New To Fishies

[christilles87]

Hello! My name is Jen and I am the proud owner of a 55 gallon tank!

Here is my fishy story. I decided angel fish would be cool in this tank so I went to the LFS and purchased a set of fish 2 albino barbs, 2 rosy barbs, a blue gormius and a danio. My water tested good so I wanted to let these guys get accustom to the tank and be positive everything was good before my angels. THEN a while later I went to get some angels and was told my barbs would probably nip at their fins. So search for some compatible fish continued. I found some brightly colored fish, absolutely gorgeous. The lady told me they should be fine so I got 4... African cichlids.

Well my tank still looked a little empty and I had my heart set on an eel. Monster (my peacock eel) came home with me a few weeks later. I really have not done too much research other then water parameters and making sure my water was healthy for my new babies. My Pleco, and a fifth African came home with me about a week later. Finally I was cruising the fish store and saw him. Albino Bichar. I talked to a few different stores everyone says they will all be fine and I purchased him.

Now come to find I possibly have fishy chaos in my tank. Well that goes to show, it is better to talk to specialty stores because big stores are a hit and miss!

Just for the record my water quality is awesome no ammonia, no nitrites, small nitrates and PH 7.4. I am now looking at how to raise it a tad for my little cichlids. Everyone is doing very well with no fighting or issues. Except for my danio who committed fishy suicide chasing my Kenya : (.

So that’s my story, sorry if my tank sounds a little nutty right now!

 

[ATK!!!]

What sort of Plec may I ask? Sounds intruiging but I don't know if the peace will last!

Good luck

 

[bristlenoseitplecoman]

you had the worst setup I have ever heard of. You can not mix community fish with aggressive fish like cichlids. no wonder your danio commited suicide. they need to be in groups of six or more. cichlids are always a bad idea unless it is just them or just aggressive fish. They might learn to get along but for now, I hope your tank pulls through

 

[christilles87]

What sort of Plec may I ask? Sounds intruiging but I don't know if the peace will last!

Good luck

Common Pleco.

I have kept a close eye on the tank to watch for the aggression to start... so far so good!

 

[bristlenoseitplecoman]

your pleco should be ok but you can never be sure.

 

[christilles87]

I know how crazy it all sounds. No one told me this information when I was buying the fish. But right now everyone is doing very well and while I wish I could school the albino barbs, the only other tank I could set up is a ten gallon. This will be a while too because I dont have a light, or gravel, heater, ect. What I have been told is because all the fish are babies there is a chance everyone will grow up together and be fine. I have never seen my cichlids aggressive twards my other fishies. I check over the tank multiple times a day and stay on top of maintanence.

My Pleco likes to come out at night and during the day he chills under my rock structure. If the employees at the LFS told me all of this BEFORE I would not have this silly set up. No one mentioned anything about scooling fish, or aggression, or anything like that. I also did not find this fourm untill after otherwise I would have asked.

 

[colleen0309]

Hind sight is always 20/20. You may end up having to rehome some of the fish. My common pleco in my 55 gallon is 10". He doesn't have much room to turn around anymore. He is going into a 110 gallon at my vets office.

 

[colleen0309]

Oh! Forgot! The Africans will cause alot of trouble in the near future. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful fish, but very aggressive. The rest of your fish wont stand a chance. As for the bichar, I don't know much about them, but I seem to remember hearing you should have a species tank for them. Not really sure about that though. Good luck with your tank.

 

[christilles87]

If my pleco gets too big I will rehome him. I knew this was a possibility but I was also told this one had the best chance of staying in the tank. I love my little cichlids but I do not want the other fish to get hurt either : (. My Bichar should be fine for long term, I was told the other fish should leave him alone once they realise he will eat them! I have also seen success with Bichars in cichlid tanks, they really dont mess with anyone. With everyone being so small there is plenty of room. Could I rehome the 2 roseys, 2 albino barbs, and gourmis in a ten gallon tank? It seems small compared to my 55. Unfortunatly this is what I have to work with. I was planning on using the ten gallon for a hospital just in case I needed it since I have two big filters on my 55 (move one over to the ten). But if they could live in that tank then maybe it would be better to take the safety precaution...I am only going to specialized LFS now due to the terribul information that my tank would coexist. I have been scanning garage sales and such for another tank as well.

 

[colleen0309]

Well, good luck. Sounds like you favor the cichlids and bichar. They are beautiful fish. I have kept incompatible species together long term, with no problems. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. As long as you are aware that there could be a problem and you keep a close eye on things and are willing to take steps to correct the problems as they arise, the choice is yours. I kept a goldfish in with oscars. It started out to be food for the oscars, but they didn't eat the one and let him live peacefully in their tank. I had to rehome the oscars, but I put the goldfish in my pond. Unfortunately, a racoon got him last year. He was 15 years old.