Harlquins

[mbu man]

hi,does anyone know anything about harliquins? my mate has a 40litre tropical tank with some neons, lamp eyes,plec and some harliquins.
i used to have all of the fish that he has got apart from the harliquins.
yesterday we were lookung in the tank to see that one of the lamp eyes have had their fins eaten off and one of other lamp eyes have had their tails nipped at.
would this be the harliquins eaten them?
any advise would be great.

 

[DevUK]

I don't think so. I have some and they are the most peaceful in my tank. They get chased about by my danios sometimes. Very peaceful in my opinion

It might be down to numbers though. How many of each do you have?

 

[mbu man]

3 lamp eyes, 2 neon tetra, 3 black tetra, 1 plec and 4 harliquins.

 

[doresy]

Hi, I have had 6 Harlies since I started fish keeping. I have always found them to be absalutely peaceful. They do have the odd bicker but only between themselves.

Love em and there will always be a place for them in my tank

 

[fry_lover]

Lovely fish, never seen them cause trouble, as a slight tit-bit, i might just be unlucky, but in all my years of fish keeping, these are the most sensitive fish i have ever had, in terms of moving them, medication, had more Harly deaths than any other fish i think. Got a nice shoal of x6 at moment going strong though

 

[stang1]

It could well be your Neons as they can be known to fin nip. May also be your "Black" Tetras depending on what type they are. I've kept Harlequins before and found them to be incredibly peaceful so I'd be surprised if they were the culprits.

 

[Bozza]

I know its not part of the thread. But you have a pleco in a 40L tank. Just thought id point that out. Since it'll get over 1.5-2ft long. Harlequins in large groups always make a tank look nice. Makes small fish the centre 'fish' in the tank.

 

[mbu man]

I know its not part of the thread. But you have a pleco in a 40L tank. Just thought id point that out. Since it'll get over 1.5-2ft long. Harlequins in large groups always make a tank look nice. Makes small fish the centre 'fish' in the tank.

lol, yeah i know that, it will take years mate to get that big,and it wont anyway because its a dwarf plec and will only grow 6 inches max! by that time i reckon that he will have a nice new big tank that he will be put in

 

[corradophil]

We'll see about that

 

[mbu man]

We'll see about that

corradophil i sthe person who owns the harliquins by the way!

 

[corradophil]

We'll see about that

corradophil i sthe person who owns the harliquins by the way!

Thanks for the intro!

I'm pleased to say that there has been no further fin nipping, and all the other fish are doing fine.

The Pleco is about 1" long at the moment, the man at the fish shop described him as a very small bristlenose. I specifically asked for an Algae eating fish for a 40 litre tank, so I kind of relyed on his judgement for suitability.

Clearly if the Pleco starts getting a little large I'll look into re-homing options, but for the time being I'm planning on keeping it.

 

[mark.w.jones]

A Bristlenose is totally unsuitable for your tank. Keeping it will stunt its growth so it won't get as big is it should and will not be happy at all. Otos, snails and amano shrimp are far better algae eaters for a small tank. I'd strongly suggest taking it back.

 

[mbu man]

A Bristlenose is totally unsuitable for your tank. Keeping it will stunt its growth so it won't get as big is it should and will not be happy at all. Otos, snails and amano shrimp are far better algae eaters for a small tank. I'd strongly suggest taking it back.

i had a bristle nose plec in my 4 foot 300 litre tank for 3 years and it didnt grow at all, im sure that it will be ok in the smaller tank.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Keeping a potential 5" fish in a 300 litre tank is slightly different to keeping it in a 40 litre tank. I would always encourage members to keep fish, suitable for their tank size and I stand by what I said earlier, that its growth will be stunted and it will not be happy at all in its current surroundings. I also wish I had a £1 for everyone who had an unsuitably sized fish in their tank but said it was fine because they were buying a new larger tank soon.

Any how, I'm not getting narky. I am just offering my honest advice from experience of keeping bristle noses myself you can choose to listen to it or not.