help

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fork203551

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 23, 2008
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i'm in need of some major help here. let me explain what i have.

jack dempster
blood parrot cichlid
needle fish
birch
big pleco.

tanks
55 and 45long

i'm having a bit of a problem with these fish. so far i've kept the birch in the 45 long tank with no problems in that tank. in the other tank it looks like the parrot is going after the jd abit and the needle is fine. so i went and moved the jd to the 45 thinking it would be ok with the birch. well i found out it is going after it. i like my birch alot so moved the jd back to the 55. now the parrot is still going after the jd but leaving the needle alone. turned off the light and the parrot is swiming the tank. he's used to hide all the time and peck the jd to get away. can someone please help me get the right setup for these guys. i'm really never had anything other then tropical fish.
 
short answer... take out all the decor (short term), i've had to do that before with my SA cichlid tank, before i got a bigger tank. no decor, no territories to defend. also how big are the cichlids? a 55G might be a little cramped for a full grown JD (10"+) and a parrot cichlid to share. i dont know that much about needle fish, other than they get 16"+... Or you could try putting the parrot cichlid in the 45 with the bichir. hope that helps a little
 
what about the needle fish. someone said the jd might run th tank and go after the needle. and if i move the needle to the 45 will it be ok with the birch? god i'm such a newbie with these fish
 
looks like the parrot and jd are getting along sort of. any idea's what do do with the needle fish? like move him with the birch with the pleco? i mean i want something else with the birch but the jd doesn't work
 
By needle fish do you mean a "needle nose gar"? And if yes, he'd do fine with ur bichir, most likely. Needle nose's aren't true gars but like gars they stay to the upper half of the tank, where bichirs are more common to cruise the mid and bottem levels. As far as the Blood Parrot and JD i wouldn't worry too much unless you see visible damage to the fish (i.e. tattered fins and missing scales) I would say to establish to set territories (possibly 3 or 4) using rocks/driftwood and plants to seperate. Cichlids can have this problem and there are a few theories on how to deal with it. 1 is to constantly re-arrange your tank (to confuse the fish and make them re-claim a territory) in ur case its also said that cichlids regardless of being diff species or all the same should be kept in odd numbers and in a group no smaller than 3. Reason behind that is if there are only 2 fish the more dominate fish will assert said dominance and make the others life a living hell. I find it quite, QUITE interesting that the BP (Blood Parrot) is the dominant one over the JD! Every BP i or my friends have kept have been total wusses and completely un aggressive! Who was introduced to the tank first, or were they put in at the same time?
 
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