OKAY....I startd my fish keeping hobbie as a complete middle of the run idiot...lol....serioiusly though... clown loach, silver dollar, 3 angels, 2 common pleco, 2 parrott cichilid's nd 8 little grey fish (yep fish food for th big guys).....okay so I have NO CLUE!!!!! Well now I do.....so sorry Mr. Cloen andSilver the aggressores are gone (meanong the parrotts have left the tank)....Now what?????
it ain't THAT hard........IS it!!!!
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Lawngnome
Aquarium Advice Activist
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- Jan 26, 2011
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- 121
Keep an eye on your angle fish, they are not the easiest to take care of.
Welcome to the hobby! A lot of us have been there, done that. I put 2 red tail tinfoil barbs in a 20gal and got lucky that my pleco turned out to be a bristlenose (they stay small, about 5inches) and not a common one.
First question I have: are your tanks cycled? how long have they been running? Give us some water parameters if they are still cycling (including how you are testing - the liquid test kits are muuuuuch more accurate than the (ahem useless) teststrips)
I haven't owned all of the kinds of fish you have but here is what I can tell you:
1) The common plecos will get too big even for your 55gal, they can grow to over 20inch, my advice is to return them to the store if you still can or find them a nice home and get one of the smaller varieties of plecos (look at bristlenoses and rubberlip plecos)
2) Silver dollars are schooling fish and need to be in groups of at least five. I haven't owned them but have read that they need lots of room and the 55gal might be too small for them too. Hopefully someone with more experience can help with this one.
3) Tiger barbs are notorious fin nippers and might harass your angels (not sure about the tetras). That being said sometimes you can get lucky and the barbs just might keep the aggression within themselves, I wouldn't bet on it though, keep an eye on them.
Best of luck, I am sure more people will come along with more suggestions.
First question I have: are your tanks cycled? how long have they been running? Give us some water parameters if they are still cycling (including how you are testing - the liquid test kits are muuuuuch more accurate than the (ahem useless) teststrips)
I haven't owned all of the kinds of fish you have but here is what I can tell you:
1) The common plecos will get too big even for your 55gal, they can grow to over 20inch, my advice is to return them to the store if you still can or find them a nice home and get one of the smaller varieties of plecos (look at bristlenoses and rubberlip plecos)
2) Silver dollars are schooling fish and need to be in groups of at least five. I haven't owned them but have read that they need lots of room and the 55gal might be too small for them too. Hopefully someone with more experience can help with this one.
3) Tiger barbs are notorious fin nippers and might harass your angels (not sure about the tetras). That being said sometimes you can get lucky and the barbs just might keep the aggression within themselves, I wouldn't bet on it though, keep an eye on them.
Best of luck, I am sure more people will come along with more suggestions.
Why thank you XimeD!!!!
Yes my tanks are cycled, my 55g has been running for over 2 years. I cycled another 44g this past October. I bought my first tank used with the fish and realized after the fact (and after reading lot's about the fish) that they a) should have never been together in the first place and b) they are too big for the tank. I do plan on getting a bigger tank within the next few years here. I'm starting to think I don't have common pleco...they really haven't grown much over the past 2 years??
I plan to increase my silver dollar population, the one I have is about 10 years old and he's always been by himself....poor guy I know!!!
As well I use the liquid test kits...never used a strip!!!
it's funny my tiger barbs have always been with my angels...that's how it was when I bought the tank and knew nothing about the hobby. I have them in my 44g, with Diamond and Lemon Tetras...they keep to their own school and really don't bother the angels...maye I got lucky?
Yes my tanks are cycled, my 55g has been running for over 2 years. I cycled another 44g this past October. I bought my first tank used with the fish and realized after the fact (and after reading lot's about the fish) that they a) should have never been together in the first place and b) they are too big for the tank. I do plan on getting a bigger tank within the next few years here. I'm starting to think I don't have common pleco...they really haven't grown much over the past 2 years??
I plan to increase my silver dollar population, the one I have is about 10 years old and he's always been by himself....poor guy I know!!!
As well I use the liquid test kits...never used a strip!!!
it's funny my tiger barbs have always been with my angels...that's how it was when I bought the tank and knew nothing about the hobby. I have them in my 44g, with Diamond and Lemon Tetras...they keep to their own school and really don't bother the angels...maye I got lucky?
Why thank you XimeD!!!!
Yes my tanks are cycled, my 55g has been running for over 2 years. I cycled another 44g this past October. I bought my first tank used with the fish and realized after the fact (and after reading lot's about the fish) that they a) should have never been together in the first place and b) they are too big for the tank. I do plan on getting a bigger tank within the next few years here. I'm starting to think I don't have common pleco...they really haven't grown much over the past 2 years??
