Ugh - mistake purchase... ?

[evil Nick]

I have a 20 long planted pretty densely. It's got a few diff mini species in it. I always wanted a leapord fish and was at my lfs and saw a very small juvenile and grabbed it. I don't expect to keep it forever as most of my fish I eventually re-home due to growth but one fish we really wanted was a red flame guirami. I now know (since it never popped up in my research) this fish is also a type of guirami. Do you think they will be okay for a while before I have to get rid of the leapord? It wasn't expensive so I'm not worried about eventually re homing it. I know eventually my tetras might end up being a snack but I intend on moving it way before that.

I have a lot of different filtration and flow in this setup so stock isn't an issue.

 

[gilpi]

Man that's a nice tank! Funny, I've done lots of reading on the Leopard fish but never seen one anywhere for sale in the decades I've been in this hobby, it's supposed to be peaceful but can grow up to 6 inches. I go by the rule... if a fish fits in it's mouth, he'll eat it. Looking at so many pictures of it for the longest time, I want to get one.

 

[evil Nick]

It's a gorgeous fish though they get drab as they grow bigger so again I dont plan to keep it. I'd like to start finding people locally I could re-home my fish tho because I hate handing them back to the store. I just gave them 3 great clowns and man was that a story. I'd give this to you in time if you were close.

Thanks on the compliment. I'm going to do a write up on it soon

 

[gilpi]

Looking forward to the write up. I guess most pictures I've seen of these fish are when they're small, didn't know about the drab look once matured. I used to be in the same boat as you, would buy many (big) fish as juveniles and re-home them later on, some of them were Arowanas, Oscars and Frontosas. Always liked the bigger fish but didn't care for maintaining a huge tank. Lately I find joy in keeping smaller fish.

 

[evil Nick]

I'm the same. I had a great 55 (pics are probably still in my profile) but it was to much work. 20 long is my new favorite and I've gotten into more smaller fish. I'm going to set up a few nano setups soon to. I have a 5 gallon Betta and frog tank as well. I've also drilled a 20 long to set up as my new reef with a 20 tall sump.

My write up is on tank showcase now.

 

[gilpi]

20 long is a nice smaller tank that doesn't look small. I think at this stage of my life I rather have three 20 long tanks than one 55g, you can have more variety this way. I scaled down from a 55 to a 40 breeder that has more surface area than the old 55 and a second 20 gallon.