So yay, I got all my fishies a couple of weeks ago and they are doing well (pic attached, if I did it right).
I have a 75 gallon. The original plan was acei, labs, maingano and jalo reef. That changed a bit.
1) ended up with cyno zeb. lundo island instead of jalo reef since the jalos were not available
2) added 6 rusties a couple of days before ordering my online fish for peace of mind that the water was safe and ready. my original intent was to re-home them shortly after, but... I haven't yet
So right now I have:
6 juvenile acei luwala
6 juvenile rusties (I only got 6 because I didn't think I would be keeping them)
8 juvenile yellow labs
10 ~2+ inch maingano (ordered more, but had some DOA)
8 ~1.5 inch cynotilapia zebroides lundo island
6 synodontis multipunctatus
This is a lot of fish. There's no aggression yet and nitrates are fine with weekly 50% so I have some time, but I know I will need to make some changes.
Right now, all the cynotilapia are pretty dull except for one flashy guy. But, the only one that ever colors up lives under a rock. He hangs out in his cave all day, comes out to eat, and goes back. I know I just got these and they are young, but if they are too intimidated then perhaps I should pick them as the species to go? Would it make more sense to just re-home them now or wait a bit and see if anything changes?
I do have a currently cycling 20 (tall) set up for time out/fish separating/fry/quarantine/etc. and I was pondering putting the zebroides in there for a while to see if they are happier. I know it's not an ideal size for a group though. But maybe as an experiment I could tell if there's a big difference in behavior or coloration when they are away from the other fish? The rusties are absolutely gorgeous, way better than I expected, so if I end up with them instead that's fine with me. I am just not totally sure when to pull the trigger and if the zebroides have a chance to improve over time or if it's a what you see is what you get sort of thing.
Last question... at what point do I start paring down on everyone else? There are definitely at least 2 identifiable male maingano and I believe they are big enough to be vented. Should I start whittling down on stock pre-emptively or do you just wait until you start to notice issues and then separate them? Everyone else is tiny so I'll give them a few months.
I have a 75 gallon. The original plan was acei, labs, maingano and jalo reef. That changed a bit.
1) ended up with cyno zeb. lundo island instead of jalo reef since the jalos were not available
2) added 6 rusties a couple of days before ordering my online fish for peace of mind that the water was safe and ready. my original intent was to re-home them shortly after, but... I haven't yet
So right now I have:
6 juvenile acei luwala
6 juvenile rusties (I only got 6 because I didn't think I would be keeping them)
8 juvenile yellow labs
10 ~2+ inch maingano (ordered more, but had some DOA)
8 ~1.5 inch cynotilapia zebroides lundo island
6 synodontis multipunctatus
This is a lot of fish. There's no aggression yet and nitrates are fine with weekly 50% so I have some time, but I know I will need to make some changes.
Right now, all the cynotilapia are pretty dull except for one flashy guy. But, the only one that ever colors up lives under a rock. He hangs out in his cave all day, comes out to eat, and goes back. I know I just got these and they are young, but if they are too intimidated then perhaps I should pick them as the species to go? Would it make more sense to just re-home them now or wait a bit and see if anything changes?
I do have a currently cycling 20 (tall) set up for time out/fish separating/fry/quarantine/etc. and I was pondering putting the zebroides in there for a while to see if they are happier. I know it's not an ideal size for a group though. But maybe as an experiment I could tell if there's a big difference in behavior or coloration when they are away from the other fish? The rusties are absolutely gorgeous, way better than I expected, so if I end up with them instead that's fine with me. I am just not totally sure when to pull the trigger and if the zebroides have a chance to improve over time or if it's a what you see is what you get sort of thing.
Last question... at what point do I start paring down on everyone else? There are definitely at least 2 identifiable male maingano and I believe they are big enough to be vented. Should I start whittling down on stock pre-emptively or do you just wait until you start to notice issues and then separate them? Everyone else is tiny so I'll give them a few months.
