cichlid love

[hvac4u]

jack (dempsey) and oscar (red) live in the 55 in my bedroom. jack is 3.5 in long and oscar @ 4.5. i feed them mostly bloodworms (frozen/thawed) and brine shrimp with cichlid pellets thrown in from time to time. weekly water changes, testing, cleaning, etc. i have heard too much feeding is not good. usually they eat 2 cubes of frozen worms a day...too much? what kind of fish can i put in there that will not get attacked/eaten? i would like a bottom feeder (to get what they miss) and a pleco. is this possible? these guys are my buddies, and i want to do them right. thanks!

semper fi

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[Chet]

Welcome to the forum! Glad to meet someone else who really cares for their fish. A 55 gallon really isn't large enough to raise a lone oscar in to full size. The main problem is width. A standard 55 is 12" wide, while an oscar can easily reach 14" in length. Consequently, a 55 doesn't give enough room for your fish to turn around. With that being said, you can keep the oscar and JD together in the 55 for a little while, but you should either get a 75 for the oscar, or get a 100+ gallon tank for the two of them. If you want to add a pleco, that required even more gallonage, as plecos can make quite a mess. If you put to many fish in too small of a tank, or keep your oscar and JD together in the 55 for too long, you will stunt their growth, which will lead to a premature death. I would say look around and try to find a good used 125 gallon. That should give you plenty of room for your oscar and JD, and you could throw in a bristlenose pleco and maybe a couple of loaches. Sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear. I had the same bad news broken to me when I first joined the forum.

[jonah]

I had the same bad news 8 years ago, but I learned it the hard way. Nobody warned me and it cost me and my fish a ton of problems which didn't get settled until I found a used 125g with stand for $200. I started with a 75g and it quickly became obvious that it wasn't enough room for my cichlids.

[hvac4u]

finally an excuse for another tank! i have 2 10's, 1 29, and 1 55. am looking at a 125, thanks to your input. i would really like to have a salt water setup, mostly living reef and coral, couple of fish. have heard the bigger the saltwater tank the easier to maintain. is 55 big enough. oh yeah, am i over feeding the boys? fed once a day, 2 cubes of frozen blood worms, etc. thay are growing like crazy. also what is the best way to clean the gravel? i use one of the siphon deals, lots of pellets make their way to the bottom, which is why i wanted a bottom feeder. thanks for the great advice, any problem with your heat/air, let me know!
semper fi

[hvac4u]

finally an excuse for another tank! i have 2 10's, 1 29, and 1 55. am looking at a 125, thanks to your input. i would really like to have a salt water setup, mostly living reef and coral, couple of fish. have heard the bigger the saltwater tank the easier to maintain. is 55 big enough. oh yeah, am i over feeding the boys? fed once a day, 2 cubes of frozen blood worms, etc. thay are growing like crazy. also what is the best way to clean the gravel? i use one of the siphon deals, lots of pellets make their way to the bottom, which is why i wanted a bottom feeder. thanks for the great advice, any problem with your heat/air, let me know!
semper fi

[jonah]

All you need is a couple of 125g's, a 75g and a couple of 20g's to catch up with me. :D

I looked at 55g and 75g when I did my reef. I chose the 75g because it had a bigger footprint, but was the same 4' in length. If I was doing it over I would of bought a reef ready tank with built in overflows for a sump. I just bought a regular glass 75g. Do a lot of research and you'll save a lot of money. I did it the dumb way, learn as I go. :( Now I have a couple of AGA strips (1PC/1NO) that aren't really getting used right. I ended up replacing them with VHO's within 2 months. I keep mostly softy corals and some LPS corals. Check out www.reefcentral.com for more info on reefkeeping. I didn't find out about it until I'd already started.

Don't use damsels to cycle a reef tank unless you really, really like damsels. They're a pain to get out of the rocks. You can also save a ton of cash by going mail order on most of your equipment. Also find a local marine aquarium club, they'll help you more than anyone else. I think the Atlanta reef club is www.atlantareef.org and they have a forum at Reef Central as well.

As far as cleaning gravel I use a Python water changer. It's the best money I've ever spent on an aquarium related item. If you have good water pressure it'll really suck up the dirt and save you some time. Just add the dechlorinator during the refill.

[Chet]

That sounds great! I hope you find a 125 for a good price. Actually, glasscages will be at a show in Atlanta next month. They have a super sweet 125 wide. It has the same footprint as a 180, but it's only 17" tall. Check out their website if you're interested in getting some new tanks for cheap.

www.glasscages.com

As far as feeding goes. I don't think you should have many, if any, pellets make it to the bottom of the tank. My JD and GT practically eat out of my hand. I give them one pellet at a time, until they begin to show a reduced interest, then I'll usually give them a sun-dried krill as a treat. I would say you should try and get away from using the worm cubes as a staple. Use your cichlid pellets as a staple, and occasionally supplement with a worm cube, krill, earthworms, crickets, and brine shrimp. Both my fish are about 6" and they both eat 2-3 medium sized pellets, twice a day, and usually get either a krill or half and earthworm once a day as a treat. Their color is great!

Good luck with your fish and with the reef tank. Let us know how things turn out.

[Cichlid Jeans]

[quote:887ece0622="jonah"]As far as cleaning gravel I use a Python water changer. It's the best money I've ever spent on an aquarium related item.[/quote:887ece0622]

I'll second that emotion.

[hvac4u]

are lovin' a new food i picked up. red wigglers! got them at bait shop, and they love 'em! anybody else ever try live "bait" for their fish? :D
by the way, got a 25 ft python system at wally world for 30 bucks, cannot wait to try it!

[DC DON]

I've used and continue to use feeder fish, though, it's a risk each time as you don't know what types of disease may be introduced into the tank. In my tank now I have a fast-growing 3 and a half inch oscar, a 2 inch GT, and a 1.5 inch Chinease algae eater. Now, from all accounts both the oscar and GT should be able to eat this little skinny CAE, but they don't. However, when the feeder fish come into the tank it's like WWIII. I find it very interesting, though it may only be because the CAE is very quick.
But to answer you're original question, I like live bait, been reading up on oscars and how many eat insects in the wild...I may try that....