FishFriend0
Fish Fanatic
Hello all.
I have a few concerns I would like some advice with.
1. My bristlenose pleco is swimming erratically.
My bristlenose pleco, which I have had for a couple of months now, is swimming strangely. But even stranger is that she only seems to do this in the evening when my family is eating dinner (as the tank is in the dining room). She swims around in this strange corkscrew-like shape over and over. In the video attached you can see this (the tub at the top of the tank is holding a few babies I saved). Also she seems to change the pattern on her back frequently and it happens very quickly. She changes from a black colour with tan spots to have a saddle like pattern on her back. Usually when she is swimming around frantically she looks more spotty and when she is sitting on the bottom she does this camouflage-like pattern. Also, I was wondering how friendly/sociable bristlenose plecos are? She used to be terrified of me and wanted to hide most of the time (which I expected to be normal bristlenose behaviour) so this is why I find it strange that she suddenly becomes so "hyper".
My parameters are:
pH ~ 8 (I know this is too high for BN but I impulse-bought it and can't really take it back now...)
GH ~ 16 degrees
Ammonia and nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
Temp ~ 24.5C/76F
I looked on the internet and AI told me that it could be stress (high pH?), lack of oxygen or some kind of irritation? Or is it just normal pleco behaviour? I recently change the filter output to accommodate for some floating plants that I added and now she seems to enjoy "sticking" right in front of the flow, which I understand plecos enjoy?
2. Rainbowfish tried to eat my guppy...
Yesterday evening, which is the main time I observe the fish, while observing BN's behaviour, one of my boesemani rainbowfish ate my male guppy. This came as an INCREDIBLE shock as they have lived with male fancy guppies for almost 2 years now. I imagine it is something to do with the bright yellow tail contrasted with their black body or maybe the male guppy annoying the rainbow but for some reason it snapped and tried to eat it. Then all of the rainbows lost it and were all swimming a round the guppy trying to eat it until one (the biggest) got him in his mouth. Only his head was poking out so I tried getting them to spit him out my knocking on the glass and then I put my net in and miraculously they did spit the guppy out. He was traumatised so I quickly moved him to a very small 24l tank I have along with his brother as I was afraid that the now agitated rainbows would try to eat him too. I have attached a picture of him now in the 24l tank. He is very stressed and most of his tail was ripped off with small straggly bits just clinging on. I have a strong feeling that he will likely die and this came as a shock. In fact, in the past I have seen my the other male guppy with some damage to his fins but I disregarded this quickly as he didn't seem to be in any stress so I assumed it was a one off. I am very confused why they have suddenly changed as they have never done this in the past. Anyway, I have a new 170l tank cycling right now which I should be able to put them in soon.
Now I didn't really need any advice on this (well maybe just a good luck wish for the guppy) but the rainbowfish that attacked them looks different from the rest. The other males I have are very vibrant orange and blue and the females are a duller greeny colour. But this one is difficult to sex. It has the orange and blue like males but duller and it has a less tall and majestic look to it. It is instead longer and thicker-bodied and looks like an absolute monster now that I look at him in retrospective. I will attach a picture along with a picture of the injured guppy so that maybe you can help me determine if it is a male or female.
I have a few concerns I would like some advice with.
1. My bristlenose pleco is swimming erratically.
My bristlenose pleco, which I have had for a couple of months now, is swimming strangely. But even stranger is that she only seems to do this in the evening when my family is eating dinner (as the tank is in the dining room). She swims around in this strange corkscrew-like shape over and over. In the video attached you can see this (the tub at the top of the tank is holding a few babies I saved). Also she seems to change the pattern on her back frequently and it happens very quickly. She changes from a black colour with tan spots to have a saddle like pattern on her back. Usually when she is swimming around frantically she looks more spotty and when she is sitting on the bottom she does this camouflage-like pattern. Also, I was wondering how friendly/sociable bristlenose plecos are? She used to be terrified of me and wanted to hide most of the time (which I expected to be normal bristlenose behaviour) so this is why I find it strange that she suddenly becomes so "hyper".
My parameters are:
pH ~ 8 (I know this is too high for BN but I impulse-bought it and can't really take it back now...)
GH ~ 16 degrees
Ammonia and nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
Temp ~ 24.5C/76F
I looked on the internet and AI told me that it could be stress (high pH?), lack of oxygen or some kind of irritation? Or is it just normal pleco behaviour? I recently change the filter output to accommodate for some floating plants that I added and now she seems to enjoy "sticking" right in front of the flow, which I understand plecos enjoy?
2. Rainbowfish tried to eat my guppy...
Yesterday evening, which is the main time I observe the fish, while observing BN's behaviour, one of my boesemani rainbowfish ate my male guppy. This came as an INCREDIBLE shock as they have lived with male fancy guppies for almost 2 years now. I imagine it is something to do with the bright yellow tail contrasted with their black body or maybe the male guppy annoying the rainbow but for some reason it snapped and tried to eat it. Then all of the rainbows lost it and were all swimming a round the guppy trying to eat it until one (the biggest) got him in his mouth. Only his head was poking out so I tried getting them to spit him out my knocking on the glass and then I put my net in and miraculously they did spit the guppy out. He was traumatised so I quickly moved him to a very small 24l tank I have along with his brother as I was afraid that the now agitated rainbows would try to eat him too. I have attached a picture of him now in the 24l tank. He is very stressed and most of his tail was ripped off with small straggly bits just clinging on. I have a strong feeling that he will likely die and this came as a shock. In fact, in the past I have seen my the other male guppy with some damage to his fins but I disregarded this quickly as he didn't seem to be in any stress so I assumed it was a one off. I am very confused why they have suddenly changed as they have never done this in the past. Anyway, I have a new 170l tank cycling right now which I should be able to put them in soon.
Now I didn't really need any advice on this (well maybe just a good luck wish for the guppy) but the rainbowfish that attacked them looks different from the rest. The other males I have are very vibrant orange and blue and the females are a duller greeny colour. But this one is difficult to sex. It has the orange and blue like males but duller and it has a less tall and majestic look to it. It is instead longer and thicker-bodied and looks like an absolute monster now that I look at him in retrospective. I will attach a picture along with a picture of the injured guppy so that maybe you can help me determine if it is a male or female.
