Who'd wanna live with a Yo-yo?

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Batch
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Who'd wanna live with a Yo-yo?

Post by Batch » Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:48 pm

Or seven Yo-yos for that matter.

hey, i have 7 yo-yos in a 55 gal tank, which has been setup for a couple of months. Three are ~4", two are 2-2.5" and 2 are a bit smaller than 2". Of course they're all growing fast. The three larger ones were originally in my 75gal planted community tank until they decided that the cardinal/rummynose tetras were a food source (but that's another story).

I am thinking about what else to have in the tank. Right now there is only the yo-yos, a 4" gold gourami and a few endler fry (food/entertainment for the gourami). And some snails... At least there were snails this morning. ;P

Anyway, anyone have some suggetions? Two species that I am considering are a rainbow shark and tiger barbs. Would the tiger barbs be too aggressive?

The substrate is black sand with a lot of driftwood, some java ferns and potted plants...

Thanks,
Batch

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palaeodave
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Post by palaeodave » Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:01 pm

Wow, the yoyo's ate cardinals?! A couple of my yoyo's are about 4", I'd have never thought they were capable! Sorry I don't actually have an answer for you as my current tankmates are fairly inappropriate - couple angels and four Danio dangila. The angels hate the current and the danios could probably do with slightly cooler water. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as I could do with the suggestions as well! :D

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Batch
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Post by Batch » Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:22 pm

Yeah, the Yo-yos suddenly got a taste for tetras. They were nipping
them for a couple of weeks (at least that I noticed). That is, the loach
would glide up to the tetra, then the tetra would suddenly take off at light
speed. Then a tetra or two would look like half thier body got the slime
scraped off it overnight. Then I started to find half/nearly-eaten ones. The crimes seemed to only happen at night, so I never caught them in the act. I did find them feeding on the bodies in the morning.

It took me a while to figure this out (I'm a little slow :P ), but the only other
possible culprits were a dwarf gourami, a clown pleco (~3") and a pair of SAE (~2"). I'm sure that they are SAE not one of the other more aggresive species. Everyone else in the tank was no bigger than the tetras (except for the yo-yos and the Khulis).

Getting rid of the yo-yos was not an option (they had become my favorite fish by then), so I set up a new tank for them. While I was getting it ready for them, I threw a bunch of feeder guppies in the tank to try to
save the tetras. It kinda worked. Of course, I now have a bazillion guppy fry.

After I moved the yo-yos (catching them is a nightmare in a heavily planted tank) the tank returned to its peaceful self. I've restocked the tetras and none have died/been chewed on.

Part of it may have been that I only had three (a fourth (Shemp R.I.P.)got out of the tank and was never seen again), so I added 4 more to the new tank. The other thing I've noticed is that one (Moe) is far more aggressive than the other two (which are of course named Larry and Curley). Definately the leader of the pack!

Batch

Fishy
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Suggestion

Post by Fishy » Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:58 pm

Have you thought about a school of Rainbows?

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H3D
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Post by H3D » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:15 am

Tiger barbs would work well IMO.
Instead of doing what can be done, do what should be done.

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Emma Turner
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Post by Emma Turner » Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:04 pm

The gold gourami will need rehoming if you go for Tiger Barbs. They would find the pelvic feelers too tempting. If this is possible, the Tiger Barbs will be a good choice when kept in a good sized group of 8 or more specimens along with your Yo-yos.

Emma
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Batch
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Post by Batch » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:58 pm

>The gold gourami will need rehoming if you go for Tiger Barbs. They

> would find the pelvic feelers too tempting.

Yikes, I never thought about that. Okay, i like the Gourami, I
can feed him worms with chopsticks which is kinda cool...
Soooo the tiger barbs are out... What about the rainbow shark or
pair of Angels? A small school of Boesemani Rainbows or some other large species would look cool, they should be big enough that the loaches won't bother them.... Decisions, decisions..


Batch

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H3D
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Post by H3D » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:53 pm

Emma Turner wrote:The gold gourami will need rehoming if you go for Tiger Barbs. They would find the pelvic feelers too tempting. If this is possible, the Tiger Barbs will be a good choice when kept in a good sized group of 8 or more specimens along with your Yo-yos.

Emma
Good catch Emma...To me it read like the yoyos were in their own serperate tank.
Instead of doing what can be done, do what should be done.

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