Hello!

I have a crazy mix in a 75 that happened pretty much by chance.

I set up the 75 for an Oscar that was given to me...He was being picked on by a small Dovii and she had temporarily divided the tank but wanted a permanent solution.

I got the tank set up, aquascaped, and cycled and called the young lady with the homeless fish. OOPS! Obviously it took a little time to set up the 75 so I guess she got impatient. She set up a 30 long for the Oscar. This was fine with me as I have kept Oscars in the past and while I like them fine I really was'nt all that anxious to get another. I explained to her that that was ok but plan on moving the guy to at least a 55 in the next 6 months or so. She understood and all was well.

Now I had a 75 sitting empty in my office...all cycled and ready to go.

I threw in a 6-pack of large Ruby barbs for flash, a small Syndontis Lace for bottom duties a Paradise Gourami that was not playing well with others in his prevous home.

Still pretty empty!

My local mom and pop pet store got in a bunch blood parrots...i'm not really a hybrid kind of guy but by the same token I don't mind em' too much either. I noticed while looking at a tank full of the little wierdo's that their was one little guy that was not even half as large as his tank mates. You guessed it! I bought the runt and popped him into the 75.

After a bit of ritualistic hiney sniffing between the Parrot and the Paradise things smoothed out and all was well. The barbs are of course oblivious to all and just spend their time in a mindless hunt for food. The Lace is rarely seen during the day but is doing well.

Enter the Green Terror Gold Saum. 2.5" of innocence...NOT! He was raising cain in my SA/CA grow out tank and was rapidly out growing his tank mates. I added more rock and driftwood to the 75 and in he went. I expected mayhem. I was ready for it. I was pleasently surprised! The GT totally ignored everyone except the Parrot and after a few side to side shimmy's they each retreated to a cave and went on with life. A week later they are big buddies...hanging out, chasing barbs, doing shooters, etc...

I waited a month or so and thought hmmm...I don't think 6 more Ruby barbs would hurt anything! So off I went...The LFS was out so I headed for the dreaded Petsmart. Well...They did'nt have any rubies but they did have 2 RT Botias for $1.99 each so sucker that I am I carried em' home. They immediately dug a tunnel under a large piece of driftwood and settled right in. Score!

All of the above took place over a 3 month span. About 2 weeks ago the phone rings...I bet you guessed it! It's the young lady with the Oscar. "Can you take him?" I thought about it a minute and said why not? I figured I would put him in the 600 gallon pond for now with the Rays.

I went over there and got him. He had grown quite a bit and was now a thick 5".

I got him into the pond and hit the sack. The next morning I hear some splashing and go into the fishroom. All of my rays are at 1 end of the pond and MR. Big is at the other keeping them corraled up! He's gotta lot of nerve!

I had no place for him to go but he HAD to come out of the pond...so I did the only thing I could do....I put him in the 75. Amazingly enough all of this eclectic mix are doing fine. Did you keep score?

1 Albino Tiger Oscar
1 Green Terror (Gold Saum)
1 Parrot
1 Paradise Gourami
6 Ruby Barbs
2 RT Botia
1 Lace Syndontis

It's definately a wierd mix but it works!

The tank is a standard 75 with a dual strip light. I use an AC 110 and a Cascade 300 for filtration. The tank is setup with tuffa piled high in the corners (providing many caves) and driftwood in the center.

AAO

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you have quite the community set up. :lol: Sounds like one of my tanks if you ask me. Fish that would never go together in another tank without in problems yet do perfectly fine and live in harmony in mine. Who knows. ^_^

Can't wait to see some pics. I'm looking into getting a 75 in a year or so. Right now we are renting, so my wife doesn't want us to go too crazy on tank sizes.

So, do tell more about your pond... I went to the Bahamas last week and swam and fed stingrays. Definitely not the ones you have in your pond, would be cool if they we're the same though. I've heard of people doing saltwater ponds.

What kind of rays do you have? How many?

I actually have 4 630 gallon ponds (7'x4'x3'). 2 indoor and 2 outside. I made them all myself with liners and landscape timbers. They are easy as pie to build!

I have 3 Motoro rays in one pond. They are a good beginner ray. I am trying them for the first time. I have had my 3 for almost 6 months.

In the other indoor pond I have a 24" Red Tail cat, a 10" Midas, and a breeding pair of Red Festae. The male is about 8" and the female is 6". They breed every other month like clockwork. :up: The only problem is that they are so prolific that I cannot get rid of them fast enough. I end up putting them in with the rays whhen they reach about an inch. The rays make short work of them. I don't guess it's any differant than feeding any other kind of feeder fish but it still seems wierd! :D

AAO

LOL If you ever want to get rid of a few and live in the states, look me up! Those ponds are pretty easy to build, huh? Sounds pretty awesome. I'd love to have an above ground pond like that. Never really knew how to go about building one. Interested in doing a DIY article? Would certainly help me out a ton! I'll be sure to pin it if you're interested in doing a little writing. How do you keep your red tail cat from eating the other fish in there with him?

I could probably come up with an article for you.

As for the RT...He is the biggest baby on the planet. I have had him sice he was 2" long. :D

I'm sure he tries in his own lazy way (I have always hand fed him) to get at the Festae and Midas but they have caves to retreat to if need be. I'm sure he get's a few fry here and there but that's fine. He's such a clown...he will stick his head clear out of the water to take a shrimp from my fingers. I have some pics of my son feeding him...I'll post them when I find em'.

AAO

Sounds awesome! I'd love to have one but don't have the aquarium/pond to put him in.

Can't wait to see those pics!

I'm actually gonna be in trouble with that cat eventually. Probably within the next 5 years he's gonna need a much larger pond. RT's can reach 5' fairly easily!

Building the pond is no problem. I can bust out a 10'x10'x4' pretty easy. The problem is gonna be heating it. I heat one of my outside ponds with a bank of 3, 1000 watt heaters and a solor cover but that's not gonna work on a 3000 gallon pond. I may have to look into a small steel building of some sort. I could use the extra storage space anyway I guess.

Sounds heaps nice wish I could have a set up like that.

You know you are a fish geek when... enough fish and enough tanks are not even in your vocabulary!!! WE ALL WANT MORE!