Animal Stories - Aquarium Tropical Fish


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Latest Animal Stories on Aquarium Tropical Fish (7342)

neon - 2017-11-21
Commons have great personality! I won a common almost two years ago at my local fair (I wasn't even in the hobby at the time, the fish is what got me into it.) and he is a wonderful companion. It's such a shame such amazing creatures are given out as prizes and usually die due to lack of care. :( He's currently housed in a twenty gallon with a fantail as a companion. (Before I get attacked for housing them together, they were both introduced to each other at a very young age and get along swimmingly. Otherwise they wouldn't be together.)

Troy - 2012-10-16
Hi, I was thinking about getting a pair of firemouths and a pleco to go in my 55 gallon tank, are there any other fish that i could also add to my tank that will be easy to care for and that would go well with the others?

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Clarice Brough - 2012-10-16
The Firemouth Cichlid is such a nice fish, they are very nice tempered for a cichlid. All sorts of fish make good tankmates, as long as they are large enough, and even other South American Cichlids of about the same temperment like the Kribensis, even Convict Cichlids. Some other suggestions are a school of larger tetras like the Buenos Aires Tetra, Black Tetras, Red-Eyed Tetras, the larger barbs like a group of Tiger Barbs, Rainbowfish, Giant Danios, and there's a variety of sharks like the Black Shark, Rainbow Shark, or Red Shark. So you really have a lot you can choose from.
Melissa - 2017-11-20
I have a firemouth. He seems very dominant. I also have a convict and a blood parrot which is a hybrid but it's my favorite. So cute and have a great little personality. They can also be paired with other cichilds such as the that and green terror. Google it
They can also be paired with Jack Dempsey's. We've had ours for 2 days now and at first our firemouth was very skiddish but the next morning he had doubled in size and became very dominant chasing both our other fish even our bigger blood parrot. So we're going to be getting another blood parrot tomorrow. Because all's our blood parrot does now is hide. Good luck!

Marysol Tardif-Giroux - 2011-12-15
It's nice to finally see someone else with an older Midas. My male Peaches is currently 17 years old. When I first got him, the only info I found, stated that they only live about 9 years. Peaches can not be kept with other species, when he was 1/2 inch he was killing 5 and 6 inch Oscars. When he killed all the 5 inch Africans my boss tried to feed him too. I was told to flush him down the toilet. I couldn't do it. So I took him home. Peaches could hide behind my thumb when I put it against the glass. He was so small, and he was all black. He is peach coloured now. But he actually got his name from the song 'Peaches' (come from a can, they were put there by a man) Because, he kept poking holes in the fish bag, so I slipped the bag in my rinsed out soup can to bring him home. Now he's about 12 inches. He had a mate, but killed her when she wasn't laying eggs often enough, so is now living with a few babies. He kills one once in a while, so he may go back down to lone fish at some point. I'll never give him away, he is living longer than my cat (12 years RIP).

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james allen bentley sr. - 2012-02-16
I have a 175 gal tank my midas A.K.A mighty is 7 years old. I was told that only the male had a hump on his is this true. He lives with two jack dempseys and is too fat to catch them. I have lots of cover. I can pet him like a puppy but if I'm cleaning he bites me. The grand love him when he bites at their nose. He's a real blast. Any comments welcome!!! :)
Star - 2014-01-02
I have a Midas (could be a red devil tho) male. He has a large Nuchal bump and is lemon and orange colored. I rescued you him from a 38 gallon tank. He had quite a bit of damage (big pock holes in his face and forhead, etc.) Most of those holes are gone now, with only some scaring left from the deepest of his injuries. He was in the tank by himself, and I do not know what his earlier history is. He is now alone in a 75 gallon tank and seems to be quite happy. His name is Zeus because he is magnificent! He is 12-13' long, and very intelligent. I can interact with him and pet him all over his body. He loves earth worms and during the warmer months I bring him one every now and then. He takes them up like spaghetti! Zeus interacts with the dogs and my grandchildren. He is extremely curious. I truly wish I had a larger tank for him. I have two Fluval cannister filters (305 and 306) and they seem to do the trick. I use a siphon to remove water from his tank weekly (about 1/3) which sucks up his gravel to clean it as it removes water. He has a fit over this. He is so territorial about his gravel when he sees it moving up the tube he gets really angry. It's funny but it's not. I don't like him to be upset. Zeus also spends a lot of time beating up his intake tubes and artifical plants. He carries the tall silk plants around and rearranges them. I found him a small ball from a fooseball set and he pushes that around from time to time. Just recently, my neighbor gave me a plastic fish that is meant to feed turtles. It floats around the tank and I'm hoping that Zeus will find some entertainment in bossing the plastic buddy around. So far though he seems entirely disinterested. I don't have a clue how old this fish is, all I know is I have had him for 1 year and the people before him had him for at least 2. Honestly, I feel that pet shops should be better educated about these types of fish. They're great when they're small but they need a ton of space as mature adults. More than the average hobbyist can offer. (just sayin) As far as a pet goes though, he is awesome. I also have 4 orandas in a separate tank in the other room. I almost want to put both tanks in one place so Zeus can watch the Orandas. Which, btw, are super fun fish to have. My largest is about 7' now. I feed them from my hand and they will allow me to touch them. One likes resting in my cupped hand.. so cute. I would like to rehome Zeus now that he is all healed up and healthy. Finding the right home is super difficult though.

