Interesting Behaviour

[moeldner]

i was wondering if some of you could tell me if this is OK or not.

One of my McCullochs (a female) is acting a little strange. This has been going on for a few weeks now.

She is getting in behing the filter uplit on my Aquaone Tank, and will stay there for hours at a time. One of the males will go and "check" on her from time to time (same male every time), will spend a few minutes with her, then return to the other McCullochs.

She has no signs of anything wrong, still feeds well, and when she joins the other fish, is happy and active.

I'm just not sure if this is maybe a breeding sign (seen no evidence of eggs in the tank) or maybe a sign of bullying or something else.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Tank mates are as follows
6 x McCulloch Rainbow, 18 x Cardinal Tetra, 1 x Bristlenose (Ugly Bobette), 13 x Harlequin Rasbora, 3 x Otos, 2 x Bolivian Butterfly (Rams), 3 Siamese Algae Eaters, 3 x Male Guppies

It is a 57USGal tank, reasonably heavily planted with both the Aquaone trickle filter and an internal Fluval 4+ filter running.

The only new fish are 5 Harlequins (from a friend), but this was happening before they arrived.

Last tested water parameters where 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate, ph around 7.2 and temp is around 27C.

I have a fair amount of bogwood in the tank (around 1 kilos) and plants consist of:
2 mature amazon swords
3 juvenile amazon swords
10+ assorted crypts
1 clump angel hair grass
3 (one large) anubias (one on log, one on rock one in gravel)
5-6 clumps of val (mostly thin, one thick)
java moss growing over large log.

I have been performing maintenance on the tank every 1-2 weeks (closer to 2 weeks lately due to work commitments and being away most weekends). Water parameters haven't changed in 6 months. My last maintenance was 1 week ago, and I cleaned the filters at the same time (not the ceramic noodles, just replaced the white filter wool in the trickle filter and rinsed the sponges in the fluval in tank water.

I will do another water test tonight, but I'm not expecting anything different.

So as I said, any ideas?

 

[moeldner]

OK - just re-did my tests, and the results are:

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm

KH - <17.9 ppm (or <1 degree)
GH - 196 ppm (or 11 degrees)

And the most interesting one: Ph - <6.

I am using the API test kit (although it is 12+ months old now).

I have had a reading like this before - (the low Ph) and have put it down to the low KH and high amount of bog wood causing the Ph to swing after a water change.

My tap water's ph is: 7.2

Would the swing in ph cause this behaviuor (outlined above).

What can I do to help buffer the water to stop these Ph swings?

 

[RadaR]

If the pH swing happened very fast then all the fish would be suffering.
Do larger water changes every week to help bring the pH back up.
Is it possible she's being bullied. Noticed anything else like a white patch on her etc.

 

[moeldner]

There are no marks on her what so ever.

I'm not too concerned with the PH level (as long as it doesn't drop further). I believei t is related to the volume of wood and the buffering capacity of the water.

I'm more concerned about her behaviour and if it's something I need to worry about.

 

[RadaR]

If all seems well (as in water and tankmates) then i guess you can only keep a close eye on her and keep good conditions up. Post back if anything changes.