# Empty 125? WHOA??!! HELP! Poll inside!



## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

*Which one(s)?*​
Austroloheros Oblongum (adults of which I haven't spawned yet)414.81%Nadopsis Hatiensis (7 2"ers already revealing their sex)13.70%Blue Gill (8 3")829.63%Tiger Oscars (50 2")13.70%Herichthys turquois (8 2")414.81%Cryptoheros Nanoluteus (possible three pair)414.81%Thorichthys mixteco gold (25 @ 2")27.41%Amphilophus Flaveolus (100 @ 1")00.00%Amphilophus Trimaculatus (6 @ 3")311.11%Amphilophus sagattae (6 @ 3")00.00%


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

So, I've got an empty 125 in my living room... I know, I know... Problem is we can't seem to decide what to do with it... So I want you all to decide! The fish I'm listing are in my fish room...

Also have 
cutteri from rio mongo
Ameca Splendens
Grey convicts
Pink convicts
Marble convicts
1/2" Sajica
1/2" crypt. siquia
2- 2" EBJD
Rot kiel severums 20 @ 1"
Krobia "Xingu" Orange 8 @ 1"
Parachromis Feddies
Cylindricus
It wouldn't let me add these in the poll.....


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## clgkag (Mar 22, 2008)

Hait pair would be awesome


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## Chubbs the Jellybean (Jun 16, 2009)

A pair of trimacs would be one **** of a sight


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## Shifty (Jan 18, 2009)

Blue Gills or Rot Kiels!!!


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi *TheFishGuy*,

The Oblongum are great fish and would look great in a living room tank; however, I would automatically scratch any South American cichlids as I assume they would be able to fit in to your large SA tank.

So now thinking of the Central American options, in my opinion and in my house I like to have the family room tank more peaceful and active. My family room tank actually does not have any cichlids and I enjoy it. Based on my preferences, I would choose the Cryptoheros Nanoluteus. Three pair of these fish with a large school of Ameca Splendens would look great. In addition, this will give you the ability to decorate the tank heavily creating a nice display tank. If you come across any other great looking live bearers you can add them to the schools. In my opinion this would be a great active and comparatively peaceful display tank with a lot of fish and breeding. If you were not planning to raise any fry you could also try adding some of your other small Central American cichlids like the cutteri from Rio mongo.

On the other hand if you would like to use the larger tank for larger cichlids, I would go with a Hatiensis pair or Trimac.

On the poll I voted Cryptoheros Nanoluteus .

Thanks,
Matt


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## xxbenjamminxx (Jan 22, 2011)

I voted for Blue Gill simply cause I like to see native fish in tanks once in awhile and dont get to see it too often around by me. Someday I would like to have some myself in a tank with some driftwood, plants, and subdued lighting.

Whatever you decide to go with be sure to post some pics of the finished tank!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Oh, I will always post pictures... 

Any south american fish I have will eventually find their way to the big tank. Before they graduate they need to provide me with fry for the OCAs B.A.P. Then a pair will go in the big tank and the others are given away or sold...

My son Maxwell would love for me to put the bluegill in as he caught them... OK, well he was watching when I caught them... He was very insistent that we bring them home and take care of them. LOL


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

And only eleven people voted.... C'mon people, I need your help!


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

Wow wish I had a 125....... 

Very nice list of fish! It makes for a very hard decision. I would say breed the Sajica and sell some to me.......... :lol: :wink: ! I voted for the Nano's  ! Go cryptoheros! I kept 8 Blue gill last year in a 40 gal in hopes of a pair but it turned out to be all males. They did great but when I realized they were all male I lost interest and returned them back to the pond.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

It's going to be a while before the sajica spawn... They're little....


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

Hope you enjoy them! They are fun and beautiful fish.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Ok... A few things transpired today.... 
The number one voted fish, the bluegill, are going to be donated to my daughters 7th grade science class. I'm donating a tank too... And my daughter will do the maint. for extra credit....

Second place were the nanoluteus and the oblongum... Soooo....

By putting the oblongum in the 125 along with a gaggle of ameca splendens essentially free'd up four tanks in the fish room. Not to mention a good friend of mine decided to ship me two female oblongum! They arrived today!

Also one of the free'd up tanks was a 29... So the nanoluteus went in the 29. They are small but sexually mature... And I've never spawned them... so....yeah, bring in the Barry White...

At any rate...

When the girls arrived today my incredibly awesome wife (who is trained in how to unpack fish) put them in a bucket with an air stone until I could get home and deal with them.

