Which one?
- Thread starter bogusjay
- Start date
2 in a 40 will work for a while, oscars of course is the natural first guess...Theyll need a 90G at least in the next year, maybe 8 months. Texas are viscous from what i hear, never dealt with them though. Ive had Yellow labs and demasonis that love guppies that are home raised. Not a lot of tearing action, more of a gulp. Still cool. Ill be starting a mbuna tank and helping a friend do his in a while. If he picks different ones ill let you know what fish eat what. Good luck.
Take a look at the jewel cichlids. They don't get that big and should be able to live in the 40 there whole lives. There as badass as you can get almost. They'll stand up to fish that are used to eating other fish there size. You could get a pair maybe. Something to look into anyways.
branflake12 said:
Are you serious? Your fish are vegetarian... they will be dead in no time. Thier disgestive tract cannot handle a lot of meaty protien and will bloat up very soon. All mbuna for the most part are vegetarian. Not to metion keeping demasoni and yellow labs together is asking for disaster.
I just read that you HAD these fish... how long did they last
:-Diana
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i assume you HAD rather than HAVE such cichlids? the reason you probably no longer HAVE them is they died of bloat. the vast majority of Lake Malawi cichlids in general and Mbuna specifically are nearly strict vegetarians. feeding them high concentrations of protein will kill them.
cichlids that are "bad ***" are generally larger predators and will not fit in a 40 gallon tank ... certainly not a pair of them, since while you may start out with two, you'll certainly end up with only one. thesefish are not just 'bad ***' when it comes to eating ... they're bad *** when it comes to having company in their tank. you can have success if you provide a tank with lots of space for each fish to have its own territory ... 75 gallons at a minimum.
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~*LuvMyKribs*~ said:Are you serious? Your fish are vegetarian... they will be dead in no time. Thier disgestive tract cannot handle a lot of meaty protien and will bloat up very soon. All mbuna for the most part are vegetarian. Not to metion keeping demasoni and yellow labs together is asking for disaster.
I just read that you HAD these fish... how long did they last
-Diana
Well heres the deal. the 2 yellows and 3 demasoni are now in a 90G that resides at my dads house. Last i was home to visit, the yellows were in the rock egg laying process... that was 3 days ago. If successful this would be the second batch of fry that he will pull out and sell/give away. Demasonis even got a little more blue when he switched to white clouds (on occasion, not a staple). And they all live together in peace, no nipped fins or illness, even when they had a 2 month stay in my 29G. oh and they may be a bit chubby, but not bloated.
BUT-He told me that he wants to use an old wild bluegill tank (55G) for an african community tank.
AND as you seem to possess much more knowledge, what would your ideal setup be for a 55, malawian im sure he meant.
Any input from kribs, or anyone, would be appriciated.
Oscars should not be fed feeder fish...branflake12 said:
Unless and only if, they are fed as a infrequent treat 1-2 every two weeks or less IMHO, and have been thoroughly quarantined or hand raised.
Two juvies in a 40gal would work for maybe 3-4 months... Tops! In 4mnths your talking 8"+ total of messy messy fish, can you say overstocked bio-load.
After that the 90gal would be minimum and require extensive maintenance, and thats if they decide to stay friends.
What you want is a true piscivore, i.e. a fish that eats fish and only fish, and most of these will require substantially more than a 40gal even for a very short time period.bogusjay said:
True Piscivores are at the top of the food chain and usually get large to very large, appropriate tanks will usually be measured by hundreds of gallons.
This is not always the case, there are some that can be well kept in tanks ranging in size from 75-180+gals, but bigger is always better particularly with predatory fish.
You will need to be prepared to feed these voracious eating machines, you would be well advised to raise your own feeders and/or commercially bought fish products, not LFS feeders.
LFS feeders are the quick road to disease and parasites galore.
May I suggest a nice website geared especially to these types of fish?
Go to www.monsterfish.com or some other predator fish specific website for in depth advice and suggestions.
got a little more blue when he switched to white clouds
c'mon, you're making this stuff up, right? somehow, i just can't see a white cloud fitting in a demasoni's mouth. i'm gonna remain skeptical til i see it happening for myself or a picture of a white cloud half in/out of a demasoni's mouth.
c'mon, you're making this stuff up, right? somehow, i just can't see a white cloud fitting in a demasoni's mouth. i'm gonna remain skeptical til i see it happening for myself or a picture of a white cloud half in/out of a demasoni's mouth.
Well no im not making it all up but im glad you pointed it out, I passed it along to my dad and he said they werent white clouds ( i thought they were just fry) but actually a mosquito fish? im not sure what they are but he said something like the smallest livebearer? I dont know for sure, sorry about the confusion with the white cloud dealy, id just never heard of this other fish.
apologies
Brandon
apologies
Brandon