Should I Move My Fishes (Again)?

[twodoctors]

Just wondering whether to reorganise my tank again. I am a bit overstock based on most rules but my water is pristine and all appears well (for the moment). I was wondering whether I should move my odessa barbs into the big tank instead. They seemed a bit too active for my 90L, and I think they are too excitable for my cherry barbs as well. They would come out first when I approach to feed and I think the cherrys are a bit scared of them. If I do that I'm thinking about moving my blue and maroon gouramis as they are more docile in the big tank. My female Golden gourami is the bully amongst the 3 so it might be good for them as well in the long run. Would the 90L be too small for the gouramis? Any other permutation?

Adrian

 

[dbanner]

I would of thought 3 gouramis in a 90l would be too much. I had 4 in total in my 250 litre (2 gold and 2 opaline) and even in that tank they were aggressive towards each other so i took 2 back to my lfs and kept the 2 golds. As for the odessas i had 4 in a 110 litre tank with 4 rosys barbs and 5 cherry barbs and they seemed to be fine until the rosys got 2 big and had to be taken back. Obviously 90 or even 110l is not ideal for barbs as they are very active but they should be ok for a little while at least (if they are small now). Just my opinion, u may want to ask someone else about this or wait for someone else to reply. I'm sure you will get the advice you need. Everyone on this forum is very helpful

 

[twodoctors]

Thanks.

I also don't think the gouramis would be too pleased to be in the 90L. My odessa seemed to be hiding a lot, in fact they are all still a bit stressed with my cleaning. I do want to move the odessa to the big tank as I think they would be happier there. I also thought about increasing my cherry barbs to 20. I wonder if that would help coax them out from the plants... The other thing I need in there is a (bristlenose) pleco... I've got lots of algae on the glass. My (fast growing) plants are growing fine, my shrimps prefer fish food to algae and my fishes don't want my hands in the tank! GGGRrrrrrr...

Adrian

 

[dbanner]

I would of said the gouramis would be better in something bigger than the 90l. Barbs are better in bigger numbers so your probably right in thinking they would not be as shy if you were to get more. How many more though im not sure. You obviously don't want to overstock your tank. As i said previously i only had 4 odessas but mine seemed fine, didn really hide at all. They were very active as were the rosys.

I would go getting a bristlenose. I know they only get to about 5 inch or so but iv heard people say that they actually produce more waste than they clear up. I had 1 but he died. I got him when i knew nothing about them. I had gravel at the time and im pretty sure he/she cut his/her mouth on it and got an infection. Died before i could do anything about it. I know have sand in that tank for my cories. I personally wouldnt get another bristlenose but hey its your tank you may want to get a 2nd opinion on this.

If you have a problem with algae in the tank then there are certain things you can try to prevent it or at least reduce it. 1st you could get an algae scrapper (magnet that has fine bristles in the middle to clean your glass. I use 1 of these on my 250 litre and find it very useful. Also you could make sure your tank is out of direct sunlight as this triggers more algae and you could reduce the amount of time you have you tank light on for. I think around 6 hours a day is ok (again you may want to double check on that).

Hope this helps

Sorry it was meant to say i WOULDN'T* go getting a bristlenose plec

 

[twodoctors]

My tanks get about 8 hours a day of light, and it's away from the windows. I use a scourer pad to clean my glass. The algae is so tough that I don't think the magnet ones will cut it. In my big tank, my L92 comes out at night and clean it for me. It does poo a lot, or at least used to anyway. I used to have a big log cave in the tank and it poos in there. I don't know where it poos now as I don't see the big pile of poo like I did before.

I might just have to move on my gouramis I guess. Or just put the odessa in there and see how the tank goes. If it consistently crash in terms of ammonia then I might have to move something one... I'll keep the cherrys where they are and add another 10. They are only £8 for 10 where I live, cheaper than neons!

Adrian

 

[twodoctors]

Well, I've moved them. My odessa barbs are now in the big tank. Had to take everything out to catch them... and even then it took 30mins and lots of water on the floor. The transformation is amazing. The odessa now colours up very nicely (even better than before, deep red etc) and seemed to get along with the others. In my small tank, my cherry barbs are now out and about. Even my honey gouramis seemed to have come out from their corner... we shall see. Also got myself an albino bristlenose pleco. (Hopefully) everybody's a winner!

Going to up my number of cherry barbs to 20 tomorrow... and eventually to 30 (maybe). We shall see.

Adrian