Help me pick a fish!

[GorJess]

Ok so I have guppies ,platies ,catfish , blind cave fish, neon tetras, and apple snails in my tank.
I will be making and installing a divider.
I want to put an egg laying fish in the other side as I have told no other fish will be able to go in the tank with these fish is that true?? No chiclilds at all????
Anyway what should i breed that is fairly straight forward and easy to pair up!??? I've never paired fish... How do u know when they have paired up? Because its hard to distinguish sexes between chiclilds correct??
I wanted something colourful so maybe red jewels? Or I don't know please give me some ideas. I want to just buy a pair some guy is selling electric blue colony ... are these ok? I don't know if I will be able to pair them up myself if i just buy random fishes from the LFS. Or maybe just breed my cave fish?? Anything that I don't have to drop the temp for as I have my others in there

 

[GorJess]

Or angels?? I'm an amateur so I need a hand. Sorry for the long thread! I ask alot of questions ! <3

 

[Ian086]

Or angels?? I'm an amateur so I need a hand. Sorry for the long thread! I ask alot of questions ! <3

Have a look into Kribensis. Beautiful fish and has nice colour(s). The males have a pointy dorsal fin, with colour right up to the tip, while the females have a more rounded fin, less colour. The anal fin on the male is also much pointier than the females, more rounded. They also develop a cool dark red almost purple belly when they pair up and are ready to breed. They are a member of the cichlid family, they are referred to as dwarf cichlids!!!......
They are very cool, hardy, beautiful fish and if you decide on them, you won't be disappointed.....

 

[Unicorn1]

How big is the tank you're looking to divide? Some cichlids, such as angels or rams (and sometimes kribensis) can usually be kept with other fish even during breeding, so long as the tank is big enough to give your breeders a territory to guard that will still allow your other fish space to get away from the nest.

 

[GorJess]

Ok they sound pretty cool. I will google them. Have u guys bred them before?? Are they usually just available at LFS?? I'm in Australia !

 

[Ian086]

Ok they sound pretty cool. I will google them. Have u guys bred them before?? Are they usually just available at LFS?? I'm in Australia !

I haven't personally yet, i'm waiting for my LFS to get me in a female. I believe they are relatively easy to breed, once they pair up. They can be quite territorial and aggressive to other fish, especially when breeding. I had to return my female because they didn't pair up and my male was very aggressive towards the female. They are excellent parents and will protect the fry for the first few weeks, certainly long enough for you to remove the fry into a grow out tank.
They should be widely available in your LFS and if not, they should be available for your LFS to order......

 

[GorJess]

Ok sounds fair... After that post I googled them and I remembered seeing them in my LFS... I saw them and saw a really fat one with a big red belly.. I said to the guy oh wow she's pregnant yeah??? (After all I have had fish for 2 weeks and spent about 20 hours this week on the net researching fish so I know EVERYTHING there is to know about fish...... So I thought)
He said no she's a dwarf chiclild she's a female and the rest are males ... I'm thinking this guy is dumb she's totally pregnant look at her belly...
I walked out thinking I need a new LFS but after googling it I realized : hey I was wrong the guy that works at the fish shop knows more than me after all I really don't know the first thing about fish except for my guppies that I'm totally going to give castor oil too if they don't hurry up!! (Jokes.... Sorta)
Lol sorry but I'm thinking about how silly I must have looked now!!!
So when they are due to breed do u think they will be agressive if in the same tank as my guppies, platies, catfish (sucking small ones) zebra danios, neon tetras , blind cave fish????
Will they still breed in a community tank????
I went to the hardware store to get myself some plastic mesh to make a divider but they don't have any?? All they have is fly screen ... Can I use that?? It's fibreglass though ... What else can I use .. That's if u say I can't put that fish with my others

 

[Ian086]

