Christmas Plans Ruined by GT

[Sleepymas]

Just venting nothing much to say but figured someone might empathize.

I got a 75 for cheap on Black Friday along with an FX6 and was all prepared to get a red devil this weekend to put in it as my x-mas present from wife and family. Everyone was chipping in just a big combined present to get all the pieces. Alas, yesterday my green terror in my 125 went insane and tried to kill my Jack Dempsey. I removed the jack at first while planning then this morning came into my office to find the GT is losing it on the next fish in line. Decided to put the GT in the 75 and put the JD back in the 125. Now I don't have a spare tank and my RD I planned to get tomorrow that I had on hold has no home. Feeling the pain of trying to keep aggressive fish, they are fine for months then boom they snap as everyone with experience says.

Just goes to show even in a decent size tank some fish just don't like having tank mates. I could try getting the RD and seeing if the GT is put in place but a 75 is just too small for the RD let alone both of them. I thought about moving all the fish from the 125 over to the 75 and then GT and RD in 125 but the other fish in the 125 is an Oscar and I can't imagine him being stuffed into a 75 with other fish.

Anyhow just a bad day in fish keeping, months of planning down the drain.

 

[tlindsey]

In the wild most Cichlid species will claim a area larger than a 75 gallon or larger so
not a surprise that the GT attacked lower ranking tankmates. I've experienced this and now more knowledgeable about Cichlid behavior.

 

[duanes]

I have watched JDs in Cenotes in nature defend a territory rquivalent to about 250 gallons from all other cichlids.
What a human considers a decent size tank, is a wimpy space compared the territory of most cichlids.
Most medium size cichlids only break off chase after a full 4 ft, so a 6 ft tank is really quite small for more than one mated pair, and leaves little room for any others, unless the chosen territory is at the absolute end, and even then the middle ground is like a DMZ
To me your GT didn't go insane, it was only doing what is natural.
And adding new cichlids piecemeal to a tank with already established cichlid territorial space is usually a recipe for disaster

 

[Sleepymas]

A few notes on what was said by Tlindsey and Duanes.

I am not surprised either but after a year I thought I was over the hump, they were both put in tank the same day at the same size, and have never had issues with them. I knew it could happen but was hopeful. Experience told me it might but many say they could handle each other but the JD was locked in one spot and had given up and I would not let him suffer.

As for decent, I was wording that as compared to most. You can find all kinds of threads and videos of people putting 5 or 10 aggressive large cichlids in a 55 or 75 tank. I had fish in a 125 that had been there a year so it seemed decent in comparison. I understand that in the wild they have huge ranges but that is not feasible in my house. What you are saying is basically "don't keep fish as you will never have a "decent" size area for them". Even with just 1 fish the tank is officially too small and I feel bad about that already but I want to keep fish and do my best job doing it. So thus the chosen word of decent, as in decent in comparison to much I have seen in my last 20 years of doing this.

Insane also apparently a poorly chosen yet fitting word. I was using it as a quick change in the way something acts. I understand that it is natural but if your dog snapped one day after years of being good would you say "that is nature" or "my dog went insane today". Just a choice of words that apparently was poorly chosen but made sense to me at the time. The fish had been together more than a year with no issues, no chasing, no injuries, no hiding just some nicely growing fish that were always at the glass wanting food from me. I chose insane over it did what is natural because I expected people to read that as "a quick change in attitude" but alas I was wrong.

I am not sure where the adding piecemeal came from? The tank was well established and I bought a new tank that was going to have one fish put it in. There was never a plan to mix and match as I know that is a bad idea.

Anyhow it sucks and I don't have room for another tank so I am SOL. I refuse to give away a fish, I bought them, they are my pets and it is my job to keep them for their life. That is my take on pets, I don't give them away unless something like me becoming disabled or losing my home happens. So, in the end, I started this plan months ago after monitoring and making sure my other tank was stable and now the plan is foiled.

Sorry for not wording everything exactly how you would but I did think of all those items and have been prepared for them. I was just hopeful and my Xmas was planned and now gone so I am a little moody. It stinks when something you have worked on for months is taken away in an instant, and it sucks, even more, when people talk to you like you are clueless. Yes, I don't post much but I do read every new post daily and have for years. I am not clueless and it stinks to be talked down to as such.

 

[tlindsey]

A few notes on what was said by Tlindsey and Duanes.

I am not surprised either but after a year I thought I was over the hump, they were both put in tank the same day at the same size, and have never had issues with them. I knew it could happen but was hopeful. Experience told me it might but many say they could handle each other but the JD was locked in one spot and had given up and I would not let him suffer.

As for decent, I was wording that as compared to most. You can find all kinds of threads and videos of people putting 5 or 10 aggressive large cichlids in a 55 or 75 tank. I had fish in a 125 that had been there a year so it seemed decent in comparison. I understand that in the wild they have huge ranges but that is not feasible in my house. What you are saying is basically "don't keep fish as you will never have a "decent" size area for them". Even with just 1 fish the tank is officially too small and I feel bad about that already but I want to keep fish and do my best job doing it. So thus the chosen word of decent, as in decent in comparison to much I have seen in my last 20 years of doing this.

Insane also apparently a poorly chosen yet fitting word. I was using it as a quick change in the way something acts. I understand that it is natural but if your dog snapped one day after years of being good would you say "that is nature" or "my dog went insane today". Just a choice of words that apparently was poorly chosen but made sense to me at the time. The fish had been together more than a year with no issues, no chasing, no injuries, no hiding just some nicely growing fish that were always at the glass wanting food from me. I chose insane over it did what is natural because I expected people to read that as "a quick change in attitude" but alas I was wrong.

