Another poly ? please stop me

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

jaws7777

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Mar 1, 2014
17,773
20,952
740
White house 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington
Guys i want another one... not sure which but i really really like dr.b's mokelembembe.

I am planning on moving and would upgrade my 150 to probably a 180 or 210 at the minimum i dont believe in stocking a tank with the plans to upgrade. So in the event that i dont move (which isnt gonna happen but lets say i dont)

If i move my l200 pleco to another tank the 150 would be stocked as follows.

1 pearsei
1 heterospilus
1 dehelzi bichir
1 ornate bichir
1 mokelembembe or similar (retropinnis or gold dust) bichir

Would this tank be a nightmare to maintain good water quality? Figure in the adult sizes
 
Can't speak for the other fish, but poly wise your fine. You could probably add 4-5 more if you wanted.
 
Pearsei get huge and thick think oscar but a little bigger. Hets on the smaller side like 8ish.

Im pretty sure aggression wont be an issue im more concerned with water quality.

You know the pick of your moke is killing me.

Im thinking either a moke, retro, or gold dust
 
Get a retro. They aren't too available nowadays. But I think your water quality should be fine if u keep up ur wc's in the 150.
 
Im not sure i could do wc's every otherday day. I have a looming surgery coming up and all sorts of crap going on once or twice a week i could get the wife to pitch in but thats stretching it lol

This is my problem with deciding.... no good pics of retropinnis, mokes or gold dust on the net. And ive always been iffy with ordering polys online. With the ca cichlids i keep its easy to order 3, 4, 5 even 10 (just did 10 with vieja zonatus) cuz they are so cheap and pick the best looking one rehome/sell the rest but with polys for me it would be a one and done order. With the del and ornate i have inwas able to pick from the lfs
 
I actually find ordering online pretty enjoyable. You just have to know the right places to go. IMO with buettikoferi you can never really go wrong. They often times will look different depending on where you order them from, but they usually all get nice patterns or base color. Mokes (from what I've seen) most times usually stay more towards the blackened side. I haven't seen too many that have distinct patterns. So when picking mokes I was always picky what they looked like. With retros if you find one get it. They aren't too common and if you are picky when looking at patterns you will most likely lose out. If I were you one thing I would've wished I had done when I didn't have too many polys, is wished I would've been pickier. Getting them is a lot easier than selling them, so what I would suggest is not exactly target specific species, but rather just look around and buy whatever you think to be an absolutely must have poly. So if you see a stunning palmas palmas don't go buy a buettikoferi because it's on your list, but buy the palmas palmas because it's what looks best. Just my advice though.
 
jaws7777 said:
Im not sure i could do wc's every otherday day. I have a looming surgery coming up and all sorts of crap going on once or twice a week i could get the wife to pitch in but thats stretching it lol

This is my problem with deciding.... no good pics of retropinnis, mokes or gold dust on the net. And ive always been iffy with ordering polys online. With the ca cichlids i keep its easy to order 3, 4, 5 even 10 (just did 10 with vieja zonatus) cuz they are so cheap and pick the best looking one rehome/sell the rest but with polys for me it would be a one and done order. With the del and ornate i have inwas able to pick from the lfs
Click to expand...
I would do wc maybe once a week maybe 1/4 of the water or 2 weeks in the 40-50% and get/build a better filter
 
  • Like
Reactions: thomeski
I usually do atleat 50 to 75 % wcs every week. Sometimes every 5 days.

This is gonna sound really stupid but keep in mind ive only been keeping polys for a few months... what is there waste production like ? I mean with large cichlids they produce allot of ammonia. Some of you guys have huge polys so on a weekly basis what do your nitrates look like ?

Mokes syay at around 10 ish inches right ?
What about retros and gold dust ?
 
Honestly I don't think they put off as much waste as most fish I check my paremeters in my 75 gal with 7 bichirs 9-17" and a 10" gar and it's usually not to bad .... Now every now and then it may get ruff with a must have ASAP wc but usually I can go 5 days with out problems .... But when I had my aro of 17" in there with 3 more polys to I had to do wc every 3-4 days lol ..... But keep in mind u got a 150 gal I got a 75 :) u should be better off cause u have bigger tank with smaller polys and most r upper jaw they get no where as big
 
Geez i had 1 argentea in my 75 gal and had to do 50to75 % weekly.

If you had to say does that tank fet above 20ppm nitrate?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom