pike cichlid ID and requirements please

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shakel00

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 31, 2007
30
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Lincolnshire
they look like these guys, but their lips look blue to me, they are labelled as venezuela pike cichlids but i want to make 100% sure.

http://pikecichlid.com/tonnystrigata.jpg

now, i have a 100g tank coming this weekend, i was wondering if i could keep the pair in this tank, the measurements are 4ft long, 1.5ft wide, and just over 2ft deep. it will be running a fluval fx5, and possibly a fluval4+ aswell depending on if i need a more surface movement.

it would be a species only tank, just the pair in there, as ive been told they will eat any other fish put in with them. at the moment they are around 12-14" long, and the shop has said they wont grow any more as they are adults. true or not?

at the moment they are being fed on cichlid pellets, prawns, cockles, white bait (i think thats what they said) and pond pellets.

to me they look in great condition, very smooth looking, alert, fins out, they are quite inactive, is this normal? when i put my hand to the tank they both started to slowly swim towards me.

i was planning a tank with gravel, driftwood, and some floating plants to give them some cover (they looked like they liked to hide under stuff)

sorry for the huge list of questions, hope you can all help me out :)
 
they are most likely a venezuelan. one of the more common pikes.

i think a 100g tank is adequate for a pair. you can have other fish in the tank and i would probably recommend adding some other fish. they will eat fish that can easily fit in the mouth.

pikes are like most cichlids and can be very aggresive but can also be rather mellow. all depends on the individual pikes attitude.

12-14 inches should be about max size. ive heard 14-20 inches as a max size but i dont think ive ever seen one bigger than 15-16 inches. id guess they will likely max out at 14 inches. just my opinion tho.

they are likely inactive in the tank because they are probably a little stressed. some floating plants as cover will help them feel more secure and encourage them to be alittle more active and swim around. also getting a school of say 6 silver dollars would also help to encourage them to be more active.

also, is the pair currently in the same tank? or are they both in seperate tanks. pike are aggressive to other pikes generally so taking two large pikes and trying to bond them doesnt work that often. If they are in the same tank and dont appear to be trying to kill the other then u likely have a bonded pair which is good.
 
:D fantastic news! yes they are in the same tank, its a 6ft tank and they are the only 2 fish in there, they swim side by side and dont leave each other, they are seemingly very calm fish. they have been together for a couple of months in the shop that ive seen.

so those 2 and a school of say 6 silver dollars could work then? thank you so much for your help :)
 
just another quick question, they are at the moment in a soft water set-up, we have hard water where we live though, how would i go about making it a soft water set-up? the store will sell me RO water for £3.50 for 25L, would i need to fill my tank with just RO water or would mixing it with dechlorinated tap water be ok? or could i just keep them in our water if i aclimate them really slowly over several hours? ive never kept softwater fish, well i have but ive just aclimated slowly and they have been fine, but i have never spent £75 per fish before :WHOA:
 
if they are always swimming side by side then thats a good sign. bonded pike pairs are awesome. havent been able to get that since i have my 2 johannas and those were my favorite fish i ever kept.

silver dollars are my go to dither fish for cichlids. the roundness makes them good (ie they wont be dinner) and they generally only get 4 inches. you can also try some other calmer cichlids to mix in like a firemouth or a severum.

but make sure to keep the pikes as the centerpiece of the tank.
 
dont do all RO water. i would make a mix of say 50% dechlorinated tap and 50% RO water. it might take some adjusting of the ratios to get to a desired pH and hardness.

i prefer to keep pikes in water that is less than 7.0. ideally mid to lower 6's. i had some trouble once at an apartment i lived at that had hard water and it was the only time i really struggled with my pikes. to me that was the only factor i could determine to be the culprit. I know other members have had no trouble keeping their pikes in harder water with a pH above 7. but then not all hard water is exactly the same. just my 2 cents. id see if some other members have some advice on this as well.

also, 75 seems like a steep price. and i think thats pounds. not sure on the conversion but isnt that around 100 us dollars or more. id think the price should be more around 50. might want to see if u can negotiate. altho that could just be the market for pikes in the uk.

consider possibly purchasing a RO unit if you want to go that route. if u think about a water change every 2 weeks. purchasing the RO water is gonna add up after a while. might be more cost efficient to spend the extra money now on a unit and u'll save in the long term
 
yes its £150 for the pair. they are very rare to come by, ive never seen any, and they are nicely grown at around a foot long. as long as i can keep them happy in my water, i am ok paying this for them.

my water is ph 8.0, im guessing this is way too high for these guys. is there any way i can reduce this and keep it stable? i worry about mucking around with ph in my tanks.

ive looked into an ro unit, but am unsure how they would work. obviously i wouldnt leave it hooked up to the tap for 24 hours, but how do i use 1? how do i keep the water pressure right going through 1? do i have to sort out a tap from a cold water pipe and have it running into a barrell or something? sorry to sounds dense :duh: ive just never delved into soft water yet! i would also have to add some sort of water conditions to the ro water wouldnt i, to replace the stuff the water needs in it for the aquarium.
 
why can't all tap water be soft. so much easier to make soft water hard than hard water soft.

pH and water hardness are generally closely related. with hard water being associated with high pH. its also difficult to lower pH with hard water because the high mineral content acts as a buffer.

so then the best way to get hard water and high pH to soft water with low pH is to remove some of the mineral content from the water. so if you take the same amount of RO water (which is pure h2o) and tap water, you are effectively cutting the dissolved mineral content in half. as a result there are less minerals in the water to act as a buffer to acids. result being lower pH and lower hardness.

i dont know the logistics of how an RO unit is set up. ive seen a few in stores and generally the RO water is emptied into a large drum or bucket. you wouldn't need a very high output one. you can estimate 10 gallons RO and 10 gallons tap for 20 gallon water change every 2 weeks. so u can run it for a day or so to get the 10 gallons you need and then u dont need to use again til the next water change.

u still have the option of buying from the store tho. so its up to you. try hitting up the general forum or setup/filtration and see what some others have to say specifically with the water chemistry. they will likely have some good knowledge
 
ok, thanks ever so much for all your help-very much appreciated :)
 
yeh they look like venz pikes... I have a 12 inch pike that looks identical. I kept him in my 140 for a while with a ph of 7.8 and it did fine, swimming, eating like a pig. I was concerned about high ph at first too but I just kept my water quality up and he did great in that tank... I have since moved him into a bigger tank with a lower PH and he is stilli doing well... although his colors seem a little better prob due to the variant in food i have been giving him lately? If you want to lower PH a little try adding some drift wood... the tannis well lower ph.... helped lower my ph in my other tank too.
 
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