Introductions, And Help Me Identify This Fish

[upstate_jaws]

Hello Everybody,

I've recently rediscovered the hobby after a 15 year hiatus. Was presented with the opportunity to purchase an established 30 gallon (114 liter) aquarium. Moved it into my house on Friday. I inherited four fish: a female guppy, a pleco and two others of the same species that I can't identify. I was hoping someone might be kind enough to tell me what they are:

 

[Liamm]

Looks like a Red Eye Tetra. http/freshaquarium.about.com/od/tetras/p/redeyetetra.htm

Welcome to the forum

 

[tenohfive]

Agreed, looks like a red eye tetra.

Welcome to the forum. A fair bit has changed over the last 15 years - there's a bit of light reading linked below if you're interested.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

 

[colleen0309]

Nice little Red Eyed Tetra! Welcome!

 

[mattbleasby]

As said above that is defiantly a Red Eye Tetra Welcome back too the hobby Your going to have a heart attack when you say whats changed over all them years.

 

[upstate_jaws]

Thanks for the welcome and quick ID everybody. I never kept many tetras in the past (aside from the almost obligatory school of neon's) and hadn't seen that particular fish until I bought this tank.

I've got two of them as I said and the one in the photo seems hell bent on making the other one miserable. Chases it all over the tank and I believe has nipped at it's fins as they look pretty worse for the wear. This seems a little odd because most of the literature on them suggests that they are a peaceful fish. Do you think it would work better if I got a few more of them? Most sites seem to recommend keeping them in a school of at least five or six fish and I've only got the two right now.

I'm still trying to decide what I want to do with this tank. If I'm using the 12 square inch rule the tank is currently at about 30% of capacity. I'd like to gradually bring it up to full capacity but I haven't yet decided what I want. I'm definitely going to pick up a few cory cats, from what I remember they are pretty spunky and hardy. I'd like to add a few top dwellers too, perhaps zebra fish or a few more guppies to keep the one I inherited company. I'd love to have a rainbow shark -- they are a beautiful fish and have lots of personality -- but I think this tank is too small and it might not be fair to the other fish to drop one of those aggressive buggers into the mix.

How long do you think I should let it settle after the move? I saved all of the existing water when I moved it -- used 5 gallon water jugs -- wound up adding less than one gallon to bring it up to full capacity once it was installed. Using the same filter media too so I'm hopeful that I didn't shock things too bad. I got most of the relevant equipment the purchase though I do need to pick up a siphon to clean out the gravel and make my first water change. I'm not really in a rush to add more fish into the equation just yet but I'm tempted to go out and buy a few more Red Eyes if it would calm the aggressive one down and give the omega fish a chance to breathe.

 

[moochy13]

definitely go get soem mroe red eyes asap, and put them in. the majority of fish are best kept in groups of 5/6 +, tetras, barbs, cories etc.

 

[tenohfive]

Definately worth upping the numbers to six, that should help disperse some of the aggression.

On the water/cycling front a couple of things - the link I posted will explain it better, but in a nutshell the water itself doesn't contain anything beneficial, so it's not worth saving. The filter media is important (as I think you're aware) but the water itself isn't.

It would be well worth your while to invest in a decent water testing kit that can test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The one most commonly recommended on here (with good reason) is the API fresh water master test kit - that contains all of the above tests plus pH/high range pH. Make sure you get a liquid drop based kit - the strips are unreliable. I'd recommend doing that sooner rather than later - in moving the tank etc over it's not uncommon to have an ammonia spike and/or mini cycle. With the kit you'll know where you are rather than having dead fish as an indicator of high ammonia/nitrite levels.

 

[upstate_jaws]

Too late I guess, I saved the water. I wasn't so much thinking of anything beneficial as I was thinking of not shocking the fish by putting them in water with a substantially different PH or hardness. I had no ability to test their water before I got the tank so I couldn't know if my tap water would be a good approximate or not. It cost me nothing to save the water so better safe than sorry.

I'm picking up a kit this weekend and also a siphon. Will do my first water change and clean out the gravel some at the same time. Then I guess it's off to get some red eyes. Do you think they'd thrive in a group of five or should I definitely go for six? I'm not too fond of them but I want the two that I inherited to be happy.

Still not sure what to do after that. No rush I suppose; will need to give the tank a few weeks to catch up to the new population anyway.