I am not sure where the adding piecemeal came from? The tank was well established and I bought a new tank that was going to have one fish put it in. There was never a plan to mix and match as I know that is a bad idea.

Anyhow it sucks and I don't have room for another tank so I am SOL. I refuse to give away a fish, I bought them, they are my pets and it is my job to keep them for their life. That is my take on pets, I don't give them away unless something like me becoming disabled or losing my home happens. So, in the end, I started this plan months ago after monitoring and making sure my other tank was stable and now the plan is foiled.

Sorry for not wording everything exactly how you would but I did think of all those items and have been prepared for them. I was just hopeful and my Xmas was planned and now gone so I am a little moody. It stinks when something you have worked on for months is taken away in an instant, and it sucks, even more, when people talk to you like you are clueless. Yes, I don't post much but I do read every new post daily and have for years. I am not clueless and it stinks to be talked down to as such.

I've kept a lone Firemouth in a 55 gallon with Senegal Bichir for approximately 3 yrs until the Firemouth decided I don't want you in here with me lol. I will admit I was clueless for yrs about territorial behavior of Cichlid because would get frustrated at mixing Cichlid together in aquariums thinking ok and then all out war. I apologize if I offended you in any way.

 

[Sleepymas]

No worries tlindsey I am just having a bad morning and sometimes life lessons sting more than you want them to. The point of this place is to learn and what you said may save someone a lot of headache in the future. It was just not what I wanted at the moment no matter how true it is. You did nothing wrong, just had to have my moment lol. Thanks for chiming in with that extra info, 3 years wow, I would feel very secure at that point so 1+ years is nothing. It is my first dabble into aggressive fish and I have a lot to learn and got hopeful given what I see online. Sadly most don't come back to say what did not work they just show off something that is up and running for a week like it is gospel.

 

[duanes]

The thing about time is, with most cichlids, as they get older, and grow, what was allowable in a community tank setting with them as juvies, becomes moot for mature adults.
Most people will think, my tank works, my cichlids have been together for a year or two, without issue, I'm over the hump. Of course we've all done that.
But for many cichlids, its that 3rd year mark, or .... whenever the ultimate need to breed or its current size overwhelms, that all hell breaks loose, when basic instinct takes over and becomes a critical for issue, that's when the perception that this cichlid has gone insane over night usually strikes .
That's when there's room in the tank for one other, and only if its cooperative mate, no other.
As an example, I had a community Vieja tank, all copasetic for almost 3 years, all added the same day as juvies. At just prior to the 3 year mark, an argentea hit its stride, when I walked into the fish room that morning, all other cichlids in the tank either dead or pinned in corners, with the argentea dead center waiting for any other to dare challenge its alpha status.

 

[twentyleagues]

A few notes on what was said by Tlindsey and Duanes.

I am not surprised either but after a year I thought I was over the hump, they were both put in tank the same day at the same size, and have never had issues with them. I knew it could happen but was hopeful. Experience told me it might but many say they could handle each other but the JD was locked in one spot and had given up and I would not let him suffer.

As for decent, I was wording that as compared to most. You can find all kinds of threads and videos of people putting 5 or 10 aggressive large cichlids in a 55 or 75 tank. I had fish in a 125 that had been there a year so it seemed decent in comparison. I understand that in the wild they have huge ranges but that is not feasible in my house. What you are saying is basically "don't keep fish as you will never have a "decent" size area for them". Even with just 1 fish the tank is officially too small and I feel bad about that already but I want to keep fish and do my best job doing it. So thus the chosen word of decent, as in decent in comparison to much I have seen in my last 20 years of doing this.

Insane also apparently a poorly chosen yet fitting word. I was using it as a quick change in the way something acts. I understand that it is natural but if your dog snapped one day after years of being good would you say "that is nature" or "my dog went insane today". Just a choice of words that apparently was poorly chosen but made sense to me at the time. The fish had been together more than a year with no issues, no chasing, no injuries, no hiding just some nicely growing fish that were always at the glass wanting food from me. I chose insane over it did what is natural because I expected people to read that as "a quick change in attitude" but alas I was wrong.

I am not sure where the adding piecemeal came from? The tank was well established and I bought a new tank that was going to have one fish put it in. There was never a plan to mix and match as I know that is a bad idea.

Anyhow it sucks and I don't have room for another tank so I am SOL. I refuse to give away a fish, I bought them, they are my pets and it is my job to keep them for their life. That is my take on pets, I don't give them away unless something like me becoming disabled or losing my home happens. So, in the end, I started this plan months ago after monitoring and making sure my other tank was stable and now the plan is foiled.

Sorry for not wording everything exactly how you would but I did think of all those items and have been prepared for them. I was just hopeful and my Xmas was planned and now gone so I am a little moody. It stinks when something you have worked on for months is taken away in an instant, and it sucks, even more, when people talk to you like you are clueless. Yes, I don't post much but I do read every new post daily and have for years. I am not clueless and it stinks to be talked down to as such.

It's not that you can't or shouldn't keep fish it's just maybe think about different species of fish to house that won't go "insane" in a confined space. Alot of africans do "better" when overstocked as opposed to understock when tank size is an issue. That's just an example and not a great one at that.