a begginer set-up?

[WorldNation]

whats a good begginer set-up for an american tank? something that woiuld go with Severums and texas'?

[Rex Karr]

[quote:6f172fdb39="WorldNation"]whats a good begginer set-up for an american tank? something that woiuld go with Severums and texas'?[/quote:6f172fdb39]

Hhmm, I'm kind of confused about what your asking. You ask what a good beginner set-up for an American tank would be, and i would think your asking about tank size, decoration, possible fish, ect. But then you say "Something that would go with severums and texas'". So are you asking about tank size, decoration, ect. for these fish are what? Sorry for not understanding.

Rex

[WorldNation]

oh, sorry, i got a 60gallon tank, and i would like some suggestions one whta kind of fish to get that would go well with severums and texas cichlids:)

[Rex Karr]

Ok :) , but first, how many Severums and Texas cichlids do you have already? And do you know if you have the real Texas cichlid or the Green/Blue Texas? Severums are rather large (8") but peaceful. Both Texas cichlids on the other hand are large (6-10" depending on species), and rather aggressive, a single Texas cichlid may kill all other fish in a 60g tank.

Rex

[WorldNation]

i got 2 turquise severums and 2 texas cichlids. and about 12 diff africans in there. (taking severums out)

[WorldNation]

[quote:f82c3cc46b="Rex Karr"]Ok :) ,...do you know if you have the real Texas cichlid or the Green/Blue Texas? ...[/quote:f82c3cc46b]

uhm, not sure about that, what would be the difference between those 2? mine are 1inch long each

[WorldNation]

oh, also*sorry about the nagging here;-p* would it be a good idea to add a powerhead to my tank? i was thinking of a penguin 550

[Rex Karr]

Ok, like we said in the other post, take the severums out and you may be able to keep the Texas cichlids with the Africans (atleast for a while).

The real Texas cichlid (Actually found in Texas) is Herichthys cyanuguttatum. It has small spots all over the body, and will reach 10-12". The Green Texas (a.k.a. Blue Texas) has much larger spots and is a smaller fish, reaching 6-8" usually.

A power head is fine, I don't think any of the fish would be bothered by it and some may appreciate it.

[WorldNation]

cool, ok, i'm taking the severums out today, taking them back to work...*cough*petsmart. sad aint it?:( lol

youve been a big help Rex:) thank you :)

then mine are real texas cichlids, theyre the ones that get up to 10 inches and has smaller spots all over its body.

[Rex Karr]

You work at PetsMart? A lot of those chain stores get in fish that are actually rare or unusual and mislabel them, selling them for a real good price. You should watch out for any good deal you could pick up. If you don't have the space to keep them you can resell them for a higher price. And atleast your into fish, so you can actually help customers out with real advise, not just what the card says. I don't have a PetsMart anywhere near me, but I stopped by one a couple months ago when I was out of town. I picked up a convict and a litte "Red Head Variante" Midas. I was really surprised to see that unique Midas variante just swimming around with all of the other orange and white marbled ones. When the lady was getting my fish she asked "Your aware of how aggressive these fish are right?", I said "Yeah", and she left it at that. I could have been completely ignorant about these fish with plans of keeping them in a 10g. But she didn't care. Point is, be concerned about the customers, really help them if you can.

Oh, and I ran acroos a great pic of a Cyanuguttaum pair the other day. I'll find it and post it here in a few minutes

Rex

[Rex Karr]

Here they are. This lovely pair of beasts are actually for sale in Singapore.

[img:1b85392fae]http://arofanatics.com/members/tanchu/redheadtexaspair/image03.jpg[/img:1b85392fae]

[jonah]

[quote:6bd28b3e0c="Rex Karr"] I could have been completely ignorant about these fish with plans of keeping them in a 10g. But she didn't care. Point is, be concerned about the customers, really help them if you can.

