Need some advice ...

P

petcrazy213

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Nov 26, 2003
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Michigan
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I wanted to seperate some fish from my overstocked 30gal tank. It's original residents included ...

4 black skirted tetras (1-2 inch)
5 cherry barbs
3 mollies (2 inch +/-)
1 sunset groumi (sp) (3 inch)
2 pleco (~3 inch)
3 blue danios (1-2 inch)
1 panda cory (1 inch)
2 Glass fish (1-2 inch) (had 4 but 2 dies over the past few months)

Now, I recently bought a 3 inch Albino Oscar (I know, he/she is not staying in the 30gal ... I have a 50 gal breeder that I just need to move some geckos out of and the Oscar and 1 or both of the placos will go inb there). Anyway, everyone was looking kinda cramped in there so I decided to take out the little guys and put them into a 10 gal with my betta. Everyone now seems much happier with their homes but I wanted soem opinions.

Now I have a 10 gal which houses ...

1 betta
4 cherry barbs (1 disappeared - eaten? ???)
3 blue danios
1 panda cory
2 glass fish

The 30 gal now houses ...

1 sunset groumi
3 mollies
4 black skirted tetras
2 placos
1 baby oscar

I think I did the right thing by moving out the little fish, I'm still wondering if I should move out the 3 mollies to the 10 as well or leave them in the 30?

Thanks
 
yeah even your 50 gall is going to be a bit small for your oscar in the long run. He's going to want 65 gal +. Also Id put your Panda cat in the 30 gall and get him some other cats as companions as they are sociable, perhaps, albinos, pepperpots or bronze, if you want variation.
Downloader is right about the Oscar eating the others. I had an oscar and he was only 2" and he ate my angel fish and a full grown congo tetra and he was only little. So Id move him or take him back asap!
 
Oscars have HUGE gaping muths and they are very messy and get quite agressive. Your oscar will want to soon claim the whole thirty as his territory as he matures. Even a sixty is too small for a 10"+ Oscar,there are cichlids out there that are more suitable for a 30, perhaps a ram? If I were you I would bring back the oscar and check out some african cichlids, the the malawi tanjk set up is always fun as you have breeding brightly colered nippy fish that are always chasing each other and showing off there antics. I have three young africans that are in my rock filled thirt gallon, plenty of hiding spaces and half sand/ half gravel substrate. As they mature I may move them to a 80 gal and set up a larger species tank with more o.b. zebras and a female eclectric blue. I also want to get some Kennyis. Remember when dealing with this type of fish, always get the species type that are on the same level of aggression, otherwise the meaner ones will pick off the weaker. And if you have two king males they will also fight for the top position. In my tank the electric blue is the dominant king, the smaller o.b. male is second, and the powder blue o.b. female is the last. Very fun and interesting fish.
 
Agreed on the ocscar warnings, If it will fit in an oscars mouth he will eat it even if it's too big to swallow. the mollies, and danios are in danger. Even as fast as danio's are they will at somepoint make a mistake and be lunch. The cory is an even bigger issue, their fins will not allow them to be swallowed easily, and they tend to get stuck and can't go either way which will subsequently be fatl to the Oscar and the cory. Good luck, but IMO you need to change things very quickly.
Dave
 
um

I thnk I may be misunderstood here as I've read the responses thus far (thank you by the way) and I notice that some are referring to fish being together that I have moved. I have taken out all the SMALLISH fish, fish that could have been mistaken by the Oscar as food ... Danios, Cory and Cherry Barbs (now residing happily AWAY from the oscar in a 10gal). The Oscar (who is only in the 30gal temperarily mind you) is in with the couple Mollies, Black Skirt Tetras, plecos and Groumi. They are all far too big for the oscar to eat at this time, as the O is only 3 inches or so and has a mouth only about the size of a large pea, and should be ok there until I either move the O to the 50gal (once the geckos are moved) or until I get a new tank. I am going to propose a new tank as a Christmas gift. We'll see how things go there.

I just wanted to clarify all that. The smaller edible fish are no longer in that tank and the tankmates left are nowhere near small enough for the O to eat ... at this time.

Sorry if I misunderstood anything.
 
Your 10 gallon tank is already overstocked so adding more fishes to it is a bad idea.

Oscars grow very quickly, they'll grow into mollie eating size in about half a year and the smaller blackskirts may be in danger after a couple of more months. You'll definately want to move the oscar out before then anyway as it'll be too big for the tank.
 
Petcrazy, from the responses you're getting I think people are misunderstanding what you have going on...

CURRENTLY HAS:
30 gallon:
1 oscar
couple of mollies
black skirt tetras
2 plecos
Gourami

10 gallon tank
1 betta
4 cherry barbs
3 blue danios
1 panda cory
2 glass fish

50 gallon
Currently houses geckos

Asking for a new tank for Christmas.
If no new tank geckos will be removed from the 50 gallon, and the Oscar and 1 pleco will move in.

I think this set up will work out great. I am pretty sure that your oscar will be ok in the 30 with its current tank mates until Christmas time (though not much past it... oscars grow fast!)

Once you remove the Oscar and pleco from the 30, I propose that you take the panda cory from the 10 and put him into the 30, then get him a few other cories to hang out with. Also keep in mind that if your pleco is a common pleco, he can grow quite large and will eventually (possibly) be too large for your 30 gallon.

Right now your 10 gallon is a bit overstocked, but as long as you are faithful with weekly water changes, I don't see a big problem.

Good luck!

~Tara
 
thanks

Thanks Tara, that's exactly what I was trying to say. I have priced a few new tanks to start Christmas shopping. THe smallest tank on the list is a 90gal so I think the O will be quite happy come Christmas time. The other tank I really like is a 120gal but it's not the long kind it's less than square so it's a slight rectangle but more wide then long. Anyway, I don't know which hubby will allow for since there's about a $300 difference between the 2 tanks. Anyhow, thanks so much. I'll keep posting as things get going.

Oh yea,
as for the pleco ... the 2 I have are a common (which may be heading back to the LFS soon) and a Hifin Spotted (I think I foun out it's a gold spot or something like that ... earlier post) pleco. I really like the Hifin so I'm planning to keep it and the O in the largest tank together. The common pleco will just hang out in the 30 gal for now and I'll see about maybe taking it to the lfs or not.
 
ONE common pleco, imvho, will be fine staying in the 30 gallon... you don't have a ton of fish in there (once the oscar moves out). I have a common pleco in my 29 and he's doing great... he's about 7-8" long... they grow very slow - he's just about 4 years old, and was 2" or so when I got him... that being said, put the hi fin one in w/ the oscar, keep one common if you really want to, and take the other common back to the lfs.

Bigger is always better, but I think I'd go with a 90 gallon... imvho $300 difference for only 30 gallons more is a big huge difference!!!!

Good luck, keep us posted!!

~Tara
 
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