disaster has struck

[jimbooo]

okay, firstly this is totally my fault for being an impatient sod who thought he could get away with cutting corners. well surprise surprise it's all going wrong.

some of you may have followed my thread about my new 50G cube tank.

to cut a long story short it houses

2 silver dollars
2 clown loach
2 common bristlenose ansistrous
1 adult albino (apparently) ansistrous
2 baby (1 inch) albino ansistrous
4 1 year old guppies
1 phantom tetra (or simmilar but irrelevant)

i totally stripped the tank and changed the entire substrate. thinking the tank runs on a fluval 304 external filter i thought i could get away with leaving the old gravel in a stocking for 24 hrs and then removing it and the bacteria would be fine.

a week later the nitrIte was 10, lots of water changes every day etc...
now i have a massive whitespot outbreak, lost both clown loaches, one common and the adult albino bristlenose have some kind of internal problem (looks like they have swallowed a golf ball and their vents were blocked with a hanging bubble, almost like they'd swallowed a condom (sorry) and it was protruding out of the vent filled with poo but couldn't shake it off. both BN's basically burst.

i have been treating with protazin (waterlife) for a week, guppies all have whitespot as do the silver dollars (really not good).

last treatment was yesterday and dont think it has worked.

Moral of the story, look after your bacteria.

onto the next point, when i get the tank sorted i want to get a big shoal of small fish for the mid/top water but dont want anything that will interfere with the breeding of the bristlenoses (when i replace them)

thoughts are

cardinals
other tetras
barbs
harlequins
etc...

i want about 30 fish of the same species. any thoughts? (nothing that will eat fry of prevent BN breeding.

i'm such an idiot and feel awefull

for tank pics click the album and select 50G

 

[sif]

O dear... sounds like a bit of a massacre! Still at least you can stock how you like now. I like harlequins as they hang around at the very top of the tank and seem to school a bit more tightly that tetras... just my thoughts

 

[houndour]

oh james poor you. But you should know better!! Sounds like you've beat yourself up enough about it though.

I would have a tank full of just cardinals. Just love them and don't regret the 9 I just got. 30 would look fab if you're still going planted?

If you do add cardinals...do it slowly and you really should leave it a month or 2 at least before adding them as they are quite sensitive.

 

[jimbooo]

i'm probably going to avoid cardinals and neons as i have 11 cardinals in my 40G. The tanks way too new and unstable for them anyway (so why put them in the list your thinking? - sorry)

 

[paulioo]

Yeah cant go wrong with Harlequins. Mines school quite tighly most of the time. Its good to watch.

Paul.

 

[cometcattle]

If you have a tight fitting lid, I'd get a school of hatchetfish.

 

[jimbooo]

If you have a tight fitting lid, I'd get a school of hatchetfish.

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yep almost airtight. how big are they. i've never seen them before.

also paulioo do harlequins eat fry or eggs.

 

[Bloo]

Oh no ! Sounds like a bit of a disaster....

I reckon hatchets are lovely fish as well though they are obviously exclusively top layer fish. You can either just get silver or just marble or a mix of both. Lovely little fish indeed

Otherwise, what about some Rummynose Tetras ?

 

[jimbooo]

yep runnynoses sound good but maybe a bit large. i really want a big shoal, ideally 20-30 fish but dont want to overstock the tank or get anything that will interfere with BN breeding.

will i be able to fit 20-30 in a 2 foot cube?

 

[kimbowee]

I have hatchetfish, they are very cool looking and like to swim at the top. A very distinctive fish. THey get to be about 2" long and are a shoaling fish. Must have a tight fitting lid as they can and will jump. From what I have read they can jump up to 150ft to catch flying prey. Only problem is they do like live foods and not sure how your fry would fare.

 

[morgan]

I have also done something stupid. I won't hijack your thread by going into detail, suffice to say I sympathise!

 

[The-Wolf]

Sorry to read of your mistake Jim.

as for the schooling fish that stay near the top and won't bother others
hmm ok harliquins are ok but a bit common.
how about Trigonostigma hengeli Glowlight rasbora
according to tropical fish finder wildwoods have them in stock,
as do wholesal tropicals.

IMHO they are far better looking than harliquins and they don't get as big which means you can have more of them

 

[jimbooo]

Sorry to read of your mistake Jim.

as for the schooling fish that stay near the top and won't bother others
hmm ok harliquins are ok but a bit common.
how about Trigonostigma hengeli Glowlight rasbora
according to tropical fish finder wildwoods have them in stock,
as do wholesal tropicals.

IMHO they are far better looking than harliquins and they don't get as big which means you can have more of them

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yep liking the sound of that, not that i want to give wildwoods any more of my money (i wont bash them on here but not happy!!)

may be a stupid question but the glow light bit, is it anything like glowlight tetras. i have 6 of them in the 12G and there lovely fish. Bearing in mind the lighting is quite dim and subtle (BN breeding tank after all) a glowlight tetra type fish would stand out very well.

 

[Fella]

I have hatchetfish, they are very cool looking and like to swim at the top. A very distinctive fish. THey get to be about 2" long and are a shoaling fish. Must have a tight fitting lid as they can and will jump. From what I have read they can jump up to 150ft to catch flying prey. Only problem is they do like live foods and not sure how your fry would fare.

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150 feet? What?! That has to be a typo surely.

Black widow tetras or congo tetras are my 2 favourite schoolers right now.

 

[The-Wolf]

click here for a pic
http/www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org/artikl...ma/hengeli1.JPG
similar but better than harliquins