Logging my 55 Gallon Aquarium (pictures)

[Gui101do]

It's been a few weeks since I sought advice and set up my tank, so I figured I'd post an update with some pics and log it as it develops.

I have a 55 gallon tank (48x13x24), 2 powerheads, an undergravel filtration system, and an Aquaclear 70 power filter.

The stock list includes:

2 Kissing Gourami

1 Electric Blue Jack Dempsey cichlid

1 Blood Parrot cichlid

1 Green Terror cichlid

1 Featherfin catfish (Synodontis Eupterus)

1 Zebra Nerite snail

The plants include:

Java Fern

Hygrophila Kompakt

What I believe is Kleiner Bar Sword

What I believe is Melon Sword

The EB Jack was added with the Gourami and the Featherfin. He will sometimes nudge at the Gourami but never bothers the featherfin.

The Featherfin lives under the pirate ship and is mainly active when feeding and at night.

I recently added the Blood Parrot and then the Green Terror. I got the smallest Green Terror the LFS had, but it is still twice the size of my EB Jack. Suffice to say, the Jack has been kept in check since the Terror's arrival. The Terror seems to be pushy with some of his tank mates, but at other times does not mind when they come near him.

Ok, here's some pics:

The Gourami with the EB Jack

The little Featherfin

Sword shooting some roots out.

Full tank view

Green Terror

Blood Parrot and a Gourami. You can also see the Sword shooting more roots in the background. I've been replanting them like mad.


Thoughts, questions and comments are welcome.

 

[DragonFish71]

Keep an eye on that terror as it grows. They're called that for a reason

I've actually seen a full grown terror (about 9 inches) beat the stuffing out of a fully grown male jaguar (managuense cichlid, 15 inches) Jags aren't very nice fish either BTW. Tempermental lil buggers. (still my fav of the cichlids)


Tank looks good

 

[Gui101do]

Yea, I do have some concern over whether or not it will be a bully. The people at my LFS said it depends on the individual temperment of the fish. Some Terrors have been anything but, while others have, as you said, fulfilled their name and then some.

Same goes for the EB Jack, although they are supposed to be much milder than their larger cousins.

 

[DragonFish71]

It's funny but I've never had aggression issues with jacks and I've probably been keeping them for about 20 years, give or take. Jacks have always been a fav, and easier to come by than my jags. We have 2 regular JDs and they aren't aggressive at all. We have a male and a female, no signs that they even want to spawn. But they do their own thing, leave the other fish in the tank alone. Terrors though, sheeeesh they can be tricky. With the prices I've seen out here on the EB jacks, be careful! I wanted to get EBs but all the LFS out here has a 2 inchers for $60.00, ackkk! I can't justify spending 60 on one fish *Sigh*

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I would certainly trust the ebj waayyy before the terror. Ive never met a terror that wasnt exactly that...a terror. Expect your kissing gouramis to go first.

 

[mommytron]

i love how bright and colorful your tank looks. i love the blue gravel, i have very similar stuff. that little featherfin is adorable! nice job!!!

 

[Gui101do]

It's funny but I've never had aggression issues with jacks and I've probably been keeping them for about 20 years, give or take. Jacks have always been a fav, and easier to come by than my jags. We have 2 regular JDs and they aren't aggressive at all. We have a male and a female, no signs that they even want to spawn. But they do their own thing, leave the other fish in the tank alone. Terrors though, sheeeesh they can be tricky. With the prices I've seen out here on the EB jacks, be careful! I wanted to get EBs but all the LFS out here has a 2 inchers for $60.00, ackkk! I can't justify spending 60 on one fish *Sigh*

Yea, there aren't too many freshwater fish that I would justify dropping $60 on. I guess I was lucky because my LFS has 1 to 1 1/2 inch EB Jacks for just under $30. I've had mine for a little over a month now & he has close to doubled in size.