She tells me that one of the girls is really spunky while the other is very laid back. One of my males is the also very laid back. He doesn't care if he's netted or in a bucket or in your hand for that matter! LOL

Here's a few shots of the 5 oblongum in the 125:

One of my three males (the mellow one):









This is an interesting picture... In the back ground is the spunky female in the flower pot. The male in the foreground is the mellow laid back male, to the right of him is the mellow female... And you can the the but of one of the freak males. LOL









The girls... Already arguing over the mellow boy:









Freak girl, mellow girl, mellow boy...









It's pretty interesting how the dynamics of this tank are taking shape almost instantly. The two other males are off fighting with each other while the mellow male hangs with the chicks! LOL (that was always me) (the fish geek)

I can almost predict what's going to happen... After the two freak males finish their bickering the victor will challenge the mellow male.

Timing is key here... If the mellow male has already spawned with one of the girls (more than likely the slutty one) he will not be so mellow and will easily oust the challenging male.

If mellow boy has not spawned yet he will more than likely have to be removed from the tank as he won't stand a chance against either of the freak boys... I guess we'll have to see what happens... And I guess we'll have to move this thread over to the SA folder of the forum... Thankfully I know a mod who can do that!


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## ivanmike (Jun 15, 2003)

I really dig keeping little fish such as sajica in a 125 as you really get to see a wider variety of natural behavior. In fact, in a tank of that size you could keep them and some convicts and oblongum. Plenty of territories, maybe a huge piece of driftwood for some visual interruption, etc. I had a lot of fun spawning sajica, convicts, and Ports in a 125.


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## Raylans_girl (Aug 11, 2011)

How bout 125,000 pygmy cories? One inch per gallon right? I think you might still have room for a neon tetra or 2.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Thanks fellas, but the decision has been made.


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## Bruce Haynes (Sep 8, 2010)

That feisty female was always strutting her stuff for the males but she always lost out to females that were a bit bigger. She became the dominant fish in the tank after I removed a pair of oblongums that had already hooked up. She chased the melow girl relenlessly. Then the feisty girl decided to try and dominate the adult Andinocara Latifrons...but for the most part they weren't having it and fought back...hence the ratty fins that spicy girl has. She will be an excellent mother. Oblongum are funny when they spawn...they hide their hatchlings in the leaves and roots of plants ..real or plastic and stand back so as to not draw attention. My breeders are very relaxed parents and do a good job of raising fry. I bet I have a thousand oblongum fry in various stages of growth. I am hoping that this last spawn is the last for the season. I don't have room to grow any more fry...and their spawns are huge. Good luch TFG, I hope you have tons of fry!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Not sure I want tons! LOL I just want six!!! LOL


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

WOW! So I've got the day off today and decided to make myself some sausage egg and cheese Mcmuffins! Ran out and got some english muffins and cooked em up. I said to myself, self, I'm gonna sit at the table in the livingroom and watch the Oblongum whilst I eat my delicious sandwiches. I made two but was attempting to hurt the second one down when I noticed something quite odd besides me being full after one sandwich... One male in the tank was extremely colored up and constantly chasing the other two...









So imediately I'm thinking... Do we have eggs already? No way... Well, we do! AND I think he spawned with both females! One of which laid eggs on the bottom of the blue flower pot! It took all of me to squeeze my head against the wall to see if I could see eggs! LOL This is a bad shot but here she is:









Now I believe the other female (who is also colored up and acting the same way) might have eggs in an aquarium decoration that looks like a rusted out old car. Here she is darting back in after chasing off one of the lesser males:


















Now here's a full tank shot, the rusty car is in the middle of the tank and the blue pot is on the right. They're about 2' from each other!









The question is... Do I pull the eggs that I know for sure are there? I'm not 100% sure the other female has eggs. I'm about 80%

Thoughts?

PS, if you follow my blog the same post is posted there... If you want to follow my blog just make a quick post on it.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Ok, couldn't wait, I pulled the eggs... I always feel bad pulling eggs but... on the other hand it is very rewarding to incubate and raise them yourself...

I filled two five gallon pails with water from the 125, pulled the pot and put it in one of the pails... Took em down stairs to a ten gallon tank, poured the water in from one of the pails, put the pot in then put the bucket of water in that the egg pot was in. Filled the ten perfectly. Here's a shot of the eggs... And since I'm waiting for my 185 and 240 to drain I'm going to print the picture out and count the eggs.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

543 Eggs!


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## Bruce Haynes (Sep 8, 2010)

You were wise pulling the eggs. None of my pairs first spawns ever survived. Yup, I told you they have huge spawns. I have at least a thousand baby Oblongum in various stages growing out. That was fast of those girls! Which male did they choose? Mellow boy or one of the fabulous finny freak brothers? :dancing: :thumb:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

LOL One of the freaks! On top of that I think he spawned with both girls! These were crazy girls eggs...


