Getting SAE some friends

[Alien Anna]

Hi Everyone,
I have a lonely SAE in an over-stocked tank and I'd like to move him into my other tank and get him some companions (as I've discovered they're schooling fish and like space). I don't know if he counts as an oddball, but round here he counts as rare at least (in fact, none of my LFS's had heard of SAEs, except the one who sold him to me at exorbitant cost).

He currently shares a heavily planted 25 gal corner tank with tetras and gouramis at pH 7. The tank is over-stocked according to most formulae and my SAE is only 2.5" long at present. I'd like to move him in with my mollies and guppies, in a lightly planted tank with a little salt (1 tspn per 15 litres) and pH 8. This tank is under-stocked and has plenty of room, particularly in the mid to lower sections of the tank.

Currently, the stocking of this 120 litre (30 US gal) tank is:

Pair large sailfin mollies.
2x small female short-finned mollies.
8x male guppies

The dimensions of the tank are (BxHxL) 30cm x 40cm x 100cm (12"x16"x39").

I believe that a fully adult SAE is about 5" long, however they are very slender. I also believe they are schooling fish but I can't fit 6 in my tank! I was thinking about getting another 2. My other concern is how well they'd get on with the mollis and how well they'd tolerate a little salt. Opinions, anyone?

Also, any tips on how to acclimatise my new fish (I'll also be getting some tetras)? I'll be getting them online from Cornwell where they have soft, acid water, nothing like the liquid chalk we have here. I hate to go to all this effort and then kill them off!

 

[Alien Anna]

Have I posted this to the wrong section?

 

[CFC]

When you say you are getting them from cornwall i presume you are buying from Trimar ? (exellent shop, i have bought 4 fish from them in the last 3 months and all have arrived in perfect condition without any signs of stress). When they arrive open the bag up and float it in the tank (you may have to transfer the fish and water to a smaller bag as the ones they come in are HUGE ). Then slowly add water from your tank into the bag, about a cup full every 10 minutes or so. Keep doing this for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours so that the fish can slowly become more adapted to your water. When you are ready to release the fish net it out of the bag and let it go into the tank, do not pour the water from the bag into your tank as it may be heavilly polluted from the time the fish spent in there.

 

[Alien Anna]

Yes, I phoned Trimar this morning. The guy was really helpful but they were busy and I didn't want to keep him on the phone half the morning - I talk more than I post!

Do I take it from your reply that you approve of my plans to get a couple more SAEs and put them all in my molly tank? Do you think I'll need more plants? I've planted some crypts, giant vallis and dwarf anubias in there but they haven't properly taken off yet. I want to get CO2 in there, but it costs money.

I also wanted some Petitella georgiae, False Rummy-nosed Tetras to make up my school but they didn't have any and seemed surprised I wanted them (I don't think the guy heard me that I already had 3). I might get myself another couple of cardinal tetras while I'm at it - you can never have too many cardinals

The irony is that the shipping costs more than the fish, but it's the convenience factor I'm after.

 

[CFC]

No i cant see anything wrong with the stocking situation, if anything id say you were quite under stocked but then i do have a habit of cramming as many fish as i can get away with into my tanks to eaze aggression between the big nasty predators i keep (remember folks this is not the recomended thing to do and requires massive filtration and and very frequent large water changes ).

Yeh Monty at trimar is very helpful and dont worry Anna, he can talk the hind legs off a donkey too I use them for finding all the unusual and rare fish that i want but the useless LFS round here wont bother to find, £10 shipping is a small price to pay for a fish youve been looking for over a year.

 

[Alien Anna]

Hi CFC,
re. overstocking.

My corner tank is 100 litres (25 US gals) and currently contains:

Pair of pearl gouramis
5x cardinal tetras
4x cherry barbs
3x False Rummy-nosed tetras
3x Rummy-nosed tetras (bought in error)
1x female ancistrus
1x Beckford's pencilfish (on it's last legs... fins)
1x SAE
3x golden apple snails

It looks a little crowded (35" of fish) and the SAE seems to be having difficulty carving out sufficient territory for himself. He also can't swim very far. By growing my plants up I'm hoping to raise the level at which my tetras can swim (they tend to hug the plants) so they can use the height of the tank more. The tank does have good filtration and is very stable.

My molly tank is 120 litres (30 US gals) and currently contains the mollies and guppies I mentioned before. Using most formulae it appears that 3 SAEs would mean the tank is just about full (once the SAEs and mollies were at their full adult size). Also, since they'd use up a different space in the tank they'd have the whole middle and lower section to themselves, with good swimming space. In the meantime, there is plenty of room for more mollies if I can get them to breed.