I think that the tank would be to small for an oscar, flowerehorn or amphilophus, you have other options such as a sajica cichlid, he always comes to see me when I walk in the room and at 2 inches he eats from my hand and bites my finger. Very personable fish and get some good colour
Interactive wet pet & appropriate tank size
- Thread starter KingPram
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I think that the tank would be to small for an oscar, flowerehorn or amphilophus, you have other options such as a sajica cichlid, he always comes to see me when I walk in the room and at 2 inches he eats from my hand and bites my finger. Very personable fish and get some good colour
The tank is only 3' in length, in my opinion you should stick with a fish that gets to 8" maximum. Female amphilophus maybe, but this will not be a satisfying tank to keep a male amphilophus or any other 12"+ fish in, if you want your fish to be active and seem content. Makes more sense to buy a fish that fits your tank, then to buy a fish that will outgrow it.
Sajica is a nice smaller cichlid, gets to about 6", looks like a mini-midas and is very interactive. You could keep a pair in this tank with some schooling fish, would be a great setup.
A short-body flowerhorn would be a great option. The normal FH will get too large but short-body's top out around 7-8" and behave the same.
Sajica is a nice smaller cichlid, gets to about 6", looks like a mini-midas and is very interactive. You could keep a pair in this tank with some schooling fish, would be a great setup.
A short-body flowerhorn would be a great option. The normal FH will get too large but short-body's top out around 7-8" and behave the same.
Beat me to it kinda, I was gonna say bonsai Flowerhorn from the beginning.
Please don't put a 12" fish in a 3' tank, nitrates will be uncontrollable and the fish will be miserable, besides looking like your abusing it.
Greenterror could work at a push but some surpass 10" and even rarely 12". Although most top out at 8-9".
The other choices are great.
From what you've said I believe bonsai FH is your best bet.
Please don't put a 12" fish in a 3' tank, nitrates will be uncontrollable and the fish will be miserable, besides looking like your abusing it.
Greenterror could work at a push but some surpass 10" and even rarely 12". Although most top out at 8-9".
The other choices are great.
From what you've said I believe bonsai FH is your best bet.
Hi everyone,
Long time lurker, Lots of wet pet questions out there but hopefully this one gives me all my answers. Sorry if the post gets long or if its in the wrong spot, feel free to move it modsThere's a tl;dr at the bottom
This is a marvelous post.
Well thought out, very detailed, precise on what you are looking for and trying to accomplish, and shows you've being doing your research.
One of the other things to consider with small tanks, is that they quickly build up nitrate, unless water changes are frequent.
Most Amphiliphus are lacustrine species, they live in large lakes, or in clean rivers with a very low nitrate load, much of the time less than 1 ppm.
So although nitrate is not often seen as an acute problem, it often manifests in chronic nitrate poisoning (HLLE, and other bacterial diseases associated with high nitrate you see when oscars are turned into LFSs, scarred, deformed), which occur unless you are willing do number of large water changes per week.
Fish that are tolerant of nitrate, and that type environment often have the ability to use atmospheric air, like the anabantids that live in rice paddies, or climbing perch or the catfish able to walk away to better conditions.
A 70 gallon, 3 ft tank is about the size of a large puddle, or maybe a rut in the road, not the kind of place you'd find large cichlids, unless they were trapped, and soon to die.
Just a little food for thought in making stocking decisions.
I agree sajica is a another good suggestion
Most Amphiliphus are lacustrine species, they live in large lakes, or in clean rivers with a very low nitrate load, much of the time less than 1 ppm.
So although nitrate is not often seen as an acute problem, it often manifests in chronic nitrate poisoning (HLLE, and other bacterial diseases associated with high nitrate you see when oscars are turned into LFSs, scarred, deformed), which occur unless you are willing do number of large water changes per week.
Fish that are tolerant of nitrate, and that type environment often have the ability to use atmospheric air, like the anabantids that live in rice paddies, or climbing perch or the catfish able to walk away to better conditions.
A 70 gallon, 3 ft tank is about the size of a large puddle, or maybe a rut in the road, not the kind of place you'd find large cichlids, unless they were trapped, and soon to die.
Just a little food for thought in making stocking decisions.
I agree sajica is a another good suggestion
^ agree.
I keep an oscar and a green severum in a 4ft 75g tank. They've been together since 2013 in this setup. While I can keep nitrates <20ppm between weekly fin-level water changes and the fish look and act great, it's not a lot of space for these fish. It's kind of like keeping a betta in a 1gal tank in terms of space.
The OP will be able to manage this water volume in terms of nitrates, but you have to feed a quality pellet food as the main staple and feed lightly, plus the weekly fin-level water changes.
I wouldn't do a FH.
Mine made his 80g look small after a year so I moved him into a 120 and even that started to look a little cramped...
Mine made his 80g look small after a year so I moved him into a 120 and even that started to look a little cramped...
