Need to fix my inappropriate stocking. Please help.

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kashif314

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
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Like I said I am learning a lot and use to fall for fish I like without reading first about there habitat. I admit making blunders big time and now I need to rectify my mistakes.

My current stocking (50 Gallon):

2 adult platinum Angels and 1 small Platinum Angel.

2 Archers small in size

1 Scat Fish

1 small pearl Gourami

1 Ghost Knife

I want to keep Angels and Ghost. Ghost I know requires big tank but mine is very small and they grow very slowly and is happy and eating like crazy at feeding time and I provided him dense plants and rocks to hide.

Please let me know which fish I need to rehome or return back? Archers are in the list but can I keep Scat atleast?

Also what other fish can I keep in my tank?

Need ur valuable suggestions.

THANKS
 
Need help of u experts. Many of you said about my inappropriate stocking so it would be nice to have advise on how to fix this.
 
Pick the 3 angels or the ghost

Id pick the 3 angels
Ghost won't get along with Angels? I mean Angels are fine with him and both Angels and Ghost are minding their own business but I want to know ur reasoning for either choosing Angels or Ghost.

Would you be interested in having a second tank?

I already have two and can't have more. The other I have are having nano fish like neons, ranibows etc so I can't put any big fish in there.
 
3 angels is a good stock for a 50
Ghost by itself ok for 50 not great
Scat and archers both need way bigger tanks. Some scats need brackish too.

You like the angels so makes sense to me
 
It is easy to make uniformed purchases of fish without knowing you need to properly care for them for the long term and not listen to the fish store people, or thinking you can just do it even though everyone says it shouldn't be done.

So now that you have the knowledge that you are the responsible person for the fish, you are free to make choices for their well being.

You can keep any of the fish you want to. Know that they need certain, and sometimes special tank requirements. Match up reqirements and see which ones are good together. If you can add anything or not and below are some links for a start for you to check things out, it is that easy!


125G tank

Tropical Fish for Brackish Aquariums: Ruby Scat

Archer fish 100G tank but tankmates of the Scat, is compatible.
Archer Fish

Brackish

~~~

150G
Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Black Ghost Knifefish
 
It seems more like you're looking for someone's permission to keep inappropriate fish together, rather than restock advice. I don't want to sound preachy, but I don't think anyone will tell you your stock list is OK, sorry.
Your knife should be in a 6' long tank, 120g at least. It won't be very happy for long in a small tank.
Not sure about the Scat, but Archers are brackish, and get fairly good size, so a 50g freshwater tank won't do for them in the long run. They also need a larger and longer tank, and won't survive to their natural lifespan in fresh water.
In your current tank, you could probably keep the angels, and possibly the gourami provided it doesn't become aggressive toward the angels (or vice-versa), but IMO, all the other fish need to be rehomed.
 
It is easy to make uniformed purchases of fish without knowing you need to properly care for them for the long term and not listen to the fish store people, or thinking you can just do it even though everyone says it shouldn't be done.

So now that you have the knowledge that you are the responsible person for the fish, you are free to make choices for their well being.

You can keep any of the fish you want to. Know that they need certain, and sometimes special tank requirements. Match up reqirements and see which ones are good together. If you can add anything or not and below are some links for a start for you to check things out, it is that easy!


125G tank

Tropical Fish for Brackish Aquariums: Ruby Scat

Archer fish 100G tank but tankmates of the Scat, is compatible.
Archer Fish

Brackish

~~~

150G
Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Black Ghost Knifefish
Thanks a lot. Very informative links.
Ghost Knifefish gets one foot 6 inches long. And will have a huge mouth.
Thanks. I only kept because its small and will grow slow and I am planning to have a huge tank im future because I want to have a fire eel and ghost get along welk with them but I understand ur point. Thanks
It seems more like you're looking for someone's permission to keep inappropriate fish together, rather than restock advice. I don't want to sound preachy, but I don't think anyone will tell you your stock list is OK, sorry.
Your knife should be in a 6' long tank, 120g at least. It won't be very happy for long in a small tank.
Not sure about the Scat, but Archers are brackish, and get fairly good size, so a 50g freshwater tank won't do for them in the long run. They also need a larger and longer tank, and won't survive to their natural lifespan in fresh water.
In your current tank, you could probably keep the angels, and possibly the gourami provided it doesn't become aggressive toward the angels (or vice-versa), but IMO, all the other fish need to be rehomed.
I don't need anyones permission to have a bad stocking. I am only asking reasons when I ve been told that my stock is inappropriate and definitely want to fix it and that is why I have opened this topic.

