FlyAnglerFishKeeper
Aquarium Advice Regular
Well, I've learned a few lessons in addition to general aquarium stuff:
1. Bream are mean, nasty little snots.
2. Although seen together in the wild, put two of them together in a 20 gal tank and they are not happy. The bigger one will ALWAYS bully the smaller fish until it dies.
3. They eat like PIGS. They'll eat as much as you feed them. (Found this out thinking that the reason they were bullying the smaller fish was competition for food. Not so. Even with constantly fat bellies they are bullying.)
4. They don't poop as much as you'd think - or as much as I've read about.
5. They "sleep" on the bottom, resting vertically - but totally oblivious to me if I'm quiet. (Now I realize how flathead catfish get so big on bream in the wild. Sneak up behind one sleeping, Suuuuuuck. No more bream!)
6. Cycling a 20 gal. tank with 2-4 fish has taken a month so far, and I still haven't had the cloudly, then clear thing. Bio filter is starting to show promising signs though. Maybe I just missed it?
7. ***MOST IMPORTANT LESSON*** When hunting for crawfish in creeks, be careful turning over larger rocks. Snakes like hiding under rocks. I knew this, but I was so focused on finding a crawdad to give the bully bream a taste of his own medicine that I startled two snakes in two rocks time. I immediately came to my senses and stopped hunting crawdads in the creek. Both snakes were non-venomous, but I wasn't going to tempt fate.
So, my water is still pretty clear, my fish are still alive ( second batch of them at least) and the smaller one has learned to hide in the log. Not sure how long he'll last. Also not sure how long it will take to cycle a tank with just the one fish, should the bully have his way and kill the little one.
I'm already thinking about switching from native fish to farmed fish that aren't so aggressive. What are some nice, easy going fish that don't try to kill each other? Something that can tolerate a rookie aquarist, too btw?
I wanted an aquarium in the room to lend some relaxation to the atmosphere, but it's not really relaxing watching fish kill each other. LOL
1. Bream are mean, nasty little snots.
2. Although seen together in the wild, put two of them together in a 20 gal tank and they are not happy. The bigger one will ALWAYS bully the smaller fish until it dies.
3. They eat like PIGS. They'll eat as much as you feed them. (Found this out thinking that the reason they were bullying the smaller fish was competition for food. Not so. Even with constantly fat bellies they are bullying.)
4. They don't poop as much as you'd think - or as much as I've read about.
5. They "sleep" on the bottom, resting vertically - but totally oblivious to me if I'm quiet. (Now I realize how flathead catfish get so big on bream in the wild. Sneak up behind one sleeping, Suuuuuuck. No more bream!)
6. Cycling a 20 gal. tank with 2-4 fish has taken a month so far, and I still haven't had the cloudly, then clear thing. Bio filter is starting to show promising signs though. Maybe I just missed it?
7. ***MOST IMPORTANT LESSON*** When hunting for crawfish in creeks, be careful turning over larger rocks. Snakes like hiding under rocks. I knew this, but I was so focused on finding a crawdad to give the bully bream a taste of his own medicine that I startled two snakes in two rocks time. I immediately came to my senses and stopped hunting crawdads in the creek. Both snakes were non-venomous, but I wasn't going to tempt fate.
So, my water is still pretty clear, my fish are still alive ( second batch of them at least) and the smaller one has learned to hide in the log. Not sure how long he'll last. Also not sure how long it will take to cycle a tank with just the one fish, should the bully have his way and kill the little one.
I'm already thinking about switching from native fish to farmed fish that aren't so aggressive. What are some nice, easy going fish that don't try to kill each other?
Something that can tolerate a rookie aquarist, too btw?I wanted an aquarium in the room to lend some relaxation to the atmosphere, but it's not really relaxing watching fish kill each other. LOL
