re: mixed species tank

["John McCrone" <j.mccrone@btinternet.com>]

I've been surprised at some of the tales of cross-species aggression. At the
moment I have a four foot tank with a pair of mcmasteri, a trio of
altispinosa, and a juvenile pair of checkerboards, along with marble
hatchets, pencil fish, rummy-nose tetras and ottos. They can push each other
around a bit, especially when the mcmasteri spawn, but no damage done. I've
had other combinations in the past, including mixing in cacatuoides and
ramirezi - though new rams have died of fright just seeing a big alti in the
tank. Also had a trio of festive cichlids mixed with checkerboards and
rams - though sadly they had to go because of their aggression towards the
plants!

I can't offer an expert opinion but my own rule of thumb has been to have a
carefully landscaped tank in which the floor is divided by a clump of plant
or bit of bogwood into several "stages", giving the fish a chance to own
their own bit of area out of the line sight of the next. Also, I make sure
the different species look clearly different - I've not tried mixing blue
rams and bolvian rams again. One further factor that may be key is that the
fish are young when they go in so they don't arrive looking for a fight with
the established set-up. The crowding thing may also help as when the
altispinosa are getting a bit tetchy with each other (two males and one
female) the mcmasteri often blunder by and break things up.

------------------------------------------------------------
from John McCrone - Science Writer
    mail to: j.mccrone@btinternet.com
    web site: http://www.btinternet.com/~neuronaut/



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