# Brandti update



## Stick (Jun 5, 2003)

It's been one week today that my brandti has been in with the pygos. So far so good. No fish has established any territory in the tank yet and the same goes for the brandti. They all just hang out together and slowly swim laps around the tank agasinst the current. No fin nips on either the pygos or the brandti but a bunch of lip- nips on the pygos from the intense feeding frenzies. Heres a few pics.


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## traumatic (Jan 29, 2003)

nice!

that brandti doesn't really stick out like a sore thumb at all sizewize. Him being close in size to your smaller pygos prob helps the situation, that and a huge tank.


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## jahnke31 (Dec 4, 2003)

he is doing great stick!!! glad to see it. how big do you think he is going to get??


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## jan (Apr 24, 2004)

The Brandti looks great, The Pygo's are looking great. that tank looks great....

........This makes me so jealous









Just kidding







That tank is just awesome and your Brandti is looking good and healthy


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## remyo (Aug 26, 2004)

great ill hope it will work out okay then !!


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

thank god nothing has gone bad yet


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Very nice








Good luck with this remarable mix, Stick


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## mantis (May 16, 2003)

lookin good


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## Stick (Jun 5, 2003)

Thanks guys. I know it's not gonna stay this peacefull forever. None of these fish have established any territory yet. They haven't really even shown any sign of dominance yet. Some of the smaller pygos wag around once and a while but I'm still waiting for the big tern and the big cariba to decide whos dominant. I think when the water quality reaches the point where it should be there's gonna be some battles. Hopefully the fights won't be too bad because they have so much room to retreat. Thats what I'm hoping for at least. Thats the time I have my biggest concerns with the brandti. He's gonna stake out some territory too and whatever pygos retreat from fight on to his turf...Theres gonna be some nippin. If we can get through the initial fight stage and the fish have good chemistry I think I can start to feel a little more comfortable. I will definately keep you posted. I'm sure someone must have tried this before with a brandti and pygos. Anyone know of anyone? I'm curious to see how it worked out.


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## Stugge (Jul 27, 2003)

Love that tank


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## Esoteric (Jul 7, 2004)

So far so good, thats a nice Brandtii.. I would hate to see anything happen to him


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## Fido (May 21, 2003)

Is that algae? will you get some plecos for the tank soon? Nice work so far btw.


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

Good luck with the combination man


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## b_ack51 (Feb 11, 2003)

I've seen a Geryi with big pygos before, worked out. The pygos were about 12inches and the Geryi was 9+, he'd just have his area and if anyone got to close, would just chase them out. Never any nips or bites though. Also the tank was only 200+ gallons.


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## SLANTED (Dec 7, 2003)

Looks good. Keep us posted.


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## janus (Oct 28, 2004)

Looking good!

I`m confident it will work.


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## Fresh2salt (Jul 16, 2004)

looks awesome!


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## shoe997bed263 (Oct 15, 2004)

looks great. glad to hear that it is going well.


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## 351winsor (Aug 3, 2004)

Thats amazing.Nice shoal.


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## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

That is cool, I know if I threw in my brandti in any other tank it would be kill or be killed. So good luck with that!


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## pamonster (Jun 26, 2003)

ya thats sweet! Keep us updated


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## redbelly93 (Dec 12, 2004)

all i can say is the skeleton is f$#@ing sweet. Your tank is bad ass. the fish look kick ass and I cant wait to see it in person. I hope everything goes good on sat. Ill talk to you FRi


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## Stick (Jun 5, 2003)

Thanks again guys. Since I last posted things have changed. He's started to nip. 2 of my biggest cariba have their dorsals nipped, my smallest tern got his tail nipped, my biggest tern got his tail nipped, one of my smaller reds got his tail nipped and one of my biggest one-eyed- reds is taking a pretty good beating. Not life threatening yet but he's got a few nips on his dorsal fin and one on his tail. This red is the second fish I predicted would go if I lost any fish. He just turned into a freak when he lost that eye and that was probably 2 yrs ago. He never fully recovered after he lost that eye. Anyway, I think that brandti knows that red is the weakest fish in the tank + it would look good on his resume` to kick the ass of a fish that was twice the size of him. I'm definately not in the clear right now. The brandti is already staking out his territory and the pygos still have yet to do that and they've been in there a month already. I'm hoping things will chill out a little more when the pygos settle in and quit swimming in the brandti territory. I'm also planning on moving the brandtis cave into the corner of the tank. Right now he's trying to claim way too much space. I'm hoping thats only because of the way I have the tank set up. He wants that cinder block and the way the tank is set up, is that if you own that block you own 1/4 of the tank. He doesn't need that much room. I'm hoping that if I move the block into the corner the brandti will follow it. I'm going to give him til this weekend to really get attatched to the block. Last night was the first time that I actually saw him make an attempt at claiming a spot and today was the first time I really witnessed him making an attempt to defend it. If I notice him getting more agressive defending his block in the next couple of days I'll make him anice comfy spot in the corner with his block and some driftwood. I'll try to make him feel at home with a nice chunk of property but nowhere near what hes trying to claim now. Hopefully that works. If that doesn't work right now and can always take him out for a while. See if I can ever create an envirionment where they might all get along. If I ever get to that point I can always try again. Like I keep saying, this tank is in a very rough state right now. It will eventually be be a natural habitat with plenty of driftwood and hopefully live plants. If it doesn't work out now I could always try again later depending on how this one ends. I'm not too worried anything tragic is going to happen right now. My pygos leave the brandti alone except when he is nipping them and he is way too fast for them to catch. I'm not too worried about the brandti. The only pygos that I really see in jeopardy are my reds right now so I'm not overly concerned there. As far as I see it, that will be less fish to chose from when I have to slim my red population down to make room for some more pirayas and terns. Anyways, I'll keep you posted.
Scott, wait til you see it in person. Pics can never do it justice.


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

nice setup and good luck.

but i have a bone to pick with everyone. when another member tries to put a rhom with another aggressive fish, they start bashing the user and sh*t hits the fan. then a few people leave a couple good comments in this thread and everyone hops on the bandwagon. what's the deal?


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## Stick (Jun 5, 2003)

I'm not trying to start any trouble with this experiment but I'm hoping this is different than trying to mix the species in a 75g. The results may turn out the same. If thats the case I have a 165g waiting empty for him. I'm hoping with this much room for fish to retreat fights won't get a chance to escalate.What you can't see from the pics is the width of the tank. When it was sitting on the ground it looked like a GIANT box. The 4' in width makes for a lot more natural setting than a tank thats only 18" deep. Hopefully the depth will make them feel a little more at ease. I just want you to know that I'm not doing this to be cruel to any fish. This brandti was for sale and I tossed around the idea of getting him. Nick and my buddy were in on it together so Nick talked me out of buying it basically. He raised some good points about his agression and that made me think twice. I still really wanted to get it but I backed off. Next thing I know my buddy dumps it in my tank as a b-day present. I was happy as hell to see it and glad that someone made the decision for me to try it. I still have high hope that they can co-exist. I'm just looking at it this way.... if there is a home aquarium where it can work it will be this one some day down the road. It may not be right now because it is still really rough inside the tank but someday I hope to achieve peice between mixed species.


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## Atlanta Braves Baby! (Mar 12, 2003)

LoL I like the skelaton in that tank man! Good luck with the experiment.


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## WorldBelow07 (Dec 16, 2004)

man thats amazing hes still there!!. good luck!!


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