Need A Few Answers Please !

[Tropic]

Whats goin on everyone the names Tropic and I love tropical fish gents...

Thing is I have homed and cared for many tropical fish in my time of starting the hobby (nearly 4 years) so I reckon i'm pretty good when it comes to choosing fish and maintenance. The follwoing tropical fish I can best recall to the extent of my knowledge are the following (bear with my spelling): - African Knife Fish, Highfin Pangasiuses, Palecoctemoses, Ghost Fish, Albino and Orange Oscars and AngelFish.........and goldfish for tank testing lol. Thing is, I enjoy buying small fish (preferably just after they start gaining natural colour in their skin) because I enjoy watching them grow and just be a general pleasure to watch in my tank when i'm either chilling or have company over...

Thing is I'm just very very rusty when it comes to spotting signs of my tropical fish being inactive for some reasons or other and I tend to get very curious and neurotic if my tropics arent swimming around the tank like normally, my philosophy is old but fits my fishtank community..."If your a swimming fish your a happy fish" haha i know its lame but gotta start somewhere.

ANYWAYS, I bought 3 brand new fish yesterday from the regulars, HIGHFIN (guppy), OSCAR (guppy) and AFRICANKNIFE (guppy). Until now my (experimental) goldfish and the guppy oscar seem to be swimming around the most together with no problems of nipping or fighting over food of any kind. My KNIFEfish occasionally comes out and swims around at night when the lights are off and mainly when it looks for frozen bloodworms in the tank which it enjoys because it races to the top to catch ALL the red parasites before my oscar gets em ;D hehe, finally....i've come to my problem.

i come to my HIGHfin Pangasius (guppy). I just don't know what to do with him gents, he usually lies at the bottom of the tank near rocks or the plants and under the bridges and isn't very social within the community. Every so often if i'm lucky i seem it racing around in the tank and going through the bubbles from the bubble brick. He doesn't look sick or in pain but i'm just curious as to why he may not be as social as my knifefish, (experimental)goldfish and the oscar.

Could it be the tempareture is too high? (set to 28 degress C.) Could he be intimidated by one or the fish? Help me out here please

MUCH APPRECIATED

 

[Wills]

When you say things like pasangius and oscar and call them guppy, are pasangius their "pet" name or are they actually a pasanguis cat fish? What size of tank is this? How old is the tank and filter? Do you have a filter?

Just a warning though - if it is a pasangius you are in real trouble unless you have a swimming pool of a fish tank as they are meant to get to roughly 6 foot eventually but it takes a few years to get there but still its going to be big very quick.

 

[Tropic]

The shark is a Pangasius catfish type and is very small and the oscar is also very small, I was just calling them 'Guppy' as a term for small fish starting out.The tank is just under 2 meters long which I reckon shouldn be a problem for swimming? The tank is nearly 3 years old and I don't have a filter though, yet the tank is sparkling crystal clear clean and there is no sign of disease or mass algae in the tank.

I've actually heard that those catfish sharks can get REALLY big, my mates bro has one and is roughly 46cm in length becuase he's had it for quite some time...You don't think the shark could get any bigger than 30cm in a 2meter tank do you? I would be suprised

Thanks for help thus far mate by the way

 

[Big_eyes]

IR sensing a troll

 

[Tropic]

What u mean?

 

[Wills]

The tank is nearly 3 years old and I don't have a filter though, yet the tank is sparkling crystal clear clean and there is no sign of disease or mass algae in the tank.

Its not the cleanliness of the tank but the quality of the water. Fish live in their own toilet basically and as you can imagine this gives off waste all sorts of stuff but the main thing is Ammonia and this is really really toxic.

It really does not matter how old the tank is but how old the filter is. Filters have areas inside that bacteria grow to eat up the ammonia and the nitrite which is a bi product of the ammonia being made less toxic.

How long do your fish usually last? Most fish will live years like 5-10 or maybe more in many cases.

A pasangius will get to a monstrous size no matter the tank size whether it be 6ft or 2 ft its a monster fish either way.

Main priority for you is to get a filter. I mean seriously a filter is the bare minimum to have for fish. I nearly replied "I give up" but thought since you were polite you deserve a fair chance

My personal recommendation is to take back ALL your fish get a filter, cycle it and then let us help you pick fish that are suitable for your tank

 

[Tropic]

Thanks for the compliment about the politeness man I knew it would help in some areas haha, thanks.

Anyway, you saidIts not the cleanliness of the tank but the quality of the water - I just want to add that I live in South Africa and it is a well known fact that we are #1 in having the purest and clean drinking water than anywhere else on the planet , I don't wanna brag but I just saying I guess its in my favour dat my tank water is so clean because of out purity?Never thought bout it like that....

Fish live in their own toilet basically and as you can imagine this gives off waste all sorts of stuff but the main thing is Ammonia and this is really really toxic.
- I have currently have a Palecoctemous doing all the cleaning up in the tank but like I said, since my tank has been so stable and active for nearly 3 years without a filter and the fish are in normal conditioning it is recommended that I still get a filter?

How long do your fish usually last? Most fish will live years like 5-10 or maybe more in many cases. - My fish last generally over 2 to 3 years if everything goes well.

