Hello South African fish People

Hi I'm Deon and new to the forum.
I've been keeping fish for about 3 years now, although 2 have them have consisted of keeping a convict above my fridge at University. They are definitely indestructible fish. As I said I'm currently at university, which definitely comes with challenges regarding this hobby. I started a proper setup this year, which is a 1200x450x600.
I currently stock:
6 otos
3 SAE's
5 torpedo barbs
1 gold several
1 German Blue Ram
1 Electric Blue Ram
1 Firemouth
2 Electric Bule Acara
1 Threadfin Acara (don't know if I can say that)
1 Bolivian Ram
1 pakistani loach
1 clown loach
1 red tail shark

I'm currently running a low tech planted system. I'm looking forward to getting advice and possibly sharing my experiences (for what its worth). I know how much pictures are appreciated on this forum so I will do my best.

 

Very nice start. Welcome to TASA! You'll need to re-home some of those fish around the time you finish studying probably.

 

Hi Deon, and welcome to TASA!

Nice intro post Some of those fish are still so small, like the red line barbs Once they grow that tanks should be nice and full, how are all the fish treating each other?

 

Hi Deon and welcome to TASA
One of the oto's looks so fat I thought it was pregnant. Do you know if it is or is it just a little piggy?

 

Hi and welcome to TASA!

Very nice tank and beautiful fish you have there but, as @Broder says... you will have to rehome some in time as they will need a bigger tanks.
On the other hand if the bug really bites which it usually does... well.... a bigger tank

 

Or just more haha

 

By the way...Love that blue acara and the ram!

 

Didn't even notice the Otto at first viewing.... Wow! What does it eat?

 

Algae, but only the soft algae.

 

Im definitely aware of the fact that some fish will need to get re-homed. I've already got plans to do so towards the end of the month, I just need to decide which fish. I'm thinking the fire mouth, the bolivian ram, and possibly one of the acaras.
All the fish get along really well. The only fish that get chased are the SAE's by the red tailed shark. The bolivian ram tries to charge at the fire mouth rarely, not that I'm too concerned about that. Other than that, its quite peaceful, I think it depends very much on the personality of the individual fish. I've read articles that say severum can be aggressive and mine is just about the most peaceful fish in the tank, in fact the GBR chased him the other night.

As for the otto's I think they're just pigs. They're all roughly the same size as far as I can tell. I don't make any special provisions for them food wise, so I'm assuming they find enough algae.

 

Yeah, they're constantly grazing. You'll quickly see when they're hungry.

 

The red tail sharks, I have found to be agressive... dont think I will ever buy one again...


The blue acaras are SO beautiful!!! And that ram!! You have to keep those!!! Well.... this is just my 2c.....

 

I had a shark and a Chinese algae eater... it was perma battle in my tank until I sold them off.

 

I also had a Chinese algae eater. To try and get my algae under control after a holiday. I know they have a bad reputation, but from my experience at least I havent seen anything that is as busy when it comes to eating algae. It grew about 8cm in under 3 months. I did note a little bit of aggression as it got larger but nothing crazy like in some articles i've read. I eventually got rid of him though just because I didn't find him very aesthetically pleasing haha. Catching it was also another story...

 

Hehehe you so right!!! they like lightning fast!!

 

Haha, wait till you re-home 70 tetra sized fish... now that's a pain.

 

Now thats why I love my Oscars... they easy to catch!!! Hheehe

 

Hi and welcome, nice tank and quite a mix of fishes but yes you are going to have to re home some of them, clown and pakistani loaches are extremely sociable, you need at least 5 of the same species for them to not only survive but thrive- PS clown loaches grow to about 30 cm! that means a BIG tank for a group.
The sharks are a nice looking fish but truly a PITA, they will constantly harass anything with a similar body shape (SAE , red tail shark, chinese algae eater etc)most of the time causing the weaker fish to be so stressed that it just withers away, I have seen it many times.

Those cichlids are all beautiful!