Stocking

[The AquaMan]

Hello all. I have a 2 new tanks: a 10 and a 20 gallon. I was wondering what you thought of my setup:

10 gallon:
-1 juvy florida gar (3")
-2 zebra plecos (1.5")
-lots of plants
-1 juvy african tiger fish (3")

20 gallon:
-1 fire eel (4")
-2 juvy discus (1.5 - 2")
-more plants
-2 small adonis plecos (1.5")
-1 juvy redtailed cat (4")
-1 black arowana (5")

 

[Torrean]

are you planning on moving them into larger tanks...if so I would simply wait until I had a larger tank before I got such tank busters.

If you want to keep them in these tanks then the polite answer is that it won't work those fish just get too large and some are very mean

 

[The AquaMan]

are you planning on moving them into larger tanks...if so I would simply wait until I had a larger tank before I got such tank busters.

If you want to keep them in these tanks then the polite answer is that it won't work those fish just get too large and some are very mean

I already have these fish, and they are doing great. I'll be getting my 29 gallon soon, so things will be okay for even longer, and I can add more fish!

 

[Torrean]

are you aware of the adult sizes of these fish?

 

[The AquaMan]

are you aware of the adult sizes of these fish?

Yes, and I will be getting the appropriate tanks as they grow. I am thinking that I can eventually put all of the larger fish into my largest tank in the future (probably a 180 or something).

So this 180 gallon tank would consist of:
1 black arowana
1 redtailed cat
2 adonis plecos
1 fire eel
1 african tiger fish
1 florida gar
(and I think I want to add a few stingrays to this)

 

[Torrean]

I'd talk to cfc. He's a mod that keeps lots of monster fish like that. I'm not sure about black arowana but I know silver arowana get HUGE as do red tailed cats. I think you'll probably need something bigger than that. I wish I could help you more.

 

[dwarfgourami]

So this 180 gallon tank would consist of:
1 black arowana
1 redtailed cat
2 adonis plecos
1 fire eel
1 african tiger fish
1 florida gar
(and I think I want to add a few stingrays to this)

180 gallons is going to be way too small for these fish. Have you ever seen an adult red-tail catfish? They grow huge, they are massive waste producers, if stressed they regurgitate their food- and stingrays are supersensitive to nitrates in the water! Also, the red-tail will eat the smaller of his companions.

As for your present setups- keeping massive waste producers with sensitive fish like discus in what is basically an office table tank- sounds a very dangerous experiment indeed. There is no way all these fish can achieve healthy growth in there.

 

[The AquaMan]

Everyone should be just fine, as I plan on raising them to be nice to their tankmates. I'll be sure to have a lot of filteration, too.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Everyone should be just fine, as I plan on raising them to be nice to their tankmates. I'll be sure to have a lot of filteration, too.

And how do you do that? How on earth do you train a fish out of its basic instinct? One day it's going to be grown-up enough to realise that its tankmates are food, and then its attitude will change- we've seen that again and again on this forum.

As for the massive filtration, that needs to set in now, before the health of the fish is affected by the output of the heavy waste producers. Even a small catfish can let off a lot of dirt into the water, and the fish will be damaged beyond repair long before you realise there is anything wrong.

 

[Egmel]

Everyone should be just fine, as I plan on raising them to be nice to their tankmates. I'll be sure to have a lot of filteration, too.

And how do you do that?

With a 'naughty rock', just like super nanny does with kids, every time they start to do something naughty you can place them on the naughty rock (mind your fingers as they get bigger), a minute for every year of their age...




[N.B]Before anyone actually takes this seriously, this is a sarcastic joke and I would never suggest the use of a 'naughty rock'. Training fish is not anything like training children or dogs. I would put it in the same bag as cat herding!

 

[dwarfgourami]

This is possibly the most appalling setup I have seen in my 18 months on this forum. The poster has got hold of 2 fish that grow to well over a metre (the gar and the red-tail), 2 fish that grow to half a metre (the adonis plecs) and he is proposing to keep these in a 180 gallon tank with nitrate-sensitive fish like discus and extremely nitrate-sensitive fish like stingrays. What is more, he is currently keeping them in tiny tanks, not suited to anything larger than a platy. And he thinks he can teach predators not to be predators any more, but be nice to one another

Aquaman, what you are doing is totally irresponsible. You need to sort out your current setup- if you are really going to keep that redtail it will need something more like a heated pond. The discus can be kept in a 55 gallon tank or so, but they need their own setup with no fish that can stress them out, and with low nitrates.
You have no right to introduce stingrays to any of your current fish. Stingrays are VERY specialist fish, to be kept under specialist conditions.
The zebra plecos stay small enough to live in say a 55 gallon tank, but they do require good water conditions, and the fact that they are a threatened species puts a special onus on the owner to provide them with the best conditions.

You can't just keep buying fish because you like them and expect them to adapt: fishkeeping is all about skill, research and the ability to make responsible decisions. Do you actually know that you are going to be getting a bigger tank within the next few months? If not, you should take ALL your current fish back. If you KNOW for sure that you will be getting a 180 gallon VERY shortly, you could keep the plecos and the discus, but the gar and the redtail do need to go back.

I am sorry if this comes across as harsh, but what would you think of someone who bought a threatened species of mammals, say a pair of snow leopard cubs, and then kept them in the cupboard under the stairs together with a crocodile?

 

[Egmel]

TBH there's a part of me that isn't sure this is even for real, it's almost as if someones taken a list of tankbusters and said they're keeping them in the smallest tank possible.

If this isn't just a troll post and AquaMan does really have all these fish in such a small tank then I think the important points have already been made:

• The tank is too small, even now.
• The chosen fish don't go together.
• Something needs to be done now not 'when they're bigger'
• The best thing to do would be to buy the biggest tank possible and return anything that will outgrow it at any stage of its life.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[dwarfgourami]

TBH there's a part of me that isn't sure this is even for real, it's almost as if someones taken a list of tankbusters and said they're keeping them in the smallest tank possible.

You know, the same thing had crossed my mind. Maybe it is a windup. Though we have seen some funny ones on this forum....

 

[Griz]

<sniff, sniff> What's that? Hmm, smells like troll.

 

[The AquaMan]

Sorry I've been gone for a while - I got my new 125 (two weeks ago)!!!!

Ok, so everyone knows, I actually do know what I'm doing. I did take the redtail back, but everything else I can't take back. I've grown too attached to them. It took me a while, but now they don't freak out so much, and they even allow me to pet them!

- Sidenote - I don't get the "troll" thing....

Everyone is doing okay, but it turns out that the black arowana was too small to be kept with the ATF (or gar); the arowana is missing... Oh well, I can always search for a larger one. Besides this setback, everything is peachy, and the 125 looks great!

Right now, I have a Florida gar, African tiger fish, 2 adonis plecos, and one fire eel. I've just recently order my motoros online. They should be here tomorrow! I can't wait until my 125 community tank is complete with the rays. I ordered two males because I heard that male colorings are more dramatic and pretty.

I think in about 2 months or so, I will start shopping for the 180 gallon (or maybe bigger).