The Tankmate Experiment!

[Woland]

So many names... Should I start to name them, too?

Am blessed with 4 daughters.
The naming process has ended up as something close to a liturgic ritual...
Naming is essential for kids, (and I freely admit to being a 200 lbs kid myself).

Most fish are individuals and it's hard to predict (maybe it's easier for the keeper) which tank mates will be accepted.
Having seen 2 fahakas living together and even 2 undulatus triggers (for freshwater people, this is the marine version of a chainsaw) I guess anything goes... sometimes.

Aint that the truth...

[Fella]

I've tried keeping tankmates with a lot of puffers, but you're braver than me to try keeping a target with something else!


My fahaka gets on fine with a Garra and a Siamese Flying Fox. Fast cyprinids like sharks, chalceus, that kind of thing work out well I'd have said, or at least better than things like plecs. And don't bother thinking about a bichir, that didn't work for me, trying to fight past me when I tried to get the bichir out it was so intent.

Hope it works out woland.

[Pufferpunk]

As well as Filbert geets along with the fish he lives with now, for some reason he hated the EBJD.




Never recovered from it's injuries.

[Boxermom]

See, that's why I'm hesitant to try anything. There are a couple of Endlers in there that I never was able to catch that I was using to help establish the Biospira, and he mostly ignores them. They even pick food off his face. I think they're too small for him to bother with. The baileyis are the same, they won't bother eating anything too small to be worthwhile, but once it gets bigger, its fair game. I think the EBJDs have been munching on the WCMMs, though. I'm down from 14 to 6 over the last several months, and no corpses floating around anywhere.

As big and active as he is, I'm not all that worried about putting something in there. Maybe I'll try some tiny otos. I'm having a devil of a time with diatoms in that tank for some reason, and would love to have something other than my cleaner to take care of them. Not sure I want to try anything bigger than an oto though, I've seen what he does to good size live crayfish.

[Woland]

Pleco is a goner!
(That is; head & tail is missing...)

SAE is down 40%, from 10 to 6.
Odessa-barbs; no casualties.
Tetras; no casualties.

And funny enough; turned on the lights this morning, only to see Puffer and male convict resting peacfully side by side.

[Hilly]

I was expecting the tetras to be the first to disappear. So slow moving bottom dwellers are a no no.

[nmonks]

...and even 2 undulatus triggers (for freshwater people, this is the marine version of a chainsaw)...

Isn't that the truth! When I kept marines (about 20 years ago) I was into triggers, and tried out a B. undulatus. Even in a 200 gallon tank, it terrorised everything else. Not good. Only marginally better was an O. niger trigger with some Colombian shark catfish -- total mayhem, because the trigger thought the clicking the catfish made was another trigger threatening him. So he'd chase them, and the cats would click more, and he'd get more worked up, they'd click more... and so on. Eventually had to separate them. Mind you, having some catfish in a tank of marine oddballs looked pretty good.

Cheers, Neale

[jnheinz]

This has me wondering if I could manage to drop a single big cichlid in and have them grow up together.. I am really not sure.

That is very interesting though, I could just picture plecos/corys disappearing in my Fahaka tank (how you found out that bottom dwellers dont stand a chance), I was tempted to try some fancy plecos in his tank, but I resisted.. knowing they would probably be ravaged in the night.

I am convinced that if the level of aggression is high enough on each side, neither will ever snap, they will learn to live with each other.. I read story amongst my internet surfing, it was about the guy trying to find a salt level his wife and him could agree on, for 4 F8 puffers and a bunch of convicts.. The funny thing is it seemed to work.. The cichlids could take a little salt and the F8s became more happy, nobody ate each other.

Whoever suggested sending in Otos into a Fahaka tank is crazy, that is like bringing the sheep to the wolf.. my SAPs ate the Otos, I could only imagine a Fahaka and Otos........You would go from 10 to 0 in 24 hrs, if he could find the stomach room.

But then again, there are the miracle stories I see on here of plecos and ambush puffers living with each other.

[Boxermom]

I didn't suggest otos, I said I was hesitant to try anything bigger than otos but was considering giving it a try because he ignores very small fish.

Two days ago, I added two full size SAEs to Linus' tank. They seem to be doing okay, after some initial curiosity, he ignored them. So yesterday, I attempted two full size green tiger barbs. Everyone appeared to be doing fine. Again, some initial curiosity, then he just ignored them. They all made it through the night, so I had high hopes. Then mid-morning today, I walked by and he was munching on the corpse of a green tiger barb. I scooped the other one out of the tank as fast as I could, but I can't get the SAEs out (I have two fresh open wounds on each arm) so I have to wait until hubby can get them out today. I also noticed that Linus has turned a dark, blotchy color. So as soon as the SAEs are removed, the tankmate experiment with my Linus is at an end.

[jnheinz]

I have 5 SAEs in my community tank, they are zippy little guys, stay in the upper regions of the tank once they get older, they aren't true schoolers, but if they grow up together, they seem to stick together like glue.

[Woland]

Tyson (M. abei) is removed from the tank...
He has been performing multiple nightly ambushes on the male convict.
Seems to go after the lips of all things.
All tetras and SAEs are untouched.

Tyson is currently serving his sentence in the Bucket County Jail.
Have to get another tank...

[Pufferpunk]

Didn't he have his own tank to begin with? Typical bad puffer behaviour!

[manutius]

Oh dear, can't blaim him though, just doing what he does. Hope you get the new tank soon

[Puffalicious]

Didn't he have his own tank to begin with? Typical bad puffer behaviour!

Pufferpunk, I remembered reading somewhere that you kept a hermit crab with your GSPs..... how did that turn out?

I was experimenting with Red Claw Crabs and it's a no no...... The crab lasted 3 weeks in the tank until yesterday. My GSP went crazy and just keeps on attacking him from behind. He ate 1/2 of the crab until I took the rest of it away. I got everything on video and I took many pictures. It's awsome seeing something like that, but it's also sad to lose a crab

[Myaj]

I can't figure my turgidus out... he's scared of anything alive and moving, other than earthworms.

Yet if given enough time (weeks) he'll sneak up on them in the night. Must need to really build up his courage and check out the situation.

He did really well with a few endlers, completely ignored them. Then one day, one was gone. Weeks later, the other was too.

I tried giving him a live grasshopper yesterday. He initially went after it, took a good look and turned tail and hid. I held it down right in front of his nose so he could get a better look and aim carefully, and what did he do? He took careful aim alright, right onto my thumb! Guess he didn't want the grasshopper...