not to steal your thread how is it done my 125g only stocked 1-rtm, 1-carpintis, 1-pearsi, 1-albino t. oscar, 1-guttulata, and 1-zonatum. Ihave no success at a peaceful tank. i just want to know how you do it?
Monster Predatory Community Update, it's been a while...
- Thread starter terd ferguson
- Start date
calicichlid;1922165; said:
It's a lot more than I can put in a single post, but I'll try and give the finer points. First, species selection. As much as I like the midas and red devil, I don't have any. Their reputation precedes them as extremely murderous to tankmates. The same goes with dovii. The species I've chosen are more territorial than aggressive. I provide them ALL with some kind of "house" to call their own. No one is left out. When choosing a speciman for a community tank out of several at a LFS, don't choose the large one who is chasing and nipping at everyone (regardless of how cool it may be to have an aggro fish). This is not our aim in the community setting. Choose the one who has the best combination of HEALTH (not the biggest) and a laid back atitude. I watch prospective purchases for at least a half an hour to get a small insight as to their disposition.
Second, I keep them as "happy" as I can. I do this with excellent water quality and frequent large water changes. Also, I keep the temps warm at around 84. This helps speed up their metabolism and aids growth. What it doesn't do is make them lethargic and slow (and I feel it makes them frustrated) as when the temps are kept lower to sometimes lower aggression. I don't feel these kinds of fishes can be happy is less than optimal conditions.
Third, I feed them a lot and a quality varied diet including live foods from time to time. Again, it goes back to what I feel keeps them "happy". I feel if you deprive a predatory animal of it's predatory instincts, it will be unhappy and frustrated and that could lead to nuisance aggression. Hunger can equal frustration.
My filtration is redundant and overkill. I include a UV sterilizer to help stave off disease causing micro organisms and to help prevent any problems that may come from live foods. I also breed Convicts to use as feeders to help ensure a safe food supply.
Basically, I try and examine each and every variable and try and manipulate these to work for me rather than against me. But, keep in mind, what I've been able to accomplish in this tank may not be able to be duplicated. Are there other tanks like mine that are successful? Yes. Are they the norm? No. What works for me may not work for you or anyone else for that matter. In my case, we're dealing with large, territorial, top of the food chain, apex predators. It could go terribly wrong at any time. Or not. In my case, I know my fishes' personalities very well from hours on end of observation. This can help me to predict (to a certain extent) what will happen in the future.
In my case, what I call "fish happiness" or "comfort" or whatever you want to call it leads to less frustration. And that leads to less chances of a frustrated fish taking out it's frustration on a tankmate.
Oh yeah, and there's a lot of luck involved too. Don't forget luck. I've got a huge thread on cichlid-forum.com in the Central American section that goes into greater detail. Disregard my little ranting after the first couple of pages. I had a guy get another long thread of mine in a similar vane deleted (ruining literally months of work) by continuing to argue that what I'm doing will end up with an orange mushroom cloud where my tank used to be. When he showed up in that newer thread, I lost my mind a little. There's a bunch of good info and a lot more pics there too.
They have a different mindset over there (cichlid-forum) regarding predatory community tanks and what is possible. I started that thread as a kind of diary to show what can be possible with the proper work. And believe me, this tank is and has been a lot of work. But my reward has been two breeding pairs of Parachromis in the same tank along with seeing how all these big guys interact with each other. I love each and every fish in there. They all have their own personality. It's truly awesome.
***EDITED TO ADD***
Oh yeah, and zero murders, no ripped fins, no lip locking, no squaring off, no chasing etc.. I've lost two fish in nearly a year. A Green Terror that pooped out his swim bladder and an Oscar that jumped out. The GT was an anomoly and the Oscar was totally my fault for not having a secure lid. Live and learn. But, no fish murders (besides Rosey Reds, Comets, and Convict and jag fry).
mssassysan2000;1922324; said:
190 US Gallons. Soon to be 350 US Gallons.
scubasteve06 said:Wow nice setup I bet that is a conversational piece...
Thanks. It's more like my friends and neighbors think I'm insane.
Me to a neighbor friend: "Can you help me move this new fish tank I got?"
Neighbor friend: "Sure, is it heavy?"
Me: "Prolly only 500 pounds or so."
Neighbor: "
"You should've seen his face when the 350g showed up.
terd ferguson said:
The GT that pooped out his swim bladder was nearly a year ago when some of these guys were started out tiny in a 55g. I should add I lost another GT a little more than six months ago from ich. Most other fishes in the tank showed signs of ich, but were saved through heat and salt (90 degrees). Again, live and learn. I bought the biggest quality UV Sterilizer I could find.
On both site site and CF.com, I can't get over how awesome your tank is. I wish I could find some driftwood like you have there, even the lighting seems perfect. I can't wait to see the 350!
