i have 3 catfish and 1 algae eater they are all under 4 inches long i bought a new fish i think its a koi or a goldfish im pretty sure its a koi though and when the light in my tank is on the cat fish leave the koi alone but when i turn it off the start to maul him i cant get a new tank until christmas unless its fairly small (under 5 gallons) and cheap i am currently keeping the koi in a huge pickle jar with some gravel and a aerator but i dont think i should do that for more than a few days , what should i do ?
2006-11-10 13:02:48 · 4 answers · asked by cole 1 in Pets ➔ Fish
Koi are really too big to be kept in tanks, unless your tank is huge (like 120 gallons). I'd take the koi back to the fish store. What kind of catfish do you have? You may need to keep a semi-aggressive fish with them so they don't get picked on (tiger barb, etc.) Make sure your tank is big enough for everyone to have enough room.
2006-11-10 13:13:00 · answer #1 · answered by Carson 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe get some more koi? Power in numbers, you know.
Catfish are difficult tankmates because they'll eat anything and can become enormous. It's always a good idea to keep all the fish about the same size unless the bigger species are non-aggressive herbivores.
How big is the tank you currently have? Koi can grow be a foot long, and I've seen larger than that. (Once at a zoo, I saw a koi that was larger than forearm and hand, and I'm tall with long arms.) I've heard the rule of thumb is a gallon on water per inch of fish, so make sure the tank is going to be big enough to hold all of the fish.
I know koi are omnivores and I don't think they're too aggressive, but I have known them to eat baby goldfish, so if you get more koi, you might want to keep the teams equal so no one gets eaten.
Oh, and I'm sure you know this since you have aerator in the pickle jar, but koi and even goldfish need the aerated water. Last week at my college's formal, they decided that having goldfish in vases would be a good idea and a few died because they filled some of the vases all the way up to the plate with the flowers so there was no open air to gulp. I was surprised only a few died and not all of them, but I personally rescued a few by removing some of the water so they could get to the air.
2006-11-10 21:12:00 · answer #2 · answered by fireflyfangirl 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
well u should have figured out what it was before you bought it. What I would accually do for now is get a large rubbermaid container and cut a hol ein the top for room for a filter. That should be fine for quite a while and I guess it could acualy be a permenent tank but it wouldnt be very attractive
2006-11-10 22:26:44 · answer #3 · answered by Skittles 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you can buy a bowl used for goldfish or beta to keep the fish in if it doesnt necessarily need the aerator, usually they are only 5 or 10 dollars at walmart and the staff will be able to give you info on keeping it clean
2006-11-10 21:11:05 · answer #4 · answered by lilbit 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