Golden Nugget and Zebras

[NetsuaiAngel]

I have this pretty darling in my tank with the zebras:



The golden nugget is about 4-5 inches long and has recently been acting aggresively to my zebras. This doesn't make me happy.

There are plenty of hiding spots and caves, but this golden doesn't take up a cave and will 'chase' the zebras.

So the question now is...

What would you do?


Sell the Golden Nugget? Rearrange the tank? Get a mate for it? ...?

Here's a picture of my tank (I did a rearrange about two months ago):

[dave]

Sell the gold nugget.

Getting a mate for it, if you manage to sex it and they exhibit breeding behaviour will only get more aggressive.

Dave

[CDNAqua]

Hi,

I would ditch the nugget, If your serious about breeding l46s.

Just an observation but your tank looks kind of full. lots of hiding spaces Im sure. Is it not a nightmare to clean properly?....without disturbing the tank layout??


peace

Troy

[NetsuaiAngel]

Just an observation but your tank looks kind of full. lots of hiding spaces Im sure. Is it not a nightmare to clean properly?....without disturbing the tank layout??


peace

Troy

Hi Troy,

Define clean properly? If you mean do I take everything out and scrub everything down clean... well no, in an established tank, that shouldn't be needed or required. I would end up hurting the biological cycle if I did that. (I discovered if I disturb my wet/dry I could cause a fluctation in my water parameters - this was when I discovered I had guppy fry in the bottom of my sump area and was trying to rescue them)

Tank is full of wood, plants, and caves. There are plenty of hiding places but the zebras so far seem to love the slate caves and will prance around when the golden is a sleep. Snails are now everywhere, literally. They do their clean up job well and I'll pick a few out to keep the population down.

20% water changes occur every two weeks right now with the smallest siphon I could find, which fit perfectly between the caves. A full cleaning of the gravel bed (which is very thin, it's only about 4 cups of gravel and the tank is a 50g) happens every six months. With this habit I've maintained the following water parameters:

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10-15ppm
pH 7.0

Don't know the kh or gh.

Daily doses of Excel are given for the plants. Though I think I need to buy new lights because some of my plants are turning yellow, but only on the outer leaves, the inner ones are a beautiful green.

In answer to your question, a nightmare to clean? Not really. Just took me a very long time to get everything established. Barbie and others helped me through a big ordeal I had with this tank's water parameters. Now I just leave it be and maintain the water quality.

Oh yeah, and the little fuzzy peach looking things in the picture are rosy barbs. I will be selling those too. They had their purpose but now I want them to have a happy home (there's three of them - I call them the Muskateers)

- Angela

[discusbabe]

That is one awesome looking tank! Really love it!

[CDNAqua]

Hi Angela,

Of course I didn't mean take everything out and scrub. lol

It just appeared to be more gravel in your tank than 5 cups. Hard to tell from photo


5 cups of Cleverly spaced gravel in a 50 gal must be a breeze to clean.

Good job on the illusion of gravel.

Peace

[NetsuaiAngel]

Thanks for the compliments

Didn't mean to be harsh there

Gravel matches the setup and makes it look deeper than it really is. I only put a sparse about of gravel in there. The zebras seem to like it, they scrounge around the gravel during feeding times.

Looks like I gotta find a new home for the golden Hmmm...

- Angela

[blueblue]

Hi Angela, great tank and good fish...
Hmm, yes, it's probably a good idea to remove the golden boy...
By the way, i also have a tank keeping a golden boy, zebra and other pleco... they do get on well...

[NetsuaiAngel]

Hi blueblue!

The other plecos in your tank don't show any aggression to each other? What size tank do you have?

I was watching mine last night and it looked like my alpha and the other adult male zebra 'ganged-up' on the golden and had him/her blocked in a section of the back of the tank.

The golden will just chase the zebras but once they enter a cave, the golden won't attempt to go inside. Actually.. now I think about it, I've never seen my golden go inside a cave, it just hops from drift wood to drift wood areas of the tank and will sometimes perch itself on top of a cave.

I'm trying to figure out a way to provide a new home for the golden. Hmmm....

[NetsuaiAngel]

Just a note on the golden's progress!

During dinner with my beau I 'negotiated' with him that if I get 'rid' of the two smaller tanks I have (one is a four compartment betta tank that will go in my office and the other is this small barely .5g tank that can disappear, it's just circulating water right now) that he'll "think about" letting me get a 20g wet/dry just for the golden!!

I've been doing some research on the golden and I think it's a female... might search for a pretty male for her to have fun with...heehee!!



- Angela

[Andyt.]

I am often involved in similar types of negotiations with my wife. Best of luck getting that new 20g going!