Mixing Fish Most People Say Are Incompatible

[robertmarda]

This site has changed since the last time I posted about my mixing aggressive fish with community fish. I don’t recall getting so many negative and harsh responses. I suppose this is due to the fact that at that time I had no major deaths in my tank that were caused by me mixing incompatible fish.

You are right in that I have learned what I set out to learn. I doubt I will mix incompatible fish again since I have learned what I wanted to learn. I won’t explain more about my theories nor conclusions here as they are not likely to be well received and most of you are worried that others will try similar studies to the ones that I have done.

I haven’t ended it up to now since there was no reason to end the mixture of incompatible aggressives (the only community fish I currently have in this study is the pleco) while everything was fine.

As mentioned there was a delicate balance which appears to have been upset due to the introduction of the male convict cichlid. Since starting this thread I have noticed that none of my fish seem to have a set territory and all appear to be trying to establish one. I have not seen signs of serious fighting. It all seems to be limited to facing off and moving away. Movement in the tank has been reduced. Since this is not what I intended, I will be moving some of the fish to other tanks as soon as possible and/or finding them new homes. I will not flush fish since I don’t do that when I want to get rid of a fish.

Yes, I made mistakes in judgement when selecting which fish to add to my study. The fish I shouldn’t have added were fish I got for free from friends.

 

[TankGirl]

I don't think the site has changed, Robert, but you have struck a nerve with people who have seen what can happen with aggressive fish and hate to see them happen again. I don't get the impression that you have any kind of sadistic motives, and I can see how you might want to bend the rules a bit in the hope of broadening your fishkeeping experience, but it would be hard to post about your attempt and not expect a little flak, especially in light of the outcome.

I hope that we can keep this discussion calm as it has been, as I do think there is a lot of valuable information here for newbies and experienced fishkeepers alike.

 

[chrism]

It has been valuable for me to read this thread and I have learnt some things, however saying that I do not believe I have gained any knowledge that I couldn’t have found out by doing some research and/or posting a question on this site.

I can understand your curiosity and willingness to mix contrasting fish. I would like to do the same, but I a huge tank. A tank large enough to support all the activities and territories of all the fish involved, and if I couldn’t afford or if I didn’t have the space for such a tank then I wouldn’t proceed with my plans.

 

[robertmarda]

Thanks chrism! I am glad to know what I have learned is useful to someone. In the beginning I had enough space. I expanded faster than I was able to upgrade to a larger tank, which was part of my plan also. Just didn't happen the way I planned.