I don't think you looked silly...lol. You can't be expected to know anything about a fish that you know even existed!!.
With keeping them in a community tank, they can be kept in there no problems. The only issue, is aggression when they breed. The other fish will soon learn to stay out of their 'patch' when breeding and out of their patch in general. Providing caves and/or pots(terracotta) will be sufficient. The other fish might pick off some fry but the Kribensis will fiercely guard the cave, with the fry inside it. They will let the fry come out and will bodyguard them as the swim about in a shoal. At this stage you will be able to net the fry, if you plan on keeping/raising the fry.
What size is the tank. Dividing it is similar to keeping them in a smaller tank, so keep that in mind. The fibreglass screen being safe, i'm not sure on that to be honest. A simple google search should give you the answer on that. Try ebay, you should get something there, pretty cheap.....

 

[GorJess]

I can get them on eBay BUT they are not big enough for my tank. I'm in Australia here I have a 3ft tank which is 92cms long, 36cms wide, 46cms deep. I times that by 1000 and I got 156litres. I know u guys use gallons so I used a google converter and it said 41 gallons. Which to me seems quite small since I'm always seeing people write Bout thier 100 gallon tanks ... Maybe if u googled my measurements in ur own terms u might understand just how big my tank is. To me it's pretty huge!!!!!!!
I just wanted something to divide my tank. The man at the LFS was going to give me a mouth brooding fish tomorro that already has a mouthful of fry.. But once she has these fry I need to put her somewhere so I need a divider!!!! I need to make one !!

 

[Ian086]

I can get them on eBay BUT they are not big enough for my tank. I'm in Australia here I have a 3ft tank which is 92cms long, 36cms wide, 46cms deep. I times that by 1000 and I got 156litres. I know u guys use gallons so I used a google converter and it said 41 gallons. Which to me seems quite small since I'm always seeing people write Bout thier 100 gallon tanks ... Maybe if u googled my measurements in ur own terms u might understand just how big my tank is. To me it's pretty huge!!!!!!!
I just wanted something to divide my tank. The man at the LFS was going to give me a mouth brooding fish tomorro that already has a mouthful of fry.. But once she has these fry I need to put her somewhere so I need a divider!!!! I need to make one !!

It is indeed 41gallon. I use litres normally myself but US gallons is the standard term on here!!!. 41gallons is a big tank, those guys/gals with the 100g+ are just huge tanks...haha. I will and i'm sure you will have one that size one day. They're are videos on youtube on how to make your own. Maybe these might be of help to you. Put a thread up asking about the fibreglass divider, i'm sure someone will help you out.....
https://www.youtube.com/results?sea...j12.13.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.XczCsX87fbk

 

[GorJess]

Thanx for the link I watched all these last night... Went to la cal hardware store today and they don't have any plastic mesh!!!!
I'm stuck!! I'm getting new fish Tomoro !!! Anything else??

 

[Ian086]

Thanx for the link I watched all these last night... Went to la cal hardware store today and they don't have any plastic mesh!!!!
I'm stuck!! I'm getting new fish Tomoro !!! Anything else??

A sheet of acrylic with some tiny holes drilled in it for circulation.

 

[GorJess]

Acrylic??? Like a plastic hard sheet??

 

[reefdiver]

Yes. You can just drill some holes on sides to let water flow.

 

[GorJess]

Like Perspex?? Or more like rubber kind of plastic??

 

[reefdiver]

Yeah that it

 

[Ian086]

Like Perspex?? Or more like rubber kind of plastic??

Yeah exactly. Over here we call it Perspex but I think in the US it's called Acrylic. I'm sure it's the same stuff, looks the same anyway. Either will do the job. It shouldn't be too hard to find, also if you have the exact measurements, they will usually cut it for you. It can be a pain to cut yourself. Drilling it is pretty straight forward. Just do it slowly with the drill on a slow/medium speed setting. Make sure you have something solid(wood) underneath when drilling it, not your kitchen table or worktop though...haha. Again vids on youtube for that.....