Big Fish, Little Tank

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Trimapit

Trimapit

Plecostomus
MFK Member
May 12, 2017
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Texas
One of my fish prefers a small tank. Am I wrong for keeping him in one?

He is currently a 7" fish being housed in a 36gal bowfront.
I have tried a 90gal, 120gal, and a 150gal trough and he would always hide, not dig, only eat a couple times a week, no personality.
But in this 36gal Bowfront, he digs, eats every day, plays, comes up to the glass, just has become a glass banger....
Now, to compensate I do a 30% water change every other day and have the tank over filtered.

Questions, suggestions, comments???
 
That is so weird. I have never heard of something like that personally aside from people keeping flowerhorn in smaller, bare tanks for kind of "forced personality" by them having nothing better to do than chase the owner back and forth.
 
The issue is he has the potential of getting 15-18" so I have to figure something out.
 
Funny how some fish will change personality in different tanks. How much time did you give him in the bigger tank? Sometimes it just takes a while. Did you transfer scaping items to the new tank that might be making him comfortable? Is there a difference in lighting, surprising how changing lighting spooks some fish.

What type of fish? It's possible as he gets older, bigger, meaner it won't bother him so much. For one thing the relative proportions of a 6 ft tank for a 15-18 inch fish are actually similar to smaller compared with a 7" fish in a 36" tank.
 
Tilapia Buttikoferi. Wrong section I know, but the better section for help given the size and personality of the species.

He has been in the 36gal for about 3weeks.
The 120gal, actually a 116.5 gal flat back Hexagon, outside for about 2 months. Which is a similar tank shape....
The 90gal before that for about 2 months inside.
And the outside 150gal trough for the remainder of the time before that.
I got him in 03/17 at 0.5". Along with 9 others which are gone.
I tried bare tank, just substrate, and fully stocked with decor.
All inside tanks have LED light bars.
In the 150 trough he was kinda neglected, I will say that.
 
I've seen and read of 6ft tank setups with larger fish, where some fish pretty much never leave their side of the tank.

Main thing is keeping good water parameters. You know your fish is doing well if they are active, bright eyed and have a ferocious appetite.
 
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Sometimes it’s easier to grow out fish in small tanks- tanganykan calvus/compressiceps grow quicker in smaller tanks- you can put size on them in 5.5g before moving into a display.
Have you tried to excessive hiding spots in the bigger tank? Like fill it with fake plants and clay pots.
Sometimes fish with an over abundance of hides will be more outgoing as they can easy retreat if need b
 
...otherwise, to the original question, my take is individual cichlids can differ, so do what works. Excuse the 'captain obvious', but someday he will have to leave his cozy little nest and move up in the world.
:arapaimag
 
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