feeling guilty...

caseopia

caseopia

AC Members
Sep 16, 2004
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Southwest Florida
i've been avoiding posting for this for a while, because i feel like a horrible person-- but i'm thinking of trading in my fish. I have a 35 gallon tank with rainbows, serpae tetras, cories, and a pleco. I'm starting to really dislike some of my fish. They are mean and nippy, and just last week they nipped one of my panda cories to death, basically. I'm tired of having a tank full of lots of zippy little fish, especially now that they are becoming aggressive.

anyway, i'm thinking seriously of getting rid of some, if not all of these fish and replacing them with something that I will be able to enjoy more, instead of stress over. I'm thinking maybe 2 or 3 of one species, maybe slightly larger? Maybe gouramis or cichlids.

Would anyone recommend blue rams for this tank? It is currently unplanted, tho I plan to try plants once I have a little more money to invest in proper lighting, filtration, etc. My water is very soft, such that I add crushed coral to my filter to raise the buffer. pH is pretty neutral, right about 6.8-7.0.

basically, I'm hoping to change the feel of my tank, making it less busy, and more peaceful with a few fish with interesting personalities.

sorry for the long post-- i hope someone can offer some advice so i can make the best decision for my fishies
 
gotcha

I "returned" a school of Tiger barbs to my LFS that I had initially gotten because my Dad and I had them when I was a kid. But the more I've gotten involved in my tanks, the more I felt that the Barbs were actually preventing me from being able to do what I wanted to do. After the Barbs left, the Kuhli loaches threw a small party featuring daytime Martha Graham-style interpretive dances. I can only hope that the Barbs found a happy home, but I can see that the Kuhlis are still doing just great.
Maybe you could find them new homes on craigslist.org ? Just a thought.
Misa
 
It is a personal taste. Some like more aggressive or schooling fish while other like peaceful and slow moving fishes.

Rohn
 
Don't feel too bad, the fish you are returning will easily find a new home, they're common, not too big etc. Now for the quality of that home you'll never know :confused:!!! If you do decide to return them, just spend a little more time stocking the tank and make sure you'll be happy with the end result, that way you and the fish will both be happy!
 
I currently have 3 blue rams and 1 baby blue ram. They are annoying, the males fight and chase each other around constantly. If you can get a compatible male and female, they make a decent pair. but sexing them is hard. I had 2 males in a 20 gallon long tank, and the female and the baby in a 10 gallon tank. Even in a 20 gallon long, the 2 males would fight constantly, nothing major, no torn fins or anything, but the stronger male would chase the weaker male around all the time, and i felt bad for the weaker male. So, yesterday, i put the mating pair back together (i had seperated the pair because after spawning, the female was weak and needed rest). Anyhow, right now, the weaker male is in a 15 gallon w/ no other rams and he is fine. The male and female are in a 10 gallon w/ the baby, and they are doing fine. But basically, they are troublesome, if you can find a compatible pair of male and female then they're cool.
 
ok, so i'm going to take that as one vote against rams. Anyone have other suggestions, maybe a pair of larger fish that will coexist peacefully? It seems that no matter how much you research a particular type of fish, you can always find out much more by asking people who have experience with them.

for the record, I did spend quite a bit of time researching before stocking my tank 6 months ago with the fish I have now. I thought that they were what I wanted, but it didn't work out the way I thought it would...
 
Ot

:OT:
misa212 said:
After the Barbs left, the Kuhli loaches threw a small party featuring daytime Martha Graham-style interpretive dances.
Click to expand...

cool, mine do that when ever i vacume the tank .. wierdos. :) i think if they ever evolved an abrasive nose they could cut through the glass .. mine traces the same circles over and over and over. each loach has its path .. over .. over .. hmm
 
I know exactly how you feel. My first fish purchase was an impulse buy of serpae tetras. After observeing them I knew I couldn't have the gouramis I wanted with those in the 20 gallon tank I had.

I learned from them and after a tragic power outage during a 100+ degree heat wave when I was gone, they were the only surviving fish. I gave them to a friend that has a larger tank with fish that are more able to deal with the type of fish serpaes are.
 
caseopia said:
anyway, i'm thinking seriously of getting rid of some, if not all of these fish and replacing them with something that I will be able to enjoy more, instead of stress over. I'm thinking maybe 2 or 3 of one species, maybe slightly larger? Maybe gouramis or cichlids.
Click to expand...
Some of the gourami's are aggressive - try and do some research on here about them.
Most of the cichlids are aggressive, so you've basically struck out twice. :(


Would anyone recommend blue rams for this tank?
Click to expand...
Pair sex'd rams are okay, but then you're stuck with just two.
There's a concensus on here that a sex'd pair is all you can get away with short of a 100G+ tank. :(
Blue rams are beautiful fish!
Too bad their territorial tendencies cannot be changed - keep in mind, they are cichlids.


basically, I'm hoping to change the feel of my tank, making it less busy, and more peaceful with a few fish with interesting personalities.
Click to expand...
This has been one of my dilemmas as well.
I've been trying to figure out a nice combo of community fishes that can get along in a relatively smallish tank.
My current 10G is a good experiment, and it's going to help me when I jump up to a bigger tank; I'm currently looking for a 20L/30G/33G which my yellow labs can be moved to.
I guess I'm lucky that the yellow labs don't go tearing into all the other fishes at this time in my tiny 10G. :)
I don't mind my yellow labs, but I get lectured that they need a larger tank.
The yellow labs are considered one of the less aggressive species of cichlids, but I've seen them first-hand tear up a betta and a bunch of corys.
I'm planning to move the yellow labs into the bigger tank I hope to soon have; I think I'm going to go with a school of SAE to keep the algae down in that big tank.
I didn't think SAEs could get that big, but the local aquarium (Waikiki Aquarium) had a bunch of SAE's that are like 6" long!
The 10G will end up housing the corys and otos only after the yellow labs have been moved.
I might end up getting more corys - dwarfs or pandas - I'm just hooked on them! :)
As for the yellow labs, I'm going to try and shoot for the 3:1 female:male ratio which most experts agree on.
I would love a set up another tank for gold rams, but I've heard bad things are trying to keep them alive.
Right now, there is no way I can keep more than 2 tanks in my current apt.
If I could, I'd get a bunch of rams in a 30G or larger...
 
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