So far the Terror has not made aggressions toward the Gourami, but when he's swimming through, they move. The Terror has 'chased' the Blood parrot, but it was more of a follow it around sort of thing.

The 2 Gourami & Blood Parrot seem to be rather interested in one another. The BP routinely watches the Gourami as they rasp their protruding mouths at the decorations and leaves. Even though the BP is bigger than them, they do not mind its presence.

 

[Gui101do]

Well, the Terror experiment is coming to an end. We will be returning him to the LFS for a refund because he is too aggressive. He has not been fin nipping, but he constantly chases the others around. The electric blue jack used to eat anything from pellets to flakes, but for the last 3 days he wouldn't eat either. Today I decided to put in half a cube of bloodworms, which he devoured. In general, he has been much more subdued and timid since the 3x larger green terror joined the tank.

In a somewhat related note, one of the gourami's tail fin is partially missing. As I said, I have yet to see the terror actually nip at another fish, he just charges them until they move. I think the partially destroyed fin is due to the other gourami. Initially, they had their 'kissing' battles, but eventually, one has become dominant over the other. The one with the damaged tail fin is slightly smaller than the other gourami. Still weighing options on a possible solution here.

One of the snails is being returned as well because it continues to escape from the aquarium. I don't know how or where, but I'm finding its trail on the floor or up the wall, eventally leading to it. The other snail has no interest in escaping and seems to enjoy doing laps around the tank.

Not sure what/if I should add once the terror has been returned. Any thoughts?

The stock list is:

electric blue jack dempsey ~ 2.5 inches
2 kissing gourami ~ 3 inches
featherfin catfish (synodontis eupterus) ~3 inches
blood red parrot cichlid ~ 3.5 inches
nerite zebra snail

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I would stop there as I think your already at your limit. Both the jack and blood parrot will out grow that tank in no time.

 

[Gui101do]

I haven't updated in a little more than a week, so here's what's been happening:

The green terror and one of the gourami were returned. GT, as most thought, was just too aggressive, plus he was a few inches bigger than the other fish, which obviously didn't help. The returned gourami had its fin nipped down by the other gourami, so they had to be split.

I've added 2 severums, one gold and one green. They are juveniles, as are all of my fish, so nothing is overcrowded at the moment. Within the next couple years, overcrowding and territories will be an issue, at which point I have planned to add a second aquarium.

There is one issue I want to ask everyone about, though:

This is not about the electric blue jack dempsey specificly, I guess, but more about fish that are picky eaters. For the first month or so, the jack would eat anything; flakes, pellets, frozen bloodworms. Over the last few weeks, he has ignored floating and sinking pellets as well as flake food. The only thing he currently eats is frozen and freeze-dried bloodworm. Even now, when he eats them, he swims to the bottom, makes constant mouthing motions and will occassionaly regurgitate the bloodworm. He will repeat this a few times until he eventually keeps it down.

Just for info, I feed small amounts of tropical flake, blood parrot pellets, sinking pellets and freeze-dried bloodworm twice a day. I feed half a cube of frozen treats once a week.

Ok, a few pics:

The featherfin and blood parrot are by far the most peaceful inhabitants.

He is an excellent tank cleaner and has claimed the bows of the pirate ship as his dwelling.

The green and gold severum. They are roughly the same size, approximately 2 inches. Notice the electric blue jack sneaking around behind the rock and plant?

Full tank shot, just to compare changes and growth in the last month.

 

[Gui101do]

Any help with the picky electric blue jack dempsey?

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Send it to me?!?!?!?! haha whats the problem with him?

 

[mellawson]

My JD (just regular not electric) takes spells where he will like a food then not but funny thing he always likes his blood worms...lol he only gets them once a week. Some times he is a hog and he gets his mouth too full so he spits them out then sucks them back in this happens more when he thinks Oscar is gonna get his food. I have found if I feed Jack a few bits on one side of the tank then Oscar on the other it works out pretty good. I had to put food on each side for a week or so before they figured out what was going on but eventually they picked a side and all is calm.

