# What to do with extra fish?



## XtremeRevolution (Nov 27, 2009)

I'm getting into keeping African cichlids. I've kept them for about 8 months now.

I'll save the history and get to my current position.

I have two tanks, a 20 and a 30. The 20 gallon contains two albino and two acei (male and female of each). The 30 gallon contains a female auratus and a male auratus that is now changing its colors, and two Kenyi. Of these fish, the Albino's are the biggest, which I'm guessing are 2-2.5". With the exception of the female auratus bullying the male, the other 3 pairs get along extremely well.

Now what do I do if they start breeding? The albinos are already at it, so its only a matter of time, but I don't yet have enough room for that many fish. I'm planning on a 75 gallon tank in the spring, but that's a few months away, and I'm picking up 6 .75" Rusty's today to go in a separate 10 gallon tank.

Are there stores that buy fish or give you store credit for them? Do these sell well on craigslist? I'd like to keep the population under control once I have enough of them, and there's a chance I may want to get rid of the male and female Auratus at some point if they become too aggressive.


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## NetStalker (Oct 9, 2009)

I have tried to look around the local area im in and have found only one fish store that would take them off my hands, but none that do the store credit thing or buy back.

However, Im thinking of trying my local fish club and see if they have any takers or traders.

Good luck.


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## XtremeRevolution (Nov 27, 2009)

I noticed you have three auratus. How are those fish doing? Should I expect them to wreak havok?


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## NetStalker (Oct 9, 2009)

Ill start of with saying..."In my tank....." cause I hear horror stories all the time about these guys....

In my tank, they are doing fine, My male has almost gone completely gun metal grey colored and my dominant female has also changed to a bluish grey. My non dominat female still has the original yellow and black/white stripping that they all had when I purchased them.

At first I only had one male and one female and the male chased her around the tank a lot. I added 1 more female and about 10 other fish and have had no issues with any of my fish. Now I dont know if its because i have 500lbs of rocks in my tank to hide in, or the amount of fish, or the fact that i keep the water perfect with frequent water changes, or the fact that I probably feed them way to much....

but they seem compatible.....today.... 

Regards

NS

:fish:


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## XtremeRevolution (Nov 27, 2009)

Good to hear that it can be done. Its the other way around for me; the female is chasing the male. The male has a tiny hole he spends most of his day in until I feed them, after which he runs out and grabs a bite before the female sees him and chases him around till he finds his hole again, and the cycle repeats. As long as they leave my other fish alone as they did when I had them all in a 20 gallon tank, I should be ok.


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## NetStalker (Oct 9, 2009)

Just an fyi, one of my Red Zebras was holding about a week after I put them in the new tank...she went into hiding with a mouth full of eggs for about 2.5 weeks, and two days ago I noticed her swimming around without a care in the world. So either she ate them, the other cichleds ate them, or my catfish got them i dont know. But I guess i dont have to worry about fry getting out of control in my tank....


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

For hybrid fry, you would keep them for their lifetimes. For pure fry, really good LFS will take them at approx 1/3 value for store credit. Post them on CF trading post. Sell them on Aqua-Bid. Bring them to your local fish club auctions. Lots of options!


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## XtremeRevolution (Nov 27, 2009)

DJRansome said:


> For hybrid fry, you would keep them for their lifetimes. For pure fry, really good LFS will take them at approx 1/3 value for store credit. Post them on CF trading post. Sell them on Aqua-Bid. Bring them to your local fish club auctions. Lots of options!


I hear you loud and clear on the hybrids. Fortunately for the purpose of selling, I don't have any hybrids at the moment.

I do have some good stores in the area that I can possibly take them to if the time ever comes down to it. I'll see what I can find.


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## bma57 (Sep 16, 2007)

There's always Craigslist. I don't always get takers when I try to charge an "adoption fee", but I always get replies when I put up a "free to a good home" post. I always quiz them a little to see what kind of tank(s) they have, what other fish are in them, and what they know about keeping cichlids. I've had no problem finding people I trust to take them.


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## il0veCichlids (Nov 9, 2009)

i had 2 kenyi and 2 auratus... 1 of each died. these 2 fish are extremelllyyyy aggressive and will fight alot... i did get a batch of kenyi tho and now have 15 1'' fry


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