Adding fish

[TheOscarFishKing]

Hello I am trying to add a 5 inch silver arowana to my South American tank. I tried to put it in yesterday but my 6.5 inch oscar had the head of the arowana in its mouth. Right now I have three oscars, 6 or 7 black belts and one convict. I will also be adding a shovel nose into the aquarium. In September they are all being moved into a 280

 

[duanes]

What size is the tank they are in now?
It may be too small to add a new fish to that tank, they have already carved out territories, cichlids almost always do, and have determined those boundaries are set in stone.
What "you want", may have no bearing on their own territorial reality.
To them anything crossing into their zone, must be eliminated.
I know, that sounds way too anthropomorphic, but may be quite apropos.
One after thought, I find Central American black belt cichlids are almost always too aggressive to be kept with oscars. At some point when they reach maturity, the black belts may turn your oscars into hamburger, a 250 gal may prevent it, but maybe not.

 

[TheOscarFishKing]

What size is the tank they are in now?
It may be too small to add a new fish to that tank, they have already either carved out territories, cichlids almost always do, and have determined the boundaries are set in stone.
What "you want", may have no bearing on their own territorial reality.
To them anything crossing into their zone, must be eliminated.
I know, that sounds way too anthropomorphic, but may be quite apropos.

For right now they are in a 55 and my quarantine is 29. That has the arowana and the shovel nose. Do you think it would be better to let them into the big tank before any of the other fish?

 

[duanes]

With the 10 fish in 55 now, it is way to small to add any new fish.
IMO a 55 is too small for 6.5" oscar.
I would wait until the 280 is ready, and then add them all at once.
And even in the 280, once the fish have set up territories, it "may" be hard to add fish piece meal or any new fish (especially cichlids) once territories have been established.

 

[TheOscarFishKing]

With the 10 fish in 55 now, it is way to small to add any new fish.
IMO a 55 is too small for 6.5" oscar.
I would wait until the 280 is ready, and then add them all at once.
And even in the 280, once the fish have set up territories, it "may" be hard to add fish piece meal or any new fish (especially cichlids) once territories have been established.

Okay sweet I will be getting more fish once the tank is all set up and stuff I do want to add the arowana dirt for about a week and then add everything else do you think that is a good idea or no

 

[TheOscarFishKing]

Do you have any advice on the shovel nose he is about 1.5 inches

 

[duanes]

I think adding the arowana 1st is not a bad idea.
I have never kept shovel nose.
But I do think "if" you are going to add more fish to the 280, you should get more quarantine tanks (enclosures), quarantine all the new fish, and add them (old and new) all at once.
This is why, and I know it seems excessive..
If you add new cichlids to the 280 later, there is a 50/50 chance the original cichlids will kill them. Or....
If you don't quarantine the new ones, they could be disease carriers that wipe out the entire population 280, or best case scenario, cause you to spend much more money on meds than a few extra quarantine tanks, and lots of time trying to cure diseases.

 

[Tahn]

You have 3 Oscars, 6 or 7 Black Belts, and a Convict in a 55?

Damn, and I thought I was overstocked in my 55 lol

 

[TheOscarFishKing]

You have 3 Oscars, 6 or 7 Black Belts, and a Convict in a 55?

Damn, and I thought I was overstocked in my 55 lol

I have my tank over filtered I do a water change every three days and most of them are really small. I will be building a 280 in September for them

 

[Tahn]

I have my tank over filtered I do a water change every three days and most of them are really small. I will be building a 280 in September for them

Hey no arguments here, I live in an apartment where I can only keep 1 55 max, and my tank is pretty overstocked as well lol, but I keep up with the maintenance~