Saltwater & Reef

phoebekatee · 11-13-2011, 02:58 PM

My best friend has a 60l tank which used to have neons and platies in it. Now her family is subtly killing all the fish like feeding them less, as they want to put in 12 ciclids. Now I know very little about ciclids so excuse me if I am wrong, but is it not inhumane to even put in 12 platies let alone ciclids? They are extremely stubborn, so I will need to show her this thread. Quick replies please!

KonvictKeeper · 11-13-2011, 03:06 PM

Inhumane. Both killing the fish that way and putting 12 cichlids in a tank that size. If they are shell dwellers maybe but I doubt it. Please do not do this to your fish.

Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic · 11-13-2011, 03:15 PM

60l = 15.9 US gallons, 13.2 Uk gallons.
the only cichlids they can get in there are shellies, rams or a single dwarf cichlid.
anything that gets over 4 inches cannot go in there. that wipes out most of the cichlid group. anything that gets bigger that 3 inches cannot be kept in there with a group of more than 4 before territory gets too small and the weaker get killed.
shellies (lamprologus occelatus) can go in there, a colony of 1m 3f and they would be ok.
rams in a 1m 2f ratio (one gets removed when the others pair up) can go in there.
a single dwarf gourami can go in there.
1m 2f of apistos could go in there, but there will be bad bullying if the male is not peaceful. so not a very good idea.

cichlids need a much bigger tank, but have exquisite personalities and colours. if they want these fish that bad, they need to upgrade by at least 30 US gallons.

instead of cichlids, they could go with guppies and a bottom feeder, maybe a few cories. there are great colours there and cories are very cool.

to the friend: im very sorry we have to be so harsh and say a big no to the 12 you want, however it will kill, stunt, poison, isolate, confuse, disease and upset the fish. its fully true and a shame, but they will need a bigger tank. and frankly, someone who loves fish enough not to kill off theirs in favour of another lot. u can give the neons etc away, dont have to murder them!!

sorry x xx

**absolutangel04** · 11-13-2011, 03:25 PM

Why? Who came up with the idea of 12 cichlids? That seems like a weird, random number....
BTW, there are hundreds of species of cichlid, so just telling is 12 cichlids isn't enough info for a better argument from us. I agree that 12 of any cichlid shouldn't be in there (full grown) except MAYBE for small shellies. But, its hard to give a better argument when I don't know what sort of cichlid we are talking about.

KonvictKeeper · 11-13-2011, 03:31 PM

Yeah they could be talking about rams or managuense's...

Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic · 11-13-2011, 03:38 PM

or worse, oscars.

phoebekatee · 11-13-2011, 03:57 PM

They just want any 12 ciclids they can get, and I don't think their LFS does shellies. Sorry I have no more info, but as I really don't know much about ciclids I can't prove a good enough argument on my own. I tried to adopt the few remaining fish, but noooooo! I have to pay for them! Just yesterday there was a pregnant platy gasping for air at the surface near the filter

phoebekatee · 11-13-2011, 04:00 PM

Can anyone post a pic of shellies?

Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic · 11-13-2011, 04:02 PM

ok first things first they cannot have any fish they want like cichlids if the tank is not healthy for the fish they have. they need to be respectful of get rid of the tank. fish are not self cleaning, oxygenating, denitrifying, feeding or water changing. the owner does this stuff and the owner has to care.

1) how often do they pwc? how much water?
2) how often would they norm feed?
3) why do they want cichlids?

i had no problems with them getting cichlids (if they got the right tank), however now i am hesitating in thinking they should even keep fish. its starting to sound a bad idea for the fish tbh.