Quick Breakdown On How To Look After These Fish Please!

[laurac94]

Hi all, im going to look at a 5 x 2 x 2 tank on Thursday, he wants the tank and all of the fish gone because he is moving house next week so he is giving me a very good price, I originally asked to buy the tank without the fish but he needs them gone too so I am considering them too.
I currently have a community and a piranha tank so im not great on cichlids and the catfish (except the plecos) so I am just looking for a quick breakdown on how to look after these fish until I can sell them, or decide I love them to much I keep them. ;-)

There are 3 red tiger oscars, 2 jack dempseys, 2 featherfin synodontis, 2 common plecos, a large Severum, an acara and an African aluminium catfish.

Thanks.

 

[Wills]

Thats quite a lot of fish for that kind of tank. I would say remove or split the Oscars or take out the other 4 Cichlids. Not sure what the African Aluminium Catfish will be as most of the Aluminium Catfish I can think of are South American...
 
American Cichlids are quite easy to keep really, you often need big filters to deal with the waste and dont add in snack sized fish for big fish like your Oscars.
 
Be warned though you will want to keep them If you like characterful pet fish then you cant beat Oscars and Severums
 
Wills

 

[laurac94]

He has 2 fluval ex1200 with the tank, I also have an all pond solutions external 2000 I might swap over to it from my piranha tank. So what do I feed them? Cichlid pellets? Do they need anything meaty like mussels or chucks of fish (I have plenty already)
I wanted snakeheads lol so I havent done much research on cichlids, hence why im asking the experts;-)
So should I take out just one of the Oscars if I decide to keep them?
I will definitely be selling the 2 plecos because I just love my sailfin way too much! He's 13' and pretty much the only reason I am upgrading ;-)

 

[laurac94]

Wondering if the aluminium catfish is Chrysichthys longipinnis, if so it can get to 27" so I might have to sell that anyway, I've read that it eats pretty much anything like worms etc, I'll post in the catfish section and see if anyone knows ;-)

 

[Wills]

Would be good if you could post some pictures up Im just trying to figure out what the tank will look like when all these fish are adults - ie 3 years old + and its looking pretty chocka...
 
Inheriting badly stocked Cichlid tanks is always really hard to deal with as if you start removing sub adult or adult fish and the hierarchy gets knocked out of play which can sometimes cause major issues.
 
Of all the fish in there which would you like to keep?
 
Wills

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

The two Synodontis euptera will eat anything, they might scurry about briefly to get a meal in the daytime, but will basically be nocturnal unless you keep the tank very shady.
Long term a duo could be bad, one may become dominant over the other, its the sort of syno I'd have a singleton or 5+ to spread agression but you could be lucky... Look out for white rasping marks on the flanks and/or nipped fins.
 
5x2x2 tanks aren't a bad size, but long term that combo spells trouble me, pick your favourite one or two and be prepared to rehome a fair few of the others.

 

[laurac94]

I'll take some pictures on Thursday when I go and see if I want the tank, as for the fish im not particularly bothered about keeping any long term, he is giving me a good discount if I take everything because he is moving next Friday and can't take the tank. I have always liked Oscars though so I might keep those, but the others I will probably sell especially the catfish, im just looking on how to keep them healthy until I can sell them because I have no experience with cichlids ;-)
Thanks for the replies so far!