Suicidal Stocking

[shawngt2]

It'll be a hit or miss on the stocking later in the future especially if you end up with a male Jaguar. Females aren't as bad, but still a parachromis. I'd be more worried about the barbs becoming snacks.
Tank is scaped nice though. Where'd you get the wood?

Yeah, snacks they may well be and who knows what will happen. I think even if it ends up being a single male Jag, I won't complain that much

I got the wood at a store here in Toronto, Finatics Aquarium. Cost me $300 CAD...But it'll be in there for a long time and worth it for me.

 

[skjl47]

One of the canisters has been running for 6 years and don't really get algae anymore because of it.

Hello; curious as to how a canister gets rid of algae. Can you elaborate?

 

[Toby_H]

I chat with AI about fish far more than a sane person should. Mostly because my wife gets sick of me going into detail of the grand plans I have. AI is much better at feigning interest.

One thing I've learned is that AI is expert at fetching information, but is not at all nonweldable about the intricacies of fishkeeping.

Also, a dangerous thing that is known about AI is that it will lie to me to make me happy. It'll tell me what I want to hear if telling me the unwanted truth may steer me away from continuing to use it. We have to remember, in the end, AI is a product and we are consumers.

I just asked Google's AI, "Do you think 1x Jaguar, 1x Texas, 1x Jack Dempsey, 1x Convict, 1x Red Headed Veija, 1x Nicaraguan & 5x Filament Barbs will work long term in an 8' 210 gallon tank?" and it responded, "No, this stocking list will highly likely fail long-term, even in an 8-foot, 210-gallon aquarium." It went on to recommend a few changes that are more likely to work long term...

I have kept each of the species you've listed except the Vieja. If they all turn out to be females, I think you've got about a 50/50 shot at it working out. If one turns out to be male, odds drop considerably. If two turn out to be male odds drop significantly. And so forth.

You have a big beautiful tank. I'd assume you want big beautiful fish. trimming your stock list will bring you more of what you want. Overstocked, overcrowded fish usually result in duller colors & clamped fins until they eventually have damage. And fish raised in a high stress environment are often conditioned in a way that doesn't wear off once the stock list is trimmed later in life.

All that said... Half of what I know about fish keeping I learned from doing it wrong. So if you're hell bent on doing it your way, right or wrong, successful or not, you'll learn along the way. Just keep a close eye on things and be willing to made adjustments before the fish suffer.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Roger Mcfish]

Yeah, snacks they may well be and who knows what will happen. I think even if it ends up being a single male Jag, I won't complain that much

I got the wood at a store here in Toronto, Finatics Aquarium. Cost me $300 CAD...But it'll be in there for a long time and worth it for me.

There's website, forgot the name, that sells large wood such as yours but the price
(It was colorado something). Piece you have looks nice!

 

[Roger Mcfish]

I chat with AI about fish far more than a sane person should. Mostly because my wife gets sick of me going into detail of the grand plans I have. AI is much better at feigning interest.

One thing I've learned is that AI is expert at fetching information, but is not at all nonweldable about the intricacies of fishkeeping.

Also, a dangerous thing that is known about AI is that it will lie to me to make me happy. It'll tell me what I want to hear if telling me the unwanted truth may steer me away from continuing to use it. We have to remember, in the end, AI is a product and we are consumers.

I just asked Google's AI, "Do you think 1x Jaguar, 1x Texas, 1x Jack Dempsey, 1x Convict, 1x Red Headed Veija, 1x Nicaraguan & 5x Filament Barbs will work long term in an 8' 210 gallon tank?" and it responded, "No, this stocking list will highly likely fail long-term, even in an 8-foot, 210-gallon aquarium." It went on to recommend a few changes that are more likely to work long term...

I have kept each of the species you've listed except the Vieja. If they all turn out to be females, I think you've got about a 50/50 shot at it working out. If one turns out to be male, odds drop considerably. If two turn out to be male odds drop significantly. And so forth.

You have a big beautiful tank. I'd assume you want big beautiful fish. trimming your stock list will bring you more of what you want. Overstocked, overcrowded fish usually result in duller colors & clamped fins until they eventually have damage. And fish raised in a high stress environment are often conditioned in a way that doesn't wear off once the stock list is trimmed later in life.

All that said... Half of what I know about fish keeping I learned from doing it wrong. So if you're hell bent on doing it your way, right or wrong, successful or not, you'll learn along the way. Just keep a close eye on things and be willing to made adjustments before the fish suffer.

Welcome to the forum.

Only thing I'd mainly worry about is cross breeding. I had to separate my lyonsi and synspilum because I believed they were starting to get a little tooooo close lol

 

[shawngt2]

I chat with AI about fish far more than a sane person should. Mostly because my wife gets sick of me going into detail of the grand plans I have. AI is much better at feigning interest.