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## xxbenjamminxx (Jan 22, 2011)

Lol wow 543 is a heck of a spawn! Congrats


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

Fishguy,

Have you noticed any scales beginning to grow anywhere on you yet? Have your wife check just to be sure, I think perhaps you are at risk.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Not at risk... 
I've had gills and scales since I was eleven... 

You see, there's people who have a fish tank. 
Then there's people that have an aquarium hobby.
Then there's the people who have fish rooms. <--- (me)
Then people that are extreme... Like my friend Michael in Canada with a 15,000 and a 50,000 gallon tank along with a few hundred tanks in his fish room ranging from 5.5 to 800 gallon tanks!


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

Wow, he really wanted to be a fish, didn't he? Well, they haven't invented 'species reassignment' surgery yet, so I guess it's gonna have to do just to have all those tanks. 

I have read some of your threads, and you have certainly generated some tank envy with those monster tanks. I'm somewhat of a fan of 'vanity tanks' I suppose, but would certainly like to have mega tanks like that, designer style of course, but that's just me. 8) There's nothing like experience to learn what works and what doesn't, and a mega tank is really interesting to watch go up.

Do you work with fish professionally too? Or is it just a bad habit? :drooling:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Well, in high school I was dubbed "TheFishGuy" because for those four years I worked in a local ma and pa pet store in charge of the fish room. I did the purchasing once I got my license and generally took care and made all the decisions for the fish room which only had about fifty five tanks or so. The largest being 20H's. I had a couple of my own 55's set up as displays, one with an oscar in it the other with community fish. I bought my 185 when I was 17 and soon had that set up at the pet store cuz Mom said "No!" LOL

Then years later I decided to start rescuing fish, but with a horrible economy and lack of financial support I closed it down... So now it's just a disease again... MTS "Multiple Tank Syndrome" Only about 30 tanks now though... A year ago it was 63 tanks...

Forgot to mention.. the other female does have eggs...


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## Bruce Haynes (Sep 8, 2010)

Are you going to let her raise the fry?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I think so, we'll give it a shot... I do have the other eggs so...why not?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

The eggs are starting to fungus even with methylne blue in... I'd say about 1/4-1/3 are fungused...


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## Bruce Haynes (Sep 8, 2010)

If it was the male's first attempt they may well be mostly infertile. Theyll go again in a few weeks and most will hatch. I have a pair with free swimmers now...hundreds and hundreds of them.


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## ivanmike (Jun 15, 2003)

now that's a cool fish - (had to look it up to be sure). I'd take fry of those sometime (looking for something in the archocentrus size anyway).

congrats on the instant spawn! I've found than many of this type when treated well spawn within a few days of having the sexes introduced. Amazing stuff actually.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Some eggs look as if they may be ok, hard to tell through the blue water... Some eggs look fungused, some look like the methylene blue was obsorbed into them... We'll see I guess...

As for the male, I'm pretty sure it wasn't his first rodeo, but can't remember if that was my male or one of the ones I got from HONDO...

Time will tell...


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## ivanmike (Jun 15, 2003)

TheFishGuy said:


> Some eggs look as if they may be ok, hard to tell through the blue water... Some eggs look fungused, some look like the methylene blue was obsorbed into them... We'll see I guess...
> 
> As for the male, I'm pretty sure it wasn't his first rodeo, but can't remember if that was my male or one of the ones I got from HONDO...
> 
> Time will tell...


Rodeo - heh...

I'm glad to see that one of the "Chanchitos" (if not more) are back in force - great fish, and the Oblongatus is nice as it's smaller than the "real" chanchito. I'd love to set up a tank with those and some real ports (i miss my ports dearly).


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

It's funny you say that, I also have red ceibal and another species on it's way... I like the chanchitos...


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## Bruce Haynes (Sep 8, 2010)

WHat other species is coming your way TFG? I have some juvie a. scilutus growing out. Can't wait to see them grow and spawn!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Bruce Haynes said:


> WHat other species is coming your way TFG? I have some juvie a. scilutus growing out. Can't wait to see them grow and spawn!


Why scilutus of course! LOL


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## Catfish Dan (Apr 12, 2011)

Man, I wish I could try South American fish...so cool looking! Unfortunately our tap water pH is 8.3 and very hard.


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## Bruce Haynes (Sep 8, 2010)

sweet! Are your scilutus adults or juvie's? Mine are barely an inch long.


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## ivanmike (Jun 15, 2003)

Catfish Dan said:


> Man, I wish I could try South American fish...so cool looking! Unfortunately our tap water pH is 8.3 and very hard.


all depends on the fish - some actually live in hard water, many others do petty well in it - lots of FLA fish farms have some hard alkaline water. Some others will not be happy....


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

So... You've seen most of the fish I keep right?... Water out of my tap is 8.1...

If you want to spawn things like discus, psittacum or chocolates in water like mine just pull the eggs and incubate them in distilled water.


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