# Thoughts on my 55 gal setup



## Finnegan93 (Jan 2, 2015)

:fish: Pardon me if I am in the wrong section, I am new to the forum. Mainly joined to seek the opinion of some more experienced fish-keepers. I have a 55 gal aquarium with black small-medium sized gravel and a bit larger stone colored gravel mixed, a few small fake plants, one large fake plant, a piece of Malaysian drift wood, and two dinosaur skull hideouts. I also have a Maxi-Jet 900 impeller set up on the opposite side of my Magnum H.O.T canister filter (wasn't sure whether circulation or aeration would be better so I just went with the impeller mode instead of the powerhead and pointed it a little more towards bottom and back wall of tank towards filter) - thoughts on that specifically would be greatly appreciated. Last but not least I have 8 fish in there (listed below) all ranging from small-medium sized due to age. 
- Tiger Oscar Cichlid (4-5")
- Eclipse (sun) Catfish (5-6")
- Plecostamus (5-6")
- Yellow Lab x3 (2-3") 
- Black Convict (2-4")
- Red Tail Shark (1-2") -NEW- added 1 week ago

For the most part my Ammonia and Nitrite levels have been fine I do partial water changes every weekend and give them an assortment of foods including pellets, Algae wafers, frozen, and freeze dried. I give them Blood Worms more often (4x per week) now for the Red Tail because he tares them up and I want him to grow as fast as he can without overfeeding. Just wanted to drop this in here and see if anyone had any thoughts, concerns, or suggestions for me! Looking forward to becoming the best fish owner I can be.

- P.S - I do plan on upgrading to a 75 gallon but I figured I would wait about a year just to let them get accustomed to their tank and community, also wanted to wait for the Red Tail to get up to size so the Catfish and Oscar don't dwarf him in comparison.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Finnegan93 said:


> thoughts, concerns, or suggestions for me!


Even if you do upgrade to a 75 gal., I think you should at least consider getting rid of the Oscar. Bear in mind, with decent care/maintenance, it could easily get any where from 8" to 12" in less then a year! Nothing pressing at a young age, but not generally a great choice of fish for a 55 gal. On top of that, at certain stages/points in time, despite it's larger size, it may get bullied or picked on by some of the other cichlids, though there are numerous possible scenarios.
Eclispe (sun) catfish, not personally familiar with it. From what I read, they tend to grow to about 7-9" in aquaria but like most catfish are quite piscivorous . Always a possibility it could end up eating your red tailed shark or yellow labs.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'd remove the yellow lab from the mix if you plan to continue to feed blood worms.


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## rennsport2011 (Oct 21, 2013)

DJRansome said:


> I'd remove the yellow lab from the mix if you plan to continue to feed blood worms.


Why would insect larvae be an issue, to fish that primarily eat insect larvae and crustaceans in the wild?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Blood worms in particular are fatty and could cause problems with the digestive tracts of mbuna. I'd say labs are omnivores and the crustaceans they eat are primarily the ones they get in the aufwuchs along with bites of algae. More like krill.


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## rennsport2011 (Oct 21, 2013)

DJRansome said:


> Blood worms in particular are fatty and could cause problems with the digestive tracts of mbuna. I'd say labs are omnivores and the crustaceans they eat are primarily the ones they get in the aufwuchs along with bites of algae. More like krill.


Saying, digestive tracts of "mbuna" is far too much of a sweeping generalization though, and only of issue to those fish that are primarily herbivorous. Many mbuna are omnivores and even carnivores and don't have the long intestines that are associated with such issues. Labs are almost carnivores, except for incidental algae they consume, while picking through the aufwuchs to eat specifically insect larvae, copepods, etc. I'm not certain that there have been any real studies into the fatty contents of the insect larvae, copepods and plankton that Labs eat naturally, that would lead to such conclusions. Certainly in North American ponds, I've seen Labs thrive on eating wild mosquito larvae, and never had issues with feeding it to them in over thirty years.


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