Critique my setup please!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Once again, the fish are tiny and have TONS of room (for now) to have their own territories. My big Dempsey hangs out in a cave and leaves everybody alone. They get along just fine. Once it starts getting out of hand I will be moving fish. I just found a sweet deal on a used 55 that I will most likely get. I think I'm failing to see what's wrong here. And I did thank you for answering my question.

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I have so many fish because I want to get pairs and have them breed. Once I have the pairs the other fish will be removed, as per suggested by almost everybody when looking to get a pair.
 
I have so many fish because I want to get pairs and have them breed. Once I have the pairs the other fish will be removed, as per suggested by almost everybody when looking to get a pair.

I think you may have misunderstood the common suggestion of keeping multiple fish to get a breeding pair so I wanted to clarify this. The recommendation generally refers to keeping multiple juvenile conspecifics (i.e. of the same species) to provide a greater range of options for a fish to choose its mate, and then removing the other conspecifics when a pair forms.

This is not what you have - you have multiple duplicates/triplicates of a range of different species stuck together in a tank, which is generally not recommended for breeding purposes. The fish don't have many mates to choose from, and the stress of the other tank mates can make it harder to form a pair, harder to compete for an optimal breeding site, harder to defend their eggs/fry and more likely to end up with random hybrids. Plus, the tank is probably not large enough to allow you to successfully house multiple breeding pairs of the stock you currently own (except for the convicts).

If your goal is really to breed, I suggest you decide which species you want to work with and then get a few more of that species and remove the others from the tank.
 
I have so many fish because I want to get pairs and have them breed. Once I have the pairs the other fish will be removed, as per suggested by almost everybody when looking to get a pair.
Oh. My. Goodnes. It doesnt end. So you dont have adequate room to house the fish you have, and the goal is to breed more fish. Fail across the board.
I think you may have misunderstood the common suggestion of keeping multiple fish to get a breeding pair so I wanted to clarify this. The recommendation generally refers to keeping multiple juvenile conspecifics (i.e. of the same species) to provide a greater range of options for a fish to choose its mate, and then removing the other conspecifics when a pair forms.

This is not what you have - you have multiple duplicates/triplicates of a range of different species stuck together in a tank, which is generally not recommended for breeding purposes. The fish don't have many mates to choose from, and the stress of the other tank mates can make it harder to form a pair, harder to compete for an optimal breeding site, harder to defend their eggs/fry and more likely to end up with random hybrids. Plus, the tank is probably not large enough to allow you to successfully house multiple breeding pairs of the stock you currently own (except for the convicts).

If your goal is really to breed, I suggest you decide which species you want to work with and then get a few more of that species and remove the others from the tank.

100% well put. Awesome comment!
 
A tank with the dimensions you mention (72x15x18) sounds great in theory but 85 gallons is still only 85 gallons of water. It is really about enough for "maybe" one pair of fish, but better for just one 'wet pet'.

Having used the Penguin 350's before I would say they are adequate for a little while but you would be better off getting out of the whole cartridge game and get something like an AC110 and a canister combo. The AC will do great with mechanical and a canister will be good for bio.
 
Okay I get it. I have too many fish. I'm working on making more room in my tank by getting rid of fish. I have been wanting haha for a coupld year's and now that I have them they kinda trump my other fish. I am getting another tank (55) for them to grow out, I'm keeping the JDs because I've had them forever and they're special to me, the Mayans will stay with the JDs (they're still very small) one of the midevils will stay and they rest of the fish will go with my friend. Sorry for sounding so ignorant this while time, as you can probably tell I'm sorta new to aquarium stuff. I thank you for all the answers and help. Would that idea work for the time being until the Mayans and midevil are bigger? Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

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