My Well Meaning Hubby...

[indigo]

and now i have a bit of a mixture in my tank... will i have any future problems with agression etc?

current stocking list..

1 tyre track eel
1 fire eel
1 crayfish
2 asian striped catfish
1 red tailed shark
2 gold gouramis
2 blue gouramis
6 tiger barbs
2 bleeding heart tetras
2 danios
1 knight goby
3 angels
1 pair koi swordtails
1 pair blue rams
1 pair gold rams
1 pair kribs
2 clown loaches
2 bristlenose plecs
3 various snails

sounds a lot, but the tank is 500 litres/110 uk gallons, is running on 2 fluval 404s and has 2 air stones and 2 heaters

i'm wondering if i'll have a bit of fin nipping between the tiger barbs and angels? all seems fine at the moment, tiger barbs are busy chasing their own, am tempted to get another 2-3 of them to make sure, i've ordered some more silk plants to give coverage to the back of the tank and provide hiding places, the gouramis are chasing each other about a bit, not as much as when i first put them in and they all seem to have found a favoured spot in the tank each, the kribs are much bigger than the rams, the rams are literally all about an inch big, kribs are 2-2.5 inches big and were there first. all seems peaceful at the moment, there are plenty of hiding places, and they all seem to have their favoured spots just as the gouramis do, everyone seems happy, and all fish are eating well.

he was well meaning when he brought home the rams and angels, we had to make the decision to take back the polypterus delhezi after it ate an adult female molly (after 9 other fish - platties, smaller mollies, knight goby, danio, tiger barbs! - in 3 weeks), we couldn't afford to keep restocking the tank and we didn't want to get bigger fish! the LFS admitted that they'd sold him to us after giving the wrong advice, in fact the lass that sold him no longer works there, we asked all the right questions we were just given all the wrong answers! and the tank just seemed so empty after that, hubs bought me some fish to try and help fill the gap that patrick had left, we only had him for a short while but we all really miss him! any suggestions for something similar that would fit in my tank?

 

[nurglespuss]

WOW! thats a lot of stock indeed! Ignoring tank size for now, compatability will be examined:

1 tyre track eel :

Has an unpredictable temperment, likes to be alone, inhabits the bottom/middle layers, and will eat anything it can fit in its mouth.

1 fire eel :

stays a bit smaller than the tyre track, likes the sompany of its own kind, or large peaceful fish, is a very fussy feeder and will also eat smaller inhabitants.

1 crayfish :

depending on type; will nip at/eat smaller fish, nip at larger/flowing fins, ambush other inhabitants.

2 asian striped catfish :

grows to decent size, will eat small fish, reasonably peaceful

1 red tailed shark :

very aggressive/terratorial, a bully, fin nipper and overall bad fish.

2 gold gouramis

Mid size fish, can be a bully, but generally peaceful

2 blue gouramis

Same species probably.

6 tiger barbs

Fin nippers, but, if enough of them are together, they will concentrate on eachother rather than other fish. However, never combine with fish that have long/flowing fins (including guoramis).

2 bleeding heart tetras

Lovely little fish.

2 danios

Very active, need the company of other zebra/leopard danios.

1 knight goby

Does not mix well with others or their own kind, aggressive and terratorial.

3 angels

Grow big, pugnacious and will potantially eat small fish/fry etc.

1 pair koi swordtails

medium, active fish, need space and more of their own kind.

1 pair blue rams

Need a territory, sensitive to over crowding

1 pair gold rams

Need a territory, sensitive to over crowding

1 pair kribs

Need a territory, sensitive to over crowding

2 clown loaches

need their own kind, can grow very large, active nosy fish, which will bother quieter tank mates, sensitive to water changes.

2 bristlenose plecs

need a territory, peaceful.

3 various snails

???

Hope that helps!

 

[severum boy]

The cray will eat the snails.
Knight gobies are brackish and need some salt to do well.
The fire eel will out grow the tank.
There could be more Clown Loaches.

But other than that and the stuff previously mentioned, its all ok.

 

[nurglespuss]

Wish I had that selection at my LFS!