Joel - 2005-10-26
Hi, im Joel.Im going to get a 90 gallon fish tank.And it comes with a Red Devil and an Oscar.And there used to be lots of african cichlids.Of course the Red Devil ate them all.The only thing it didn't eat was the oscar and a sucker fish.The Red Devil will strike at the oscar and take chunks out of the Tiger Oscar.The Red Devil is about 10 inches now and oscar is about 12 inches.

LULA - 2005-11-18
I have a red devil and RAISED HIM/HER FROM A BABY AND I WATCHED HIM/HER GROW AND IT HAS REALLY BECOME AGGRESIVE AND MEAN AND IT WANTS TO EAT ALL THE TIME BUT THAT IS MY BABY HE IS BIGGER THAN MY HAND AND MY HAND IS BIG LULA

sean piel - 2005-07-03
I have a 4-5 inches long one and it is a beautiful orange, and has kind of an orangish white fade to the bottom. I still cant tell what sex it is. it is super agressive towards my other fish and it is in a seperate tank! He loves frozen krill cubes. i have him/her in a 55 allon tank by himself and he is still getting use to it. They are MAJOR diggers... well mine is. I dont really have any advice except feed them three times a day.

BRITTANY - 2005-08-18
I have a south african red devil and it is the meanist sucker I have ever had. anything you put in there will be gone. I might have to get rid of it for its agressivness. really having one fish is not the type that I would like. So red devils are for sure true to their name.

Devil Dudes - 2005-10-22
Red Devils are great interactive fish. As mentioned on another post, they will come up to the glass and follow you. I run my fingers across the tank glass and RD likes to chase. This is their obvious territorial nature trying to have a piece of me. When feeding if you dip your finger in the water they will bite you, though my RD is only about 9cm (4") and teeth won't rip you to shreds. Though I may be a bit more reluctant if it grew to full size. My son also has another one. We had them in a single tank (app 60litres) but they would go at it hammer and tongs, so we separated them with glass first then into separate tanks.

Eric Meyer - 2010-05-25
i own a red devil and a midas which have been breeding like crazy every 3 weeks , however my devil and midas are the king/queen of my tank they rule everything i had a 12 inch pacu and he used to try to eat my midas till i had got the devil now theres a new boss in their town and he's running things his way << proud owner to say i love my devil, most ppl dont want them cause they get big but sometimes bigger is better to control your tank aggression

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luke - 2010-09-24
Well I am new to the fish world and I just got a devil and it has eaten one of my gold fish do you know what to do?

ANTHONY WILCOX - 2009-05-10
I have 2 Red Devils, 2 Jack Dempseys, 1 Blue Devil, and 1 Oscar. All my fishes get along. My Red Devil Binky owns the tank and he kills other fish that I try to add to the tank. I tried to add a snakehead that was way bigger and my Red Devil killed it in less than 3 hours, and snakeheads get like 4 to 10 feet. The Snakehead was full grown. All my fishes are nice but I know not to bring new fishes into the tank that he's not familiar with.

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