Rex[/quote:6bd28b3e0c]

I can kind of understand her point. I've seen them ask customers before and get ripped on by some blow hard know-it-alls (not you of course, Rex). I think I'd ask the bare essential questions too. A good fish keeper should do their research before they go shopping.

BTW, I noticed that the local Petsmart here offers to special order Red Tail Catfish ($45.99) and they recommend a 90g with other large tankmates like tinfoil barbs or oscars. I actually burst out laughing when I read it. :lol:

[Rex Karr]

Yeah your right. But they wouldn't have to just be like "You do realize that these fish get real big and are real aggressive, so I hope you understand that." :) They could start like, "So your into American cichlids? I have 2 Oscars at home. What have you got?". And your absolutely right, a good fish keeper should do their research first. But most people don't start out as good fish keepers. And 90% of PetsMarts customers probably aren't that experianced. But I guess the employees do have to be careful not to make someone mad.

Wow, I wonder how many people have a 3' catfish sitting lifeless at the bottom of thier 90g. Thats a shame.

Rex

[jonah]

I had a conversation like that with a lady buying a pacu. She had one in a 15g that she said was plenty of room, but it needed company. Then she got mad when I suggested she needed to get a bigger tank to keep them happy.

A few weeks back I was in a Petsmart when I overheard a boy and his father discussing fish. The dad asked his son if the fish he wanted would be okay together. The boy's answer was "sure, they're all freshwater fish". :shock: They were oscars, balas and a pacu. They'd be okay in a 200g tank, but most people don't have those. I bit my tongue and walked out the door. Hopefully the salesperson (if they found one :roll: ) talked them out of it.

[WorldNation]

hehe, yeh i work in the specialties dep.(fish, reptiles, hamster, birds..etc etc etc) the coolest one basicaly. anywyas, we have some morons work that section, i know:( am am truely ashamed:( but luckily the managers only give them 1 daya a week to work. lol theres 5 of us there who do have lots of experience and all are either keeping fish, or had fish and know wtf were taking about. i'm the tropical fish expert there:) only know the basics of cichlids, learning form 2 of my co-wrorkers, one lady had cicchlids for about 7 yrs, and the other guy for about 3. so they help me out with some cichlid stuff whenever i work with them.


anyways:) the severums are now gone, and i added a penguin 550 power head, damn, the fish love this thing. they started swiming around more, and dont pic on eachother as much...i dont know why, they jsut seem a whole lot happier with it in there(especially the texas ones for some reason, their not as violent now)

and i cna conferm that 90% of our customers are really a apin in the ass. they jsut wanna cram 500 fish into a 5 gallon tank, when we tellem you cant do that, they start bitching and moaning*sigh*. oh well.

and rare fish? lol, we do get lucky sometimes ive been told, but not often, only when the orders get messed up:). but we do have some tight fish in there. our africans red zebras and keniya are awesome. we havent lost one in the stores history. but thats cause we literally keep our tanks runnign perfectly, i know, i know, a petsmart having good tanks ? its amazing, but 4 of our 5 managers have fish...lol, so thats why we have such clean tanks. and we only lost one cichlid in our store history..(new store, 6 months old), thats cause one of the morons overfed it like crazy.

we personaly think petco is worse. i mean have you seen their tanks? all their fish are infected with one thing or another. eeeeuuuuukkkk.

anywyas, my fishies love the powerhead, guess it was a good idea:)

oh would this cause too much current in my tank? a AC 500, Penguin 330, penguin 550 PH, and a bubblewand? or is that an alright arrangment for a 60 gallon tank?

[WorldNation]

oh, i also found out what my black fish was called. its a tropheus duboisi. i love that lil guy :D

[jonah]

Did you get that at Petsmart? I've never seen Tropheus in a Petsmart before.

[WorldNation]

hehe, no way, i got that at my LPS, that stores like an all out cichlid and marine store, lots of good quality fish, and he can order pretty much anything ya want.