fraggle
01-27-2009, 02:29 AM
I went to the LFS the day before yesterday, and there, just been handed in were some fronts! He had 2 of them, a big male and I'm assuming a female, the guy was moving over seas, He said he did have 8 of them but he gave the 6 smaller ones to his neighbour to put in his kids tank he'd just bought them, as the neighbour didn't want "big fish" for the kids to look after (I would have thought if you'd seen the big ones you'd know that the small ones would get big)
He said he'd got them when his Uncle had died at the beginning of last year. He said his Uncle was "fish mad" and had wanted him to learn to like fish too. But they took up too much room.
He said that his Uncle had imported the male from Africa about 4 years ago. "cost him a fortune, can't believe you'd spend that money on stupid fish."
I asked him what sort they were, he said his Uncle said they were "something like Kavalini or something and he was collected from half way down some lake starting with T or G I think"
I was fawning over them, and when he asked if I would like to buy them I said yes, but I haven't got the set up for them as they need hard alkaline water and a big tank. The guy just looked at me stupid and said that the he hadn't done any of that and they were fine. They were just in straight dechlorinated water out of the tap, (which is the same as mine and is very soft and the pH is 6!!!!!) And the tank that all 8 of the in it was a tank was 150L (which is about 40G) as the big tank that he got with them was too big so he got a smaller one. I nearly died.
I asked him what sort of filter etc he had, he had a UGF, it came with the tank. I asked him how often he changed the water, and he said he'd done it 3 times since he had the fish as it was too much work, and he hadn't done it since the end of September as he had been too busy.
I couldn't help myself, I wanted to get them in a set up that they should be in! So I bought them. (yes slap me around or what ever, impulse buy). (Absolute bugger that he's just handed them over to the petshop, I had to buy them from them not the guy)
I know that what they are in now at my place isn't ideal, but I'm working on it.
So I shifted the tetras and dollars into a 35G that I got, and put the fronts in the 55G that they were in.
I know that I'll need to get a bigger tank for them, the 55G isn't big enough, but surely it has to be better than the 40G. I'm currently looking at 2 big tanks, (my hubby is going to shool me!) both 180G. (6'x2'x2'), should have them in July.
Will these guys be OK until then, or will I need to get something bigger than the 55G until I can get the 180G set up?
How do I go about getting them used to the right water again? How long will it take to get them used to the hard alkaline water? Do you use the additive for the lake cichlids that you can buy at the LFS? Or how do you go about it?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've jumped in the deep end here! Tell me off if you like. I just didn't want them to go to someone who wasn't going to look after them properly (Ok I'm not at the moment either, but I know that and I'm going to rectify the situation as soon as I can!)
Then to top it all off, I neary lost the female (well I'm assuming it's a female!) she jumped out of the tank. We weren't home and my hubby got home before I did and could here flapping. And she'd landed behind the tank!!!! (How she got out is beyond me, there's glass over the top, she must have got out the corner that's cut out so the pipes and all can go though in the corner where there is no pipes!)
So I came home just as he was putting her back in the tank. He had to use one of the kitchen utensils to push her along the back of the tank to the side of the tank, and then used the tongs to grab her (by the head poor thing) as there's not even a 2" gap behind or at the side of the tank. She's still alive, she's looking a little...mottley and a little worse for the wear though.
Here's a couple of pics of them.
He said he'd got them when his Uncle had died at the beginning of last year. He said his Uncle was "fish mad" and had wanted him to learn to like fish too. But they took up too much room.
He said that his Uncle had imported the male from Africa about 4 years ago. "cost him a fortune, can't believe you'd spend that money on stupid fish."
I asked him what sort they were, he said his Uncle said they were "something like Kavalini or something and he was collected from half way down some lake starting with T or G I think"
I was fawning over them, and when he asked if I would like to buy them I said yes, but I haven't got the set up for them as they need hard alkaline water and a big tank. The guy just looked at me stupid and said that the he hadn't done any of that and they were fine. They were just in straight dechlorinated water out of the tap, (which is the same as mine and is very soft and the pH is 6!!!!!) And the tank that all 8 of the in it was a tank was 150L (which is about 40G) as the big tank that he got with them was too big so he got a smaller one. I nearly died.
I asked him what sort of filter etc he had, he had a UGF, it came with the tank. I asked him how often he changed the water, and he said he'd done it 3 times since he had the fish as it was too much work, and he hadn't done it since the end of September as he had been too busy.
I couldn't help myself, I wanted to get them in a set up that they should be in! So I bought them. (yes slap me around or what ever, impulse buy). (Absolute bugger that he's just handed them over to the petshop, I had to buy them from them not the guy)
I know that what they are in now at my place isn't ideal, but I'm working on it.
So I shifted the tetras and dollars into a 35G that I got, and put the fronts in the 55G that they were in.
I know that I'll need to get a bigger tank for them, the 55G isn't big enough, but surely it has to be better than the 40G. I'm currently looking at 2 big tanks, (my hubby is going to shool me!) both 180G. (6'x2'x2'), should have them in July.
Will these guys be OK until then, or will I need to get something bigger than the 55G until I can get the 180G set up?
How do I go about getting them used to the right water again? How long will it take to get them used to the hard alkaline water? Do you use the additive for the lake cichlids that you can buy at the LFS? Or how do you go about it?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've jumped in the deep end here! Tell me off if you like. I just didn't want them to go to someone who wasn't going to look after them properly (Ok I'm not at the moment either, but I know that and I'm going to rectify the situation as soon as I can!)
Then to top it all off, I neary lost the female (well I'm assuming it's a female!) she jumped out of the tank. We weren't home and my hubby got home before I did and could here flapping. And she'd landed behind the tank!!!! (How she got out is beyond me, there's glass over the top, she must have got out the corner that's cut out so the pipes and all can go though in the corner where there is no pipes!)
So I came home just as he was putting her back in the tank. He had to use one of the kitchen utensils to push her along the back of the tank to the side of the tank, and then used the tongs to grab her (by the head poor thing) as there's not even a 2" gap behind or at the side of the tank. She's still alive, she's looking a little...mottley and a little worse for the wear though.
Here's a couple of pics of them.