Dont Understand, Pls Help

[carney]

i read and read plenty about fishkeeping online and in books etc and everywhere tell you roughly guidelines to follow re stocking etc

yet my dad has been fish keeping for 40 yrs with no problems at all

in his 60 gall tank he has

3 loach
1 rt black shark
1 plec
2 festivum
2 keyhole
2 angel
1 acara
1 krib
5 tiger barbs
3 odessa barbs

this shouldnt work but does beautufully, why?

oh yeah and 2 firemouths

 

[carney]

?

 

[Davo86]

TBH that stocking doesn't look too bad and isn't far off what i have in my 63G atm, (in fact atm my stocking looks worse as i'm waiting for my new tank to arrive)
The shark isn't going to be particular aggressive (mine isn't) as he is in with cichlids that won't take it and will give as good as they get
The cichlids are all compatible and the two barb species will no doubt swim together meaning there is a large enough number for them to not bother the other fish such as the angels

I'm guessing most of the fish are still young though
How long has he had the whole setup together?

 

[carney]

over a year now, but i suppose they have all grown up together with teh exception of the firemouths that went in 2 months ago

thanks for you reply dav

 

[Davo86]

over a year now, but i suppose they have all grown up together with teh exception of the firemouths that went in 2 months ago

thanks for you reply dav

ok, if its a long term stocking then yes i'd say that your dad will run into problems sooner or later but I would also guess that if he has been keeping fish long term he should know this and may even already have a failsafe if things go wrong

what filtration and maintenance regime is he running?

 

[carney]

2 fluval 700s and undergravel filter too

 

[carney]

any more views pls?

 

[sreiman]

the lady that runs my LFS stocks her personal tanks so they look like Grand Central Stn at rush hour-she maintains them accordingly but loves a "full tank"-and they are beautiful tanks full of happy (i think) and compatible fish. Not really my style but it works...