TerminalAddict Posted January 12, 2003 Report Share Posted January 12, 2003 I'm looking for suggestions to mix with a juv Giant gouramin (about 3-4 inches) but is growing about 1 inch a week. I have 1x Pleco 5 inches 1x Gold severum 2 inches 1x Giant Gourami 4 inches 4x comets ( these are my sacraficial fish to cycle a new tank) ... but my Gourami seems to be getting fond of them I know plenty of people have suggested an arowana ... but $$$$ and I killed 2 in the past (jumpers :-( ) and yes I have lid on my tank :-( I will get an oscar (coz the wife loves them) but I want some suggestions for some thing interesting .. that CAN be found in NZ tank is 6' x 2.5' x 3' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennis Posted January 12, 2003 Report Share Posted January 12, 2003 where about in nz are u Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 12, 2003 Report Share Posted January 12, 2003 Welcome to the fishroom. I don't know too much about bigger fish but what about severums? Arowana can certainly jump - even with heavy weights on the lid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalAddict Posted January 13, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 where about in nz are u I'm in Hamilton ... but willing to travel .. coz hamilton doesn't have too much to offer what about severums? yup ... got one of them already looking for a jack dempsey (a baby) .. that would nice I think, especially a bright blu one :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 13, 2003 Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 :oops: missed the fact you already had one. Should have read the list more carefully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted January 18, 2003 Report Share Posted January 18, 2003 Get yourself a big spiny or fire eel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalAddict Posted January 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2003 I just got a tire track which shoud,keep up with the growth rate of a gourami. I also picked up 2 pucus (canivoruous (<-- spelling) tetras) very cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted January 19, 2003 Report Share Posted January 19, 2003 you mean pacus? they get damn big Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 19, 2003 Report Share Posted January 19, 2003 Yeah, Pacus get big and the ones I've seemed pretty nasty. Not surprising, they seem to be closely related to pirhanas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalAddict Posted January 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2003 8) cool .... I've been warned about my oscars ... that maybe the oscars won't survive the pacus ... but we'll see, the oscars that I've brought up in the past have been really agressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted January 19, 2003 Report Share Posted January 19, 2003 You could try some large red devils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted January 21, 2003 Report Share Posted January 21, 2003 yeah...red devils are cool....but they r bloody aggressive..i've had one that wiped out 2 oscars bigger than itself! But, having said that, just make sure u've got enought room bro...mind u they were in quarantine... have you considered a knife fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalAddict Posted January 22, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2003 this is what I've got (and I think I'm full up) 1 Giant gourami 1 Oscar 2 pacus 1 severum 1 tiretrack eel 1 Clown Knife 1 pleco 1000 litres of water .... I think I will have to fish some out when they all get bigger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted January 23, 2003 Report Share Posted January 23, 2003 Congrats mate! how big is your clownknife? they can b pretty shy at first. had one a while ago which didn't survive too long. i couldn't convert it into taking pellets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalAddict Posted January 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2003 Congrats mate! how big is your clownknife? they can b pretty shy at first. had one a while ago which didn't survive too long. i couldn't convert it into taking pellets. my clown knife is about this big |------------------------------------------| about 4-5 cm and he's pretty active (and be nocturnal .. very active when its dark or dusky) I had one a while ago that was 1 foot long, but I killed him with bad water, after moving house. This is me restarting the fishtank :-) My oscar is very placid .... so much that I'm a little concered :-( the pH is 7.4 there is plenty to eat and hide in, and all the other fish are *happy as* ... I admit that the oscar gets a hiding ocassionally from the gourami .... but his behaviour seem more than pscyological. anybody got any suggestions about what might be wrong?? Fins are all in good condition, Colour is good, he's not "gasping" at the gills :-? he doesn't eat much (certainly not an agressive eater like my oscars in the past) and hardly ever ventures from *his spot* in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 24, 2003 Report Share Posted January 24, 2003 I can't see that anything is wrong. If your oscar is placid, eating and looks well then don't worry about it. Not all oscars are temperamental. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalAddict Posted January 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2003 but I was so looking forward to having another agressive oscar that *rules the roost* :roll: ah well .... got my fingers crossed for the pacus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted January 24, 2003 Report Share Posted January 24, 2003 how is it's faeces like? any mucousy threads/casts? they can b prone to hexamita infections....which causes a mild enteritis and poor growth/ill thrift..is he growing well? what do u feed them mate? any live aquatic feeds?? it's kind of a dodgy situation now...u have so many new fish in a new environment...God knows what diseases they r harbouring....specifically TB etc Perhaps u should just simply go for the ' cure-all' procedure......water changes n a bit of salt. say 20% every alternate day for a week, and one tablespoon of rock salt per 10L of water........this is safe for your species...kinda like a tonic for your new arrivals... