# how to?



## dmannn g (Jun 16, 2014)

I need to aquire information on how to properly go about selling a large cichlid. I currently have a 8inch male Amphilophus citrinellus or midas cichlid. He has grown too large and mutch to powerful for the setup I am able to offer. Due to wife and lack of information she received prior to purchasing her pretty orange fishy. We now have a 55 gallon tank void of all life with the exception of the midas and a large pond snail. He has killed everything that he comes in contact with. Bigger, smaller, faster,slower,more aggressive,completely passive it makes no difference. He is in a glass tank now and I fear his need to assert his dominance will soon lead to the demise of the tank. So my question more directly would be were do you sell a big fish?what is a fair price to ask. How to you ship a fish? Who is a better currier? Should I even worry about selling him. Can he survive comfortably in a properly maintained 55gallon tank? Can a this fish smash threw the walls of a glass aquarium with the short distance he has to gain speed? Is there a way to calm him down as to prevent the fish from slamming into the tank trying to attack anything that enters the room the fish is in? So please any information on the matter is greatly appreciated. Thank you


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

You could keep him as a wet pet, but it doesn't sound like you want to do that. You could list him for sale in local papers or Craig's list. Perhaps you have a fish club nearby that you could offer the fish through, or place in an auction. You don't mention the temp the tank is kept at, but you might try lowering the temp to slow him down.If the tank is being heated try keeping it at room temp.


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## hose91 (Mar 5, 2014)

Can you find a similar sized fish for sale in your LFS (not the big boxes) for price comparison? A google search seems to indicate $20 to $40, with some outliers for lots more! Depends on the market in your area of PA. If you're near one end or the other, you should be able to find a LFS or fish club or a buyer through CL. I don't think I'd ship it, except as a last resort. I would get some fish bags from my LFS though so that I could pack it and drive it for a couple of hours. I don't have a ton of experience, but I really don't think he could break the glass by smashing into it. THAT would be something, and probably the end of the fish, one way or the other!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I agree with the comments above though shipping a fish this large can be problematic, especially if it's your first time. Local pickup from an interested buyer or to your LFS, I highly recommend using a 5G bucket, as this is the way it is done at our local fish club auctions.


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## Hapguy63 (Feb 8, 2014)

More than likely you will have to give him away. Most pet stores will not take a large aggressive problem fish as they are hard to sell and take up precious tank space (believe me I had fish I was trying to give away and nobody would take for free). Your best bet would be Craig's list or local fish club auctions. Don't get high expectations on selling him for money though as most people don't want a large aggressive fish that has to be kept in a large tank by itself.


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

This is a list of fish clubs in PA: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/clubs/?State=PA&USstate=GO

Putting the fish in a club auction would be your best bet finding a good home for it. The market for this kind of fish is small to non-existent. Whatever somebody offers for it is a fair price, but I have happily given away fish for free if I thought they'd be well taken care of where they went.


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## dmannn g (Jun 16, 2014)

Thank you all of this information has been helpful. I would like to keep him even though the problems are what there are. The motivation behind finding a new home is based upon wether or not this fish can successfully be kept in the tank it's in. The tank is non heated he has smashed three different heaters.I even tryed covering it up with gravel and decor but to no avail. So the tank stays at 78f. The ph is at 7.6 and theres about 6tsp. Of cichlid lake salt from seachem. He eats regularly and has not stoped growing yet.this is were in lies my concern for the proper environment. Obviously I can't dig a pond in my living room,but will a 55 be enough?


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I would keep him because he has a lot of attitude and personality. A 55 gallon tank is probably the minimum for a single fish.

You should ditch the cichlid lake salt. This is used to replicate the water qualities of the rift lakes of Africa. Your midas cichlid is from Central America.

With regards to the heater, you can purchase a titanium heater and hide it in a section of PVC tubing or you can attach an inline heater to your canister filter, if you have one.

The most important thing that you should do is large water changes (50-75%) every week. You can pick up a Python water changer to make things easy.


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