A pasangius will get to a monstrous size no matter the tank size whether it be 6ft or 2 ft its a monster fish either way.
- So if it does get to the stage where my pangasius gets too big the tank what would be my best bet to rid it of the tank once it gets too big?

I will invest in getting a filter real soon as i'm going to be leaving town soon for 2weeks and need to get weekend feeders anyway...so...a filter it is i guess

 

[erk628]

Thanks for the compliment about the politeness man I knew it would help in some areas haha, thanks.

Anyway, you saidIts not the cleanliness of the tank but the quality of the water - I just want to add that I live in South Africa and it is a well known fact that we are #1 in having the purest and clean drinking water than anywhere else on the planet , I don't wanna brag but I just saying I guess its in my favour dat my tank water is so clean because of out purity?Never thought bout it like that....

Fish live in their own toilet basically and as you can imagine this gives off waste all sorts of stuff but the main thing is Ammonia and this is really really toxic.
- I have currently have a Palecoctemous doing all the cleaning up in the tank but like I said, since my tank has been so stable and active for nearly 3 years without a filter and the fish are in normal conditioning it is recommended that I still get a filter?

How long do your fish usually last? Most fish will live years like 5-10 or maybe more in many cases. - My fish last generally over 2 to 3 years if everything goes well.

A pasangius will get to a monstrous size no matter the tank size whether it be 6ft or 2 ft its a monster fish either way.
- So if it does get to the stage where my pangasius gets too big the tank what would be my best bet to rid it of the tank once it gets too big?

I will invest in getting a filter real soon as i'm going to be leaving town soon for 2weeks and need to get weekend feeders anyway...so...a filter it is i guess

It doesnt matter how pure your water is once you have fish in there and they start peeing and pooing its no longer pure. Without a filter theres nothing to take it out of the water its just sitting there. Yeah some is removed when you do water changes that is if you do water changes but still not nearly enough.

 

[Curiosity101]

The best way to describe a young fish is to use the term 'Juvenile'. A 'guppy' is a species of fish.

What are the ACTUAL dimensions of the tank? Length x Depth x Height and how many litres does it hold?

Is it correct that the fish you have are:
African Knife fish
Oscar
Pangasius Catfish (aka. Iridescent Shark Catfish)

And you have no filter?

I don't want this to come across the wrong was as it isn't an attack, it's just an observation. You clearly know nothing about cycling a tank and getting it safe for fish, therefore despite your 4 years you're still at quite a 'new' level of knowledge/fish keeping. Like I said, I'm not being horrid, I just want you to know that there is so much more to fish keeping that water and food.

As has been said you need a filter. But for WHY you need a filter read these following links. They will mean the difference between flourishing with fishkeeping and failing miserably (having lots of illnesses, premature deaths, aggression, algae bloom etc)
What is Cycling?
The Nitrogen Cycle
Fishless Cycling
Fish-in Cycling <<---This is what you will be doing once you buy a filter and if you keep the fish.

As soon as you buy a filter your tank will begin to cycle itself naturally(If you have fish or if you have an empty tank but add ammonia froma bottle). However your actions mean the difference between the fish dying prematurely, and you keeping them healthy.
Put it this way
African Knife fish - (If it's actually an african and not a black ghost knife fish), grows to 8" and can live up to 10 years if cared for properly. They also appreciate others of their own species.
Oscar - Grows from 9-12" and should live at least 10 years, sometimes longer.
Pangius Catfish - Grow to 39" AT LEAST and should life at least 20 years if cared for correctly.

Oh and FISH DON'T GROW TO THE SIZE OF THE TANK, they just grow until they can and then die prematurely due to a mixture of various reasons.

 

[drobbyb]

It is possible to run a tank with no filter. Walstad type planted tanks are run this way, but they are VERY heavily planted and lightly stocked. In most other situations not having a filter isn't an option, fish produce waste constantly and the water would become more toxic with the passage of time. The only other idea that I had would be a rare case of a natural spring that constantly changed the water 24 hours a day.

 

[Tropic]

Not a problem man I appreciate the input as it will help me in the

future, need all the info I can get! @ CURIOSITY101

The dimensions for the tank are in L X B X H: 91.5.x33x38.5 (thats

what I got but the tank picture is provided at the bottom)

Is it correct that the fish you have are:
African Knife fish
Oscar
Pangasius Catfish (aka. Iridescent Shark Catfish) - Yep thats

right man (as well as a Palecoctemous), I've attached pictures at the

bottom of this reply so I can show you the fishes and how big they are.

___________________________________

 

[Curiosity101]

Are those tank dimensions cm or inches? And also the pictures didn't attach.

Also have you read that info yet or not. I'm not messing when I say you NEED to read it. It's not that I'm just advising it'd be useful. It's actually neccesary to understand the info in the links to keep a happy tank.

 

[Tropic]

Sorry i cant upload the pix dirctly here for some reason...heres the link to where they're uploaded on PhotoBucket
My Fish + Tank

 

[Curiosity101]

Oh and do you mean plecostomus, if so is it a common pleco?

 

[Curiosity101]

After looking at the tank picture it looks like it's 91cm x 33 cm x 38 cm is that correct?