[tyourkie66]

i just bought a 55 gal tank and moved 2 reds-3inch each, an oscar-4inch, and a catfish-4 inch into it from my old 10 gal tank.

they have all gotten along with each other pretty well so far, ive had them for about 3 months total.

i use my 10 gal tank for storing feeder fish, is that ok? i hear that your not suposed to feed live food all the time is this true?

i want to get more oscars for my tank because its about the only thing i have availble at lfs that has any size.

as for my tank setup i have a cheap filter, its a whisper 60. is that good enough?

do you think a jack dempsey would survive in my tank?

i also want to try putting a mouse in my tank but im not sure if they will eat it, if they dont i would be very embarrased in front of my friends.......how can i train them to eat it?

please help me...... :sad:

 

[Croz]

i don't think 3 reds will do enough damage to eat a mouse. you should have 1 more red the same size to spread the aggresion between more than one fish. i would say you might pull of getting one more oscar but eventualy the reds will get them. same with the jack. and yes a 10g is fine for feeders.

 

[Croz]

oh yea you should have at least 10x water turnover an hour. so i would say you need more filtration.

 

[hastatus]

Realistically, you are expecting to much from your fish and its reputation, largely overblown. Please remember that they are conditioned critters to react to certain situations and more importantly completely unpredicable on what they may or may not do.

 

[tyourkie66]

the only thing holding me back from getting more reds is cash...........how much do 3-3inch reds cost usaully.........theres only one fish wtore in my area that ever sells reds, and they sell them as fry. what should i do? also one my my reds has a bite mark from another.......what shold i do?

 

[Grosse Gurke]

2 is not a good number as was stated before. If it were me, I would take the 2 reds and the oscar back to the fish store and get 3-5 tiny reds.
little reds are very cheep, and if you trade in you others It sould not cost you anything.

 

[hastatus]

also one my my reds has a bite mark from another.......what shold i do?

Nothing. Bites on the body and fins are fairly common and regenerate quickly and on their own without medication. The only consideration if bites to the eye, which of course if it is removed it will not regenerate or mortal wounds to the internal organs (ie., air bladder, heart, etc.). Some bites such as gastrointestinal heal though a bit of natural re-routing takes place. Piranas are amazing critters for regeneration of tissue.

theres only one fish wtore in my area that ever sells reds, and they sell them as fry. what should i do?

If piranas are legal in your state, try the Buy and Sell forum. They have people there that will ship different varieties of piranas.

 

[Innes]

First off, Welcome to the site

I would not suggest that you add any more fish except for piranhas, but it might work - see Judazzz' pics

I would suggest you add another piranha as suggested before, but be sure it is of a simmelar size to your existing ones.

also you should add salt to your tank to help treat the wound on your piranha - use 1 tablespoon of aqurium salt per 5 gallons (assuming their is no salt already in your tank)
or if it is a bad wound you could add melafix, but piranhas are good healers, so chances are it will be back to normal in a few days.

What kind of catfish is it?

the filter is fine, as long as you do regular water changes, but you will need to do that no matter which filter you have.

as for feeding them a mouse, I doubt they will eat one yet, firstly your fish are small, secondly you only have 2 piranhas and thirdly your piranhas have never even seen a mouse before.
once they are big enough, or you find a mouse small enough, you will need to get the piranhas used to taking food from the surface, and also to eating mice - to do this try feeding them a dead mouse a few times, also starve the piranhas for a few days before hand.

but for a nice display for your friends, try adding bettas, guppys, and other relitively small and unagressive fish - you could try one of those brightly coloured dwarf gouramies, I bet that would be good to watch

 

[Judazzz]

how much do 3-3inch reds cost usaully.........

That depends completely on your location and availability.
At some places you'll get them for a handfull of change, inother places you easily pay 20 bucks for them....

 

[tyourkie66]

What kind of catfish is it?

im not sure what kind of cat fish it is..........its white and has dark spots (grey or black)

im surprised its still alive, the thing has been through hell.

when i switched him into my bigger tank, he got caught in the net, it took my friends and i 30 minuttes to free the little devil. he escaped with a few damaged fins but they grew back.

he tells my reb bellies whos boss. he doesnt take any crap from them at all, that is except for this one time he lost a few whiskers, for i think triing to eat before the p's were done eating. haha.

 

[GARGOYLE]

get rid of all your fish, take them to the LFS and get in store credit. They will not give you what they are worth but you could get some baby reds. Dont worry they grow fairly fast.

 

[Petzl88]

Realistically, you are expecting to much from your fish and its reputation, largely overblown. Please remember that they are conditioned critters to react to certain situations and more importantly completely unpredicable on what they may or may not do.

Amen.

 

[Judazzz]

What kind of catfish is it?

im not sure what kind of cat fish it is..........its white and has dark spots (grey or black)

im surprised its still alive, the thing has been through hell.

when i switched him into my bigger tank, he got caught in the net, it took my friends and i 30 minuttes to free the little devil. he escaped with a few damaged fins but they grew back.

he tells my reb bellies whos boss. he doesnt take any crap from them at all, that is except for this one time he lost a few whiskers, for i think triing to eat before the p's were done eating. haha.

Do you have a picture of that thing?

 

[tyourkie66]

Do you have a picture of that thing?

no. i just bought him cause i needed something to eat crap off the bottom, well he does a pretty god job. he eats the heads of gold fish that the reds drop. haha.