 

[indigo]

yeah pretty much what i thought!!

will be getting more swordtails, these koi ones are very pretty and a new strain apparantly, the 2 i have are fairly small and pretty shy at the moment, i'll get them some more friends in a week or so, let the tank recover from putting the fish in this weekend.

my tyre track eel does tend to be a bit fussy actually, i do try him on different foods regularly, but he favours bloodworms! the tyre track eel likes to be hand fed frozen dillies and is pretty shy, tends to hide a lot, the tyre track eel is usually out swimming about but he does have a couple of places he likes to rest or hide

this cray seems to be very placid, we often see fish swimming about right in front of him and it doesn't bother him in the slightest, he even shares his lair with one of the asian catfish! the last crayfish i had was an utter beast and would have been munching on the fish left right and centre, this one seems to love his new crayfish blocks and likes to be fed first, he'll snatch his block off the grabbers and run back into his lair and not come out until its all gone! a right little character thats for sure!

the tiger barbs so far seem to be just chasing each other, the red tailed shark likes to keep them in check too, hmm i think it might be wise to get 2 more to make sure i keep an active group. the gouramis are more interested in chasing each other, the tiger barbs don't appear to have noticed them yet.

i don't like the bleeding heart tetras at all these 2 are what are left of the 6 i bought, i won't be replacing them when they eventually go.. same with the danios, not my kind of thing at all..

my knight goby.. oh how i love that fish, by far my favourite, he'll come up and take a dilly out of my fingers and chomp away on it for ages, seems a bit happier now he's the only one left.. (the polypterus ate his friend) was contemplating getting more, i'll do some more research on him before i do i think..

my clown loaches are often swimming about with tiger barbs, i guess they just like to occupy the same areas, i've never seen them chase or bother any other fish tho, i had 2 much larger ones before and they were very peaceful, friendly, awesome to watch fish too, several people i've asked have said they're fine just in a pair and that i don't have to get more.

kribs and rams seem to have not even noticed each other, i think out of all of the mixture i have it'd be the interaction between these 3 pairs that i'll be watching the most, the kribs are very much a pair and are rarely apart, the rams are just exploring still at the moment i think, certainly no tension or chasing between them.

 

[indigo]

The cray will eat the snails.
Knight gobies are brackish and need some salt to do well.
The fire eel will out grow the tank.
There could be more Clown Loaches.

But other than that and the stuff previously mentioned, its all ok.

not that worried about the snails tbh, i have 2 tiny ones to help eat the algae on the glass and one mother of a snail that seems to be able to hold his own

the knight gobies are not brackish.. these aren't anyway, from what i can gather depending on what water they were bred in is what they need to be kept in, these are definately freshwater, the one i've got now i've had about 6 weeks and seems to be thriving nicely

we'll just have to see what happens with the fire eel, i've had him about 4 months and he's hardly grown despite being hand fed, the tyre track eel however has gotten much larger in a short space of time after not seemingly growing for ages, i suspect this will happen with the fire eel, i'm aware that he'll get huge, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it

no more clown loaches going in, i'm aware these grow very slowly, but also get pretty big, and they seem happy in a pair

Wish I had that selection at my LFS!

i use 2 LFS, world of water and aquajardin

 

[severum boy]

not that worried about the snails tbh, i have 2 tiny ones to help eat the algae on the glass and one mother of a snail that seems to be able to hold his own

the knight gobies are not brackish.. these aren't anyway, from what i can gather depending on what water they were bred in is what they need to be kept in, these are definately freshwater, the one i've got now i've had about 6 weeks and seems to be thriving nicely

Ive not heard of Knight gobies not being brackish, but if they are doing ok then thats alright then. But saying that if something is bred in freshwater means it should be kept in fresh is daft. Mollys are easily bred in freshwater, but to see them at their best and do keep them as they would be in the wild you need to add salt, lots of it if they ae black mollys.

If the cray wants to eat the snails, it will. No matter how big the snails are, the cray will kill and eat it if it wants. But if its ignoring the fish, then it might be ok.

 

[indigo]

Ive not heard of Knight gobies not being brackish, but if they are doing ok then thats alright then. But saying that if something is bred in freshwater means it should be kept in fresh is daft. Mollys are easily bred in freshwater, but to see them at their best and do keep them as they would be in the wild you need to add salt, lots of it if they ae black mollys.

lol i'm not daft! they are found in fresh and brackish water, i bought one that was bred and raised in freshwater and therefore needs to be kept in fresh not brackish water!

to quote an article on practical fishkeeping..

"The Knight goby, Stigmatogobius sadanundio, is a commonly available species from Asia and found in both fresh and brackish waters."

 

[severum boy]

Ok cool, wasent aware they were found in freshwater.

 

[CFC]

Knight gobies kept in freshwater rarely survive longer than a year, truely for their long term health they should be kept in mildly brackish water with an SG around 1.001 to 1.005.

Large spiny eels like tyre tracks and fire eels are fairly intollerent of other eels and eel shaped fish once they are adult, having two in the same tank isnt a very good idea. They are also very likely to eat all the fish in the tank with an adult size under 3 inches.

Its just a matter of time before the crayfish starts eating the fish, inverts with claws do not belong in the same tank as fish unless the fish are intended as feeders.