Making the impossible possible? Don't give up!

[Faciosity]

For those of you that know me or have read my threads, you would know that my system runs on minimal equipment, and I'm always willing to try things that others say will not work. The first example was when I raised large highly aggressive cichlids together that are now best buds. What I posted this to mention though blows my mind. I tested my nitrates yesterday, and got almost dead 0! My tank is about 8 months old, but has a heavy bio load with no skimmer or carbon or anything to bring it down. I've never even used RO water, just tap with conditioner. The second thing is that I'm very successfully keeping a six line wrasse with a mandarin goby, and they are both happy and healthy and getting along fine with plenty of food. Just wanted to share this because many people wouldn't believe it.

Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do something, if you think you can make it work.

 

[Faciosity]

I do manually skim the surface of the first sump compartment where all the film collects about once per week just by scooping out a little water with a cup.

 

[pewpewlazerbeam]

To Dream the impossible DREAMM!!!

Ive kept a jack dempsey with a green terror and they dont fight. But the green terror terrorized the blood parrot. Likely because the parrot looks like a retarded goldfish

 

[Faciosity]

To Dream the impossible DREAMM!!!

Ive kept a jack dempsey with a green terror and they dont fight. But the green terror terrorized the blood parrot. Likely because the parrot looks like a retarded goldfish

I have a 10"+ male red devil, 9"+ male flowerhorn, 6-7" male convict, 5" green terror and a couple 1' common plecos in a 48" 100 gallon.
I have had soooo many cichlids I don't even have time to talk about them all. I recently had a large powder blue jack dempsey in a 50 gallon with several peacock cichlids, a few plecos, loaches and more.

 

[Xtremedave67]

I have a 125 with mixed S africans with dempseys,convicts sevrum, and till recently red devils (got tired of teh red devils digging and making a mess, so adopted out) every LFS just goes wide eyed when I say I have that mix.
had an angel in there for a while as well.

 

[Faciosity]

A lot of people don't think you can mix africans and south/central americans together, and most people don't think you can keep a devil or convict with anything. Up until about a year ago, my 100 had the devil, flowerhorn, terror, plecos, 8 or so misc. african cichlids including a breeding trio of Aulonocara bi-color 500s, yoyo loaches, a large severum, and a breeding pair of convicts that were constantly having babies. Now I'm trying to find a good home for my big guys so I can turn that tank into my 100 AGA saltwater build. The stories are great and inspiring, but we shouldn't get too much further into the freshwater things, that's not what this forum is for so I apologize. The accomplishments of my reef is what I mainly started this for.

 

[Xtremedave67]

I bought that 125 with intentions of making a reef eventually....Now I dont care for that tank dimensions, nor do I care to have a non drilled tank anymore for salt LOL

 

[Faciosity]

Anybody got another good story about something that shouldn't work and did?

 

[Faciosity]

When I got my 100 gallon, it was strictly for my cichlids, and I didn't even think about keeping salt water at that time. Now my big dudes need a bigger better home, so I might as well do a little upgrade on my reef. Just can't seem to get rid of them though because I'm picky about what size home they will go to. Not a lot of people have 100+gallon tanks for freshwater anymore. I think we all eventually get drawn into creating a reef.

 

[Xtremedave67]

cichlids are fun fish to watch, but I do love a reef, and the colors LOL

 

[Faciosity]

It's funny because you mentioned your 125, and I remembered a friend that I havn't talked to in a while has a 125 that's been sitting totally empty for a couple years ever since his arrawana ate his stingrays. Just talked to him, and he might take the big guys. 100 gallon reef, here I come!

 

[Xtremedave67]

Ahhh very nice Good Luck.....now if you want to rehome the africans let me know LOL

 

[Faciosity]

Sorry, I sold them all to the lfs about a month ago. Also had some prized rare plecos that had to go byebye. It was sad to see them go. I was in love with my plecos, I had a flash, a queen arabesque, a bushy nose, and a brazilian royal that all lived with my blue dempsey.

 

[Faciosity]

When I moved a year and a half ago, I was up to 8 tanks, and knew that I needed to make some tough decisions and do some serious downsizing. Finally decided to go all salty.

 

[Slate]

Ah the good old cichlid days. If only fish were enough I would still be doing freshwater. I don't have any cool story about something I have done that I others would say is impossible. However, I do want to comment on your accomplishments Ben. I think the reason you are able to keep your mandarin and six line is the way your rock work is. You have it so intricate and a large amount that it gives great places for pods to hide from predation and keep breeding. I also think the large amount of live rock you have also contributes to your low nitrates. That along with your built in fuge section. All in all you have simply created great habitat (which in my opinion is as important as anything else in the aquatic hobby) and for that I applaud you.

 

[dtd87]

I had a tank with 3 tiger oscars 2 jacks and 2 green terrors and 1 comet goldfish for years ~.~ no problems.. Goldfish morphed into a mock oscar lol. was amazing. Had this tank when I was like.. 13.. That I traded for with some magic the gathering cards. Was a 70 gallon on a plywoodstand with milk crates to hold the weigh.. Yet I had no natural disaster happen haha

 

[khaosinc]

I kept africans for ages until I finally broke it down after my 225 reef failed.

whole mess of africans and south americans lived quite happily or were just to crammed in to fight.

and in its glory days...

 

[ac7av]

I have a theory about the fish thing. I think this applies to fresh and salt. With out getting into the details too much about how many fish you can put into a tank, I believe many different species of aggressive fish can live in the same system. This has just been my personal experience and not scientific at all. I too have had as many as 8 fresh water very aggressive fish in the same 80 gallon tank where everyone lived in piece. There are always going to be exceptions to the rule and this is what I think. If you put 2 or 3 very aggressive fish in the same tank you’re asking for problems and that’s why many pet stores are just amazed that you have so many together. I have one of those tanks too and I believe this theory is at work in this tank as well. When you put a lot of fish together but still have the tank set up in a way that everyone still has there own place to call “home base” you get to a threshold point where there becomes so much activity within the tank that no one fish gets singled out. If any one fish gets an attitude, within a second or two there is so much activity that the chase or spat is over because of the distraction of the other fish in the tank. I think for the most part fish have a very short attention span and can be easily distracted.

 

[Slate]

I have a theory about the fish thing. I think this applies to fresh and salt. With out getting into the details too much about how many fish you can put into a tank, I believe many different species of aggressive fish can live in the same system. This has just been my personal experience and not scientific at all. I too have had as many as 8 fresh water very aggressive fish in the same 80 gallon tank where everyone lived in piece. There are always going to be exceptions to the rule and this is what I think. If you put 2 or 3 very aggressive fish in the same tank you’re asking for problems and that’s why many pet stores are just amazed that you have so many together. I have one of those tanks too and I believe this theory is at work in this tank as well. When you put a lot of fish together but still have the tank set up in a way that everyone still has there own place to call “home base” you get to a threshold point where there becomes so much activity within the tank that no one fish gets singled out. If any one fish gets an attitude, within a second or two there is so much activity that the chase or spat is over because of the distraction of the other fish in the tank. I think for the most part fish have a very short attention span and can be easily distracted.

I agree totally, one fish can't pick out another and go after it without worrying about another going after it. And it is very unlikely to have a large group single out one fish. The aggression gets spread over many targets and keeps fish on the defensive instead of the attack.

 

[Scooterman]

Slate, do you have some recent photos of this tank? I'd like to see your setup.