wrong fish togheter .what can i do

Well I'm most experienced with africans, so i'll leave the new worlds to others. Of your fish in your 180 these are africans:

4 malawi eye biters (Dimidiochromis compressiceps)
1 yellow lab
1 julie

They require hard alkaline water. The yellow lab from lake malawi is mostly vegetarian, and will benefit from a diet high in vegetable matter such as spiraluna. The compressiceps is also from malawi, but can handle more protien in it's diet. The julie is from lake tangynika and can also handle more protien in its diet.

Others will chime in on the rest of the fish i'm sure.

I think your best bet is to choose which fish you like best, and to work the tank around them. You'll undoubtedly have to remove quite a few fish.


-Diana

Dimidiochromis compressiceps, aka 'malawi eye biter' grows to a foot and is an ambush predator. if yours have not yet killed the other smaller fish in your tank, they soon will. by the time they've reached 8-9 inches you can expect them to begin hunting and killing any fish in the tank that they perceive as dinner. this species requires alot of swimming room ... 4 of them in a 180 gallon tank makes that tank pretty full. this fish does not eat spirulina; rather, its diet should be comprised of meaty foods such as pieces of fresh fish, shrimp etc.

as kribs has already stated, the Labidochromis caeruleus and Julidochromis are also African cichlids which require hard alkaline water. Juli's are not vegetarians .. labs are. the juli's will not last in a tank of compressiceps and probably not the labs either unless they're mature at 5 inches.

Barbonymus (Puntius / Barbus) schwanenfeldii) or Tinfoil barbs can grow to over a foot. they're very peaceful fish and easy to keep. not particular about water chemistry within reason.

Hypsophorys nicaraguense can grow to a foot. a relatively peaceful cichlid, they'll do well in slightly alkaline water and a varied diet.

again, as kribs has said .. you need to decide whether you'll keep African cichlids or Central/South American cichlids and build a community around them. if you're going to keep those compressiceps, your decision is already made ... no other fish smaller than they are and not many since at roughly 4 feet of fish your tank is in my opinion, full.

I would strongly urge you to decide whether you want to go with African's or New World Cichlid. Once you have decided that you can go about re-homing the fish that you don't want.

At the moment you have a tank of incompatible fish, bot in feeding habits and water requirements. I'm also thinking that those fish aren't fully grown yet as you have a lot of fish there, even for a 180g tank. The Malawi Eye Biters can hit 12", Blood Parrots 8", Nics 8", Green Terrors 10-12", Tinfoil Barbs 14", Pleco's 18". So even without the 7 Catfish and the smaller African's you have potentially 220" of fish!

Being new to the hobby, you cannot be expected to know all of this but you have taken on a very large tank for a beginner. If you have a LFS that you trust i would suggest you go there and seek their advice.

since you seem to like the green terrors, and dont want them to be snacks, and the fact that they can get to be 12". id recommend keeping a american cichilid tank. i dont know what size all of your fish are but MATTARCAS told you the max size most will get so you can use that information and figure that once all the fish get older you could probably keep, 2 green terrors, 3 Nics, both plecos and the tinfoil barbs. WIth good filtration, dunno what kind you have but, the more the merrier. You can keep the Breeding Green Terrors as you main fish.


180 gal
4 malawi eye biters
4 blood parrots
3 nics (long name from nicaragua)
2 green terrors (just laid eggs) I would like to keep these from being snacks
4 tinfoil barbs
7 catfish (african) can get the full name if needed
1 bristol nose pleco
1 common pleco
1 yellow lab
1 julie

Great advice thusfar, as always--I really agree on deciding to go African or American. Those cats are gonna get huge, too--I'd take them back. I just rescued a 20" and 15" channel cat from lfs, someone had returned them, now they're free in the farm pond. I've seen photos of cats 2 to almost 4 feet long. Cories stay nice and small, but would be food for your cichlids. Best of luck, and try to remember to always find out all about the fish you are planning on putting together--they are living, feeling critters too. Try Monsterfishkeepers.com, too--they are our sponsor above. Renee :hi: