Help For A Newbie?!

[Vicky99]

Right - here goes - first post!!

I have a couple of issues.

I have 3 black widow tetras - I've had them for about 4 months. The trouble is, they are losing their blackness, in fact they are almost completely colourless. Does anyone have any ideas why this might be and what I can do about it? I don't think it's because they are old as they were small when I got them and now they're bigger so I'm guessing they were very young when I put them in the tank.

Second issue - we are looking for something a bit colourful - a bit of a centrepiece fish for the tank. We have no idea what to get - can't have anything that'll grow too big as it's only a small tank, it needs to be suitable for beginners and get on ok with the neons, plec, corys and black widows. Would preferably like something that prefers the top part of the tank - any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks!!

Vicky.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Welcome to the forum!

Can you give us the size of tank please? Plus exact number of current inhabitants. Very hard to make recommendations if we don't know how much space you've got in there.

 

[jkrekord]

black widow tetras colours fade as they get older that is nothing to worry about
p.s oh yeah welcome to the forum

 

[Vicky99]

Ok. The tank is 2ft wide by 1.5ft tall and 1ft deep.

We have 10 Neon Tetras, 3 Black Widow Tetras, 3 Panda Corys and 1 Bristle Nosed Plec.

We started small as we'd never kept fish before, but there is a definate possibility of upgrade in the not too distant future as we are getting a lot of pleasure out of keeping fish!

Are you sure the Black Widows are losing their colour because they're old? How long do they live for? I didn't think ours were old - is there any other reason they might be losing colour - stress or anything? I've noticed if I leave the tank light off for a day or so they seem to start getting their colour back. I'm a bit worried about them - I don't like to think there might be something wrong!!

Thanks!!

 

[dwarfgourami]

I think jkrekord meant getting older in the sense of growing up, maturing, rather than in the sense of old=one foot in the grave, so you needn't worry

I make yours a 70 ltr tank (19 US gal). Sounds a very nice little community you've got in there. Personally I think I'd just leave it, for fear of upsetting the balance, maybe add a few more black widows to give them a bit more of a school. If you're worried that they're stressed that might be one way of dealing with it. Schooling fish do feel safer in larger groups.

Otherwise a nice centrepiece fish might have been a honey gourami- but the tank seems pretty well stocked.

 

[Vicky99]

Thanks guys!

I had a look at Honey Gourami - they look really pretty. I think you're right though about it being pretty well stocked now. We might just try and get a couple more Black Widows to cheer the others up - don't want to add more fish for the sake of it if they're going to be too cramped!!

We'll just have to wait until we get a bigger tank!!

Moving house this year - haven't approached the "I think we need a bigger tank once we have a bigger house" idea with the man of the house yet!!