30 Gallon Breeder 36 inches long

[Oldspartan]

So, I was cleaning a closet we use to store board games and various other lightly used things we amuse grandkids with, (two are coming to spend the week during school break next week). At any rate, lo and behold if I did not find a 30-gallon breeder tank, 36 inches long I believe. Linda thinks we picked it up at the LFS swap shop during the summer. In any event it was forgotten till I found it beneath some sleeping bags. Put it in the tubt and nary a leak.

Yesterday, I took the mirror off the Linda's wide dresser in our bedroom, Linda said go ahead and I only needed to be told once. I built the dresser maybe 30 years ago and repurposed the mirror to fit about 20 years ago. That means the piece is very solid walnut. Sanded the top down to 500 grit and applied a quik dry paste stain then a coat of poly. Today a second coat. Tomorrow the tank goes on and we will begin to cycle. I have seeded sponge filters to help the process along.

So now we will begin thinking about stocking it. Our thought are some cichlids that we saw in a fish store when doing a road trip last fall. I think in Maine, but maybe not. Apparently, the male was a bright reddish orange and the female a lemon yellow, if memory serves. I made some notes, and they required pretty hard water (doable), a PH above 7.5, again doable. The rest of my note is unfortunately illegible. Speed writing sometimes fails.

Anybody here have an idea of what these were. I know a 30 is likely pushing it, but we over filter and change water heavily so .....

 

[GaryE]

I'm being my usual party pooper self. I'm running the old file cards through my head and there are a couple of possibilities for what you saw in Maine - but all get way way too big for that tank. It's a decent size, but it's still a dwarf Cichlid sized tank, and I can't think of one Cichlid with those colour patterns that could thrive in one.

Or let's put it differently - if they thrive, they'll outgrow the tank and stop thriving around when you get attached to them the most.

The big problem with Cichlids isn't just water quality. It's their complicated territorial needs. We love them for their behaviour and occasional weirdness, but if they don't have space, they can get like lions in an old fashioned zoo cage. Dwarf Cichlids (generally under 3 inches fully grown) would be great in a tank that size.

 

[Oldspartan]

I'm being my usual party pooper self. I'm running the old file cards through my head and there are a couple of possibilities for what you saw in Maine - but all get way way too big for that tank. It's a decent size, but it's still a dwarf Cichlid sized tank, and I can't think of one Cichlid with those colour patterns that could thrive in one.

Or let's put it differently - if they thrive, they'll outgrow the tank and stop thriving around when you get attached to them the most.

The big problem with Cichlids isn't just water quality. It's their complicated territorial needs. We love them for their behaviour and occasional weirdness, but if they don't have space, they can get like lions in an old fashioned zoo cage. Dwarf Cichlids (generally under 3 inches fully grown) would be great in a tank that size.

I do believe they were labeled dwarfs and I think I remember 4 inches at maturity. Now for sure that remembering might be what my brother calls wishful.

 

[GaryE]

There are a couple of Tanganyikans that fit the description. They usually have a solid price tag, and I have never seen one in a petco type store.
There are some Malawi mbuna, but they need far bigger tanks because they live in crowds. They'd be the right size, but keeping 2 or 3 ends in you having one survivor.
Some Central Americans have those colours, but they get big enough to feed you well.
There are some intentionally deformed test tube fish made by farms. They get large but are so handicapped they can't act out their aggression very well. To me, that's just commercial cruelty.
When I used to visit the States, I saw a lot of northern Maine pet stores, and they were really limited. There was one I liked in Lebanon New Hampshire, but that was the only quality store I ever wandered into in that region.

 

[Oldspartan]

The store could have been anywhere from Bangor south to Bennington Vermont. We actually got intentionally lost in NH but was not near Lebanon, The store was not Petco or PetSmart, it was a smallish LFS. I could likely retrace my steps using the memory on the GPS but would prefer the frustration of researching.

 

[Magnum Man]

I have 2 of those tanks in my built in wall of tanks, that I haven't refilled yet... IMO, they are a good size, for breeding smaller fish... I won't play the guessing game, but suspect a rift lake cichlid...

 

[GaryE]

If a store is doing well, they don't want a species to be in their tanks for more than a few weeks. The pet chains replace them with exactly the same thing, but the good stores try to keep a variety moving through. Both the independent stores around here turn over reasonably quickly, and if a fish is still there after a month or two, don't order any for quite some time. Tanks that don't 'move' lose money.

My experience is that you get it when you see it, or you may not see it again.

 

[Oldspartan]

Agree … When you snooze you lose.