I decided to re home brackish fish Archers and Scat and and will have Angels and Gourami as they are fine and pearl is the most peaceful in all gouramis. Ghost I ll keep for a while till it is small.
 
Youll find in the coming months you won't work so hard (wc) keeping params.
 
We don't all know everything and when you can arm yourself with the tools of knowing HOW to learn, where to go to get solid information and also how to deduce that information shared with you by others.

Wishing you well.

You are able to make better stocking decisions because you care about your fish and found out that there are kinds of fish which can and't shouldn't live with and in certain conditions. Your fish will thank you, by being more comfortable and be able to live a longer more enjoyable life.

It is wonderful that you care about them enough to change your tank stock.
 
Youll find in the coming months you won't work so hard (wc) keeping params.
Sorry? Didn't get it.
We don't all know everything and when you can arm yourself with the tools of knowing HOW to learn, where to go to get solid information and also how to deduce that information shared with you by others.

Wishing you well.

You are able to make better stocking decisions because you care about your fish and found out that there are kinds of fish which can and't shouldn't live with and in certain conditions. Your fish will thank you, by being more comfortable and be able to live a longer more enjoyable life.

It is wonderful that you care about them enough to change your tank stock.
Thanks. First time someone here said I take care of my fish. Nice to hear lol. On Tuesday I scheduled with my LFS on giving him brackish fish. Will miss them a lot though.
 
Sorry? Didn't get it.

Thanks. First time someone here said I take care of my fish. Nice to hear lol. On Tuesday I scheduled with my LFS on giving him brackish fish. Will miss them a lot though.

As a teen I had a fancy Goldfish in a probably 2G fish bowl, no one told me that was a poor choice no one knew or knew enough to care about it. No internet in the olden days of the dinosaurs! :lol:
 
What I meant was......worry about params, sick fish, expensive meds, large wc, more frequent wc, ect....to me kinda takes the fun out of the hobby.
 
Sorry? Didn't get it.

Thanks. First time someone here said I take care of my fish. Nice to hear lol. On Tuesday I scheduled with my LFS on giving him brackish fish. Will miss them a lot though.
When I first started, I used a different forum whose name I won't disclose but was really terrible. People were constantly mean to me. I was told I don't deserve to keep fish because I had a dwarf gourami in a 10 gallon tank!

It feels terrible.

But know that asking these questions is the first step to being a better aquarist.
 
As a teen I had a fancy Goldfish in a probably 2G fish bowl, no one told me that was a poor choice no one knew or knew enough to care about it. No internet in the olden days of the dinosaurs! :lol:
Yes I know lol. I used to start my tanks un cycled.
What I meant was......worry about params, sick fish, expensive meds, large wc, more frequent wc, ect....to me kinda takes the fun out of the hobby.
Ok. Understand now. Thanks.
When I first started, I used a different forum whose name I won't disclose but was really terrible. People were constantly mean to me. I was told I don't deserve to keep fish because I had a dwarf gourami in a 10 gallon tank!

It feels terrible.

But know that asking these questions is the first step to being a better aquarist.
Yes I have seen this too and even some saltwater aquarists don't even take us freshwater people serious. For them we are always noobs and will stay noobs.

Also some only pass same information for all fish which they have.
 
Also some only pass same information for all fish which they have.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. Personally, I've done hours of research on each critter we have. That's why I say this has been a life changing hobby. I have put together spreadsheets with sources.

There are people who come on this forum and just ask what we know, generally, about these fish. Asking is fine, I guess, but I'm not in a position to write entire research papers for people who don't know how to use the search function.

It happens a lot, actually, when people will straight up start a thread saying, "what do you know about blue rams?"

Asking specific questions, I don't mind sharing what I've learned because sometimes it's hard to make connections with information that's readily available. For example, I learned that nerites and blue rams aren't temperature compatible because I wanted to have them in the same tank. The more I researched, looking for the answer I wanted to hear, the more I learned what I hoped wasn't true. So when people ask about their stocking and include those two critters, I'm pretty confident saying that no, they don't work together. Another example is pea puffers being carnivorous. One of mine looked constipated, so I gave them a pea. They looked insulted. So I did research on what to do if a puffer is constipated. (epsom salts)

There are critters I don't know much about at all, like tetras, barbs, and plecos. I stay out of those conversations.

Most people who have a decent amount of knowledge about the fish they keep have acquired it through experience and research. There is so much to know, and so usually we'll share what's pertinent.
 
After you keep planted tanks for about 50 yrs youll maybe know ten percent of what the hobby has to offer its a big world. Those who have a thirst for self education thrive in this game.
 
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