New Additions...wow! They Colored Up Quick!

[eaglesaquarium]

I just got these 7 fish from a local elementary school. The teacher wasn't looking to continue keeping the fish in her tank. I got the fish, the tank went to someone else.

2 panda corys

3 rasboras and 2 zebra danios...

Sorry for the poor picture quality and inability to get the camera focused on the fish, rather than the background!

 

[KittyKat]

You might want to check, but those look like harlequins, not espei!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You are correct. These were rescues, I was given these by a teacher who didn't want to keep fish anymore. The espeis will be coming on Thursday.

See sig.

 

[Swizz]

Good for you, Eagle for taking them What plans have you got for them in the future ?
Will you be keeping the fish in the long run

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Oh yes, I'll be keeping them. The question is how many fish do I get to go with them. I think the T. heteromorpha (harlequin rasbora) will shoal with my planned T. espei (lambchop rasbora). But, I think that I might need to rethink my cory plan. I might just get more pandas, instead of the salt and pepper (C. habrosus) that I had been thinking about. And then there is the question of the zebras. They weren't really in my original plan. Do I get more, keep these as just two, or actually look to rehome them to someone else?! These are the two fish that seem to be the ones who might actually be a little sick (or have some sort of issue going on). They may not be around for very long.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

BTW, when do I feed them? tomorrow morning or tomorrow night?

 

[Harlequins]

Hmmm one of the zebras look an odd shape from your pic..

Yep the rasboras should all shoal together,just size difference - i bought some purple harlequins last week and they looked deadly white when i first put them in,but soon coloured up

Good luck with your rescues

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Thank you Harlequins...


Yes, the one zebra is greatly bloated. The other one almost seems to have an inverted stomach. Neither one came out for food this morning. In fact, only the harlequins found the food. The corys congregated all around the shrimp pellets... never touched them. They have ben working the sand pretty well though, and I saw one cleaning off my anacharis last night. Apparently they are getting some food... I'm a little worried about them, but I figure I've got several days of them not finding (or recognizing) the food before its a true concern. My main concern right now is the zebras.




Most importantly, I got zeros for ammonia and nitrite this morning! The mature media is working!!!

 

[jessynut]

The top ones look so cool!

 

[Tizer]

I would say those harlequins are an XL size too, they look ace when coloured up.

 

[KittyKat]

I think the T. heteromorpha (harlequin rasbora) will shoal with my planned T. espei (lambchop rasbora).

The two won't shoal together, normally, although they may if they get desperate. I have observed shoals of 30-50 each, on a number of occasions, in a 500 litre tank at the Berlin Zoo Aquarium and there were always two distinct groups at different swimming levels.. the espei kept to the top 20 cm of a meter deep tank, while the harlequins spent their time at the half way point of the tank.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think the T. heteromorpha (harlequin rasbora) will shoal with my planned T. espei (lambchop rasbora).

The two won't shoal together, normally, although they may if they get desperate. I have observed shoals of 30-50 each, on a number of occasions, in a 500 litre tank at the Berlin Zoo Aquarium and there were always two distinct groups at different swimming levels.. the espei kept to the top 20 cm of a meter deep tank, while the harlequins spent their time at the half way point of the tank.

Thanks Kitty for your experience. This is contrary to harlequins post... What to do now?


Well, I guess the easy thing to do is get some T. espei and see what the harlequins do. If they shoal with the espei, great. If not, then I can always add some more harlequins.
(The harlequins do "seem quite contented" right now. I know its hard to measure. But, they've been over every cubic inch of the tank and generally stick together, although occasionally one will separate itself from the other two - can't tell if its the same one all the time or not. If needs be, I could add 3 more eventually. They are quite common around me locally - the T. espei are not as easy to find.)



I'm definitely going to get more pandas... and I might just skip the hasbrosus for now. Maybe in a few years once the pandas have passed.



BTW, do you have any thoughts on what's going on with the danios? One looks ready to burst - eggs? And the other has a hump on its back, and the stomach area appears a bit concave. Sorry I can't get a pic, they like to hang to the back part of the tank for the most part - together. And when they do come up to the front, they are far too fast to get in focus. I've gotten some great blurred shots of them, but you couldn't make heads or tails of what was in the picture, let alone diagnose it!

 

[StandbySetting]

In all honesty I would just leave the T.heteromorpha numbers as they are if you don't wish to keep them and would rather keep the T.espei, members of the Trigonistigma genus don't shoal as such anyway, they tend to school and break away from each other from time to time, probably due to the lack of actual threat within an enclosed environment.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Thanks for the advice SbS. I guess I've got a lot of thinking to do before tomorrow afternoon! I'll probably just be standing in front of the two tanks going back and forth in my mind about it! I wonder how late the store is open... I might have to make my final decision as they are closing up for the night!

 

[This Old Spouse]

Honestly, I'd leave everything just as it is for a while and let everything settle down to see where you stand. Adding more fish right now would seem to me to add more stress. I'd want to keep an eye on the danios to see what's going on there.