[haywood]

This is my temp 5 gallon "growout"/temp housing tank for my Midas and RD colony. Four of the fish are citrinellus from Jeff Rapps. The rest that haven't peeled are from a LFS, along with the yellow/black ones. The bright orange ones are from Petsmart, I think one is male and one is female. Right now there are 10-12, when they are moved to the 29gallon I may add a few more to spread aggression. I am trying to end up with a pair to go into my 120 gallon.

Full tank shot

Petsmart Midas... looks like "he" is peeling some white

And again, Rapps Citrinellus top right corner

Head hancho, king of the tank. Ugly as sin right now

Thoughts/comments?

 

[SinisterKisses]

Thoughts/comments?

Seriously?! I'm sorry, you have 10-12 juvenile rd/midas in a 5gal tank? I hope you plan on moving the entire group to a 120gal in a few hours???

This is grossly overstocked. Even one of these fish should not be in a 5gal tank for more than a day or two as a quarantine tank before introducing them to an established tank. A 29gal would work as a grow out tank for one for a couple months maybe, with really good filtration and lots of water changes. It won't do for 10-12, and definitely DO NOT add more.

 

[Chubbs the Jellybean]

Agreed, a 5 gallon is not suitable for anything other than a betta.

Lost for words :?

 

[march84]

I have an 80 gallon tank filled with about 30 fish, most of them are lake Malawi Cichlids ranging from 1" to 4" and everything is ok but, they have been breeding and I need to grow out some of the fry (for some reason certain fry keep getting chased). I am running the tank with 3 under the tank canisters and a Magnum HOT filter along with frequent water changes. The fry are smaller than an inch, I want to put them in the 80 when they are atleast 1"1/2"... Can I use a 5 gallon as a grow out tank until they are that big? There are 6 fry that would be in the grow out tank.

 

[TheFishGuy]

My thoughts and comments:

It is not reccomended to be mixing proven citrinellum with hybrid junk from big box stores. It makes no sense to practice that. Return the hybrids.

Also, there's absolutely no way you can sex them at under an inch.

Why not grow them out in the 120? There's no way you will attain a pair in a 29 gallon. You will surely lose most to either water conditions or aggression.

march84
Feel free to start your thread in the appropriate folder, ie the african folders....But to answer your question, small tanks as a grow out tank never work unless you're prepared to change 50% of the water on a daily basis, most people are not willing.

Get yourself a decent sized tank if you really want fish to "grow out". I use 125's. one of which has 12 G. altifrons, five gts and six uaru. The other has 7 chanchos, 6 freddys, and 8 robertsoni. The tanks look empty. So what, They will grow faster in a clean spacious tank.

Just to clarify, my grow outs are all around 2" and once they hit 4" will be moved.