Relocating Pims!!!!!!!

[Shovelnose]

Decided to shift out a Leiarius marmoratus and a TSN outta my tanks into a friends pond. The tank was a 6*2*2. The marmoratus is around 11" and the TSN 8". They didn seem to comfortable.





Tankmates were swallowed whole most of the time (lost count of the number of plecos and assorted Mystus lost) by the marmoratus. Some rather moronic decisons I guess. Quite surprisingly, a pair of Botia almohrae have been living alongside with no issues for almost 2 years.

Since it is close to monsoon here and the weather quite bearable, I decided to move 'em out immediately.

I really suck at calculating volumes of even normal shaped things. Too add to my misery,the Pond is bean shaped. The pond is slightly more than a foot and a half in depth.







Inhabitants are a few carps the smallest of which are around 6". Quite fat too so Im not too worried about 'em becoming feed right now.



Ambient temperatures are around 32C to 35C here. The pond water was around 30-31C. The temperature will drop in the coming months.

Also threw in a coupla big pieces of PVC pipes under the bridgle just so they can take refuge in there.Other than this, there is absolutely no decor in the pond. Anything else I need to add????

Filtration is basically a pump that draws out the water and runs it through a 6 foot narrow partition filled with Vallisneria and river sand and back into the pond again.

The only tricky part will be feeding cos this place happens to be around 15 kms from my house and I get back quite late. A bag of blood worms and a bag of Puntius Sp will be dumped in weekly. The routine feed for the pond happens to be some of the regular crappy red stuff available in most LFS here.

I dont have plans of adding anything else to the pond as of now??? Any thoughts on adding????

Any ideas,suggestions and rude comments are most welcome.........

[jprp]

Hi, this is my first post-so sorry to be so negative.

I do not claim to be all knowing, but i have kept trops for over 25 years, including "tank busters" for around 8years .

If you have had these 2 pims for 2 years the reason they are unhappy is not tank size but lack of food.
at this age they should be 24in plus.
if you move them to the pool the other fish will eat all the food you plan to feed.
I would say: keep in tank untill 15 or 18 in then get bigger tank or move to specialist pool.
At current size feed at least 3 times a week-prawns,cockle,fish etc.

again, sorry to be so negative but hope this helps.

jprp

[Richard B]

Personally i'd not keep a fish more than a foot long in a tank only 2 feet wide - especially large pims due to the insecurity they can sometimes exhibit when their outstretched barbels are still in contact with the tank walls - in nature these species inhabit rivers that are so big they can never be adequately replicated for captive keeping - even in monster tanks these sort of fish can become nervous & skittish. I do think they'll fare much better in the pond with the vast increase in space. I wouldn't worry about competition for food - if they're hungry, they should easily compete for the food available - as an outdoor pond there should also be an amount of natural food entering the water - bugs, flies etc

[Shovelnose]

Sorry Richard and jprp. Didn log in for a very long time.

Honestly, I thought I fed them quite well when they were in the tank. I got the TSN at around 3 inches and the marmoratus at around 5 inches. They used to get live shrimp, feeder fish,earthworms,bloodworms. The marmoratus used to eat the veggies that were dropped in for plecos too. I prefer feeding live food for most of my fish (and most of my other cats demand live food).

As for water changes, hardly ever missed the weekly schedule. If their growth appears to be stunted, I would attribute it to the dimensions of the tank as Richard had pointed out. Both the Pims used to rearrange the furniture (especially during water changes) injuring themselves in the process.

How quickly does the marmoratus grow??? Any pointers on that???

The TSN might find it a bit tough competing with the carps but the marmoratus is a real rogue.Im sure he can cope.

And no jprp,I dont think your comments were negative at all. Your feedback is appreciated.