# New Tankmates?



## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

I am considering getting rid of my PKGs. I was wondering what everyone thought. I want to replace them with something that has bight colors. I don't want anything that lives on the bottom of the tank though. That area is covered. My PKGs are only about 3-3.5 inches right now. They have decided to fight all the time. I'm afraid they are going to hurt each other. I have recently moved them from a small tank to a large tank. This caused them to grow almost a full inch in just a couple of weeks. If anyone has any ideas on what to replace them with, I would be happy to hear them. My other fish are listed in my signature. I need them to be compatible. I also don't want anything that will get bigger than 2-3 inches if possible. They would also need to be able to survive in a brackish tank. Thanks.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

perhaps a school of otos? Otos are mini sucker mouth fish that grow to about 1.5-2 inches, they do an incredible job at cleaning algae, only problem with these is that they might not eat what you feed them, thy might only eat the algae in your tank so only own these if you have a substancial algae growth.


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

I have had fish for over 10 years and have never had any algae. I don't know how, but not even a little bit of algae grows in my tanks. My 75 gallon tank was bought used and it had dead algae in it when I got it. After a thorough cleaning before setup, I don't even have algae in it. I guess otos are out of the question. I can't guarantee I'll ever have any algae for them to eat.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

ok well that makes sense. have you thought of dwarf guoramis?


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

musho3210 said:


> ok well that makes sense. have you thought of dwarf guoramis?


Not with serpae tetras around, Musho. Serpaes are far more vicious than tiger barbs in my experience and if the same thing happens to other hobbyists, then it just goes to the point that the owner will either get rid of the victim or suspect.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

oh ok my fault, hmm, what about danios?


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

My serpae tetra are the most timid fish in my tank. But I don't wanna take any chances. I honestly don't even know what danios look like. Do they have bright colors? I want something with a lot of color.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

ok then nvm about danios, they arent that colorful

what about rainbow fish lol


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

*Zebra danio*








Avoid the glofish.









*Pearl Danio*









*Leopard Danio*









I like these guys.
*Diamond Tetra*









*Red Phantom Tetra*









*Black Phantom Tetra*


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

glo-fish, incase you didnt know, is a chemically altered zebra danio that is injected with coral or jellyfish DNA to give them an unatural color, it is illegal in the State of California, dont be fooled by there color


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

I really like the Red Phantom Tetra. Will it school with any of my other tetras? I was considering getting more of them to make a bigger school.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Body shape and coloration will play an important role in their social grouping. Neons and cardinals(_Cheirodon axelrodi_) tend to shoal a lot. Red phantoms might just shoal with serpaes and black phantoms. To be honest, they don't shoal often since they prefer sparring a lot against each other. Note that those with long dorsal fins are males so you'll notice them flaring against each other.

Oh, and pls remove your 2 common plecs. They can grow to 16 inches and are also big wastre producers. Your tetras will certainly not like too high nitrates caused by the plecs' wastes.


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

I can't get rid of the plecs. Is there anything I can do to counteract the pollution effects? I am running 2 30-60 gal. filters. I clean it about twice a week. Should this work? (The plecs were the only fish my husband wanted. As long as he got them, I can get whatever I want and do whatever I want to the tank, no questions or complaints. They stay so I can have freedom!)


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

You dont have to get rid of the plecs, you can buy a bigger tank for it. Another thing is you could buy a different type of pleco like a brittlenose or something


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

You may want to consider praecox rainbowfish aka dwarf neon rainbowfish. They max out at around 2 or 3 inches, are very nicely colored, and school. They also don't tend to bother many other fish. There is a picture of mine in my signature but it doesn't show their colors very well. Think along the lines of the blue in the german ram pictured next to them and imagine that color over the entire body with the exception of the fins which are either red or yellowish in color depending on the sex of the fish.


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

I really like the neon rainbow fish. There are also easy to identify males from females! I have to see what the lfs has. I don't think they have them. I actually haven't been in my lfs. It is 30 miles and two cities away. Yeah that's the closest one. I live in a town with only about 700 people. I have to drive 20 miles to even find a store. It sucks.


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

You never know when you're going to find them around here...sometimes every store has em...sometimes no one does. Right now I've been trying to locate some females for the last 2 months and no one has any...males only! I think a place about 45 minutes from here has some young females in so I'll probably head down there on thursday and try to get a few.


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

My website from my lfs states they have the following fish:

African Knife
Albino Cory Cat 
Albino Tiger Barb
Angelfish XLG
Archer
Baby Tiger Oscar
Bala Shark
Black Fin Shark
Black Ghost Knife
Black Moor
Black Skirt Tetra
Clown Loach
Discus
Glass Cats
Gold Dust Sailfin Molly
Gold Severum
Gouramis
Knight Goby
Lemon Tetra
Mono
Neon Royal Red Gourami
Parrot Cichlids
Plecostamus
Powder Blue Gourami
Purple Heart Parrot Cichlid
Red Crab
Red Turquoise Discus
Redtail Blue Botia
Scat
Silver Dollar
Tiger Barbs
Large Koi

Does any of these seem like a good match?


