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Boring tank needs brightening

2K views 10 replies 4 participants last post by  edricong 
#1 ·
Hi guys, I have a tank thats a foot tall, 1 and and a half long and 28 cm depth. I currently have 2 crayfish, lepornidus arcus and a duboisi chiclid(baby) .Apparently they all are go to the bottom during they day to hide. They all hide in the crevices in the gravel, rocks, shells and driftwood. In the night, the lepornidus would come out to hunt and the crayfish. But thats not when its the most beautiful, I need some top/mid dwelling fish to brighten up the tank (without creating a lot of waste). I broke the fish tank cover :((( so jumping fishes cant be put in. Please give me some suggestions, thanks!!! Water is pH 7+ ammonia and nitrates almost 0. Nitrite is high sometimes but the plants in my tank would absorb them in a day or two. I have no idea what plants are they, but the are potted which i put in the gravel. Thanks :D
 
#2 ·
hi

I think you have a 10 gallon tank so be very careful to not overstock. You might have to re-home your fish to get the tank how you like it. I would reccomend a paradise fish, betta, or large gourami, but your cichlid and banded lepornidus might be too aggressive after lights out.
 
#4 ·
Lepornidus will eat anything, crayfish food is fine but also offer frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp in addition to good quality dry food. Their mouths are small so I would not worry about him eating another fish, but they canbe agrressive and nippy. They are very powerful fish for their size and they bite very hard. I've never seen a fish anywhere near comparable size that was able to handle a lepornidus.
 
#5 ·
If your tank is a 10gal, or 20H for that matter your fish will get way too large. The Lepornidus can get up to 10"-12" and your Duboisi will not get huge, but will be meaner than mean. I wouldn't house those two with a Cherax Qu. muchless some north american tiny crayfish. For that matter the fish don't seem compatable unless your talking a large tank.

You may want to keep the crayfish and get several different types of shrimp. The crays really can't catch the shrimp very well and many just ignore them. The dwarf crays tend to be worse with shrimp than the full size type. Cherax could care less. I only started keeping shrimp a short time ago, but they are busy and on the move 24/7.
 
#6 ·
I moving my lepornidus soon after i cycle a new tank. Would lepornidus eat guppy fry? I want to feed the fish in that tank live food. Thinking pictus or a large chiclid, but i LOVE catfish so iam prolly going for the pictus, plus it does well in a planted tank which i love too. Thanks for ur help. My duboisi died from crayfish :( my crayfish has ataste for love food now, can i feed him a small piece of snapper from time to time? As in fresh snapper? I wonder if thats okay... iam relatively new at this stuff so i have no clue about these stuff. I saw a dwarf goonch at my LFS, how big do they get? And how fast? I searches online but i get sizes of goonch...
 
#7 ·
don't buy the goonch

Goonch can get to400 lbs, over5' long. It is not an aquarium fish! I never feed live fish to my pets, I think its immoral. I reccommend frozen foods in place of feeder fish, but I accept each aquarists choice in this matter. Be careful feeding snapper or shrimp... or any other seafood because scraps that are not eaten will decompose quickly in your tank and possibly cause ammonia spike.
I love catfish too ... I keep three species between 4 tanks, and yeah, cichlids are my first love. I keep south american, but now african cichlids are exteremly popular.
 
#8 ·
Dwarf goonch? I find them intresting to watch, but its not for me i guess... wels catfish are sold too!! I know that can grow to 8foot haha btw can u guys help me identify a species if i take a pic from the LFS? I saw this catfish the other day, it had long whiskers,the tail was short but there was a small string like portion sticking out at thr vack prox 3inches, also his snout is quite long for its size and thr tip of the snout is slightly boxed shape, pls tell me what species that is so i can read up on it, thanks! It has some spots on its body as well. Black spots
 
#10 ·
Yes .. Please. You will keep killing man fish if you dont relax do your research make sure you understand how to properly cycle your tank and be mindful of how large many of these fish grow. Your Duboisi was in the wrong set up and incorrect water. African cichlids need very different set up and PH and KH to thrive than many fish... In fact polar opposite of what your leporinus needs.. Yet both of them regardless of current sizes needed a WAY bigger tank. From the picture and size i saw on another thread your cray didnt kill it. Id bet it died and then your cray scavenged it. Thats what they do. However ths cray im betting will get bigger( i doubt its a CPO) and then kill fish.
Back to touch on cycling. If your ammonia is almost zero.. As in not zero.. You didnt cycle your tank properly. Im sure someone else can like some info on cycling( im on my ipad and its pain to do that from here.
Slow down .. Relax and please look into more better suited fish.
 
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