Any fish geeks here?

Discussion in 'Pets and Animals' started by Wizardofodd, Dec 3, 2013.

  1. NoxiousGas

    NoxiousGas Old Fart

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    Another reason plecostomus are not a good mix with goldfish is the very different types of water they come from.
    Plecos usually are found in quit pools or slower rivers with lots of decaying plant matter and a correspondingly acidic PH.
    Goldfish (carp) on the other hand come from colder, fast moving streams and mountain runoff that usually has a neutral or alkaline PH.

    If you have the PH at a level that is good for the pleco, the goldfish will get ragged fins, bloodshot gills, and slough off more slime than normal.

    The pleco would be ok at the higher PH, but it's not ideal for them.

    At least that is what I remember, it's been a while.
     
  2. Wizardofodd

    Wizardofodd Senior Member

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    How big is the red tail?
     
  3. NoxiousGas

    NoxiousGas Old Fart

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    with the fish you have in there already, get about four clown loaches, they absofuckinglutely LOVE snails and will clean them up within a couple of weeks and keep them in check.
    Plus they look cool, add some activity and are rather docile and not often harassed by other fish. They will be fine with the redtail (shark I assume).
     
  4. Wizardofodd

    Wizardofodd Senior Member

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    I thought he/she said it was a red tail cat which is why I asked how big it is. If it's a red tail cat in there with those fish...there will come a day where there is only a red tail cat in there.
     
  5. NoxiousGas

    NoxiousGas Old Fart

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    true
     
  6. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    She's about 3-4 inches I suppose. She's pretty aggressive though, really docile most times but any hint of food or another fish near her castle cave and she goes absolutely nuts. Every now and again we'll be watching tv and we'll see the dark shadow dart around the tank and then we go look and there's Storm going nutters at everyone. We've never actually seen her kill any fish but we've had ones go missing and show up dead and ones that are absolutely stressed and manage to find there way into stupid areas and squeeze behind filters. I knock them loose and they go straight back so I can only assume she chases them around and they're frightened. But after they're stuck I generally flush them because they always look bent.

    And red tail shark.

    In my years of trying to keep sharks happy I've noticed that they're kinda best kept on their own. Silver sharks school but I've had red tails and rainbows and they just seem too territorial. The coolest thing with Storm was when we let her swim free she immediately went for the features and our boring other fish never touched them so it was refreshing to see a fish swim in and out of the castle feature and through the windows and then back out of the draw bridge. There's like so many places and entries in there we don't know about but she's started to get too big for most entry ways now and only uses three of the big openings.
     
  7. Wizardofodd

    Wizardofodd Senior Member

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    I'd say the shark is the most likely suspect. :)

    I used to have a large iridescent shark...which it technically in the cat fish family. It was maybe 16-17 inches long and one of the dumbest fish I've ever had. But that isn't a very aggressive either. If it ever wanted to get aggressive...it was in the wrong tank to do so. I thought it was a kind of cool fish but I took it as kind of a rescue and it was more of a pain than it was worth so I gave it to someone else.

    Edit to say....16-17 inches isn't really "large" for one of those but it's a lot bigger than most people grow them out to. They do get quite a bit bigger in the right conditions.
     
  8. *MAMA*

    *MAMA* Perfectly Imperfect

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    Before I moved I had a 50 gal tank with a 8" placo, a 7" red tail shark, two 5" Angel fish (not including the tail length), and three little zebra fish.
     
  9. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    I think the red tail might be cat fish family too? Maybe she's a bit bigger than I mentioned, I'm really not sure. And we think it's female because her belly isn't black it's grey and she shows that off when she cleans the glass and I read that it's hard to tell a female but they generally have a light belly so we thinks it's a she.
    I think if I buy a house soon I'll get a bigger tank for her, maybe a 5-6ft tank because I hear that they grow as big as their environment lets them so in my 4ft tank I'm not really sure how big she can get. She's massive in comparison to what's sold in shops. But I've also seen a straight black version of the same shark and it was huge.
     
  10. Wizardofodd

    Wizardofodd Senior Member

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    Red tail sharks won't get very big (by my standards anyway.) The tank you have it in is probably fine for it's entire life but I always encourage more water and bigger tanks for everyone...for no reason except that they are cool. :)


    The common saying "A fish only grows as big as it's environment" is mostly a myth but is true in only one sense. Once it outgrows it's environment, it will die. So in that sense, it's kind of true. But fish won't grow too much past their max size regardless of how much water they have. So I think your tank is fine.
     
  11. Wizardofodd

    Wizardofodd Senior Member

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    You didn't keep the tank?
     
  12. *MAMA*

    *MAMA* Perfectly Imperfect

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    No, it was a three hour drive to the new city, and there was no good way to safely transport the fish, so I re homed them.
     
  13. Wizardofodd

    Wizardofodd Senior Member

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    It's totally doable to transport them but you'd have to make the tank a priority and I can see how that's not really what most people want to deal with while moving.

    I've been re-homing a lot of fish in the last year. I'm pretty picky about where they go but I've more than thinned the herd.
     
  14. unfocusedanakin

    unfocusedanakin The Archaic Revival Lifetime Supporter

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    I helped a friend move his tanks one time and this guy is seriouis abot his fish. Fish tanks are great till you move, then they are a heavy pain in the ass. We had to have a full size cooler to move some of his fish that were a few feet long. But he loved them like kids, if I screwed up he would kill me. It took all day just to do the tanks we had no time to move any other stuff.
     
  15. *MAMA*

    *MAMA* Perfectly Imperfect

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    Yeah, I had a three year old, a three day old, and two big dogs. I wasn't worrying about the fish tank lol.
     
  16. AceK

    AceK Scientia Potentia Est

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    It can be done. Put some water from the tank in several buckets and keep the fish in those. Keep you substrate in another bucket with a little water in it. Keep your filter media submerged in water also. I managed to somehow get the 60 gallon tank of 5 flights of narrow stairs. It wasn't easy...but it was easier than some of the other stuff that had to go up those stairs.

    Try to keep as much water as you can also if possible...you don't want to have to re-cycle the tank with a bunch of fish.

    Oh yea, don't forget to drill some holes in the bucket lids...someone at the pet store told me to get an oxygen cylinder like from a welding (cutting) rig and airate the tank with pure oxygen but I think regular airation would be okay. I didn't airate at all because it would add to the expense and complexity and this guy was a total nerd, I think some of those people go overboard sometimes. I didn't lose a single fish.
     
  17. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    If I move soon I kinda look forward to setting up new features. I want Egyptian theme I think. I've seen some cool pyramids and sphinx statues and alike but I'd probably need beach or white sane to pull it off, not sure if that'd annoy tropical fish or not atm I just have black rocks/pebbles (small). Or I'll boil water and wash the gravel kill those snails for good!
     
  18. Wizardofodd

    Wizardofodd Senior Member

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    Just keep in mind...if you do that...you'll probably need to clean everything and that will mean you probably have to start your biocycle over. It sucks but you might have to do it.
     
  19. Tyrsonswood

    Tyrsonswood Senior Moment Lifetime Supporter

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    I used to breed central and south American cichlids... Had about 15 tanks in a two bedroom apartment... 3rd floor. I think I cracked an outside wall on that building.
     
  20. NoxiousGas

    NoxiousGas Old Fart

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    Word of advice to those of you trying to move a 250 gallon all glass aquarium with less than 6 people,
    DON'T DO IT!!!

    You will still have a fucked up back 27 years later...:(
     

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