help me decide please

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Rayne

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hi i posted a few days ago saying i want information on getting an oscar for my 55 gal.

the topic title was : can I???

anyway i'm still thinking i have also been considering chiclids (sp?) anyway they are colorful and fairly big.


any suggestions on what i could add. i want something big and interesting, maybe colorful.

currently the tank houses only 4 barbs (tiger) and 1 rainbow shark (i think, it could be a rtbs not entirely sure the lfs puts both in the same tank and sell one as the other all the time)

when i walk by the tank it sometimes looks empty!!! :dunno: :hyper:

what can i do????????????????
 
are you talking about putting cichlids in with the barbs and shark??? cause if so i wouldnt do that cichlids are aggressive little fish they even tear each other apart...

Mike
 
can the shark stay and i move the barbs????


i have room in another tank for the barbs but the shark has to stay.

i am planing another tank with in the year 130 gal approx. with a few oscars but i'm waiting to move first before seting up a big tank.

is the shark ok with 1 oscar and i'll move the barbs. one oscar should be fine in the 55 for 8-10 months or so???????
 
an Oscar will need to be moved in about 6-8 months. I had one and he grew really fast! A Jack Dempsey does not get quite as big and you could have one of those in a 55 gal but you would not be able to have any other fish with him after a while. He will need the whole tank for himself. Those are the only two cichlids I have any experience with at the moment. I am looking into setting up my tank with some smaller, but still aggressive cichlids. I love'em! they have more personality than most people I know! :) Someone has suggested keyholes or severums to me - maybe you should check those out...
 
severums are great, we have them in our community tank 129 gallons, they arent aggresive in my tank (never have been aggressive) we had one it got huge, but it died, now we have 3 new ones and they are doing great in our community tank along with 2 angel fish, swordtails, tetras, minnows, and 1 gourami and a pleco... if you plan on keeping a shark in with an oscar, it all depends on how big the shark is and how big the oscar is... If the shark will fit in the oscars mouth, there wont be no more shark :byebye: .... :) ... i put a pleco in with my oscar and woke up one morning and there he was half way into the oscars mouth, he spit him out after a while though.

Mike
 
the oscars i have my eye on are around 2" now. they ar a new shipment of babies. they look so cute and healthy.

i love interesting looking fish and nobody i know has one
 
Forget oscars if you will have any other fish in with it. The minnimum for a lone oscar is 55 gallons. The fact that they are currently small plays absolutely no role as you should consider their adult size (which they reach very quickly if cared for well) and the amount of waste these messy fish produce - not to mention their aggression and territoriality.

The shark you have will grow to 5-7" in time and your tank will slowly fill out even without some huge aggressive cichlid in there. Anyway, if the shark's a rainbow shark all its fins should be red. If it's a red-tailed black shark, only its tail should be red and its body much darker black than that of a rainbow. Rainbows tend to grow ever so slightly larger but are actualy a little less aggressive. It doesn't matter in the end though - you can't keep more than one shark-type fish in the tank regardless.

4 tiger barbs is not enough - start filling out the tank by getting at least 3 more.

Then start thinking about further tankmates. If you are still sticking to the cichlid idea, ask in the relevant forum. I personaly would get a pair of kribs/pulcher as a cichlid addition to this boisterous/semi-aggressive tank but a severum would also likely work.

Beyond that I don't know but keep in mind that the tiger barbs are a nippy fish so nothing long-finned. Also watch your bottom-dwellers (if you add any catfish, loaches etc) as kribs will chase them around and don't add anything small as a severum would eat it in time. Having said that, one bottom-dweller to consider as an addition would be the bristlenose plec or similar small-growing plecos and if you don't get a severum anything that won't get attacked by the barbs or swallowed by the shark should work out fine with kribs.

Mollies and swordtails also usualy work (no fancy fins though), as do large danios (giant for example), boisterous barbs (rosy, ticto, half-banded, golden, odessa, five-banded, ember, black ruby, spanner etc) and some of the more active rasboras and larger tetras (black widows/skirts, sometimes serpae tetras, brilliant rasboras, elegant rasboras, giant scissortail rasboras etc). Some of the larger rainbowfish (glossolepis incisus for example) will also work most of the time. Make sure any schooling fish are kept in adequately-sized groups. Also, watch that any livebearers you get are kept in the correct gender ratios. Avoid anything particularly slow, small or long-finned.
 
Good advice from sylvia, as usual... especially on filling out the barb school.

In addition to kribs or severum, you might consider a pair of blue acara or flag cichlids. They'll get along with that crew and get to around 6" or so. The ever popular convict is also an option.
 
i had a large group of the tiger barbs but they slowly died off for no apparent reason. the were quite large so they may have been old when i bought them.


anyway i don't really want to replace them i never found them very interesting in the tank. i still want something large to make an impact. i don't care if i can only have one or two fish as long as their size and coloration make an impact.
 
It would be in the fishes best interest for you to give the barbs some more friends-remember, when you buy a fish you are responsible for it, and you want to make them as comfortable as possible, even if it means adding more to a school of fish when you don't really fancy that particular fish(s).
 
if i get another type fish i am bringing the barbs to the lfs for credit on the new fish. so i'm not going to spend money until i make a decision. which will within the next few days.
 
i like live barerers (sp?) but i want big fish for my big tank live barers are fine for my smaller tanks.
 
if i get another type fish i am bringing the barbs to the lfs for credit on the new fish. so i'm not going to spend money until i make a decision. which will within the next few days.

Oh...if you had said that in the first place I could of spared you my lecture :p LoL.

Oh, and about the livebearers, mollies can reach 4"+ and certian types can get even larger, but I'm guessing thats not big enough. Gaint danios also get quite big...hmmm....angels, gouramis...
 

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