Unique fish for 20 gallon

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duanes said:
I would not try to keep sajica in a 20, especially a male (maybe a female ), from my experience in how massive they get, I wouldn't go any smaller than a 75 gal.

My male would have looked like a manatee in a bathtub.
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How big was he? They only reach 6 inches or so (from what I have seen and heard) and in a 20 gallon the width would be twice the length of the fish and the length of the tank would be 3-4 times the length of the fish. Sounds like it'd be a pretty good tank size.
 
I believe for cichlids you need 10 gallons per inch of the largest adult cichlid in the tank, to get a minimum amount of space required to safely accommodate waste output, attitude, and territoriality. To get this, I add the length, height and width of the cichlid together to get tank size. So for a pair of sajica, and some dithers based on the males size, 7" long, and about 5" tall, and 2 wide, ,a 140 gallon would be about right, but as a grow out tank, a 75 gal would do for a while.
My pair (with only some swordtail dithers) fully used and patrolled the entire footprint of a 6 ft tank as mature adults.
At first I put two pairs in the tank, but the dominant pair easily took out (killed) the other pair over night, and spawned a few times before they were given to another club member.
 
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One other thing I'd like to add, you may have seen the post about feeding twice per day, causing fat buildup around the organs of captive fish, and that being unhealthy.
One thing that may contribute beside (or along with ) the excess food is lack of exercise.
Do you think in a tank where a fish can barely turn around, and move a foot one way or the other its going to wear off the average fish keepers food regime, and give it proper exercise?
Just as in humans, a sedentary life style produces a host of disease, so to me, by keeping a fish in tiny, restricted movement area, may be another reason we so so many digestive (bloat) related posts in the disease section.
I have followed 12" uropthalmus over football field sized territories, unlike dogs that we can walk, restricted tank size to me is not conducive to long term fish health.
 
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duanes said:
One other thing I'd like to add, you may have seen the post about feeding twice per day, causing fat buildup around the organs of captive fish, and that being unhealthy.
One thing that may contribute beside (or along with ) the excess food is lack of exercise.
Do you think in a tank where a fish can barely turn around, and move a foot one way or the other its going to wear off the average fish keepers food regime, and give it proper exercise?
Just as in humans, a sedentary life style produces a host of disease, so to me, by keeping a fish in tiny, restricted movement area, may be another reason we so so many digestive (bloat) related posts in the disease section.
I have followed 12" uropthalmus over football field sized territories, unlike dogs that we can walk, restricted tank size to me is not conducive to long term fish health.
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Thank you for your HONEST opinion, not only you back up with facts, you’ve actually witness these guys in their true environment.
 
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duanes said:
One other thing I'd like to add, you may have seen the post about feeding twice per day, causing fat buildup around the organs of captive fish, and that being unhealthy.
One thing that may contribute beside (or along with ) the excess food is lack of exercise.
Do you think in a tank where a fish can barely turn around, and move a foot one way or the other its going to wear off the average fish keepers food regime, and give it proper exercise?
Just as in humans, a sedentary life style produces a host of disease, so to me, by keeping a fish in tiny, restricted movement area, may be another reason we so so many digestive (bloat) related posts in the disease section.
I have followed 12" uropthalmus over football field sized territories, unlike dogs that we can walk, restricted tank size to me is not conducive to long term fish health.
Click to expand...
That may be the case, it'll be hard to prove as we'll need a huge tank and a small tank with IDENTICAL water parameters with IDENTICAL fish and IDENTICAL feedings to see, and even then you'll have to do it over and over again to get a consistent result. I feel it's likely a mix of poor water quality, poor diet, and lack of exercise, though I feel it's likely more associated with diet as someone on here (forget who) said that he does autopsies on aquarium fish (for public aquariums) and finds that fat buildup around the organs is the most common thing he finds in dead fish and I'm pretty sure these fish are in massive tanks with massive filtration.
 
Purple spilo piranha could work in a 20 gallon for years if you get start with a smaller one. Eventually it will need a 29-40 breeder. But that's years
 
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