my tank.....And back to the severum question....the fish on the pic is definitely not a severum and the reason why it hasn't coloured up is probably due to a more dominant tank mate like the GT, but If your a getting a big tank he might have some space to show some colour.....

 

[RipSlider]

I think your still going to be over stocked at 400l.

And if you move fish, all that will happen is that everyting will fight to establish a new hierachy in the new space.

I would definately re-home either the angels or the GT. Perhaps you could keep the GT and the plec in the old tank?

If you sort out your water chemistry, there will never be any algae for the plec to eat. That would be a far better solution. At that point, you can remove the plec.

Steve

 

[signman]

okay buddy, you say sort out my water chemistry to avoid alge. how exactly do I do that? cos in all the 5 tanks i've had, i have had an alge problem

thank you

 

[RipSlider]

Algae doesn't just appear, it needs nutrients in order to grow. The main sources of nutrients it needs are nirates and posphates.

Made sources of these are:

1) Fish excretions
2) Uneaten food


So, you need to reduce the levels of these nutrients in order for the algae to go away.

With the amount of fish you have in your tank, the amount of fish excretions will be very large. Remember that, even if you can't measure it, they will be there ( once they have been used to grow algae, then they can no longer be measured ).

So, in order to reduce algae:

1) remove all un eaten food from the tank, especially protien rich food like mussels etc that I guess your feeding you GT's etc

2) more water changes

3) Less fish

4) Have something else compete for the nutrients - i.e plants.

If you add in really fast growing plants, there will use up the nutrients faster than the algae can. either add traditional plants like Valis, or do what I do, and add a little bit of duckweed to each tank. This is the stuff that floats on the surface with small green leaves. This grows incredibly quickly, and rapidly covers most of the tanks surface. Each week, during your water change, just take out 2 or 3 large net fulls and throw it away, your stripping the nutrients straight out of your tank. Duckwed has the added benefit of have a mild antibiotic in it's roots, which keeps the fish healthy, as they nibble the roots.

Plants do NOT mean, however, that you canr educe the water changes. I would say that, with your stocking levels, you should be doing a bare minimum of a 30% change once a week, although twice a week would be better. Plants will however mean that you suffer a much reduced algae problem.

I added duckweed to all my tanks. Within a week, there was no algae in any of them, and there never has been again.

Steve

 

[signman]

WOW! you are a minefield of information pal, thank you for your advice, I am going to my LFS today to do get some live plants and to pick up my new 400 litre tank (very excited).
I find this forum such a big help, especially with people like yourself and all the others who have posted on this topic.


so once again

thank you

 

[severum boy]

I am going to my LFS today to do get some live plants

Big mistake. The "whatever it is" will destroy them, as will your other centeral american cichlids.
Ive no idea how much you have researched the fish, but heres some info about Boucourtis (whatever their scientific name ends up being).
They are a big central and likely to become aggressive as they become adult. They like warmer temperatures, from 25 Celcius upwards to about 30. They also get BIG, about 40cm for a large male, although its likely to be smaller in captivity, about 30cm. They are easy to keep, and general information on centrals will hold true. You can keep him in the 400 for life, but only really with the plec if its a male.
Remove the other fish apart from the plec, and see how he goes. You could get away with adding some big silver dollars in too.