I Really Need Some Help Please

[Terry_H]

Hi Guys,

I have a nice cold water tank full of nice and simple goldfish, which I get a lot of enjoyment from. Imagine my surprise when my wife tells me a friend has a tank, filter and all the kit that she is giving away for free thats full of 'giant goldfish' that are now unwanted. It turns out that it is a tropical tank full of very large and very beautiful fish.

Here is the first problem, I have kept tropicals fish before so I am happy with tank set up etc, my problem is Identification, I think they are all oscars (with the exception of the two Pleccys) but I really dont know. They are stunning fish, but were more of a 'status symbol' of the previous owner and were in a pretty sad state, but they seem s much happier now, but I need to know firstly what they are, and secondly feeding habbits, they came with a selection of foods but any advice would be great. sorry about the quality of the pics but i am no photographer, any hint or tips would be great to help these poor things.

OK here are firstly the appoximate sizes, and limited descriptions

Orange, V shaped mouth one is app 8 inches nose to tail one is 6

Blue with black stripes and a rosy red belly 4-5 inches

Black, irredesant blue stripes at mouth

Orange and white, 4-5 inches

Pleccys (i think!) one is 11 inches and has dark brown 'leopard' pattern other is smaller 3.5 inches and has a tall dorsal fin

They are being fed on Tetra Pro and Tetra Plecomin, can anyone advise if these are ok and what sort of amounts to give? all the fish I have had in the past have been tetra size! biggest I had was a silver shark and he was only 3 inches!


Thank you again for all your help

Terry

 

[Amunet]

Orange ones are blood parrot cichlids. Not sure on the orange/white one. Looks like it might be as well, but I'm really not a cichlid person lol
The 3rd and 4th photos... maybe firemouth cichlids?

Like I said, my knowledge of cichlids is very limited so hopefully someone else will come and be able to tell you the info you need lol.

 

[jacko9901]

the 4th pic may be a blue arcra

 

[Amunet]

I think the orange and white one is a Red Devil Cichlid

 

[furry catfish]

I'm no expert but I think the pleco is an alligator/rhino pleco.(forgive me if I'm wrong )









Chris

p.s very lucky with the beautiful fish

 

[Davo86]

Blood parrot, Firemouth, Green Terror and most likely a Red Devil with a Gibbiceps pleco,

tbh tank looks too small
Problems are also likely occur with the RD and possibly the GT when they mature

 

[Terry_H]

Blood parrot, Firemouth, Green Terror and most likely a Red Devil with a Gibbiceps pleco,

tbh tank looks too small
Problems are also likely occur with the RD and possibly the GT when they mature

Thank you all so much for the help so far, I have to agree I thought the tank was too small but I have no choice right now but to run with it, I cannot begin to afford a new tank so it looks like I may have to try and re home some of them, a shame as they are really so very beautiful, but my first concern is the health of the fish. OK so any advice on feeding and general keeping? like i said before i have had tropicals in the past so I understand the basics but I am open to any help and suggestions!

Thank you all again!


Terry

 

[Amunet]

Maybe cichlid pellets. Whatever she was feeding them before. Or frozen bloodworm, beefheart, brine shrimp cubes.

Have you tryed looking on craigslist for a cheap big tank?
There are usually some really good deals

 

[Davo86]

What size tank is it? i.e dimensions wise?
Also how many BPs are in there? looks like 3?

Monitor water stats for a while so you can see how well the filters are coping with the stocking,
at a guess from the images i'd say you will be needing to be doing two 50% water changes per week unless you have some hefty filtration,

feeding wise, get them onto a good pellet food, something like Hikari is probably best and then algae wafers or catfish pellets for the plecs, The plecos can also be fed chunks of cucumber if you can find a way to weight it down, The cichlids can be treated on prawns etc if desired.

 

[Terry_H]

What size tank is it? i.e dimensions wise?
Also how many BPs are in there? looks like 3?

Monitor water stats for a while so you can see how well the filters are coping with the stocking,
at a guess from the images i'd say you will be needing to be doing two 50% water changes per week unless you have some hefty filtration,

feeding wise, get them onto a good pellet food, something like Hikari is probably best and then algae wafers or catfish pellets for the plecs, The plecos can also be fed chunks of cucumber if you can find a way to weight it down, The cichlids can be treated on prawns etc if desired.

Thank you all again for the replies,

The tank is 36 inches long, 15 inches wide and 22 inches tall, but the water line is around 17 inches

The filter is huge it is a Eheim Classic 2213,

Thank you for the feeding tips, any guide on to how much? Yes there are 3 of the orange blood parrots in there, two smaller ones and one huge one!

What should i test for water wise? just nitrates?

Thank you all again

Terry

 

[Davo86]

Wow i'm afriad that is incredibly overstocked,
at 150Litres it is the around the size suggested for just 1 GT or 1 BP
and a fully grown RD would need twice that just for itself.

Also hate to say it but the filtration will easily be struggling,
in a tank with the stocking you have you would need 3 of those IMO

you will be needing to test for nitrate, as well as nitrite and ammonia, these two probably moreso as these are the ones that will harm the fish if they rise to high, Unfortunately i'd say there is a very good chance that the tank will have both present in some form, giving the size and species of fish in the tank

 

[Terry_H]

Wow i'm afriad that is incredibly overstocked,
at 150Litres it is the around the size suggested for just 1 GT or 1 BP
and a fully grown RD would need twice that just for itself.

Also hate to say it but the filtration will easily be struggling,
in a tank with the stocking you have you would need 3 of those IMO

you will be needing to test for nitrate, as well as nitrite and ammonia, these two probably moreso as these are the ones that will harm the fish if they rise to high, Unfortunately i'd say there is a very good chance that the tank will have both present in some form, giving the size and species of fish in the tank

I thought as much now I am in a real dilemma! I think the very best thing would be to try and find someone willing to take a few of the larger fish away. I have a second smaller filter that I have put in so I hope that helps, I will get a test kit and find out whats going on with the water. Do you think a very regular partial water change would be of any use? say a quarter a week maybe?

The last thing I want is the fish to be harmed, they look in great condition despite their previous poor keeping

 

[Davo86]

I thought as much now I am in a real dilemma! I think the very best thing would be to try and find someone willing to take a few of the larger fish away. I have a second smaller filter that I have put in so I hope that helps, I will get a test kit and find out whats going on with the water. Do you think a very regular partial water change would be of any use? say a quarter a week maybe?

The last thing I want is the fish to be harmed, they look in great condition despite their previous poor keeping

As said above you'll need to be doing one if not two 50% water changes per week

 

[meguro]

That gravel is hideous. Try to rehome the larger plec, the 3 blood parrots and the red devil. Otherwise your tank will continue to be pushed to its limits.

Are we certain it's a GT and not a blue acara or GT x blue acara? (it's not really important I know but anyway)

 

[Terry_H]

I thought as much now I am in a real dilemma! I think the very best thing would be to try and find someone willing to take a few of the larger fish away. I have a second smaller filter that I have put in so I hope that helps, I will get a test kit and find out whats going on with the water. Do you think a very regular partial water change would be of any use? say a quarter a week maybe?

The last thing I want is the fish to be harmed, they look in great condition despite their previous poor keeping

As said above you'll need to be doing one if not two 50% water changes per week

OK At least I have some sort of plan now, thank you all so much for your help. I will do my best to re home some and keep a sharp eye on the water quality, once I get the stock down and the tank working properly then I can start thinking about making it pretty! right now my main concern is to the fish,

Thank you all again, Ill keep posting on this thread to tell you how we are doing...

Terry