New Tankmate

[Scorp1on]

Just brought home a medium Common Pleco. They say medium I say a monster who will put my chiclids back in their place. Apparently when the lights went out our Labs were harrassed big time and we lost them. This Pleco is a littttttlllllleee bit larger than his tankmates. Think they will shape up now.

 

[semper fi]

take your fish back to the lfs. use the money to buy some inanimate object, like a punching bag, to take your aggression out on.

instead of throwing a plec in the tank to calm them down why not get a suitable ratio of males and females. i can tell by the number of fish you have not done that. a plec will do nothing to calm them down or put them in their place. obviously it was added for your amusement only, which i find horrid!

 

[Scorp1on]

that wasn't the intent at all. he was added to help with algae in the tank and we spoke at length with employees of a LFS that is about fish first and foremost and typically refuses sales unless you meet their stingent criteria. The post was written a little tounge in cheek also.

 

[tizme]

I am "the wife" .....we didn't get the pleco to be mean.....the tank is set up near windows so there is quite a bit of algea and thought getting an algea eater might be helpful....we bought the syn. catfish to help, he keeps the one rock quite clean, but fails to leave that rock LOL.......We went to a lfs that I was previously afraid to go to because they are known for not selling fish to just to sell fish, they have actually turned away people because they felt that the fish was getting a "death sentence"......We discussed it at length with them what we needed and they suggested the pleco, they suggested one that was a little bigger then the cichlids so they wouldn't be as tempted to pick on him....no cruelty meant here

My husband just has a weird sense of humor!!

 

[semper fi]

well then i apologize for taking it the wrong way. i read it over and even came back before i posted and still found it offensive. nothing was mentioned about an algae problem.

africans usually are good at taking care of the algae. some more than others. i would guess that the lab loss was due to the auratus. you have higher aggressive cichlids, auratus, kennyi and crabro, that could have very well been the culprit. as for the plec in the tank you may find that he is beaten on by the more aggressive fish. i have never been able to keep a plec with mbuna.

as for the algae problem. do you have powerheads in the tank? if so this may be the reason for the algae.

 

[tizme]

not sure who picked on the labs....they were the first fish we bought along with the kenyi.....knew cichlids were aggressive, but didn't know there were so many levels in aggression....we are learning, unfortunately lost a couple of fish in the process ( We were really upset when we found them expired )..... all the other fish we have in there seem to get along with no probs.

We do have powerheads....do they cause algae?? I just thought it had to do with the fact the tank is between 2 windows, but it was the only place we could put the tank.

You mentioned in your first post about getting a more suitable ratio of m vs f....we are planning on doing that, but have to wait until I start work again in sept (I work in a school) before we can really think about spending alot on more fish.....and we are just being able to tell what ratio we have now.....think we have 1:1 ratio of the kenyi and the jewels....the others we can't tell

 

[semper fi]

powereheads at surface level will help the growth of algae. i would suggest lowering them below surface level a bit. being between two windows will also help with the algae growth. is there any way to cover the windows, closing the curtains, during the sunny part of the day?

is one of the kennyi changing color? there is a color morph between the sexes in the kennyi. without a color morph between the sexes you would have to vent the fish to accurately determine the sexes.

 

[Scorp1on]

1 kenyii is changing. we also have one Jewel fir engine red and one pinkish around the fins.

 

[tizme]

as my husband said one of the kenyi is morphing so we know he is male....the other is still blue so it is either a female or a male who hasn't changed yet.

As far as the powerheads they are below the water line. We do keep the blinds down on one window, but it would be very dark if we closed both. The pleco seems fine in his new home, nobody is picking on him (as far as we know LOL) and he is doing a great job on the algea!!

 

[semper fi]

glad to hear! hope all goes well!

do you know the ph in your tank?

 

[Scorp1on]

PH was .25 and a water change was done 3 days after testing. everything else was 0 in all tanks.

 

[tizme]

My husband misspoke LOL....he just got home from work and is half asleep....the ph was 7.8 not.25 LOL

 

[semper fi]

i am so glad that you corrected that tizme! was going to put on my stomping boots again! just kidding scorpion!

reason i asked is a low ph will sometimes induce the growth of algae.