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My New Tanks And Fish

Trilo_G

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Hi everybody, this is my first post on these forums as my fiancee and I are the proud new owners of two new tanks. The tanks were practically given away to us and we have been wanting one for a while, but we are complete novices at tropical fishkeeping. We were given a 4ft tank (48 US gallons) with the following fish: Gold Spot Plec, Silver Angelfish, Kissing Gourami, Jack Dempsey, and an unidentified yellow fish, silghtly bigger than the Gourami. We were also given a 2.5ft tank.
We were eager to add to the tank and bought a Red Oscar. We were told at the pet shop that this fish would get along fine with the others. I get the feeling that we were lied to, and that as soon as this fish is big enough, it's going to try its damnedest to eat the others.
At first it was bullied by the Jack Dempsey, which we knew to be a slightly aggressive fish, but she was nothing short of malicious towards the young Red Oscar. The poor young fish couldn't move out of its hiding place for fear of being chased, and very rarely ate. We seperated the Jack Dempsey and put her in the 2.5ft tank, where she actually seems much more happy. She is constantly burrowing and reshaping the gravel around the tank and it seems she wont stop until it is perfect to her needs. She is very calm now, and we can keep her tank at the warmer temperature that we have heard she prefers. We plan to introduce a new Common Plec to her tank, once we have raised one large enough not to be eaten in the larger tank.
However, the Red Oscar, once it had the chance to become familiar with the 4ft tank and its fellow tankmates, has started turning nasty. It snaps at the other fish, all of which are bigger than it, and sometimes chases them until it seems to get bored. Even at only 2-3", it has started trying to annoy the 8" Plec. The Plec doesn't seem bothered by it at all, but nevertheless the Red Oscar is disrupting the harmony of the large tank, and if we reintroduce the Jack Dempsey to the tank I fear the Red Oscar won't survive.
We want to continue adding fish to the tank, but we don't want to introduce any young fish to a hostile environment. Will we have to get rid of the Red Oscar? I see no other option if we want to add more fish, as the Jack Dempsey will probably attack any newcomers too.
Any advice will be much appreciated.
 
Hi everybody, this is my first post on these forums as my fiancee and I are the proud new owners of two new tanks. The tanks were practically given away to us and we have been wanting one for a while, but we are complete novices at tropical fishkeeping.

Hi there! Welcome to TFF.

We were given a 4ft tank (48 US gallons) with the following fish: Gold Spot Plec, Silver Angelfish, Kissing Gourami, Jack Dempsey, and an unidentified yellow fish, silghtly bigger than the Gourami. We were also given a 2.5ft tank.

The angelfish is a great addition to a peaceful community tank. Some issues with the others, though:

Kissing Gourami - these guys can reach a foot long and need larger tanks (about 6 foot).
Gold spot plec - if he stays at a foot he can just about stay in your tank (although he won't like it) but he could get much bigger and should really be in a 6 foot tank.
Jack Dempsey - your tank is the smallest tank you would ever want to put one in. They can reach 10 inches and are rather aggressive. The JD can stay in your tank as lng as you don't add much more stock. In fact, I wouldn't add any.
Yellow fish - could be a gourami but sounds like a yellow lab (which is an aggressive cichlid). Same dealio as with the JD if it is. Can you get a photo?

We were eager to add to the tank and bought a Red Oscar. We were told at the pet shop that this fish would get along fine with the others. I get the feeling that we were lied to, and that as soon as this fish is big enough, it's going to try its damnedest to eat the others.

Oscars in big tanks with suitable tank mates are wonderful. However . . . your tank is too small even for one adult, let alone an adult and all the other fish you have. These mosters should have 75-100 gallon tanks and will become very destructive to decor and prhaps the other fish.

At first it was bullied by the Jack Dempsey, which we knew to be a slightly aggressive fish, but she was nothing short of malicious towards the young Red Oscar. The poor young fish couldn't move out of its hiding place for fear of being chased, and very rarely ate. We seperated the Jack Dempsey and put her in the 2.5ft tank, where she actually seems much more happy. She is constantly burrowing and reshaping the gravel around the tank and it seems she wont stop until it is perfect to her needs. She is very calm now, and we can keep her tank at the warmer temperature that we have heard she prefers.

This is fine as a very short term measure but your fish cannot stay there for long. If she stays in that little tank it will stunt her growth, make her stressed and eventually kill her. She needs 45-55 gallons.

We plan to introduce a new Common Plec to her tank, once we have raised one large enough not to be eaten in the larger tank.

A common plec could reach 2 foot long. It would be unspeakably cruel to put one in that small tank. If you use it to grow one out for the big tank then a) it might not grow properly because of the small tank b) it will produce a lot of poo and you'll need to upgrade the filtration on the small tank and c) it will grow too big for the large tank eventualy.