 

[Gui101do]

Send it to me?!?!?!?! haha whats the problem with him?

I guess the explanation was sort of buried in the last post on page 1...

Long story short, he used to eat an assortment of different foods (flakes, sinking pellets, floating pellets) but now he will only eat freeze-dried or frozen bloodworms. I feed the frozen once a week as a treat and a small amount of freeze-dried once a day. Also, when he eats the bloodworms he makes mouthing/gagging motions and eventually regurgitates it. Sometimes he'll try eating it again, sometimes he won't. He's been like this for at least 2 weeks, how do I make a picky fish happy?

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

My blood parrot does the same thing when he gets to one of my cories shrimp pellets, but in my honest opinion I think he might be spoiled. Giving the bloodworms should IMO be done as a treat just the same as frozen brine shrimp. So he is prob just waiting for you to drop those in because he knows their yummy. This leads me into my next suggestion that feeding that much may be making him lazy because he knows he will get fed daily with the good stuff. I would try changing the feeding schedule to everyother day with the flakes or pellets and then one of those off days give em a treat. I feed mon/wed/fri and on Sunday they get the brine shrimp. Just a thought.

 

[Bige]

Looks great. Some fake and real plants? Either way looks good.

 

[taylorodw]

Definitely could be a situation like Bronco said, or perhaps water parameters are poor. I'd do a full test, and see if anything is out of the ordinary. Are you doing routine PWCs?

I know these are basics, and I don't mean to offend, but when eating habits change it could be a sign of disease, so you want to make sure the tank is in top form.

 

[Gui101do]

My blood parrot does the same thing when he gets to one of my cories shrimp pellets, but in my honest opinion I think he might be spoiled. Giving the bloodworms should IMO be done as a treat just the same as frozen brine shrimp. So he is prob just waiting for you to drop those in because he knows their yummy. This leads me into my next suggestion that feeding that much may be making him lazy because he knows he will get fed daily with the good stuff. I would try changing the feeding schedule to everyother day with the flakes or pellets and then one of those off days give em a treat. I feed mon/wed/fri and on Sunday they get the brine shrimp. Just a thought.

I didn't think of that. I only feed the freeze-dried bloodworms daily because I've read that they're no where near as nutritious as the frozen bloodworms.

I've also heard that with semi-aggressive fish it would benefit to feed once or twice a day to prevent some hostilities. However, I've also read benefits to feeding every other day, as you said. Even though I feed twice a day, both are in small increments. I'm not sure if there's a correct answer in regards to how often to feed.

Looks great. Some fake and real plants? Either way looks good.

That is correct, though the only fake plants are the ones that I have attached to the uptake tubes from the undergravel trays to the powerheads. Other than that, the rest are real.

Definitely could be a situation like Bronco said, or perhaps water parameters are poor. I'd do a full test, and see if anything is out of the ordinary. Are you doing routine PWCs?

I know these are basics, and I don't mean to offend, but when eating habits change it could be a sign of disease, so you want to make sure the tank is in top form.

I do keep a keen eye on the water quality. The parameters are in great balance with nitrites and amonia at 0 and nitrates at roughly 20.

As far as PWC, we do about 15%-25% once a week.

Water quality was an initial concern when this first started, but since the parameters have been stable and the other inhabitants eat without any issues, I've dismissed this as a possibility.

 

[taylorodw]

That is very good news.

If he isn't showing signs of a disease, you may try different foods. Perhaps brine shrimp?

Also, if he is eating SOME food, and not others, he may just not be that hungry! Feed only flake for a while, and if you don't see him eat for 3 days, maybe something is wrong.

I have definitely heard of fish getting bored of certain foods.

 

[Gui101do]

I can almost understand the picky-eating part. What I guess is more troublesome is that when he grabs a bloodworm, he'll throw it back up and sometimes try to eat it again and other times just let it float away.