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green spotted puffers and convict?

4K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  Lupin 
#1 ·
I was jus wondering if this was possible. i have a 29 gal tank with lrg drift wood a few bamboo plants n a nice shrub in the middle for shade. currently in the tank i have 3 medium tiger barbs(2inchs) 2 green spotted puffers(1-2inchs) n a plecost.

i guess so far i haven't been too satisfied with the puffers eating habits (brine shrimp n a few live meal worms) i use to bread convicts n house many cichlids so u can see where im coming from. everyone seems to be doing good right now but i wanted to add a sm male convict to the tank to satisfy my need for aggression and fish diversity . what do u guys think? would they mix? i figure it would be ok since he would be out numbered by semi aggressive fish. or is there a way to bring out the fury in the puffers. :twisted:
 
#2 ·
I would definatly not add a convict. I've never owned convicts, and don't know much about them, but it seems to me that you've already got a full house. I personally think that two GSPs, barbs and a plec in a 29 gallon is entirely too much. They may be alright while their small, but as they grow you may want to consider a bigger tank. GSPs also require high-end brackish to marine conditions to be healthy, despite what the lfs may have told you. Maybe consider moving your GSPs to their own brackish tank and then adding the convicts, if they're compatible with your other fish. What kind of plec do you have?
 
#3 ·
"high-end" Brackish water is under control(1tsp aquarium salt every 5gals). Ive got a fluval 304 n a pretty good tetratec filtering the upper portion of water so every thing is pretty "clear".:wink:

as for the pleco its just a common pleco. convicts are nice fish to hav n probably the most tank friendly cichlid IMO. slightly less dominant n if u never had a chance u should grab a few. if u fed them right the colors on them are more vibrant than jus plain black and they bite into their pray instead of swallowing them whole.

ive had the setup for about 2 weeks n find the puffers to be more passive aggressive than anything else. is there a good way to get them to get more aggressive since the addition of a convict might be ruled out(if i do add it the barbs are definitely going not the puffers). i want the puffers to dominate the barbs more.
 
#4 ·
im kind of disappointed in the lack of fish enthusiast here. its been how many days n no kind of help at all... i would expect at least a moderator/admin would tell me a little info :oops:

anyways i fixed my problem i got a sm. needle nose gar n im planning on returning two barbs gf loves them i cant help but keep at one. :roll:
 
#5 ·
Emerc69 said:
"high-end" brackish water is under control(1tsp aquarium salt every 5gals). Ive got a fluval 304 n a pretty good tetratec filtering the upper portion of water so every thing is pretty "clear".:wink:

as for the pleco its just a common pleco. convicts are nice fish to hav n probably the most tank friendly cichlid IMO. slightly less dominant n if u never had a chance u should grab a few. if u fed them right the colors on them are more vibrant than jus plain black and they bite into their pray instead of swallowing them whole.

ive had the setup for about 2 weeks n find the puffers to be more passive aggressive than anything else. is there a good way to get them to get more aggressive since the addition of a convict might be ruled out(if i do add it the barbs are definitely going not the puffers). i want the puffers to dominate the barbs more.
You are using the wrong salt for a brackish water tank. Marine salt is the proper salt, not aquarium salt. What's the salinity?

Common plecos can grow to 18 inches and despite being slow growers, I would not be surprised the water parameters would be unstable soon enough due to the amount of wastes produced.

As far as the needlenose gar,you'll need a 125g just for one alone.
 
#6 ·
Lupin said:
Emerc69 said:
"high-end" brackish water is under control(1tsp aquarium salt every 5gals). Ive got a fluval 304 n a pretty good tetratec filtering the upper portion of water so every thing is pretty "clear".:wink:

as for the pleco its just a common pleco. convicts are nice fish to hav n probably the most tank friendly cichlid IMO. slightly less dominant n if u never had a chance u should grab a few. if u fed them right the colors on them are more vibrant than jus plain black and they bite into their pray instead of swallowing them whole.

ive had the setup for about 2 weeks n find the puffers to be more passive aggressive than anything else. is there a good way to get them to get more aggressive since the addition of a convict might be ruled out(if i do add it the barbs are definitely going not the puffers). i want the puffers to dominate the barbs more.
You are using the wrong salt for a brackish water tank. Marine salt is the proper salt, not aquarium salt. What's the salinity?

Common plecos can grow to 18 inches and despite being slow growers, I would not be surprised the water parameters would be unstable soon enough due to the amount of wastes produced.

As far as the needlenose gar,you'll need a 125g just for one alone.
correct yea i realized that the day after i posted this so i added in about 3tsp marine salt per gallon the spg is around 1.010 i drained about 25% of the water n slowly added a few gallons at a time per day if u were curious.

as for the fish how can 5 fish over pollute the tank if i have a fluval 304(260gph) and tetratec dual filter(40-50gph) cleaning the tank? combined they filter the whole tank 10x over in an hour. im just wondering cuz you would probably kno more being a mod.

my needle nose is pretty small n ive seen a many people house them in 30s but im planning to grab a new 50gal setup this year, should be fine. personally i think 125 would be great for one but they only grow to be around 8inches max so it wound be kinda much for me to grab one not to mention it takes a lot of space. for the pleco they're standard in my tanks from exp i find them to be great algie eaters and hardy to fend from aggresive fish thats why i hav 1.

honestly i dont kno if u were trying to bash my tank or be informative... but ive already found my answer to this thread. thx anyways.
 
#7 ·
I don't bash tanks as some people think I usually do. I am merely offering an opinion as do many of us here. That's what this forum is for.;)

As far as the plecos are concerned, the size is what concerns me. With more than 400 species of plecos, your options are endless. It just surprises me common plecos kept cropping up as the recommended "algae eaters" when they really aren't. What will happen the moment they reach a foot or more? What will happen if the plan of upgrade the tank fails to take in effect? This is a mistake most of us have done. We thus regret this yet on the other hand, it still benefits us because for every mistake we commit, we learn from it. There are plenty of questions you can think of that will help you realize these are not exactly the best choice for a tank that size.
 
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