matching cichlids with min tank size

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
i think most people involved with mfk would say that trying to squeeze a large aggressive fish into a tank it can barely turn around in is not the right thing to do. just my opinion of course, you can do anything you want
 
BALLER34IG;3792297; said:
I would like to see some pics of large jags as ive never seen one over 12 inches. My friend had a male that got that big but died during a power outage
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i think there is a thread in the media lounge that is pretty recent where everyone was posting pics of their monster jags
 
BALLER34IG;3792249; said:
Well my last jag only reached 9 inches and it took a while to get there. feeding habits controls fish growth. most ppl love fish but get scared when ppl tell them how big they get. Oscars in my opinion grow quicker tan just about every cichlid. The oscar i had was bought after my jag and outgrew her with in a month or so. U could keep a jag in a 50 becasue they are wider but for an oscar this wouldnt work because they can cause some damage when they flip out and most of us have seen these fish flip or go nuts. I probly wouldnt keep a jag in a 50 for life but i dont think they need a 75 gallon really unless you gonna have more fish as long as the tank is wide enough the jag will be fine for a long period of time. But bigger is al;ways better and on this site that is one of the holy commandments. Ive only kept one jag and mine didnt grow huge
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If you had a jag and it only reached 9 inches, I would guess:

  • it was stunted from being in a tank too small
  • it lived in a dirty tank
  • it wasnt fed properly
  • the odd chance it was some sort of runt

a jag in a 50 is a perfect example of what Im talking about. Too small and will cause stunted growth, especially if at least 50% water changes arent done weekly.

Its probably a Holy Commandment because the majority of people on here know better than most in the world how to grow large, healthy fish...and how to house them.

BALLER34IG;3792268; said:
many sites will tell you that sexes do change growth rates. ive had many males and females of fish ans some males grew faster and bigger but some breeds its the opposite. Ive done this fish hobby long enough to know what im doing. Ive seen alot of big fish in tanks that most would say thats not right but the dimensions of a tank play a big part in what you can keep. As long as a fish can turn and swim with no problem it will be fine.
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Sex doesnt affect growth rate...but females generally grow smaller than males. If thats what you mean, I agree.

And no, as long as a fish can turn and swim its Ok isnt true at all. If thats the case, I could keep a 24 inch dovii in a 24x48 tank right? Yea, if I didnt want to give it the best I could.

BALLER34IG;3792276; said:
If you have a wild caught fish it will grow bigger but if you have tank raised and breed they will never reach max size. Take the pacu a real monster. U go to an aquarium and they are huge cuz they are most likely a wild caught fish. I've seen a 14 year old pacu in a 350 gallon tank and it only hit 18 inches and it was in that tank when it was 3 inches. In this tank is a TSN that was a lil over feet and much younger
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Again, not true either. Taking a fish from the wild, they dont grow as large sometimes because they were taken from an environment and thrown in a glass tank and never really recovered from the life change. Ive seen pet store jags 12 inches. There isnt any real basis on growth like you say, at all. It really all boils down to tank size, water quality and diet. Give them the biggest tank you can, best food you can and best water you can....most importantly...weekly water changes.

Pacus arent big because they are wild..they are big because they are large growing fish. If you saw a 14 yr old pacu 18 inches, it was stunted or some sort of small growing species of pacu.

Obviously, you can do whatever you want, but Id say someone has misled you on how to house healthy, happy fish. As I said before, bare minimum isnt how to do it. Just my 2 cents...
 
yup thats the one i was thinking of lol there is tons of nice looking jags well over 12in on there, those pics show you how nice a jag can turn out when well taken care of :)
 
BALLER34IG;3792276; said:
If you have a wild caught fish it will grow bigger but if you have tank raised and breed they will never reach max size. Take the pacu a real monster. U go to an aquarium and they are huge cuz they are most likely a wild caught fish. I've seen a 14 year old pacu in a 350 gallon tank and it only hit 18 inches and it was in that tank when it was 3 inches. In this tank is a TSN that was a lil over feet and much younger
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BALLER34IG;3792297; said:
I would like to see some pics of large jags as ive never seen one over 12 inches. My friend had a male that got that big but died during a power outage
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lol..Wild or tank bred has nothing to do with growth. Water conditions, diet and genetics control that side of things. IMO a male jag in anything less than 120-125 gal is just insufficient.I pretty much say the same for females as I have seen plenty around the 14" mark. A 50 gal is just ridiculous for such a species.
My 15"+ tank bred and raised male.
IMG_6485c.jpg
My last tank bred and raised male. Pretty much on 17" RIP.
DSCF7442 copy.jpg
 
have you even kept a GT?
GT tank size at 50g, a 3ft tank is really poor housing for an 8-12" fish never mind plus tankmates as you suggest. a 55 should be considered absolute minimum but even the foot print on that would be a little tight because of its 13" width. a 75 would be better if you could spare the extra cash.
there are a few examples of these at 12" on here but im not going to do your running around for you so dont even ask.

as for midas, i dont know for males as ive never had one, but i do know that for a female at 9" she makes my 65G (48x18x17) look small. as far as i am aware she will hit about 12" and thats why she is going into a 5x2x2. i can assure you that a 55 for 2 years would not be good practice.
i havent even had her a year and she has been living in a slightly larger footprint than a 55 and i think its unsuitable.

now i have no experience with jags but i have seen big ones and because of that i know that a 36" tank is just cruel.

because of what appears to be wild guesses with these fish and their "appropriate" tank sizes this thread is dangerous to newbies because of your misinformation. hopefully new keepers will read the whole thing so they can see how wildly outnumbered you are with your "appropriate" tank sizes and "if it survives in there, its ok" attitude. notice i didnt say "lives in there..." in the previous sentance.
 
A friend of mine grew a 14" Oscar in a 60. I convienced him to give it away - the fish suffered from a nevering ending battle w/ HITH. One of my inlaws has a 12" male GT in a standard 40gal crammed with every skull ornimant on the market. This fish suffers constantly with fungus growing around open wounds from banging into the skulls, glass, and lid. He also used to own a 10" Male Red Terror in a 30gal this fish died from cottonwool. The filtration for the above was adequate not optimal and weekly water changes are preformed but the amonnia/nitra is still way too high theres just not enuff water volume.

You can grow Large Cichlids in small tanks but they will more than likely die young from disease caused by poor water parameters. IMO the larger fish like the Jag and Oscar should have at least a 4' long 2' wide foot tank. The medium sized Midas, JD, GT 4' x 18". Convict pair 30"x12". I no nothing about keeping severums or parrots however adult sizes would dictate tank sizes - with new world cichlids the higher the water volume per fish the better.
 
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