Are My Fish Too Big For My Tank?

threeeightsix said:

AndreaC The 2 big fish (the pinkish ones) are clarias catfish.


Cheesy feet, since I posted this thread I have taken one of the catfish out as it was bullying the smallist of the catfish, stalking it out 24/7 and eating the underside fine. I have also taken the two silver dollars and my guarami out of the big tank.

Would you say that makes an improvement with regard to your comment? In the tank(the one above) now, are 2 catfish, 4 piranhas and a small loach(which i hardly ever see).

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What kind of loach is it? Probably the reason you dont see it is because loaches like to be in groups and are very social. They will hide some to begin with, but if kept alone, will hardly ever come out and will not be happy.

thanks for the ebay link mojodex i had a look and it looks great they have loads of tanks

barracuda ye it is the only loach that would explain i might get some more now i know that, the loach i have is the longest living fish i have i think

Barracuda518 said:

threeeightsix said:

a small loach(which i hardly ever see).

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What kind of loach is it? Probably the reason you dont see it is because loaches like to be in groups and are very social.

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not all loaches are social, botias yes but not all,
in fact the horsefaced loach despises any other horsefaced loaches and are best kept on their own

but I too would like to know which loach the OP has.

The-Wolf said:

Barracuda518 said:

threeeightsix said:

a small loach(which i hardly ever see).

Click to expand...

What kind of loach is it? Probably the reason you dont see it is because loaches like to be in groups and are very social.

Click to expand...

not all loaches are social, botias yes but not all,
in fact the horsefaced loach despises any other horsefaced loaches and are best kept on their own

but I too would like to know which loach the OP has.

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Im not 100 per cen sure what the loach is.... it kinda looks the same shape as a yoyo loach but its pattern is a little different. it glides through the water and sits on its sturdy fins on rocks. Im goinng to take it our of the pihrana/clarias tank i think it could be a target for the pihranas, which i identified as pacu pihranas.

hate to bring bad news but if they are indeed pacus thats actually worse than red bellies pacus might not be aggressive but they grow this big

http/content.answers.com/main/content/wp..._ostergaard.jpg

get rid of them unless your planning a 1000 gallon tank

Thanks for the post Mojodex, they are some big fish, if they get that big then I think I will need to let them go to someone else...although, in the mean time, I managed to locate a bigger fish tank, its 500 litres.

Would anyone happen to know if a tank this big could be positioned upstairs in a house? Would the joists take the weight?

Thanks again

The-Wolf said:

in fact the horsefaced loach despises any other horsefaced loaches and are best kept on their own

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This is not true. I orginally had one horsefaced loach and never saw him I purchased a second and they're always out together and you don't see one without the other.

then you proberbly had long nosed loaches and not true horsefaced loaches hooli.

Oooh maybe...

*off to google*

threeeightsix said:

Thanks for the post Mojodex, they are some big fish, if they get that big then I think I will need to let them go to someone else...although, in the mean time, I managed to locate a bigger fish tank, its 500 litres.

Would anyone happen to know if a tank this big could be positioned upstairs in a house? Would the joists take the weight?

Thanks again

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id get the construction designs for your house if you plan on this it SHOULD be ok but u can never be to safe there r firms who will come out and test your floors weight capacity might be worth the £100-200 it costs because a hole through your house will cost far far more!

having said that your house could well have a bison beam floor if this is the case(unlikley) then 500 litre tank is childs play

on another note 500 litre tank will only house those pacus for around 6 months tops IMO id just cut your losses and get rid while there small

the clarias you have is also the same asthe one I have and mine is now 17 inches long ( or was 3 months ago) so yours may have a bit of growing to do as well. Saying that they are not the most active of fish ( apart from when food around!!) Great looking fish though

How long are the RB pacu? If their teeth are sort of like humans, they're pacus. If like blades, piranhas.

ye the teeth mine has are more blunt, they dont look sharp enough to draw blood (i think).

Since I first posted the pictures I managed to get a bigger tank(the 500 litre one) and it seems to be all running smooth, the floor has taken the weight , although this weekend, after some people saying it weighs to much for the ceiling, I am putting the new one on the window sill and a friend is constructing a kinda frame which sits on the window sill and extends in towards the center of the room, with uprights holding the whole thing up... I'll post some new photos after the weekend for anyone interested.

Ahh, one more thing, during when I was transfering all the fish accross from the old tank (photos at the start of this thread) to the new tank (500 L one), the largest catfish jumped out of the tank and died as I was out all day, which was a bit of a bummer because I was just in the process of letting the new tank cycle

Ill upload new photos once this new frame is done

Such a lovely fish. A 3 foot pacu could bite a finger off. They have those large human like teeth because in thier natural habitat they eat nuts and fruits falling off trees. They crush thier food good.

Yer Mystix, since I found out they were Pacu's and not Pirahna I scouted around the internet lots and there are loads of cool clips on youtube with Pacu in them.

Well, I said I would upload pics of the new window sill extension thingy and here they are...





The posts/uprights are 3x3 and the ones underneath the "top" are 1x4, and the top (the thing which is at on the frame is 1" Plywood. The ply is sat on the window sill , then there is an over hang so the frame will hopefully support all that, its quite a tide job and was rock solid before I put the tank on I felt quite confident when filling it up.

I'm not a DIY professional, more one of those people who just goes ahead one afternoon and gets it done so if anyone thinks this looks unsafe then let me know cuz my dad will kill me i it all goes wrong Tbh I don't know how i convinced him to let me do it.

Ill add a couple more pics for anyone interested.