Whew!

Some time ago I'd bought three nice, small, SAEs for my plated 20
gallon, to help keep the algea I was battling at the time under control.

They didn't stay small for long. Within a year they were each five
inches long, very robust (fat, even), highly energetic, and constantly
banging into the walls of the tank. No way was 20 gallons big enough
for three of those things. What they really needed was a quarter mile
or so of running room.

My LFS let me donate them today, so I no longer have those oversize
beasties in my tank. I figure I reduced the bio load by at least 50%,
probably more.

Now the other fish should be able to relax without having to constantly
be on guard lest they get run over or smooshed against the glass.

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

Looks like you now have room for more fish.

Vicki


"It is well that war is so terrible, else we would grow fond of it."

~ Robert E. Lee~

Visit me on line at
http://shamrock4u.250free.com

To send e-mail delete webtv.net and add msn.com
(put to Vicki in subject line or my spam filter will discard)

A couple diving pics
http://community.webtv.net/A-SHAMROCK4U/DIVING

Vicki S wrote:

Looks like you now have room for more fish.

That's what I'm thinking, too. The question is, what kind? It's a
heavily planted 20 gallon community tank. On the one hand, I'm inclined
towards smaller fish, but then I'm also thinking that some rainbows
would be really nice, like maybe Bosemans - but they will get pretty
big eventually. Too bad there's not a dwarf variety of Boseman.

Dunno, it's a poser.

I've got a planted three gallon that's been fishless for maybe two
months now while I try to decide on good resident for it, too.

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 20:22:05 -0600, "Eric Schreiber" eric at
ericschreiber dot com wrote:

Some time ago I'd bought three nice, small, SAEs for my plated 20
gallon, to help keep the algea I was battling at the time under control.

They didn't stay small for long. Within a year they were each five
inches long, very robust (fat, even), highly energetic, and constantly
banging into the walls of the tank. No way was 20 gallons big enough
for three of those things. What they really needed was a quarter mile
or so of running room.

My LFS let me donate them today, so I no longer have those oversize
beasties in my tank. I figure I reduced the bio load by at least 50%,
probably more.

Now the other fish should be able to relax without having to constantly
be on guard lest they get run over or smooshed against the glass.

There must be more to the story. I have one 4 inch SAE in a 10 gallon
tank along with 2 three inch Clown Loaches and 4 platties. I have 6
more SAEs in a 29 gallon tank, and 11 in a 75 gallon tank. I see no
difference in their behavior patterns.

I do feel sorry that I have the one in the 10 because the larger
groupings stay together much of the time, just as Clown Loaches do,
but it has been there for months and seems very content with it room
mates.

dick

"Eric Schreiber" eric at ericschreiber dot com wrote in message
...
Vicki S wrote:

Looks like you now have room for more fish.

That's what I'm thinking, too. The question is, what kind? It's a
heavily planted 20 gallon community tank. On the one hand, I'm inclined
towards smaller fish, but then I'm also thinking that some rainbows
would be really nice, like maybe Bosemans - but they will get pretty
big eventually. Too bad there's not a dwarf variety of Boseman.

What about some neon rainbows (M. praecox)? Pretty as all get out, and only
grow to 6cm. And they'd love a heavily planted tank.

Vicki PS

I am thinking along the same lines. Threadfin's (may be the same fish)
stay very small and are quite lovely.

Vicki

Vicki PS wrote

What about some neon rainbows (M.
praecox)? Pretty as all get out, and only
grow to 6cm. And they'd love a heavily
planted tank.
Vicki PS


"It is well that war is so terrible, else we would grow fond of it."

~ Robert E. Lee~

Visit me on line at
http://shamrock4u.250free.com

To send e-mail delete webtv.net and add msn.com
(put to Vicki in subject line or my spam filter will discard)

A couple diving pics
http://community.webtv.net/A-SHAMROCK4U/DIVING

"Eric Schreiber" eric at ericschreiber dot com wrote in message
...
Some time ago I'd bought three nice, small, SAEs for my plated 20
gallon, to help keep the algea I was battling at the time under control.

They didn't stay small for long. Within a year they were each five
inches long, very robust (fat, even), highly energetic, and constantly
banging into the walls of the tank. No way was 20 gallons big enough
for three of those things. What they really needed was a quarter mile
or so of running room.

My LFS let me donate them today,


don't "donate" fish to the lfs. Trade them in for store credit. It is much
more worthwhile ;o)

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

Vicki S wrote:

I am thinking along the same lines. Threadfin's (may be the same
fish) stay very small and are quite lovely.

I had a pair of threadfins, and they were really nice looking. They
were showing signs of mating behavior (well, the male was strutting his
stuff 24/7, anyway) and I put them into the planted three gallon,
hoping they might breed. A month or two later something went very wrong
with my water source for a day, and killed them both.

While I appreciate and like threadfins, I'm looking for something with
a bit more flash - my wife and my parents take great delight in
checking out my fish and saying "Oh, look, he got another plain silver
one". It usually devolves from there into "Well, he is colorblind, you
know, how terrible that must be for him". We've got a weird sense of
humor in this family.



--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

Vicki PS wrote:

What about some neon rainbows (M. praecox)? Pretty as all get out,
and only grow to 6cm. And they'd love a heavily planted tank.

Thanks, I'll research them today. My LFS is one of those
hole-in-the-wall Petland stores, but their fish department is one of
the best in the Chicago area, and they usually have a really good
assortment of rainbows.

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

Dick wrote:

There must be more to the story.

No, not really. Three five-inch-long SAEs in a planted 20 gallon is
about it. They loved to race around and chase one another, but there
wasn't enough room - they kept banging into the glass. They weren't
deliberately terrorizing the other, smaller fish, but their
rambunctious behavior tended to send everyone else racing for cover.


--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com