# Irritans Update - January 2007



## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Here is a time line of the irritans tank.......

11/04 - five 2" irritans - 75 gallon tank
3/05 - four 2"-3" irritans - 75 gallon tank - One removed because of aggression.
8/05 - three 3" irritans - 90 gallon tank -Second fish removed because of aggression. 
1/06 - four 3"-4" irritans - 100 gallon tank - Added back first removed fish because of tank move and good growth by the lone fish...catching him up to the others in the group.
2/06 - four 3"-4" irritans - 100 gallon tank - lots of chasing but relatively no fin nips or actual contact.
Update:
4/06 - four 3"-4" irritans - 100 gallon tank - Pretty quiet tank..all things considered.

Then in late April I decided to change from gravel to sand and all hell broke loose. Im pretty sure it was because I messed up all the territories so lesson learned...when you have a good thing going..leave it alone.

5/06 - four 4"-4.5" irritans - 100 gallon tank - back to normal

Summer of 06 we had some extremely high temperatures and I lost 2 fish for unexplained reasons. It wasnt aggression but the tank temps were very high and 2 of the fish lost their equilibrium..not being about to swim upright.

8/06 - two 5" irritans - 100 gallon tank - doing fine.

1/07 - two 5" irritans - 100 gallon tank - Still doing good together. They hang in the middle of the tank about 3" from each other. Zero fin nips in the last 3 or 4 months. So after 2 years and 2 months...all is well.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

so are we looking for a congrats here or what :rasp:

Thats awesome news GG-Glad everything is going good with the tank-


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## jmax611 (Aug 6, 2006)

slow growers


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## C0Rey (Jan 7, 2006)

maybe 2 is a good number then?

either whay its great! congrats!


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## NeXuS (Aug 16, 2006)

congratz dude


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## warlock_king (Nov 23, 2006)

Awesome, would love to see some pics. And my ONLY question is did people hate on this at first or still do? because anyone else putting anything other than pygos together gets flamed sooo bad. I understand you have alot of room but even with the room if I posted this up Id get bashed.. I think its great putting these together and would love to try it but from what everyone says its impossible and etc etc.... 
anywho good luck and lets see some pics!


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## Ex0dus (Jun 29, 2005)

warlock_king said:


> Awesome, would love to see some pics. And my ONLY question is did people hate on this at first or still do? because anyone else putting anything other than pygos together gets flamed sooo bad. I understand you have alot of room but even with the room if I posted this up Id get bashed.. I think its great putting these together and would love to try it but from what everyone says its impossible and etc etc....
> anywho good luck and lets see some pics!


Not true at all. Alot of people totally encourage mixing. Alot of the times you find people will advise against it is when people are still retativetly new to the hobby. I am all for mixing... having done it several times myself now. Some successful, others not. Serrasalmus mixing is imo the most interesting aspect of this hobby.


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## inspectahdeck34 (Dec 31, 2006)

thats awsome GG god work


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

warlock_king said:


> Awesome, would love to see some pics. And my ONLY question is did people hate on this at first or still do? because anyone else putting anything other than pygos together gets flamed sooo bad. I understand you have alot of room but even with the room if I posted this up Id get bashed.. I think its great putting these together and would love to try it but from what everyone says its impossible and etc etc....
> anywho good luck and lets see some pics!


I think it really depends on how you approach it. Grouping like species (I feel) is more accepted. Providing an environment that might yield success is another aspect you need to consider. I also think there are species that have been proven over time to not work..however I dont think irritans was ever really explored. This has been tried by a few on this site since my tank was started and it has never worked...so Im not really sure why this has lasted like it has....well...I have my ideas but nothing I would call facts.

I also had these fish together for a few months before I ever posted. I think the reaction is a little different then when someone posts the next day after grouping fish. Not all the reactions were positive...as you could see from past posts.


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## warlock_king (Nov 23, 2006)

interesting. Id like to try one day as well but as for now ill stick with my solo serra and grouped rbp's. By the way did you ever get any pictures of this?


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## inspectahdeck34 (Dec 31, 2006)

pics!! gotta see em


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## fliptasciouz (Jul 4, 2004)

jmax611 said:


> slow growers


If you want to see pics, you might want search through it gg plenty had of pics during the development of his irritans. The last time i've seen it there were 3 irritans and now down to 2







sorry. But because of gg irritans post , this would help me and others if they're ever considering grouping same species together.


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## joey'd (Oct 26, 2005)

Grosse Gurke said:


> Here is a time line of the irritans tank.......
> 
> 11/04 - five 2" irritans - 75 gallon tank
> 3/05 - four 2"-3" irritans - 75 gallon tank - One removed because of aggression.
> ...


nice update, good stuff very interesting, keep us posted, any chance of some pics?


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## Sheppard (Jul 8, 2004)

Just like everyone else...I'd like to see a tank picture too.

I would think an important factor in your success would be creating separate territories for the fish. 
So I am really curious to see how you set up your decor.

Oh yeah, congrats on the 2 year mark! That's something to be proud of


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## itstheiceman (Oct 5, 2006)

that is a small nice read for newbs like me, and good job on the updates GG


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Sheppard said:


> Just like everyone else...I'd like to see a tank picture too.
> 
> I would think an important factor in your success would be creating separate territories for the fish.
> So I am really curious to see how you set up your decor.
> ...


These two are never more then 4" apart...so I dont think that has much to do with it. It looks like I could keep them in a 10 gallon and the results would not have been any different. They both occupy a space in the center of the tank..in a plant. There are identical plants on both ends of the tank that are never used used.....

I have pictures somewhere that I can put up..but I havent taken any in a while. If Pete sees this..he also has a video of the fish feeding and interacting. This was when I had 4 though.


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## MIKE JONES (Dec 9, 2006)

gota see those pics!!


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## NeXuS (Aug 16, 2006)

yea definatly try to put up pics


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## moron (May 26, 2006)

any pics?


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## Dairy Whip (Mar 26, 2006)

GG cool to hear you have had some succes to bad for the high heat level in the summer







Good luck man


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

I have to admit GG, I would be curious to see some pics of this as well. Not many people have pulled it off and it would be neat to see how your tank is set up and whether that is contributing to them getting along in anyway.


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## nswhite (Mar 23, 2005)

Wow GG thats amazing I wish the 2 that died from the heat or what ever it was where still around cause I think you may have had a tank with four. But thats still an incredible achievment my hat goes off to you. It was also a very risky experiment. Do you have any other tanks in devolopment to try with some more or something different?


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Here is an older picture of the 2....








Here is the tank setup.....


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## Dairy Whip (Mar 26, 2006)

Thats a killer setup man :nod:


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## itstheiceman (Oct 5, 2006)

wow gg, thats a phat tank forsure for those guys, bet they love it


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## face2006 (Feb 17, 2006)

Nice set up GG so u still got them together?....wow


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## RAZ31 (Jan 9, 2007)

Sweet tank GG very sweet!


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Fail!

November 04 to August 08.......


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

GG this is not a fail it's just a learning experience we appreciate what you have done and you have to know that somethings are just out of human control. People have things that occur in their life but im sorry your fish didn't make it longer you always have your memories.


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