Why do you guys put so many poly's in a tank?

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dbcb314

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 4, 2007
2,311
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Tallahassee
Am I just missing something?


It seems like a lot of extreme poly tanks have no room for the fish to swim without swimming on top of each other. For any other type of fish, this would be called overstocking or jsut plain cruel... but why is it ok for polys?
 
My large polys congregate in one corner to await food so, it looks like they're cramped when I take pics. They're tank has a 4ft x 8ft footprint so there's plenty of room for all 9 of them (for now).
 
Mnay polys are fairly lethargic picking a spot and really not moving all that much.I keep
mostly smaller upperjaws and the most i have in a 75gallon are four.Personaly i think a bichir should be the show fish of the tank nothing IMO looks better than a bichir emerging from a well planted tank for a cruise but to each their own as long as they all have room load em in just remember it only takes one pissy poly to upset an entire tank
and as they mature their personalities can change from sweet gentle get along to MINE
MINE MINE
 
I have 15, 10- 22 inchers in a 300.They all pile in one corner of the tank.I think they like to snuggle.However my huge 22 inch ornate stays at the other far corner by himself .
 
i'm guilty of this too in some of my tanks, but sometimes in pics it's even more exacerbated because of what Oddball says about them congregating in a pile in one corner or something.

mostly it's my fault...i love bichirs, have finite tank space, but lack self control. but yes, i do consider this overstocking :(
 
I've always defined 'overstocking' as bad water quality, and restriction of movement.

A crowded bichir tank 'looks cruel' but seems to be just fine by the bichirs. If such a setup were plagued by chronic disease, horrible water parameters, etc... then it would be overstocked.

Healthy fish, water parameters well within good levels, and fish that like to pile onto each other (a convenience to us poly fanatics) does not equate overstocking.

Now the contrast would be an african cichlid tank. They are active fish all over the tank, and are territorial. They don't care to be crowded, but it's either crowd them, or only keep a limited few per tank, otherwise they would kill each other to claim tank space.


So to answer your question directly, yes, you are missing something. The defining behavioral characteristics of the polypterus genus.

HTH :)
 
So...
If I were to get
1xPalmas
1xPalmas Polli
1xDel
1xRetro
And 1xalbino sen.
That woulsnt be considered overstock for a 55G???

There wouldnt be any other fish in the tank.
 
AttackFish;1804364; said:
So...
If I were to get
1xPalmas
1xPalmas Polli
1xDel
1xRetro
And 1xalbino sen.
That woulsnt be considered overstock for a 55G???

There wouldnt be any other fish in the tank.
Click to expand...
no...that'd be more than fine from my standpoint...
 
Infblue;1804373; said:
no...that'd be more than fine from my standpoint...
Click to expand...

Really?
It just seems like alot to me.
If I can add more, I'd like to.
I've never had polys before, but I'd like to start this summer...
 
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