Newbie Trying To Identify Fish

[Gilbertr14]

Hello

My daughter is absaloutely fish mad at the moment so we have decided to take it up as ahobby together.

Space is confined, so we have a small 25l tank at the moment.

We where given 4 fish who seem to be quite happy in their new tank.


The one is a Bala Shark (Corrected Scissortail) , but we are unable to identify the second. Can anyone identify these two. They are actually a salmony pink/ orange on the top half going lighter to the bottom.

Apologoies for the poor pictures, got to get the hang of it.

 

[england]

whiteskirt tetra

where's the silver shark? they grow huge, trust me,,,,,

Welcome also to the madhouse

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=78079

 

[Gilbertr14]

whiteskirt tetra

where's the silver shark? they grow huge, trust me,,,,,

Welcome also to the madhouse

Thanks you are 100% correct

http/www.petsolutions.com/images/200/38855.jpg

The Sharks are still very small, about 5cm.

I think they will need new homes sometime.

What I am starting to see, is that such a small tank is going to be very restricting, especially if you want to keep something like live bearers. Its only a 5 Gal (25l) tank.

I might have to rethink this and look for somthing that compliments the current fish.

My daughter is driving me nuts, asking for a pink and purple fish as well.

 

[england]

have you got a picture of the bala shark?

the other two i think are sissortails
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41920
pics a bit blurred

 

[Gilbertr14]

have you got a picture of the bala shark?

the other two i think are sissortails
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41920"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41920[/URL]
pics a bit blurred

They are the two in the last picture

Silver stripe along flank and black stripe accross Cadual fin. Not on the edges.

 

[england]

Have you thought about rehoming the fish<if you have a bala shark you will have to rehome that very quick> and maybe purchasing a betta aka simease fighting fish, that tank's perfect for one and they have some stunning colouration
for example the usual variety you find at most shops, veil tail

 

[Gilbertr14]

have you got a picture of the bala shark?

the other two i think are sissortails
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41920"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41920[/URL]
pics a bit blurred

Yup they are scissor tails.

Lovely fish actually got interesting characters.

Like to chase each other.

Very Fast.

 

[england]

this is a picture of my large bala shark's i rehomed from someone on here last week, there around 8+inches

 

[Gilbertr14]

Have you thought about rehoming the fish<if you have a bala shark you will have to rehome that very quick> and maybe purchasing a betta aka simease fighting fish, that tank's perfect for one and they have some stunning colouration
for example the usual variety you find at most shops, veil tail

Have a second tank just like this one which I want to put Siamese Fighting fish in.

Will neons be happy with the scissors and the other tetra?

this is a picture of my large bala shark's i rehomed from someone on here last week, there around 8+inches

Nope Not those guys

 

[waterdrop]

Very perceptive to realize early on how much small tank sizes restrict you. The smaller water volume is less forgiving of mistakes for beginners and there are just tons more choices of all sorts with larger volumes.

If you do decide to give the hobby a go as a family (in my own case I'm more caught up in it than my son but we all enjoy it!) then you'd have a perfect situation having a large family tank, a small betta tank in your daughter's room and the other small tank reserved as a hospital/quarantine tank or Qtank as we call them. Equipping the larger tank with good hardware will be more expensive but compared to many adult hobbies, fishkeeping is really not that bad and its wonderful for the younger years when you have children, especially if you can involve them deeply.

Case in point, the fishless cycling is best used by you as an intense learning period that prepares much of your knowledge of fishkeeping, but it also affords a great opportunity to get children into some new learning about environmental cycles like the "Nitrogen Cycle" and its role in nature. You may find this quite fascinating yourself. I certainly did.

Regardless of your decisions, good luck and hope you enjoy the forum and are able to get the advice you need!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[LauraFrog]

The problem with the tetras is that they are all schooling fish and really prefer to be kept in large groups of their own kind, the larger the better but generally 6+ is recommended. So you are not overstocked and you would have no issues with aggression etc. adding neons to that tank but the fish would be happier if you added one or two more of each species you currently have, instead of two or three fish of a different species. The other thing is whether or not the tank is fully cycled because if it's not you won't be able to add new fish for a while. Do you have the water stats for us (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH)? If you don't have a test kit I strongly recommend you get one, it's a very important piece of equipment especially if you want another tank.

If your daughter wants some pink or purple fish there are some very pretty small fish that you could have in a tank that size (if you chose to keep it after getting a bigger tank, if you do get a bigger tank). The small rasboras are beautiful - like Brigitte's rasbora (Microrasbora brigittae). You can get pink and purple bettas (fighting fish). You could have a small school of the Threadfin rainbowfish (Iriatherina werneri). If you did get a bigger tank of 10 or more gallons, the emperor tetra is brilliantly coloured, I bet she'd love those as it is both pink and purple if it's happy and well fed.

 

[Gilbertr14]

Thanks guys for all the help.

Will get a test kit pronto, don't like doing things in half measures (Have an Aquaclear 30 at the back of the tank )

Will probably stick with the current two species, expand them, until I have gotten the hang of things.

After that I'll go up to a bigger tank, and look into a larger mixed set of community fish.

Have always loved the Betta's and definitely want a tank of those. Do that separately.

Two Final questions

For decorating, what plant would you recommend. Somehow I am just not a silk plant and plastic background guy.

And lastly, the bubbles from the air curtain which splash on the lid of the tank, condense and run don top form pools around the tank, is there anyway of getting around that.
It drives me mad. Have put an in line valve on the air filter to slow it down, but still seems to splash everywhere.

 

[Amunet]

You don't really need an air pump if your filter creates enough movement at the surface. I mean if you like it for the look then by all means keep it

Also just remember w/ bettas, do NOT mix a male betta with any other bettas male or female.
You can keep more than 1 female together (preferably 4+) in a large tank w/ plenty of hiding spots. But even then, you could find yourself w/ a female who is very aggressive and needs to be seperated from the rest... so backup tanks or whatever need to be had on hand.

As for plants... I've always had luck with sword plants. If you get one, then be sure to get some kind of liquid fert for it, I'd also get root tablets as well to put in the substrate for the roots to get nutrients from.
Or if you want something that grows like a weed... can't go wrong with hornwort. It grows EXTREMELY fast. When we first got some, it grew inches during the night.

 

[waterdrop]

You don't really need an air pump if your filter creates enough movement at the surface. I mean if you like it for the look then by all means keep it

Also just remember w/ bettas, do NOT mix a male betta with any other bettas male or female.
You can keep more than 1 female together (preferably 4+) in a large tank w/ plenty of hiding spots. But even then, you could find yourself w/ a female who is very aggressive and needs to be seperated from the rest... so backup tanks or whatever need to be had on hand.

As for plants... I've always had luck with sword plants. If you get one, then be sure to get some kind of liquid fert for it, I'd also get root tablets as well to put in the substrate for the roots to get nutrients from.
Or if you want something that grows like a weed... can't go wrong with hornwort. It grows EXTREMELY fast. When we first got some, it grew inches during the night.

I too have a beautiful sword that's been growing like crazy once I figured out I was being too -light- on fertilizers.. I put a root tab under it every few weeks. Also, the suggestion for Hornwort (or other fast growing stem plants) is a great one since high growth with a large volume of plants will help to stave off algae during these early stages when so much excess ammonia is in there. Number of daily hours of lighting can start as low as 4 the first couple weeks we were reading the other day...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Gilbertr14]

Here is a better picture

Is the filter breaking the surface enough?

Replaced the curtain bubbles for something smaller.
Fish not cringing in the corner anymore

Just a thought, would a Betta be friends with these guys. After killing the bubbles