Consolidate? Separate? Sell?

[SourAngelfish]

Alright, wanting to see some brainstorming from you all



In around 8 months, I will be going off to school. Thankfully I will be somewhat close by and can care for the fish, I will not be able to be there daily however. I have a somewhat decent size collection of medium-large freshwater fish. As of now my collection is relatively split up. I have unfortunately been given the condition of having to merge all of my fish into two large tanks. One saltwater, one freshwater. The saltwater fish have been settled, I am now struggling to decide which freshwater fish to keep or sell.

I am pretty big on having my fish separated by continents, I could do this, however I would need to sacrifice large fractions of my fish. If I were to do this, I would 100% be keeping my fish out of Asia. The other option is having a tank with a large mix of random fish, not really my cup of tea but certainly an option. I will now list my fish and their origins.

Osphronemus goramy - CB Asia -
Threespot gourami - CB Asia -
Tinfoil Barbs - CB Asia -
Bala Sharks - CB Asia -
Chitala ornata - CB Asia -
Chitala lopis - F0 Indonesia -
Umbee - F0 Rio Claro??? -
A. crassipinnis - F0 Rio Araguaia -
longnose gar - CB NA -
Midas Cichlid - CB CA -
Hemidoras morrisi - Rio Nanay -
Nile Tilapia - F2 Jordan River -
Auchenoglanis biscutatus - F0 Africa? -
West African Lungfish - F0 West Africa -
Batrochoglanis raninus - F0 Rio Nanay -

I have excluded my smaller freshwater fish and fish I have little desire to keep...

So with this list, here are fish I am certain I will have to sell as they are simply incompatible with these other fish...
Feel free to inquire if you would be interested in them:

Umbee
West African Lungfish
Chitala ornata
Threespot Gourami

And as I said before, I am certain I will be keeping my Asian fish, specifically my two favorites:

C. lopis
O. goramy

The tank these fish will be consolidating in will be a 3 by 6 foot tank that holds around 350 gallons. This tank will be up for around 2-4 years.

Anyways, looking for a lot of things here, should I keep exclusively Asian fish? Trade my remaining fish some desirable Asian schooling fish? Or should I keep a majority of my fish and keep an XLG thunder dome tank? This is definitely tough, especially coming up all so suddenly. Thankfully I have several months to work this out, just getting started ASAP.

 

[Rocksor]

I would start with just doing what you said. You'll more likely be happy in the long run versus begrudingly keep a tank you are not really happy with.

"I am pretty big on having my fish separated by continents..." "The other option is having a tank with a large mix of random fish, not really my cup of tea..."

Feel free to inquire if you would be interested in them:

Would help to let folks know where you are at, if you're looking to rehome.

 

[SourAngelfish]

I’m located near Atlanta Georgia

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

I wouldnt even bother trying to keep the barbs, gar nor the tilipia as they are dime a dozen and easily replaced unless you have connection to them the balas can easily go too. Focus on the harder to replace stocklist?

 

[SourAngelfish]

I decided what I have wanted to do, and was able to sell my remaining fish rather quickly.
I am doing basically a 75% Asian tank but will have two foreigners among the bunch. I’ve become very attached to my crassipinnis Oscar and my biscutatus giraffe cat so I’ve decided to keep the two of them. The Oscar is buddy buddy with my giant gourami constantly and giraffes are just my favorite catfish.

here’s what the stock list for the tank is turning to be like:

O. goramy
C. lopis
10x tinfoil barbs
3x lemon barbs
2x bala shark
Oscar
Giraffe cat

I’d like to include some different species of barb/mahseer so if anyone has anything please let me know. Also curious what others think of this list? I’m fairly content with it as of now.

 

[Damascus]

I decided what I have wanted to do, and was able to sell my remaining fish rather quickly.
I am doing basically a 75% Asian tank but will have two foreigners among the bunch. I’ve become very attached to my crassipinnis Oscar and my biscutatus giraffe cat so I’ve decided to keep the two of them. The Oscar is buddy buddy with my giant gourami constantly and giraffes are just my favorite catfish.

here’s what the stock list for the tank is turning to be like:

O. goramy
C. lopis
10x tinfoil barbs
3x lemon barbs
2x bala shark
Oscar
Giraffe cat

I’d like to include some different species of barb/mahseer so if anyone has anything please let me know. Also curious what others think of this list? I’m fairly content with it as of now.

Sounds like you made the right move. I try to stick to certain continents, mainly large south American, but I have a stranger or two in most of my tanks, usually fish that I cannot live with out, amongst them my fathers jardini. Fish that you have an attachment to are irreplaceable and I am always willing to make a "biotope" exception to keep a fish that has sentimental value or a bucket list fish.

Best of luck!