My 55g issue!

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Tilapia-mariae

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 3, 2009
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Perth, Australia
Hey guys,

Id like to say thanks for all the knowledgeable topics and mixed opinions on this board; ive learned endlessly in the month straight ive been reading here!

My fish obsession started with my girlfriend and I getting a 55g for community (happy fish) fish; 3 months later I saw my first gold suam on youtube... long story short he started his life with us at like 1" growing out in the community tank. All good for 2 and a half months till the 10 strong neon population disappeared and I decided to get another 55; and a long fin oscar friend. (same size as Mr. GT)

After two days they had lip locked in a desperate bid to determine who is boss, it was fairly even for a while till my power feeding was having a visual effect on the oscar. (grown close to an inch a month consistently)

I proceeded to get another 8" oscar, small gt, breeding pair for jack dempseys and lastly and most recently (last weekend) a little baby r.devil.

Prior to getting the r.devil the two GT's appear to be male and the dominant of the two chances the other and the rest of the tank mates chase the GT's.. so whats happened is the smaller red devil smells the GT's fear and gives them a run for their money; the younger oscar chases too..


Everyone gets along great, oscars and r.devil dance for food every time they see me and the dempsey's keep to their own in the cave of anti socialism. It's the GT's that dont seem to hack their distant relative species due to their down right wussyness.

What I love about these fish is their owner interaction so im not getting rid of the oscars / r.devil as they know who I am and always acknowledge me by dancing and gulping the glass between us.

Enough beating around the bush; ive noticed the GT's starting to hide as of late - something they have never done. Is there anyone in melbourne that wants them to trade or something. Or can anyone recommend a lfs that wont put them in a 1 1/2 foot tank till theyre sold? Do I keep them another two weeks and pray they don't croak it from stress? Try them in the two foot till the big tank comes and hope they don't swallow my smallest 1" festae? Please help!!

Tank mates -

Oscars - Missy (Red Tiger 23cm)
Murphey (Red Tiger 19cm - long ass tail)

Jack Dempseys - Grumpy (Norm male 20cm)
Grumpette (Norm fem 15cm)

GT's - Mr T (Male ~13cm)
Mrs. T (Suspect male ~12cm)

R.devil - Calypso (10-12cm)

Before I get flamed for being overstocked I have a 4x2x2 coming in 2 weeks!

Oh I also have a tallboy 2foot with 3x festae & a h.carpinti growing out!
 
Your overstocked for the 120. 2 Oscars in 4 feet of tank will fight a lot, 3 Festae will dominate if you get a pair goin not to mention males get quite large, you have two dempseys and 2 GTs. Then you have a Carpinte. Carpinte are very aggressive ime and will want a decent amount of territory. Depending on the size of your GTs they might just need to grow some more, most gold saum aren't aggressive until they reach a mature size. Now if you split up the fish into the two tanks (55+120) you get a little more room, but not much more. If you keep both GTs in the 55 and everything else in the 120 I would say you are ok. For a bit. Once your fish mature more you are going to see an increase in aggression because each individual fish is going to want more space. I think you are goin to have to cut some players from your team if you want everything to work out properly.
 
Thanks for the reply d-train,

The two oscars have gotten on like a house on fire since the day I put them in together, they're inseparable and always seem to find the time to rub their slimy bodies together. The only semi aggressive thing they've done is barge each others sides gently; having said that they don't like the GT's in their proximity.

Im banking on the fact the festae will take at least 6-8 months to outgrow the tank their in atm. I got the carpinte because his the only little robust cichlid I could find to act almost as a dither. Cruel I know but im shooting for a female festae and dont want a dominent male swollowing a little female before I can sex it.

Two dempseys stick to their own and only really come out of their cave at feed time and have shown no aggression.

I was planning on splitting them up between the 120 and 55; as to who goes where i've no idea. Just it saddens me to see the GT's have to go in hiding.

Im well awear that the festae and r.devil cant co-exist with much when mature but plan to tackle that hurdle when I get to it.

In 6-8 months time if I can happily house the 2 oscars and 2 dempseys in a 120g and the festae and devil in another 120g id be content.

What do you guys suggest goes in which tank; and what would you personally do with the GT's?
 
you have 2 larger O's, 2 larger JD's and a red devil in with that poor GT. i would bet he is being harrassed by the larger cichlids and/or by the red devil.

even in the 120 i would bet the devil will very quickly run things if it doesnt already and will take over the tank. the others wont have a chance once that devil realises what its capable of.

D-Train is right. your way overstocked for even the larger tank. imho i reckon the 120 will be good for either of the pairs (+some catfish maybe), the O's included at a push, or the devil alone (no catfish).
 
Hmm all this is topped off with the fact that I moved about a week ago and noticed the dempseys havn't come out to eat in 3 days; and i've hardly seen them. When I saw my biggest last night he had lost the gold spec's he used to have and is now just blue.

Is it possible theyre both fasting/sulking because of the move?

Ill get rid of one of the GT's and keep the other with the oscars when the bigger tank comes. Keep the devil with the dempseys.
 
Tilapia-mariae;2740637; said:
Hmm all this is topped off with the fact that I moved about a week ago and noticed the dempseys havn't come out to eat in 3 days; and i've hardly seen them. When I saw my biggest last night he had lost the gold spec's he used to have and is now just blue.

Is it possible theyre both fasting/sulking because of the move?

Ill get rid of one of the GT's and keep the other with the oscars when the bigger tank comes. Keep the devil with the dempseys.
Click to expand...

wont work in a 55g. the devil will be a lone fish before too long.
 
Ditto on the Devil..........I tried a Devil , Festae M&F, Gold saum, White saum, JD & a Salvini in a 75 gal..................month later 1 humphead M Devil , Salvini and 1 Beat up M Red Terror ( Salvini hated that terror )
 
I agree with all of the above statements. Your stocking just will not work, You either need to upgrade again, or find new homes for some of your fish. A Red Devil will easily claim a 55 to himself and kill any other inhabitants
 
My large female RD rules her 55g. I could not imagine adding another fish to her aquarium. While I Know that there are bigger tougher fish than RD's she'd fight to the death to protect what she sees as hers. Follow the advice above and rehome some of your fish or upgrade.
 
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