Fish Identification

[Gourami Swami]

Bichirs are indeed awesome fish. Always loved mine. They can eat tilapia but will thrive just fine on regular pellets. The Oscars are not wild caught unless you specifically ordered them that way. I wouldn't worry about pH too much with fish store purchased fish- these are all very domesticated species and adapt fine to tap water. You are smart in my opinion in treating the water as little as possible. In general, the Jewel should be a fine match with Oscars, convicts, firemouths- as long as the tank is large enough. 2 Oscars alone need quite a large tank, what size were you planning on upgrading to?

 

[mwatson1430]

lol I know but you can order wild caught fish. I have a wild caught Mesoheros Festae. I wouldn't worry too much about water quality long term them since your pH is rather neutral.

Do you feed your bichir tilapia? That along with pellets seems to be the staple of their diet, I've personally never owned one but have been doing some research lately.

Oh, and the Jewel is probably attacking the Gourami because it is the largest fish in the tank. And it's ignoring the Oscars because they present no threat to him. Oscars can be aggressive but I seriously treat them as if they're peaceful fish. I've housed them with Angels in the past.

lol I didn't know you could order wild caught fish. Good to know.

My Bichir eats freeze dried blood worms mostly right now. The tank gets fed the blood worms, flakes, wafers and the occasional cucumber and/or zuchinni. The only thing the Bichir goes after is the blood worms.

If I remove the Gourami from the tank will the Jewel start attacking the larger (3 Inch) Oscar or the Albino Rainbow Shark (5 Inch)?

 

[tlindsey]

Welcome to MFK ☺ Like stated you will have aggression issues with some Cichlid species but have seen it work if you given a large enough space for them. The Oscar's will need a larger aquarium especially if you plan on keeping other fish with them.

 

[mwatson1430]

Bichirs are indeed awesome fish. Always loved mine. They can eat tilapia but will thrive just fine on regular pellets. The Oscars are not wild caught unless you specifically ordered them that way. I wouldn't worry about pH too much with fish store purchased fish- these are all very domesticated species and adapt fine to tap water. You are smart in my opinion in treating the water as little as possible. In general, the Jewel should be a fine match with Oscars, convicts, firemouths- as long as the tank is large enough. 2 Oscars alone need quite a large tank, what size were you planning on upgrading to?

I have a 180 gallon that I am slowly preparing to set up. I have the tank but not all of the equipment for it. My goal was to have the 180 be a SA/CA cichlid tank with the aforementioned Oscars that I am currently growing out in what has become a semi-aggressive 75 gallon tank. Plans change though when we have kiddos assisting with picking out the fish. The two Oscars and most likely the Bichir will be moved to the 180 when it's ready to go in a few months.

Seems like every time I settle on the "largest" tank I'll get I want more and bigger fish....worse addictions to have though!

 

[tlindsey]

lol I didn't know you could order wild caught fish. Good to know.

My Bichir eats freeze dried blood worms mostly right now. The tank gets fed the blood worms, flakes, wafers and the occasional cucumber and/or zuchinni. The only thing the Bichir goes after is the blood worms.

If I remove the Gourami from the tank will the Jewel start attacking the larger (3 Inch) Oscar or the Albino Rainbow Shark (5 Inch)?

Most likely it will but you can reduce this with plants, driftwood, ornaments to break the line of sight.

 

[tlindsey]

I have a 180 gallon that I am slowly preparing to set up. I have the tank but not all of the equipment for it. My goal was to have the 180 be a SA/CA cichlid tank with the aforementioned Oscars that I am currently growing out in what has become a semi-aggressive 75 gallon tank. Plans change though when we have kiddos assisting with picking out the fish. The two Oscars and most likely the Bichir will be moved to the 180 when it's ready to go in a few months.

Seems like every time I settle on the "largest" tank I'll get I want more and bigger fish....worse addictions to have though!

lol the best addiction to have ☺

 

[Gourami Swami]

Cool man, that 180 gallon will be a good size for the two Oscars, jewel, bichir, and some other small cichlids can join them in there as well. I would try to research the fish the kiddies are picking before they do, and steer them in the right direction- the jewel cichlid will be just fine, but if they had picked up say, a red devil cichlid, it wouldn't have worked out with the stocking you have. I know it's difficult when they see one they like, but it'll be easier to dissuade them in the store than to give it away once it's home and they name it and are attached.

 

[mwatson1430]

Cool man, that 180 gallon will be a good size for the two Oscars, jewel, bichir, and some other small cichlids can join them in there as well. I would try to research the fish the kiddies are picking before they do, and steer them in the right direction- the jewel cichlid will be just fine, but if they had picked up say, a red devil cichlid, it wouldn't have worked out with the stocking you have. I know it's difficult when they see one they like, but it'll be easier to dissuade them in the store than to give it away once it's home and they name it and are attached.

Thanks for the info and the help! I have been able to steer them in the correct direction for the most part, it was when momma took them to the pet store that we got our Jewel. Although, if I were there I probably would have approved the purchase considering the temperment of the current stock and the size of the one community fish we have, the Gourami. I'm really just lucky that neither kid, nor the wife, enjoy the smaller community live bearers.

Where we have already veered away from the strict SA/CA stocking would 2-3 tinfoil barbs or a shoal of silver dollars be appropriate for the 180 with two Oscars, the Jewel, and the Bichir?

 

[Gourami Swami]

Where we have already veered away from the strict SA/CA stocking would 2-3 tinfoil barbs or a shoal of silver dollars be appropriate for the 180 with two Oscars, the Jewel, and the Bichir?

Yes, I would recommend the silver dollars over the tinfoil barbs though, the TF's get huge and have pretty thick bodies, producing more bioload. I'd say 6 or so silver dollars would be a nice school for the tank.