Caribe pirana tank

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Y

yesjenks

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Oct 8, 2011
31
0
38
Clifton NJ
Hello All,

I have 12 Caribe in a 90 gallon tank. They were purchased about 4-5 months ago at 1/2-11/4". They've grown tremendously! Now, they're between 4-6". We have 2 FX5s for filtration, about 50lbs of driftwood, nails and plecos as the clean up crew.

We feed fillets of tilapia or scallops daily. And do a 50-70% water change once a week. When performing a water change, we use the suggested amount of blackwater extract.

Recently, we've been getting this nasty black algae on the glass and all over the wood. The plecos aren't doing their jobs, and we've stopped adding snails as they get killed pretty quickly.

Any suggestions on what we're doing wrong? Are they just outgrowing the tank? Should we be giving them more variety of food?

Thoughts and suggestions welcome.

Sorry for the sideways pictures. You can see the algae on the glass and wood.

photo 1 (2).JPG

photo 2 (2).JPG

photo 3 (2).JPG
 
What are your water parameters and what kind of lighting do you use?

If I had to guess I would say you need to up your wc schedule and thin out your stock. 12 6" cariba in a 90g is too many, and pretty soon they will thin themselves out if you don't do it first. Also get rid of the pleco, all they do is add to bio-load.
 
I'll test my water tomorrow and post results. Leaving the office for the day in a few (tank is in my office).

For lighting, I have an Aqueon LED fixture (http://www.amazon.com/Aqueon-Aquari...=aqueon+led+aquarium+light&pebp=1416263256556) with a blue and white strip.

I'll remove the plecos tomorrow. How many cariba would you say could live happily in this tank? Would a 180 gallon work for all 12?

Thank you!

Jay
 
In a 48x18 footprint you could probably get away with 3-4 until they get around 8". Eventually they will be 10+" and at that size only one will work long term. In a 180g I would suggest 5 maybe 6. These guys get big and are thought to be the most aggressive pygo and have a really high bio-load.

Here is a video/pic of my old cariba trio in 75g. As you can see not a whole lot of room in there once they put on some size.




I moved them to a 125g not long after and they got to about 12" and were really active. Eventually two took out the third and I sold the remaining two.
 
Hello,

We moved the caribe to a 225. Presently we have 11 left.

Since moving them, we've added a maxspect gyre for flow and kept filtration the same (2FX5s).

I have a crazy amount of brown algae. Is there anything I can put in the tank (that the piranha won't eat) to act as a clean up crew?
 
if you don't mind using chemical then treat your tank with algae remover to get rip them completely then use lower power light and less food (the problem with less food your carbies might salvage each other the weakest in group will be a goner and will work toward to next one)
 
Can always add otos. They will likely get picked off by the piranhas though.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
Oxymus said:
You meant Octocinlus? Big fish might leave small fish alone but it's not guarantee, also nothing to lose to try it out and Octocinlus really damn cheap to replace!
Click to expand...

Yea they are the best at it compared to plecos. If small enough hope the otos will be left alone.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom