55 gal stocking?

[RoK]

Heck, I consider my male gouramis (and a few of the females) aggressive, well semi-aggressive. :|

 

[severum mama]

Geeze people, designing and maintaining all aspects of a fish tank is a very personal thing. There is no right or wrong way to do it, so long as the fish have a humane way to live. Rudy, if you wanted to get 10 red belly pirranas go ahead and get small ones, but be ready to sell some if they get too big.

It's true that fishkeeping is a very personal thing, however, IMO keeping multiple huge fish in a tank that is too small is not a humane way for fish to live. If someone asks for advice about that, I will state my opinion. Part of the fun for me is watching the fish grow out, and I get attached to all my fish so I wouldn't put myself in a position where I knew I would have to get rid of some of them later, and put them through the stress of transporting them to a LFS once again- that to me is less responsible than taking into account their adult sizes and providing an appropriate environment in which they can can grow and thrive. JMO

That said, Rudy, if you can talk your parents into a 150 gallon tank then you can absolutely keep jack dempseys to their adult size. If you choose this option I would not keep 1 female and 2 males because I think the males would kill each other fighting over the female, but it would be sweet if you had 1 male and like 3 females. Or, if you could get your pH up with crushed coral or whatever, a frontosa harem has always been one of my dream tanks- 1 male and 3 females would be awesome. From what I understand they are not that aggressive, but they are huge and colorful.

If you still just end up with the 55 gallon, I think you would love African cichlids. A Malawi mbuna tank would be very colorful and beautiful, and yes, pretty aggressive too! And you can overstock your tank to cut down on serious aggression, so you would end up with a lot of colorful fish. I've heard some pretty nasty things about the auratus!

 

[severum mama]

Here's a frontosa in case you want to see a pic:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=841
Both sexes are stunning IMO, but only the males get the nuchal hump as they mature- very cool! 8)

 

[Guest]

i kinds like it, reminds me of the red devil alittle bit

 

[physicsdude]

Well, you could do a Wolf Fish, or perhaps a Ropefish for something on the exotic side- they are really cool to keep, especially during feeding times! LOL

 

[lukepghpa]

i believe red bellies are the most popular...a friend of mine has 6 or 7 in his 65 gallon tank...they started out about 2 or 3 inches long now are close to 6...and he's had them almost a year

 

[Guest]

yea i read that the red bellies are very slow growers

just depends on what you feed them

 

[Pacifico]

Hey Rudy,

I just noticed you're from Tulsa. Have you been to the South American fish exhibit at the zoo? They have three pacu in one of the tanks (named Larry, Mo, and Curly) that are absolutely huge. You may want to check those guys out to see how large they can get--it's very impressive. Also, they have an incredible Midas/Arapaima Gigas tank! Definitely my favorite tank! Check it out if you haven't already.

 

[Guest]

well i have never been to the zoo yet, i have only been in Tulsa for 3 years