Last week I bought a 75 gal. tank and transfered my community tank to it. I know have an empty 55 and it needs fish, now. I would like a few bigger fish in this tank instead of alot of small ones. I was thinking of discus or piranah. What do you think?
55 gal. suggestions
- Thread starter MYGOBYRULES
- Start date
personally i find keeping piranha one one of the worst things you can do with a fish tank! they are so incredibly dull in the home environment. you tend to see them for sale all the time and as a general rule beginners get them thinking they are tough hard fish but they end up selling them pretty fast as reality couldnt be farther from that.
55gal is a small tank for a large fish as it is. if you want something you can enjoy keeping why not get a cheapo oscar? they are clever grow fast and its like having a dog in a tank. 55 gal is about the recommended minimum for one but why not go against the grain and add 2 or three good sized yellow labs as a clean up crew? for the amount of waste food produced by an oscar after meal times and the scraps that the labs eat will far out weigh the extra load on your filter. many purist will say you shouldnt keep SA with african and in a lot of cases this is true but in my own personal experience i dont think you can beat that combo for colour, intrest and a healthy tank.
55gal is a small tank for a large fish as it is. if you want something you can enjoy keeping why not get a cheapo oscar? they are clever grow fast and its like having a dog in a tank. 55 gal is about the recommended minimum for one but why not go against the grain and add 2 or three good sized yellow labs as a clean up crew? for the amount of waste food produced by an oscar after meal times and the scraps that the labs eat will far out weigh the extra load on your filter. many purist will say you shouldnt keep SA with african and in a lot of cases this is true but in my own personal experience i dont think you can beat that combo for colour, intrest and a healthy tank.
I heard you must have a license of some sort to keep piranha. Is that true? And if not, I have never seen any where I live for sale. Not in a fish store that is.
if your in florida they are illegal, the only exceptions i think are for aquariums or research facilities. It is illegal for LFS to sell them too there is a thread that shows a map of where they are legal and illegal in the piranha forum.
Convicts are fun to keep. They aren't the prettiest fish out there, but they aren't boring to watch. I've always been in awe of the tyrannical nature that such a relatively small fish gets when it starts to breed.
And breed it will.
Its fun to watch breeding convicts march their babies all over the tank (and kick the snot out of everything in their way). If you have other tanks, convicts make a seemingly endless supply of live food.
I've personally never been a fan of discus and piranha not that it really matters as piranhas are illegal in this neck of the woods (as far as I know). They just seem particularly drab. I have no discus experience, but everyone Ive talked to has turned me off of them with stories of how delicate they are.
Male Texas cichlids and Green terrors also look good.
And breed it will.
Its fun to watch breeding convicts march their babies all over the tank (and kick the snot out of everything in their way). If you have other tanks, convicts make a seemingly endless supply of live food.
I've personally never been a fan of discus and piranha not that it really matters as piranhas are illegal in this neck of the woods (as far as I know). They just seem particularly drab. I have no discus experience, but everyone Ive talked to has turned me off of them with stories of how delicate they are.
Male Texas cichlids and Green terrors also look good.
go for discus...you'll absolutely love them. They will be a little bit more work than a standard cichlid, but the end results will be awesome. The key with discus are the water changes...50% 1-2x a week. The more frequent, the better. Yes, you can get by with less, but you wont get good results...sick fish, stunted fish, fish that always hide, poor shapes, and poor appetite. Do some research on a few major discus specific forums and find out for yourself. Discus arent as hard as everyone thinks they are. As long as you meet a few of their requirements, they are a joy to have.
-Ryan
-Ryan
Yeah, I think I have settled on discus. I was just tossing the piranah idea out there to see what people thought. I have never known anyone to have them so I thought I would get some opinions. Discus were my first choice anyway. I have done the research and am in the process of cycling the tank now.
Another point to consider is this...the source of your discus will make a world of a difference in how easy they are to care for. DO NOT get discus from your LFS...they are generally stunted, hormoned, or have low immune systems due to stress in the LFS tanks. The low immune system is something that I would bet on, especially if they've been there a while. Having the low immune system, the discus can and will break down on you in your tank. This will end up having you spend a lot of money on medications. Save yourself the hassle and headache and spend a few exrta bucks and get quality discus from a reliable and reputable discus breeder/importer. In the beginning and long run, things will be MUCH easier for you. A healthy fish is much easier to care for than a fish that needs constant attention and care. If you dont have any local breeders by your, send me a PM and i'll give you a list of discus breeders and importers that I would recommend for mail order.
-Ryan
-Ryan