Help Me Help A Friend!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
R

richkid

Candiru
MFK Member
Dec 1, 2011
458
0
46
Penn's Woods
I have a friend, for whom I am responsible for introducing into the hobby. I started her off with a 20 and some live bearers. She bought an Albino O and even at his tiny size, decimated her tank. I thought that would end her interest. I was wrong. She upgraded to a 55 and begin to overstock it immediately. Leave it to Petsmart to tell her nothing.:irked: In her 55 she has a grown female Green Terror, maybe 5". The rest are juveniles of varying sizes. Here we go: geophagus (maybe altifrons), a midas, a convict, a texas, TWO jewels, a synspilum, two yellow labs, two borleyie, a firemouth, and a school of serpae tetras!:screwy: I have already volunteered to take the tetras. I obviously realize this tank is a disaster waiting to happen! The question is, how can I leave her with a workable tank for the future? Who goes and who stays? All suggestions welcome. And I already know about not keeping Africans and New Worlds together.:screwy:
 
What happened to the oscar? Is it in the 55 as well? All these fish are too large for a 55, IMO:

- Synspilum
- Midas
- Green Terror
- Texas
- G. altifrons
- Oscar

There's no sense in trying to keep a fish species that can grow 10 - 12" in a tank that is 13" wide, especially if you have more than one fish in the tank. That applies to all the fish listed above.

I'd also ditch the yellow labs and the borleyi. Labs aren't super aggressive but they're going to appreciate harder water, and borleyi are open-water swimmers that will need a lot of space.

You could try:
- Convict
- Firemouth
- Jewels

Purists will want to separate the fish geographically, but jewels are riverine Africans and tend to be pretty adaptable, like kribs. As long as they get along with the convict and firemouth I don't see a reason for them to go. The only time you may have a problem is if the two are a pair. Make sure they're typical LFS jewels (H. lifalili or H. bimaculatus) rather than the super-aggressive H. elongatus.

Round out the tank with a school of larger, deep-bodied tetras like congos or Buenos Aires and call it a day.
 
Keep 1 big fish like the gt or midas until it reaches 8 inches and upgrade again. If that would not be possible i would have a fire mouth tank.

Sent from my LG-E739 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
For this, I'm assuming it's a typical 55g (4'x18"x15")

As ryansmith83 said, the RFJs can easily go with the americans, no problems with that. Many, if not most aquarium strains of fish are quite tolerant of a range of water parameters anyways, at least more than their wild counterparts. I keep all sorts of Africans and Americans together with absolutely no problem.

Basically any 7 of the following should work, though all 10 could work:
Geophagus (depending on which type)
Convict
Texas
Two Jewels
Two Yellow Labs
Two Borleyi
Firemouth

If it was my choice for what to not have, I'd remove the Borleyi and the Texas. Because imo Texans look ugly, and so do Borleyis. So the remaining 7 should be alright. Assuming she knows how to maintain the water parameters properly.

Midas would get too aggressive for the tank.
Green Terror and Syn is too big (though GT is more because of aggression).
And you're already taking the tetras.

As a reference, this is my 55g tank stock:
2 x Super Green Texas
4 x Convicts
2 x Red Forest Jewels
1 x Pink Firemouth
1 x Cobalt Blue
1 x Venustus

[EDIT]

P.S. Keeping one big fish will definitely not work out for her, because it's obvious that she likes a lot of fish. Even if she does keep one big fish eventually she will get more anyways, which will not work out, again.
 
Thank you all for your replies. It is most definitely appreciated. I'm going to give her a list of ideas based off of them and let her decide. I think I'm going to have a hard time convincing her that it will not be alright. LOL
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom