WOW< I am glad I did not post my 55 Gallon tank with 48 African Chiclids in it. As brutal as these people are on you!!
Full Tank Shot 2011 update.
- Thread starter King-eL
- Start date
Well anyone with overstock tank there are always haters. I just laugh at them. Lol!
I'm always surprised by all the "overstocked is unnatural" comments. Aquariums are inherently unnatural. If Earl's tank had two fish in it, it would still be grossly cramped to the wild environment where big predatory fish might encounter each other from many meters away, if at all. Fish are also "supposed" to be able to swim their entire lives without encountering an impenetrable glass barrier, let alone be imprisoned in a minuscule fraction of their native range.
My point is that it is rather pointless to rag on certain members for an artificially created notion of what constitutes "moral" fish care. Regardless of how lightly you stock, you're still stuffing fish into a tiny box for your own personal amusement...Earl's amusement just involves more fish than most.
My point is that it is rather pointless to rag on certain members for an artificially created notion of what constitutes "moral" fish care. Regardless of how lightly you stock, you're still stuffing fish into a tiny box for your own personal amusement...Earl's amusement just involves more fish than most.
looks great as usual buddy , never mind the haters on this site . haters gonna hate !@! we both know your fish come first and are super healthy and happy !@! ...
I agree SimonL, Earl's fish are predators and yeah they are in a tank that will never compare to their natural enviroments. But they are healthy and well taken care of, this is evident by looking at them. What these haters do not realize is overstocking is way heathier then maintaining an normal average. Overstocking allows smaller and weaker fish to survive with the larger ones by causing them the ability to blend in and hide. If there were less fish Earl would have more aggression and more deaths. Not sure about Earl's species but your average Chiclid in Lake Malawi will swim 15 miles in a month along the shores. I know not one Fish tank that can simulate that.
As for my 55 gallon, it was a setup to these guys. It has 48 Aulonocara Sp Chitande Type Masinje Fry in it. These guys are rare and a 55 gallon grow out tank is a fairly large grow out tank.
Just my opinion on people that try to stir others up is they are trying one of two things:
1) Think they are the best at Fish Keeping and No one knows more then them
2) Want to keep everyone attention on someone else so their faults are not noticed
Like I said just My Opinion Here.
As for my 55 gallon, it was a setup to these guys. It has 48 Aulonocara Sp Chitande Type Masinje Fry in it. These guys are rare and a 55 gallon grow out tank is a fairly large grow out tank.
Just my opinion on people that try to stir others up is they are trying one of two things:
1) Think they are the best at Fish Keeping and No one knows more then them
2) Want to keep everyone attention on someone else so their faults are not noticed
Like I said just My Opinion Here.
Let's leave the name calling and derailing out. There is no question that the tank is overstocked. But as he stated, he takes the African cichlid approach, which is a proven method. Being confrontational isn't going to change his mind. If you don't like how he has his tanks, don't click on the thread. That being said, very nice collection, very nice looking fish, very nice tank.
Agreed.
Too many idiots thinking that they know it all, claiming to be "scientists". Just a bunch of haters in my opinion.
Fact of the matter is, his fish are healthy, lively, and active. So I wouldn't cuss on him at all. In fact, his tank is heaven compared to some other crap holes and sardine cans that I've seen.
Thanks for all the nice words!!! I glad that there are people who understand on how I do my tank.
Bottom line is that 375G is small for all of those fish- he admits that he wishes he had more room for a larger tank. OP states that he "has his own ways" and some sort of special "method." I believe this special "way" and "method" is most likely why he lost some of his fish while on vacation...but instead of speculating, I will ask...what happened while you were on vacation? Do you know why the fish died?
My biggest issue with bragging about keeping lots of large notorious killers in a small tank is that there seem to be a lot of young kids on this website (not saying that OP or any of the JDM advocates are young), but I think when they see tanks like this, they think that it's cool and something to aspire to. This type of fishkeeping is risky and will often result in lots of dead fish. Whether it's from an ammonia spike from keeping such a huge bioload in such a small tank, from a fish going on a killing spree, fish trying to jump out or from being away from your tank (i.e.- vacation) and not being able to monitor things it's not the best way to keep fish.
