Looking to stock a 55

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C

captcavecricket

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 27, 2008
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Eastern NC
My wife is a teacher and so I set up a tank in her classroom two years ago that my oscar lived in until this summer.

So the oscar got moved to a 75 gallon, and I left the 55 set up in her class with a school of black skirted tetras.

Of course, she was known as the teacher with the huge fish, and is wanting to keep it that way, but doesn't want another oscar.

She saw an adult JD in the lfs, but I personally don't think the 55 will be big enough so I'm trying to talk her into something smaller.

I was thinking 3 or 4 firemouths, or maybe a few convicts, or maybe a baby JD and just upgrade my 75 to a 125 in a year or two...

Any comments,

I've already looked through the cookie cutter setups, and nothing just strikes my fancy
 
I teach 6-8 science and am trying to set up a tank in my room (space issues). I personally was thinking about a handful of convicts. The reason for this is mostly so that the kids can see a varity of behaviors (digging, sparing, courtship, mating, raising fry, etc...) that they can record in a weekly journal. Though having one big fish is neat as pet, I feel that the students will get more out of watching the fish interact with eachother.
Another idea I'm bouncing around, still need to look more into though, is keeping a few area natives in the tank such as sunfish.
Anyway, just a couple of ideas.
 
I think they would love natives as the kids would be more familiar with them. If not a bunch of various cichlids would be great. Firemouths, Jack Dempsey, Green Terror, Texas Cichlid, Red Devil, Jaguar. The last two would need bigger homes eventually and most likely by themselves. But the other 4 could probably do good together in the 55 for a while. Maybe even a school of clown loaches or a bichir. The kids would like to watch the interactions between the cichlids. I'm in high school now and my sisters friends and my friends all like to watch them interact and none of them are into fish.
 
I'd do convicts, the kids will have fun watching them breed. If she wants to be the teacher with the huge fish, get her a midas or red devil and grow it out for a year. Trade it in at the LFS every year, that way the kids can watch it grow up..
 
The only problem with cons is you have millions of babies to deal with, and I'm not one that agrees with breeding something just to destroy all the young. I don't think that sends a very good message to the kids either. A jd would be fine, and for a "big" fish, I'd either do that or a gt. They could stay for life. Maybe a fm and con to keep it interesting, if you wanted more than one fish that is.
 
well if u wanna go with the cons get something that will eat the babies like a pleco or a catfish of some sort. also yes bluegill and sunfish can get pretty fiesty if not meaner than alot of cichlids in tanks. if you could get ur hands on a small mouth bass and some bluegill that would intrest the kids
 
If I go with the cons, I'll just set up a holding tank at the house and let the oscar eat what he wants.

How long do you think a jd and a firemouth or convict would live peaceably.
 
Thats what I was thinking... I plan to feed the bulk of the fry to my oscars. A agro mix in a school tank could be a problem. For example, lets say you went with a green terror, jack tank. The fish seem fine for a few months, the kids love them. Then they come to school the next day to see the gt torn to shreds because the jd went phyco (which they can do). All of us have lost fish in this fashion, and it sucks but is rarely the end of the world. However, for a kid, to whom the fish at school maybe their only pets, it could very well be the end of the world.
I know that this might be a stretch for a reason not to do an agro com, but it is enough to prevent me from doing it.
With a handful of convicts, kids can watch tons of "natural" behaviors. Students might wonder where the babies go, and you can be honest, but at least it is not their pet they have grown attatched to floating bellyup.
Anyway, if the kids I teach knew i was this much of a softy, I'd be in for it (i teach at a disciplinary school).
 
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