However, the Red Oscar, once it had the chance to become familiar with the 4ft tank and its fellow tankmates, has started turning nasty. It snaps at the other fish, all of which are bigger than it, and sometimes chases them until it seems to get bored. Even at only 2-3", it has started trying to annoy the 8" Plec. The Plec doesn't seem bothered by it at all, but nevertheless the Red Oscar is disrupting the harmony of the large tank, and if we reintroduce the Jack Dempsey to the tank I fear the Red Oscar won't survive.
We want to continue adding fish to the tank, but we don't want to introduce any young fish to a hostile environment. Will we have to get rid of the Red Oscar? I see no other option if we want to add more fish, as the Jack Dempsey will probably attack any newcomers too.

If you have large fish, you can naturally have far, far less fish than if you have small fish. As you already have some fish that need larger tanks than you can provide you have three sensible options -

1) keep the angel fish, gold spot plec and JD (if they all get along, which I'm not sure they will) and the yellow fish if you can get an ID on it and find it will be OK, and rehome the kissing gourami and oscar.
2) Get a much larger tank (at least 100 gallons) and keep them all
3) Rehome them all and go for some small community fish

With the stock you have at the moment you can't add very much more to the tank (I wouldn't add anything). If you want an active tank full of colourful fish, you need to get rid of most of the others. The angel and plec might be OK to stay, providing you get sensible fish to put with them. If you keep them all and upgrade your tank you need to make sure you provide a huge level of filtration for these big, dirty fish. get a filter for a rather larger tank than the one you end up with. In fact, any tank with a plec and/or oscar needs heavy filtration.

I know this isn't what you want to hear and I'm sorry for such a brutal welcome but we don't want you to make a mistake with these guys and we don't want the fish to end up suffering. They might seem fun now but getting fishkeeping wrong leads to a lot of stress for you and the fish, a lot of tears (maybe I'm just a sap) and a lot of wasted money.

Have a read of this link - Linky
 
Hi, and thanks for the welcome. You are right, I certainly don't want to cause any stress for my fish, I haven't had them long but their behaviour hypnotises me and I am enjoying keeping tropical fish for the first time, although I've learned a harsh lesson here.
All fish apart from the Oscar got along fine in the 4ft tank, with the occasional mild dispute between the Kissing Gourami and the JD. Once we learnt of the potential size and temperament of the Oscar, we accepted the fact that we may have to rehome it.
The yellow fish is still unidentified. It is certainly not a Gourami but looks different, although similar, to a Yellow Lab. It has no black, only bright yellow with a small orange marking that travels through its eye, but it is not dissimilar at all in shape. I will try to upload a photo as soon as possible. It was mildly aggressive towards the Kissing Gourami and the Oscar when the JB was around, but nothing that caused any concern, and now is not aggressive at all. Now that the JB is in the other tank, the Oscar shows aggression toward the yellow fish instead.
The hiding spot that the Oscar used while the JD was in the tank is now used only by the Oscar, and he is already showing territorial aggression when other fish go near the entrance, so the other fish now tend to hide behind it.
We had no idea the Kissing Gourami was set to get so big, but I don't think the previous owner did too. It will be rehomed.
The Common Plec will no longer be considered at all. Are there any smaller plecs or similar fish that would be suitable?
If I must get rid of the JD then I will be doing so with a heavy heart as she has the most character of all the fish. Butt my fiancee is desperate to add to the tank, and if the stress of living in the smaller tank will kill her, I see no other option.

So, the Oscar and the Kissing Gourami must go. I now see two options aside from that that I must consider:
1) Get rid of the JD
2) Keep the JD with the other fish and possibly put some new fish in the smaller stank.

If we get rid of the JD, what fish can the existing fish cohabit with? We want colourful fish that obviously aren't going to pick on the others or grow too large for the 4ft tank.

And what kind of fish can I keep in a 2.5x1ft (1.5ft deep) tank? (About 25-30 US gallon)

Thanks again for some essential advice.
 
I thought I'd add...

Filtration on both tanks is fine. We knew the Plec produces a lot of waste so we made it a priority.
This is the last time I put faith in a pet shop owner. He said the Oscar would be fine with other fish, even when we told him we had a Jack Dempsey in a 4ft tank.

A few additional questions... Is the JD going to be so aggressive with all newcomers? She is fine with the Angelfish, Plec and the yellow fish and only showed mild and quite rare aggression towards the Kissing Gourami. It would chase it around the tank for about a minute, about twice a day. As the Kissing Gourami is getting rehomed, this won't be an issue any more. Could I raise new fish in the smaller tank until they are large enough not to be eaten by the JD, and then introduce them to the larger tank?
And will the Kissing Gourami take long to grow noticeably bigger? It's around 4" at the moment.
The JD is 10" long, will she grow much more?

Sorry if I'm testing your patience, but as a beginner I know very little on the matter and hope to learn from mistakes I've made and mistakes that seem to have been made for me.
 
jack dempsey grow larger and can be quite aggresive
Agree. Years ago I had a couple of JDs that grew to be really big. I kept them in their own tank and always thought of them as a fish to have in its own "species" tank. I remember their iridescent blue-green spots, set in the dark gray/brown surrounding as being quite beautiful and, like many large fish, they seemed to have plenty of personality. Nice fish but I have no room to keep things like that now!

~~waterdrop~~
 

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