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalAddict Posted January 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2003 how is it's faeces like? any mucousy threads/casts? they can b prone to hexamita infections....which causes a mild enteritis and poor growth/ill thrift..is he growing well? what do u feed them mate? any live aquatic feeds?? it's kind of a dodgy situation now...u have so many new fish in a new environment...God knows what diseases they r harbouring....specifically TB etc Perhaps u should just simply go for the ' cure-all' procedure......water changes n a bit of salt. say 20% every alternate day for a week, and one tablespoon of rock salt per 10L of water........this is safe for your species...kinda like a tonic for your new arrivals... whoa not sure about faeces ... what should I be looking for ???? I feed them a mixture of floating flakes, semi-sinking cichlids crumble, and sinking spirulina tablets. yep salt is already in the tank ... about 100 grams, I could use some more but I don't have a Hydrometer ... any idea what Specific Gravity should be, or what the *recommended* salt content is? I'm doing 100 litre water changes every week .... but I might increase it coz the bottom get messy quickly, what with messy eaters, and I may overfeed on occasion :roll: thought I might try some frozen bloodies, but getting food to a specific fish is hard with pacus, and the gourami (very agressive feeders) I would like to feed live aquatic food, but I have 2 daughters that would *KILL* me if they saw me feeding live food to the fish (they are proper little greenies ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted January 24, 2003 Report Share Posted January 24, 2003 How would the frozen food (bloodworms) work. I thaw it out and feed that in place of 'live' food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted January 25, 2003 Report Share Posted January 25, 2003 what the *recommended* salt content is? one tablespoon of rock salt per 10L of water this gives about 0.15% salt...u could go up safely to 0.3%, but try a tablespoon first, then 2 sometime later. dunno what 100L means mate, but it might b a good idea to do say 30% water changes in the first few weeks, to give the filter enough time to catchup with your increased bioload.... and yeah, watch that gourami.....they tend to 'pig-out' quite often, fouling the water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalAddict Posted January 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2003 sorry 100L = 10% here's my latest update yesterday I did 30% change, and bought some frozen blood worms. fish are much happier already ... so your advice about increased water changes was *spot on* I'll do 30% every 2-3days for a couple of weeks then reduce to once a week, and I reckon I should be all good 8) Oscar suddenly *woke up* yesterday, when I feed thawed frozen blood worms .... so I guess he just doesn't like the dry food. he even got in a big scrap with the gourami over some food ... good to see him acting a little more agressive (more like an oscar) the pacus, I've been a little dissapointed with ... they were sold to me as an aggressive feeding fish, with rapid growth rates .... up until last night I have not seen any signs of this ... but introduce a little *blood* into the tank ... and whoa ... aggresive feeders indeed !!!!! I'll start adding salt on a regular basis (during water changes) because I remember from tanks in the past, that this is very good *fix all* .... I didn't know I could use rock salt .... I've always bought sea salt .... any difference ???? on tuesday I'll start shopping for other food ... any recommendations??? I read that garden worms aren't so good ... is that true? coz I can buy them really cheaps (about $3 per kilo) if garden worms aren't cool ... what else can I feed them ??? blood worms will be far too expensive when these fish get big Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 26, 2003 Report Share Posted January 26, 2003 A number of people cultivate their own worms to feed their fish. You have to be careful when collecting them that they have not come from somewhere which has been sprayed with anything toxic. My kids used to love feeding garden worms to the fish and see how far a worm would stretch between 2 fish before it broke! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalAddict Posted January 27, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2003 incase you're interested ...... The messy fish problem I have solved by replacing my filter I was using a home made trickle filter with 10-15 litres of filter medium. I now have a home made trickle filter with 150 litres of filter medium :-) the fish after 2 days of the new filter are happier ...... I used my old filter medium plus heaps more ... so I guess my biological filtering is work better already (surprised by that !!! ... how long does it take for the bacteria to start growing on the filter medium???) next step ... increase the volume *turn over* :-( thats the expensive bit ... currently I am turning over 1.5x per hour ... gonna try to increase to 4x anybody know of cheaps submergable pumps that'll do 4000litres per hour?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 27, 2003 Report Share Posted January 27, 2003 Might be a good idea to go to a place that sells water pumps for people that are on tank water, farm pumps, that kinda thing and have a look. I think 4000 liters/hour is getting more than the average pond pump or power head unless you want to run a couple of them...Which, actually, wouldn't be a bad idea. Two 2000l/hr would give you some redundancy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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