One thing I've learned is that AI is expert at fetching information, but is not at all nonweldable about the intricacies of fishkeeping.

Also, a dangerous thing that is known about AI is that it will lie to me to make me happy. It'll tell me what I want to hear if telling me the unwanted truth may steer me away from continuing to use it. We have to remember, in the end, AI is a product and we are consumers.

I just asked Google's AI, "Do you think 1x Jaguar, 1x Texas, 1x Jack Dempsey, 1x Convict, 1x Red Headed Veija, 1x Nicaraguan & 5x Filament Barbs will work long term in an 8' 210 gallon tank?" and it responded, "No, this stocking list will highly likely fail long-term, even in an 8-foot, 210-gallon aquarium." It went on to recommend a few changes that are more likely to work long term...

I have kept each of the species you've listed except the Vieja. If they all turn out to be females, I think you've got about a 50/50 shot at it working out. If one turns out to be male, odds drop considerably. If two turn out to be male odds drop significantly. And so forth.

You have a big beautiful tank. I'd assume you want big beautiful fish. trimming your stock list will bring you more of what you want. Overstocked, overcrowded fish usually result in duller colors & clamped fins until they eventually have damage. And fish raised in a high stress environment are often conditioned in a way that doesn't wear off once the stock list is trimmed later in life.

All that said... Half of what I know about fish keeping I learned from doing it wrong. So if you're hell bent on doing it your way, right or wrong, successful or not, you'll learn along the way. Just keep a close eye on things and be willing to made adjustments before the fish suffer.

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for your feedback! My 210, as well as a standard 210 is 6' in length. Interesting about AI. I knew there was reason people didn't like it. I'm just starting to ramp up on its use. For example had it evaluate some recent bloodwork and it was amazing what it reported.

The only fish I have extensive experience with keeping in my tank is a JD that was 5-6 years old "Bullet". He was a family favourite. He was a gentle giant and lived with my red shoulder and gold severum and they all lived in a 90 since they were but 1-2" in length.

I am looking for suggestions to have in my tank. Maybe it is destined to be a one fish or a pair sort of tank. I like community, but cichlids are pretty brutal. I probably would be OK in the long run if I was to not have a Jag, the Texas and the Vieja all together. That's my feeling anyways.

Would love some ideas of what a typical long term setup would look like with an awesome wet pet or three in it!

And about learning by doing things wrong, exactly! I work in the Engineering field and see many interns and there is so much value in making mistakes. As long as you're not one of those that don't learn from them.

 

[shawngt2]

Hello; curious as to how a canister gets rid of algae. Can you elaborate?

I can't elaborate unfortunately. with any scientific conclusions. I do know it is common in marine tanks for biology to establish long enough that diatoms and other nuisance algae just stop and everything becomes more harmonious and easier to maintain. With my 210 freshwater, it took a little over a year to stop getting brown algae on ornaments, etc. I didn't change anything over that year or so but know that eventually less algae developed in an unplanted tank. It happens to all my aquariums, salt or fresh.

I do run Seachem Matrix, as mentioned previously, and it is apparently supposed to get anaerobic bacterial cultures, which is supposed to break down nitrates. Not sure if that may be it in my case. IDK. I do know that I have never seen my nitrates higher than 20ppm and that is even after one month of no water changes. That was also the case when I was having the typical algae blooms and brown algae over everything a few weeks after scrubbing everything down. It just all disappears eventually and no scrubbing needed anymore (maybe once every 6 months or so).

 

[Toby_H]

Ah, so your 210 is 6' x 2' @ 30" tall.
You said 210, but I heard/thought 240.

This makes your mix an even higher territorial risk.

For reference, I am in the process of breaking down quite a few medium sized aquariums and replacing them with a few 6'x2.5'@2.1' 234 gal aquariums. I'm stocking from one of two approaches... Very few Robust CA cichlid... or a community of less aggressive SA cichlids... But a community of robust CA Cichlids is just a very high risk scenario.

The majority of the people who have done this (community of robust CA Cichlids) either A) had several other aquariums to move fish around in until they got the mix that works, or B) killed/injured a lot of fish in the makings... And in either case, got lucky. As plenty of people attempt such without even finding the group that works.

I will say, one of my favorite aquariums I've ever kept was a 6' 125 gal featuring Apistograma Cacatuoides. The bottom half had extensive rock & driftwood. The 6' length allowed just enough space for multiple males to tolerate one another, and the females overlapped each other peacefully. When I started this tank I worked it would be a waste of a big tank on a species that I'd bred in 29 gal tanks. But the size allowed for communal behavior I'd never seen before.

Or... Go big and get a pair of Trimacs, or some other Amphilophus or Parachromis species and keep a 'wet pet' or pair.

You really do have a lot of options with a tank the size of yours. But every tank has it's limits. You'll be happier in the long run (and so will your fish) if you don't push beyond your tanks limits.