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

a parrot fish cant even close its mouth, i also think it has no spline. All it is is a hybrid severum and something else. Also there are a lot of dyed parrot fish out there, Always make sure with your lfs if the fish is dyed or not. If they say something like, "well yeah but they look really nice! I'll give it to you for a discount." dont listen, they should be off the market and made illegal. Its like a tattoo on your you-know-what on an innocent baby, thats what it probably feels like, besides the fact that the effect isnt even permanent.

Also as blue said in another post, dont get those Galaxy Rasboras since they are becoming endangered.

Please reconsider the Pleco, it is another LFS problem that they sell common pleco's to a begginer, they get really big. If your husband likes them so much im sure he can get a bigger tank that will fit them. And if not, there are many different types of pleco's on the market that are a lot smaller, like a pitbull or brittlenose. Please, its not for the sake of the tanks look, its for the sake of the fishes health


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

musho3210 said:


> Please reconsider the Pleco, it is another LFS problem that they sell common pleco's to a begginer, *they get really big*. If your husband likes them so much im sure he can get a bigger tank that will fit them. And if not, there are many different types of pleco's on the market that are a lot smaller, like a pitbull or brittlenose. Please, its not for the sake of the tanks look, its for the sake of the fishes health


 5 pkg thats bigger then two common plecs pkgs get 6-8ins coommons get ten


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

joe, commons get to 16-18 inches, at petsmart they say 10 but is petsmart ever right lol

she also has 2 common plecs AND 5 pkg's which means they are both in the tank at the same time


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

i didnt get 10 from petsmart :wink: ive check many site and usly 10-12. 5x8=40 3x12=36 pkgs huge poopers believe me i had two


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

My baby pleco doesn't look like any common plec that I've ever seen. I've had it for over 6 months and it has grown maybe 1/4 inch. It is about the size of a cory. It is really small and I'm not sure it will ever get much bigger. I'd get a pic to show you but it hides all the time. It only comes out long enough to race to another hiding spot! I hardly ever see it anymore.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

him not growing could be a bad thing, its growth might be stunted, a picture would really help in finding out what pleco he is, but for now, get rid of your pkgs and dont get anything else until we sort out your pleco problem


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

I'll see about getting a pic for you.


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

Here's a couple of pics. I'm sorry they are blurry. It's the best I can get of it. You can't really tell but it is extremely smooth and shiny.


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## lioness501 (Jan 9, 2007)

im no expert but that certainly doesnt look like a common pleco to me?


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## flatcam1 (Oct 18, 2006)

lioness501 said:


> im no expert but that certainly doesnt look like a common pleco to me?


You're right! 
:shock: 
it looks more of a synodontis rather than a plec....

hope this helps!


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

Ok I did some research on the Synodontis Catfish. It looks a lot like the Synodontis waterloti. The website that I found said that they are rare, but I swear that is what it is. It said that they only get 6" long.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

well once you get rid of the pkg's, dont get anymore fish as pleco are big waste producers, look at the 6" fish and think that they make 8" fishes waste.


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

shavon said:


> Ok I did some research on the Synodontis Catfish. It looks a lot like the Synodontis waterloti. The website that I found said that they are rare, but I swear that is what it is. It said that they only get 6" long.


 its hard to tell but it does look like a synodontis waterloti


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

Would anyone be willing to give these cute guys a new home? I really need to get rid of them.










They are getting too big for my tank. I was misinformed about their size when they are fullgrown.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

there nice but they will be really hard to get rid of as they are big fish and they are aggressive.


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## Matt (Jan 20, 2007)

shavon said:


> Would anyone be willing to give these cute guys a new home? I really need to get rid of them.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I would love to have some of those again! I just got a 35 gallon that they could live in...how many are there?


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

matt they dont fit in a 35 gallon, plus they are highly agressive and the "kissing" is actually fighting, i wouldnt recommend these fish to anyone unless its a species tank, these fellas get to 7-8 inches.

They are cute though, why dont you keep a few since you have a large tank?
Just be carefull as these fish arent the best for some people, actually most people, they are mainly sold to people who think the so called "kissing" is cool

do you think any reliable lfs will take them in, btw im not asking you matt


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## Matt (Jan 20, 2007)

i already have three..i know what they do.and how to take care of them.


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## shavon (Feb 3, 2007)

I already spoke to my lfs. They said that they won't take them because they don't keep them regularly. They aren't really aggresive to anyone except each other. They don't bother anyone else in the tank. There are five total. They are about 3-3.5 inches right now.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

shavon said:


> I already spoke to my lfs. They said that they won't take them because they don't keep them regularly. They aren't really aggresive to anyone except each other. They don't bother anyone else in the tank. There are five total. They are about 3-3.5 inches right now.


i hope you can find a good home for them then


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