New to monsterfish keeping with a question

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D.Wolf

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 4, 2013
362
4
18
Slovenia, Europe
Greetings to everyone ! :)

Im new here and with only little experience with keeping monster fishes (half a year) and i have a question about future keeping..

I have 120gal (450litre- 60" L x 20" W x 24" H) tank and there at the moment lives:

3x 2-4" clown loaches
1x 5" Datnioides microlepis,
1x 8" P.endlicheri
3x 10" E.calabaricus
1x 5" A.albifrons

i have ordered 2 more bichirs and thats about it..

and the question is - is there potential problem with this mix of fishes in the future when they grow up?
in two years im going to upgrade to 200+ gal tank but i wonder, do i have so much time because of their fast growing? (especially bichirs)

Thank you for your repplies :)

Best regards,
Bogdan
 
HI, Welcome to Monsterfishkeepers. Your question does not come with enough info. What are the filters. Is there sub-straight? How often are you going to be changing water? The tank is too small for the adult sizes of what you have. I would suggest a 250 upgrade in a year and add some more clown loaches. They do best in groups of five or more and the more there are the more movement you will have in your tank. The group you have seem fairly compatible
 
Thanks for welcoming :)

I have external filter which is sufficient at the moment (later when fishes grow up a bit, will be added one more until i make tank upgrade)..
The tank is planted with lots of vallisneria, anubias, echinodorus and there is about an inch of sand on bottom, decoration are few mangrove roots..later on, plants will be probably destroyed so I'll need to make bigger water changes as i do now and re-shuffle decoration to make more hiding spaces..

I do about 10% of water change every 4 days..

About clown loaches, i was thinking to give them all away because they are hyperactive..
 
D.Wolf said:
Greetings to everyone ! :)

Im new here and with only little experience with keeping monster fishes (half a year) and i have a question about future keeping..

I have 120gal (450litre- 60" L x 20" W x 24" H) tank and there at the moment lives:

3x 2-4" clown loaches
1x 5" Datnioides microlepis,
1x 8" P.endlicheri
3x 10" E.calabaricus
1x 5" A.albifrons

i have ordered 2 more bichirs and thats about it..

and the question is - is there potential problem with this mix of fishes in the future when they grow up?
in two years im going to upgrade to 200+ gal tank but i wonder, do i have so much time because of their fast growing? (especially bichirs)

Thank you for your repplies :)

Best regards,
Bogdan
Click to expand...

As vanman stated, we need more info. You will need to over filter any monster tank as large fish are dirty fish. Rounded sand is a recommended substrate for clown loaches as gravel and sharp, angular sand pieces can destroy their barbels, which usually leads to them not eating and then dying.

I also agreed with vanman that you have a year (at most) before an upgrade is needed. In two years, the size of those fish will have driven them to kill each other just to make more room for themselves. My recommendation would be to rehome the fish when they get to be too big for the tank and get new ones of the same species. That should give you the two years you need for the upgrade.

The only issue I see with stock is that you have some slow growers with some fast growers. The clown loaches in particular will grow quite slowly and may become a snack for another tankmate. This is hazardous not just because you would lose a clown loach, but because the loaches have spines behind their eyes they use to ward of predators, so if that loach goes down the wrong way, it will shred the insides of whatever ate it. And that is bad because you lose two fish instead of just one. :(


Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
All of the above and i do worry about your clown loaches. There seems to be a big size difference and the loaches will not grow nearly as fast.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
20130606_133507.jpg

here is the picture of tank (sorry for low quality, made it with phone..in real is much darker - i use blackwater additive)
and all info you asked about, is written upper in thread...seems there is time difference since i live on another continent (and im checked by admin) :)

I have sand (0,1-0,9mm), lots of plants, external filter which is great for this time (later will be added one more - cycling at the moment) and im thinking of giving away loaches :)

and thank you for all informations :)

20130606_133507.jpg
 
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