Anyone have luck keeping gold ocellatus shellies in a community tank?

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vwill279

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I've read that these guys are pretty feisty, but some websites say they are ok with small peaceful tetras or small peaceful surface dwelling fish. I have 9 forktail rainbowfish in my 20g tall and was going to add 3 peacock gudgeons for the bottom. However, my water is extremely hard and alkaline and from what I have gathered, the gudgeons dont do well in that kind of water. I was told to look into shellies as a substitute and, while they are all adorable, I like the gold coloring with the blue sheen of the gold ocellatus the best.

The rainbows are mostly surface swimming. They only very rarely swim down to the bottom half of the tank. They are small, about 2-2.5" and very active.

Can anyone tell me if there's a chance they would get along well enough since they occupy different zones of the tank? the tank is 16" tall and the rainbows generally stay in the top 6". That would leave a full 8" of bottom area for the cichlids plus the 2 inches of sand.
 

fshfanatic

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I kept some in my 125 some time ago and they were chasing some much larger fish away from "their space".. In a tank that small I would bet they will harass to death your other peaceful fishes.
 

jpappy789

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No way in heck I would consider adding any Tang to a typical community setup. I am against even mixing Lakes out of principle.

The bows may be the exception. Most shellies don't spend much time anywhere near the top half of the tank.

No peacock gudgeons though.
 

vwill279

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The shellies would be a substitute for the gudgeons since they wont do well in my water, they wouldnt be going together in the same tank. I already have the rainbows though, so was looking for a small, interesting, active, and hopefully at least slightly colorful addition to the lower level of the tank since the rainbows never go down there, and with how incredibly hard and alkaline my water is, there are not very many options that I have found.

Was considering just having my CPO's down there, but after housing them with my rainbows for a week I found a few shredded tails and a CPO looking very guilty up on one of the plants with her claws extended. Brat. So now they have their own space in my 20L grow out tank since I dont have any baby fish at the moment.
 

jpappy789

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Sorry, I missed that part of your post.

Rainbows get recommended often for shellie tanks given enough space. I will say that I am not sure how hardy furcatas are so the occies may be too boisterous. I would probably have a back up plan myself, especially if the CPOs even got after them.

Even though I love shellies I will say that don't limit yourself to just cichlids because of your water. Lots can still do well even if they are not conventional "hard water" fish.
 

vwill279

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I've researched a bunch on different small active fish with real personalities. Even though I love my schoolers, I like having personable fish in tanks as well. Hard to name every neon in a group of 20, but all of my goldfish and bettas have names. Next requirement is mid-bottom dwelling. The rainbows take up the entire top level of the tank, so I want something that will liven up the bottom. Shrimp are a no-go...even cherries wont breed in my water (~8.2-8.4 pH and 200+ppm hardness straight out of the tap). Scarlet Badis looked neat, but they need acidic softer water, as do the gudgeons, and dwarf chain loaches, and cockatoo cichlids, etc. I really dont want to keep soft acidic fish in my water if I can avoid it, even if they look like they are doing ok, the stress can still shorten their lifespans and that isnt something I would be ok with doing just for my amusement.

It is only the female CPO that seems to think she's a hunter. She's the only one that climbs the plants and she only does it at night, so I'm assuming she's going after them while they sleep. I dont really understand it, she gets plenty of food.

I have also read that rainbows are decent tankmates for shellies and I am considering attempting the setup and then just carefully watching the behavior. If it looks like they cant coexist, I'll move my CPO's from my 20L to the 10 laying around in my basement and put the shellies in the 20L.
 

Pearl

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I have pearly ocellatus and choprae danios in a 33 long. The shellies ignore the danios for the most part. Forktail rainbows with four or five gold ocellatus would probably be okay in a 20 tall.
 

toddnbecka

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Gold occie's are nasty buggers; you MIGHT get by with a pair in a 20 tall, but more likely all but the dominant male will have to be moved out or killed. They claim a fair-sized territory, actually larger than the bottom of a 20 tall, so there's nowhere in the tank to escape.
 

toddnbecka

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Problem is, fish don't read. I've seen a number of posts from folks stocking gold occies in 4' tanks who had issues, though in a 6' tank there's usually enough space for the others to get away when necessary. From what I've gathered multi's are the best shellie for smaller tanks, with brevis being the next best choice. It does depend on the individual fish, but I've never seen anyone post about successfully keeping a pair or trio of gold occies in a small tank.
 
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