I FULLY realize the "best way" is a subjective/relative term, but no one here can refute that if one of these fish had the tank to themselves, the chances of keeping the fish successfully for their full lifespan would increase. For all of the younger kids that are just getting into the hobby, this tank is not a good example of where you should start and IMHO, nothing to aspire to...but like I said, this is just my opinion. I don't think I should be censored for posting a comment on a public forum, since people come onto this site to learn and I think they should see the different methods of fishkeeping. I have been told that I need to add more fish to my setups and that is fine...it's their opinion that more fish would improve my setup. You can tell me that I need more fish and I can tell you that you need a bigger tank. That's fine. Telling people to "shut up" is childish. Let's have some dialogue...and try to learn from one another....
I'll try to end on a positive note and maybe get into some constructive dialogue (as I realize I have been critical)...I would like to hear people's theory as to why cramming large fish into a small tank reduces aggression. Why do you think they don't annihilate one another in these overstocked conditions?
My biggest issue with bragging about keeping lots of large notorious killers in a small tank is that there seem to be a lot of young kids on this website (not saying that OP or any of the JDM advocates are young), but I think when they see tanks like this, they think that it's cool and something to aspire to. This type of fishkeeping is risky and will often result in lots of dead fish. Whether it's from an ammonia spike from keeping such a huge bioload in such a small tank, from a fish going on a killing spree, fish trying to jump out or from being away from your tank (i.e.- vacation) and not being able to monitor things it's not the best way to keep fish.
I FULLY realize the "best way" is a subjective/relative term, but no one here can refute that if one of these fish had the tank to themselves, the chances of keeping the fish successfully for their full lifespan would increase. For all of the younger kids that are just getting into the hobby, this tank is not a good example of where you should start and IMHO, nothing to aspire to...but like I said, this is just my opinion. I don't think I should be censored for posting a comment on a public forum, since people come onto this site to learn and I think they should see the different methods of fishkeeping. I have been told that I need to add more fish to my setups and that is fine...it's their opinion that more fish would improve my setup. You can tell me that I need more fish and I can tell you that you need a bigger tank. That's fine. Telling people to "shut up" is childish. Let's have some dialogue...and try to learn from one another....
I'll try to end on a positive note and maybe get into some constructive dialogue (as I realize I have been critical)...I would like to hear people's theory as to why cramming large fish into a small tank reduces aggression. Why do you think they don't annihilate one another in these overstocked conditions?
I hired a person on a local forum to watch over my fish for a month as he seemed to be in monster fish as well. There are only few people here that are into monster fish so I got few to select to hire. I also thought he knew what he was doing, but I was wrong. I only lost bichirs during my 1 month vacation. Fish did not died from the disease or jumping out or got killed by the other fish as there were no bite marks or scars left or missing parts. Fish died from eating the shells of the prawns when I found out when I came back and dissected the dead fish. Fro what the hidden cameras shows, he just place 3 packs of 2 lbs each frozen prawns with the shell on and just let it defrost in the tank. He leaves the room after that and just comes back for the next feeding time.
As for the ammonia spikes? Lol! That will never happen in my tank. Not sure if you know about the drip auto water changer as it add fresh water daily. Research that if you do not know. I know about ammonia spikes etc etc and how deadly they are if left alone. Been in the hobby for a long time now not to ignore those. As for fish killing spree? I posted pics here in MFK and my fish are still together for almost 5 years now. Other people can even go for less than a week. Aggressive fish that are place in a tank with less fish will likely kill each other as they can easily selectively target the weeker one. With too many fish in the tank there are more activity and fish that are very aggressive will have a hard time selecting which one to bully. This setup are usually use by many african cichlid keepers and already been proven for decades. I just did the same idea and did it with other fish and with the same result.
People have choices on what to do with there tank on how they gonna set them up. You don't like how I set up my fish tank, then why bother commenting when you know that nothing will change. Do whatever you want as this is a public forum. I don't care what you say and any of the haters out there. BTW I'm not gonna tell you to add more fish in your tank as I don't care about your tank or whatever you wanna set up your tank. You have a choice to listen to other or just do what works for you. For people who did not even try a setup like this and lecturing me that I'm killing my fish? You guys never even try and yet you guys (Haters) thinks know it all.
