Bit of advice if possible :)
Posted: 07 Feb 2006, 03:21
Hello everyone, new to the site but been keaping fish for 15 years or so, maybe a bit of a long winded post coming up as my first, so I appolagise in advance heh.
Currently I have two 4 foot tanks, 18 inchs tall, 1 foot wide and a 6 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot tank.
In the one 4 foot I have a general community tank with a pleco and a nice blue catfish (its blue with white spots, apparantly from Cuba, it doesnt have a scientific name as apparantly its a fairly newly discovered species, their are also green specimens) ,the 6 foot houses 3 full grown Oscars, a 1 1/2 foot pleco 3 tinfoil barbs also around the 1 foot mark and a Quetzal (also known as redhead cichlid) and everyone gets on extremely well, even when the two Oscars lay eggs which happens fairly regular, but the pleco soon hoovers them up.
Now comes the interesting bit, the other 4 foot was kept running but empty as a hospital tank, but havnt had to use it for over a year, we visited my inlaws at Christmas and to my horror discovered they had been sold 3 parrot fish to go in their 2 foot community tank by a fairly newly opend fish shop near us, so I explained what they were (they had already eaten alot of the other inhabitants) and ended up bringing them home with me and putting them in the 4 foot tank.
Being a little annoyed at this I visited this fish shop to see for myself what they were selling and what they were like etc, unfotunately the owner wasnt there and their was just a snotty kid looking after the place who didnt have a clue what he was on about.
So I take a look at their fish and find a little tank with 2 serubim lima ,2 tiger shovelnose catfish, 2 rtc and some other albino looking catfish I didnt recognise, along with this their was 2 catfish 1 rtc and a tiger shovelnose floating half eaten on the surface.
I already knew a little about the limas so decided on a spur of the moment thing to try and well save them and brought them home with me and placed them in the 4 foot with the parrot fish.
So far they are getting on fine, have both eaten nps and settled in great, the parrot fish havnt bothered them in the slightest and vica versa.
Now I know they will outgrow this tank, as its only 12 inches front to back, and I guess they need at least 18 inches possibly 2 feet to be comfortable, I'm thinking once they get big enough to put them in with the Oscars etc in the 6 foot tank, but have read conflicting reports on how well they get on, some saying they are perfect others saying the Oscars will harrass them, can anyone give me any input as to what I shall do with them in the future, am I right in assuming the 4 foot tank will one day be too small? and what about adding them to the 6 foot?
If niether is acceptable I guess I'll have to buy them a tank of their own and find somewhere to fit it in my house heh.
Once again sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any replys, any info, any advice etc, will be greatly appreciated
Currently I have two 4 foot tanks, 18 inchs tall, 1 foot wide and a 6 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot tank.
In the one 4 foot I have a general community tank with a pleco and a nice blue catfish (its blue with white spots, apparantly from Cuba, it doesnt have a scientific name as apparantly its a fairly newly discovered species, their are also green specimens) ,the 6 foot houses 3 full grown Oscars, a 1 1/2 foot pleco 3 tinfoil barbs also around the 1 foot mark and a Quetzal (also known as redhead cichlid) and everyone gets on extremely well, even when the two Oscars lay eggs which happens fairly regular, but the pleco soon hoovers them up.
Now comes the interesting bit, the other 4 foot was kept running but empty as a hospital tank, but havnt had to use it for over a year, we visited my inlaws at Christmas and to my horror discovered they had been sold 3 parrot fish to go in their 2 foot community tank by a fairly newly opend fish shop near us, so I explained what they were (they had already eaten alot of the other inhabitants) and ended up bringing them home with me and putting them in the 4 foot tank.
Being a little annoyed at this I visited this fish shop to see for myself what they were selling and what they were like etc, unfotunately the owner wasnt there and their was just a snotty kid looking after the place who didnt have a clue what he was on about.
So I take a look at their fish and find a little tank with 2 serubim lima ,2 tiger shovelnose catfish, 2 rtc and some other albino looking catfish I didnt recognise, along with this their was 2 catfish 1 rtc and a tiger shovelnose floating half eaten on the surface.
I already knew a little about the limas so decided on a spur of the moment thing to try and well save them and brought them home with me and placed them in the 4 foot with the parrot fish.
So far they are getting on fine, have both eaten nps and settled in great, the parrot fish havnt bothered them in the slightest and vica versa.
Now I know they will outgrow this tank, as its only 12 inches front to back, and I guess they need at least 18 inches possibly 2 feet to be comfortable, I'm thinking once they get big enough to put them in with the Oscars etc in the 6 foot tank, but have read conflicting reports on how well they get on, some saying they are perfect others saying the Oscars will harrass them, can anyone give me any input as to what I shall do with them in the future, am I right in assuming the 4 foot tank will one day be too small? and what about adding them to the 6 foot?
If niether is acceptable I guess I'll have to buy them a tank of their own and find somewhere to fit it in my house heh.
Once again sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any replys, any info, any advice etc, will be greatly appreciated