Please help

was gifted a fish and it grew to e about 10 inches in a year can someone help me and tell me what kind of fish I have?

Dan adam said:

was gifted a fish and it grew to e about 10 inches in a year can someone help me and tell me what kind of fish I have?

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I believe that's a Jack Dempsey- it's a cichlid -I haven't seen one in a while they do get big and can be aggressive

Hope you have a big tank, they get up to 20-30cm max

Not a Jack Dempsey but looks like a greet terror (formerly Aequidens rivulatus) (now Andinoacara rivulatus)

Very pretty!

Deanasue said:

Very pretty!

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and real aggressive

It's a green terror.

What size tank do you have?

That's some pretty impressive growth over a year, green terrors are slow growers compared to other large cichlids. He looks very healthy.

Are those tiger barbs in the same tank? or a tank directly behind that one? He may decide one day to snack on them.

Yes it is with tiger 8 tiger barbs in a 55 gallon tank I keep up on feeding and their is a million places for them to get into and hide if needed. But thank you guys

Colin_T said:

and real aggressive

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He isn’t vary aggressive with the little fish I do have a pleco that’s about the same size as him and if they bump into it each other he gets irate for a second and goes and hides in a corner lol.

They can become very aggressive at any moment, especially as they nearing their max size.

Tiger barbs aren't really the type of fish to go and hide. The green terror might even already be big enough to swallow one whole. Big fish eat little fish. General rule of thumb, if the fish can fit in it's mouth, its food.

Also, your tank is a little on the smaller side for the fish. I'd say a 55 is absolute minimum for a green terror with no tankmates. The pleco (if it is a common pleco) should be in a 6ft tank minimum.

Metalhead88 said:

They can become very aggressive at any moment, especially as they nearing their max size.

Tiger barbs aren't really the type of fish to go and hide. The green terror might even already be big enough to swallow one whole. Big fish eat little fish. General rule of thumb, if the fish can fit in it's mouth, its food

Also, your tank is a little on the smaller side for the fish. I'd say a 55 is absolute minimum for a green terror with no tankmates. The pleco (if it is a common pleco) should be in a 6ft tank minimum.

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I was gifted the pleco the green terror and the tank by someone going to basically just get rid of it all, so I’m not sure what species but it’s definitely a pleco. And thank you but I haven’t had any problems yet so why fix it if it isn’t broke. Planning on upgrading my tank but I like the way they look in the same tank. I do appreciate you’re knowledgeable responses tho thank you again.

Dan adam said:

I was gifted the pleco the green terror and the tank by someone going to basically just get rid of it all, so I’m not sure what species but it’s definitely a pleco. And thank you but I haven’t had any problems yet so why fix it if it isn’t broke. Planning on upgrading my tank but I like the way they look in the same tank. I do appreciate you’re knowledgeable responses tho thank you again.

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"yet" water quality issues are imminent with your current stocking in a 55.

These fish can live well over 10 years and by overstocking you can cut their life in half or less. I'm glad to hear that you plan on upgrading. You've got a really nice fish there.

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Metalhead88 said:

"yet" water quality issues are imminent with your current stocking in a 55.

These fish can live well over 10 years and by overstocking you can cut their life in half or less. I'm glad to hear that you plan on upgrading. You've got a really nice fish there.

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What size tank would you recommend? It was just vary shy and was left in a dark room before I got him. adding some other fish to the tank makes him move around more and be more active. But if it’s bad for him once I get another tank I’ll dedicate this tank to barbs

Just do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each week and the water should be fine for a while. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean your filter at least once a month and every 2 weeks is great. Wash the filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use them.

If you post a couple of pictures of the pleco we should be able to ID it for you.

Make sure you have some driftwood in the tank for the pleco. They need it to help with their digestion. The pleco should also get algae to eat. You can leave the tank lights on for a bit longer to encourage algae to grow on the glass. Or you can put a container of water outside in the side and put some smooth rocks or plastic ornaments in the bucket. Leave them there until they are covered in algae then put a few pieces in the tank. When the fish has cleaned the algae of them, put them back in the container outside and move a couple of the others into the tank.

I guess I'll start with stocking to what I'd recommend for your fish and let you decide witch route you'd like to go.

Green terror - 55 with no tankmates. Things get really tricky if you'd like to keep tankmates since it would all depend on bio load and aggression levels.

Common pleco - 125 with tankmates - you pretty much wouldn't want to keep a pleco by itself.

Tiger barbs - 20 to 30 with suitable tankmates of similar size

You have a lot of options here and I think a lot of it depends on the pleco and your own personal preference. If you plan to keep him. Plecos produce a ton of waste and some species grow very large. How big is yours right now? I'd assume that it is a common pleco since they are the most common after all and can grow almost 2 feet long. A 125 gallon tank would be great for the pleco, green terror, and a few other suitable tankmates. The pleco is a good tankmate for the green terror given the right sized tank.

The green terror can be left alone in the 55 and it'll be happy and water quality would be up to par with proper maintenance.

So I'd say your options are - Big tank with pleco and green terror or get a smaller tank like a 30 for the tiger barbs and you can add more fish, keep the green terror alone and rehome the pleco

Or - you can keep things as is and cross your fingers. I can't say I'd do or recommend it though.

Test your water, specifically for nitrates. An established tank should not have any readings of ammonia or nitrite, so nitrate buildup should be your concern. You would want to keep your nitrates under 20ppm

Post a picture of your pleco, and we can tell you what species it is. If it is not a common pleco, you wouldn't need quite as big of a tank to house it as it wouldn't grow nearly as large.