Sunday, September 13, 2009

House of Fish

Image found at fishdeals.com

This place is turning into a fish house. Our 125 gallon aquarium currently has a partition in it to protect the pleco (sucker catfish) from the cichlids. He was under assault and losing fins fast. He is recovering nicely, but the partition can't stay up forever; it's ugly, and the cichlids need the run of the tank for optimal health.

Enter the 55 gallon aquarium, set up and cycling as we speak. The aquarium has to cycle through some chemical/biological phases before it's ready for fish. Once this one is ready to roll, the pleco will move in. His tankmates will be some nice, friendly community fish who will be unlikely to cause him any problems.

We lost one catfish already, sadly, to the aggressive cichlids in the other tank. My web research shows that it was a species of fish best left to nature or the truly large (commercial) aquariums. I think the cichlid mix in the 125 gallon tank (it's not my tank) is a little bit questionable. So what happens when they get bigger and more territorial? Will they spawn more fish tanks? And what happens if the pleco outgrows the 55 gallon tank? He just might.

Welcome to the South Jersey House of Fish!

7 comments:

secret agent woman said...

Chichlids are an aggressive lot. I have two 55's - one for little schooling fish (plus a catfish and a pleco for their janitorial services) and one for my bigger guys.

Merci said...

There is a particularly aggressive electric blue cichlid in the other tank. The other cichlids are able to handle him, but he starts most of the trouble.

I just added the first few fish to my new tank: some hardy little zebra danios. I think the pleco will move over to my tank in a week or two. After that, I might add some tiger barbs.

Virginia Gal said...

Fish are taking over your home!!! EECK!!!

Merci said...

Virginia Gal-
It's really just one corner of the family room. They actually look quite nice in here!

Virginia Gal said...

How does the adorable Muttley feel about this??

Merci said...

Virginia Gal-
He gets upset if I tap on the glass. I was doing that sometimes to chase the cichlids away when they were picking on the catfish. It really bothered him for some reason. Otherwise, the fish don't seem to exist for him. I'm sure he can see them, since this is a dog that can spot a gnat across a large room and hunt it down.

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