I plan to increase my silver dollar population, the one I have is about 10 years old and he's always been by himself....poor guy I know!!!
As well I use the liquid test kits...never used a strip!!!
it's funny my tiger barbs have always been with my angels...that's how it was when I bought the tank and knew nothing about the hobby. I have them in my 44g, with Diamond and Lemon Tetras...they keep to their own school and really don't bother the angels...maye I got lucky?
I had wrongly assumed that your tanks had recently been set-up, if everyone is getting along then yeah it could be you got lucky and aside from the size issues its the old.....if it aint broke, don't fix it IMO. I got lucky with my barbs too and they stick to themselves too and leave my other fish alone.
As for the plecos, maybe post some pics so people can ID?
Lol....I had a few glasses of wine when I posted that message...re reading it, it doesn't make a lot of sense . I recently took my parrot cichilids to my LFS because they were so aggressive. So now I have the silver dollar, clown loach and 2 place in my 55 and I'm trying to figure out what to do next. Like I said I've had a few people tell me to increase my silver dollar population to 5. I don't know...the staff at my LFS said I could put some bala sharks in my tank...they look pretty cool...I just don't know!!!
. I recently took my parrot cichilids to my LFS because they were so aggressive. So now I have the silver dollar, clown loach and 2 place in my 55 and I'm trying to figure out what to do next. Like I said I've had a few people tell me to increase my silver dollar population to 5. I don't know...the staff at my LFS said I could put some bala sharks in my tank...they look pretty cool...I just don't know!!!Lol....I had a few glasses of wine when I posted that message...re reading it, it doesn't make a lot of sense
Loool about the wine
I wouldn't do the bala sharks, they need lots of swimming room. I wanted to put some in my 75gal and people here advised that 75gal would be too small for them.
As for the clown loach, I found this page:
Clown Loach (Chromobotia macracanthus) — Loaches Online
I am not 100% sure about compatibility issues, but look into boesemani rainbows (those are next in my fish wish list but I need another tank sigh). As far as I know both silver dollars and loaches are community so if that is the case then rainbows should not be a problem, they are schooling community too. If you going to add silver dollars too watch out not to overstock. I use this site as a general guideline:
AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor
It is VERY conservative and other members in this forum don't like it for that reason. I have stocked up to 160% without an issue (but plenty of filtration) and I know of another member here that stocked to 300%. It depends, I just don't want to tell you to add those silver dollars as well as the boesemani rainbows and have you overstock your tank.
Also plecos produce a lot of waste so go very easy on the stocking. I guess I'm preaching to the choir here, you've kept your tanks longer than I have mine so you probably know what they can take
Your lone silver really would benefit from having a school. Personally, I wouldn't get another thing until he has company. I'd also be wary of adding anything else that is potentially aggressive, like the Bala.
Silver dollars are true schoolers and really stick together. They look spectacular when swimming huddled together, very stunning IMO.
Silver dollars are true schoolers and really stick together. They look spectacular when swimming huddled together, very stunning IMO.
Thanks for all the info . I have used that aqadvisor before. It actually said (now this is including my parrots). I was at 267% capacity...I freaked out for a bit but felt better after hearing from a couple people on here (what would we do without this forum eh !!) I do like the silver dollars and would love to see my guy in a school. When I was at my LFS the staff said not to get babies but find some that are almost the same size as my guy....you guys agree with that? I was thinking about putting 2 more silver dollars in. I have a longer style tank so they have the room to swim.
. I have used that aqadvisor before. It actually said (now this is including my parrots). I was at 267% capacity...I freaked out for a bit but felt better after hearing from a couple people on here (what would we do without this forum eh !!) I do like the silver dollars and would love to see my guy in a school. When I was at my LFS the staff said not to get babies but find some that are almost the same size as my guy....you guys agree with that? I was thinking about putting 2 more silver dollars in. I have a longer style tank so they have the room to swim.
Crepe
Aquarium Advice Addict
I don't suggest using aqadvisor. These are my real tank spec btw:
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8053/inac.png
Really? 36 white clouds in a 20 gallon? Anyways. Space > Filtration through and through.
I also found it funny it said I could only fit 300 shrimp in this thing. There's in my opinion no real natural limit for shrimp density in any tank.
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8053/inac.png
Really? 36 white clouds in a 20 gallon? Anyways. Space > Filtration through and through.
I also found it funny it said I could only fit 300 shrimp in this thing. There's in my opinion no real natural limit for shrimp density in any tank.
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