can i add juvenile venustus/moorii to my 75?

[Swifterz]

my 75 has:

HAPS
x1 blue ahli
x1 yellow princess
x1 red empress
(ahli is 6", princess is 7", empress is 4")

PEACOCKS
1x red shoulder
1x otter point
1x german red
1x bi-color
(all around 5")

MBUNA
3x yellow lab
3x yellow tail acei
(all around 4")

also there is a rainbow shark (tough as nails), 2 snyndontis cats and a giant pleco. i am for sure doing a sunshine peacock and a yellow blaze lithobates soon.

i have been looking for a decent sized adult male venustus and a moorii for some time now, and have had no luck. when i have found them, they aren't for sale because they are the person's breeders. plus they would be crazy expensive. but i was offered some juveniles (venustus/moorii), 1.5-2" for $3 a fish as many as i want. can i put 4 or 5 in there and let them grow, then sell/rehome in the future save for 1 male? FYI i'd be done stocking after the sunshine and blaze, if i kept one adult male venutus and moorii.

if it is doable, how fast shoud i expect venustus to grow in a 75? i've heard as much as an inch per month?

 

[garfy]

Venustas grow pretty quick.I bought a male of about 3" and within a year he had more than doubled that size.Saying that beautiful fish

 

[garfy]

Your stocking seems pretty sensible to me by the way

 

[Swifterz]

Your stocking seems pretty sensible to me by the way

you mean my final stocking? it'd look like this:

x1 blue ahli
x1 yellow princess
x1 red empress
x1 venustus
x1 moorii
x1 yellow blazze
x1 red shoulder
x1 otter point
x1 german red
x1 bi-color
x1 sunshine
3x yellow lab
3x yellow tail acei

17 cichlids plus the rainbow, 2 cats and pleco

 

[garfy]

Yes your final stocking.The Acei like to swim a lot but I think they should be ok.

 

[Swifterz]

Yes your final stocking.The Acei like to swim a lot but I think they should be ok.

thanks, you think juvenile venustus and/or moorii would be ok to survive and grow up in the tank with all the other fish being muh larger?

 

[garfy]

Well I just put my 3/4" red zebra fry back in my main tank an it seems about 4 or 5 of them out of 15 are doing fine.My advice would be give them plenty of cover and they should be fine.

 

[kay-bee19]

...let them grow, then sell/rehome in the future save for 1 male?

I think a full grown male venustus would get too large to keep in a 75gal long term. At 10" or a little more, combined with their swimming habits, when considering the final size this species can attain, it would be better off in a larger tank (125gal+).

 

[Swifterz]

as soon as i could identify a male, i'd keep him and rehome all the others. from what i've read, some are aggressive and some are laid back. i actually had one about 5" when i didn't even know what it was at first. pretty sure it was a female though. it was given to me, and one of my red zebras killed it. i've learned a lot since then.

 

[kay-bee19]

...as soon as i could identify a male, i'd keep him and rehome all the others...

I understand, but at full grown size the single male may be too big to keep in a 75gal.

...from what i've read, some are aggressive and some are laid back...

Their aggression is relative to what they're kept with.

When kept with other haps (they're probably best kept in all-hap set-ups) venustus may be among the more dominant fish in the tank, and can be very aggressive toward other male venustus if females are present (my 180gal wasn't large enough for two fully matured male venustus to co-exist for long).

On the other hand, I've also witnessed a full grown 10" male venustus get severely dominated by a male 5" metriaclima lombardoi (kenyi).

 

[ronnieroach]

As for my experience with Venustus aggression --> I've had several & have never had a mean one.

My newest Venustus, who I've had for a while now, is my biggest fish at around 6inches & is my tank's biggest wuss lol

I don't think a 75gal is horrible for a full grown but a 6ft tank would definitely coincide better with their swimming habits.

I personally love them & say go for it. You can always trade it in somewhere if it gets too big or seems mean.

I just want to end my response saying that I am in no way an expert!! .. I like to consider myself as an 'envelope pusher' but I must admitt, I often come back to AA saying, "Well you guys were right... again!" haha

My vote, grab a small one & watch how fast it grows

 

[Swifterz]

it's really high on my wish list, and always has been. just can't find a good sized male. almost bought 3 juveniles yesterday at the store but i'm afraid they'd get killed because they are so tiny compared to my fish. that was when i had almost no rocks though. i just got 81 plus pounds of rocks that i'll be putting in there tonight.

 

[ronnieroach]

it's really high on my wish list, and always has been. just can't find a good sized male. almost bought 3 juveniles yesterday at the store but i'm afraid they'd get killed because they are so tiny compared to my fish. that was when i had almost no rocks though. i just got 81 plus pounds of rocks that i'll be putting in there tonight.

I put a 2.5incher into my 10inch oscar's tank & had no problems .. They are pretty resilient little dudes lol

And sweet, on the 80+ lbs of rock .. What kind & how much did it cost ya?

 

[Swifterz]

I put a 2.5incher into my 10inch oscar's tank & had no problems .. They are pretty resilient little dudes lol

And sweet, on the 80+ lbs of rock .. What kind & how much did it cost ya?

it came from a quarry, it's granite stones. .23 a pound it was $20 and some change.

 

[ronnieroach]

it came from a quarry, it's granite stones. .23 a pound it was $20 and some change.

YES!! I love hearing about quarry deals!!!! haha

I got 60+lbs of bluestone for 6 BUCKS!!!! ya just can't go wrong ... unless you skip the eggcrate haha

 

[Swifterz]

i did the egg crate

the cool part is, i can go get more if i want to add any smaller ones. this is kind of how i want to do my tank.

i wanna have plenty of rock, and i want it to look natural. but i wanna be able to see the fish at almost all times (peacocks and haps don't really need hiding places).

also, i don't want so much in there that they don't have open swimming areas. i don't want the aquascaping, and not the fish, to be the focal point of the tank.

 

[ronnieroach]

Yeah that template is dope!!

My girl got me 25 cichlid stones for x-mas so I gotta keep em for a little bit but I already have a complete overhaul started in my mind lol

Here's what I have now. I HATE the gravel. Mixing black into my dolomite was a horrible idea. Just looks way too unnatural.

What I do like about the cichlid stones is they leave plenty of room for activities (lol) & also provide good quick escapes / hiding spots, since I have a little 'mixed lake mania' going on

 

[Swifterz]

Yeah that template is dope!!

My girl got me 25 cichlid stones for x-mas so I gotta keep em for a little bit but I already have a complete overhaul started in my mind lol

Here's what I have now. I HATE the gravel. Mixing black into my dolomite was a horrible idea. Just looks way too unnatural.

What I do like about the cichlid stones is they leave plenty of room for activities (lol) & also provide good quick escapes / hiding spots, since I have a little 'mixed lake mania' going on

i like that. i recommend you switch to sand though.

 

[ronnieroach]

i had sand in another tank but to totally switch now would stink .. i'm just gonna scoop out like half the gravel & add another whole bag of black to darken it up

 

[Swifterz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5XDHCvLPZE&list=UUuHZWuGCiiRK_7EjWYkYUrQ&index=1 &feature=plcp