Need Some Honest Opinions

[coldcazzie]

I have a fish I got from minnnt. I figure he's a hrp/Ellioti cross (logic from hrp mum laying eggs and an Ellioti male being present in the tank... and the fact that he looks nothing like a pure hrp! ) can't get a picture I'm afraid, he's not playing ball. He's called Ditch.

Now at the moment he's in my 70l tank. With the meaty shrimp. Who is an evil sod and an avid hunter. Basically, the shrimp needs to live alone. Just this afternoon I watched him grab Ditch and held him still. I now understand why some of my fish mysteriously vanished so Ditch can't stay upstairs. But I moved him upstairs because he was terrorising the other fish in the 240l.

Old stocking:
240l: 1 sev, 2 denisonii barbs, 1 anomalochromis thomasi, 1 shrimp, Ditch, 1 bn.
70l: 12 harlequins.

New stocking:
240l: sev, barbs, thomasi, bn, 10 corydoras, harlequins.
70l: Ditch, shrimp.

In short, the sev, barbs and thomasi are all going to new homes, leaving me with the bn, cories and harlequins, and the plan is to get more cories, more harlequins, some rummy noses and perhaps another bn.

Frankly, it'll be easier to rehome an Ellioti than it will a shrimp who has to be kept alone in case he commits mass murder. But manwife doesn't want to get rid of Ditch if possible. Another tank isn't an option. Lots of reflection has made me realise I'm a one tank gal. I don't even want to have two running, but I've made my peace with the fact that the shrimp is unhomable and therefore needs a bachelor pad.

Bearing in mind my end goal: a tank that requires little intervention from me, and is above all, peaceful, (and the fact that long term Ditch can't live in a 70l tank) would it be possible to put Ditch back in the 240l with the small fish or would that be unrealistic and should I be looking to rehome him and ride out the scowls from the manwife?

I'm fairly sure I know the answer. But I'm asking anyway.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Just keep the long claws of the shrimp trimmed down, as they grow back cut them off again. It would be like how they the rock crab claw industry in Florida. Except you'd be removing both claws to keep your fish safe.

 

[Comacchio]

Out of interest.. do you have a pic of this shrimp??

 

[mattlee]

how big is Ditch Caz?

you might just get away with it if hes smaller rather than bigger but for how long is impossible to say. im not sure about the thomasi as a tank mate as i think they are african, arent they...? i have no idea on their temperament but if this fish and the sev and barbs are gone Ditch may be ok.

as with most medium-large cichlids its a risk mixing smaller fish like harlequins but again it depends on their size in comparrison to the cichlids. Ellioti and HRP arent huge fish by any means but i can imagine it could have a dark side to it mainly coming from the HRP side on its background, if not now then maybe when bigger and more mature.

i guess if manwife wants to keep Ditch then its worth a go and if it kicks off in there manwife replaces the losses and takes you out for a nice meal to take your mind off it

i would also love to see your killer shrimp Caz

so the stocking would be-

bn
cories
harlequins
rummy noses
Ditch

sounds ok to me. just give the others areas to escape if Ditch gets a bit excited

 

[minnnt]

Post him back to me seeing as you don't wanna see me...

 

[coldcazzie]

He's about 2.5 inches long.

Ditch is about 1.5 inch body. He's not grown as quick as I though he would but he's starting to get the red blush on his sides that is characteristic of elliotis. He's aggressive enough to batter the thomasi around, shred his tail and have a 3.5 inch sev quivering in the corner.

On the one hand I worry that he'd kill the smaller fish, but on the other they're not cichlids so maybe he'd leave them alone? I just don't know.

 

[thereverendturtle]

When you said killer shrimp, I was thinking one of the big Asian river prawns, with 6" long arms with big pincers. I would think you could give it shot. If it doesn't work out send him back to minnnt.

Edit: spelled minnnt with to few n's...

 

[minnnt]

When you said killer shrimp, I was thinking one of the big Asian river prawns, with 6" long arms with big pincers. I would think you could give it shot. If it doesn't work out send him back to minnnt.

Edit: spelled minnnt with to few n's...

+1. I would love to have him back Caz. Would pay the postage and a reasonable price for him.

But in all honesty, just bin the shrimp if he is that much of a #*%@€$

Please don't take ditch to the lfs.

 

[coldcazzie]

Dave: don't worry, he won't be going to a store also, he is actually a she

I thought as much with the development of the dorsal spot so did a couple of minute's research and it is confirmed. He is a girl

Ditch is terrified of the shrimp. Whenever the shrimp crawls out for food she hides under the wood with fins clamped. However, I have seen her starting to give as good as she gets - swimming directly at the shrimp and driving it away, so maybe they'll come to tollerate each other.

In the meantime, it's been 3 weeks? 4 weeks? since she went in the tank upstairs by herself and she's grown noticably. I don't know whether it's being on her own or the fact that I switched to Tetra Prima as my main fish food, but it's quite startling!

I won't put her in my big tank. No way. But would a 3 foot tank be a long term option? Perhaps with a pair of bristlenoses or something? I might be able to persude the manwife on a slightly larger tank.

 

[Wills]

Could you not take the Shrimp to a store? Just throwing that out there?

Just having a read through the thread - you mention the Thomasi and the Sev being bullied by Ditch but did she go for the other fish in there like the schoolers? When I had my HRPs they went for other cichlids but left non territorial fish alone?

Failing that if you could upgrade the 70 liter to something like 125 3 footer that would do Ditch great and room for some tank mates

Wills

 

[lloyd]

what kind of shrimp is he cazzie.

 

[minnnt]

send HER to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[D4n.gr33n]

wow that shrimps got some balls lol my blue crayfish is an absolute whimp

 

[coldcazzie]

Could you not take the Shrimp to a store? Just throwing that out there?

Just having a read through the thread - you mention the Thomasi and the Sev being bullied by Ditch but did she go for the other fish in there like the schoolers? When I had my HRPs they went for other cichlids but left non territorial fish alone?

Failing that if you could upgrade the 70 liter to something like 125 3 footer that would do Ditch great and room for some tank mates

Wills

I could take the shrimp to a store... I got it from P@H - I've a friend who works there and she said they've been getting a lot of comments about shrimp that have started out little and grown into aggressive monsters. Thing is, they all get shipped to them as "freshwater shrimp" which means they're a mix of amanos, peaceful large shrimp, and evil buggers like this one! I would only be able to take it back to P@H, none of my other lfs would take it. The fish I took in to them last year are still in their tanks. I'm actually kinda fond of him, despite his evilness. I dunno. If I could be arsed I'd set up a nano just for him. But I'm trying to have less tanks, not more.

She was in with denisoni barbs for ages, and a couple of them got shredded tails. The other fish all left them alone so I assumed it was either the shrimp snapping at them when they were sleeping, or Ditch being a cow.

I did wonder about maybe a Rio 125 with it's inbuilt filter still in place, with a pair of bns and maybe 6 congo tetras?

what kind of shrimp is he cazzie.

your guess is as good as mine. I put a picture up in the shrimp section. Problem is that there's so many species, and so little information about most of them, it's hard to get an ID.

send HER to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Thanks, for the offer - I shall keep you in mind but if I can keep her I will... manwife wants to keep her. This and the bristlenose are the only time he's made a fuss when I've mentioned possibly rehoming. He really wants to keep them both.