someone is eating my guppies fins!!

[lilmisstrouble]

Hello, I was hoping someone could give me a bit of advice. I inherated a tank at the begining of January from the previous person who rented the flat i moved into. I'll try to give as much info as poss but have only been reading up for the past month and am not sure about some bits and pieces.

The tank is 100 litre. It has (roughly);
15 guppies (of different colours)
1 siamese fighting fish
4 clown loaches (apparrently brought because of a problem with snails)
4 catfish(?) silvery, bottom feeders
9 tetras (red stripe, red eyes, clear body, b&w spotted tail)

It also has real plants. 2 lights across the top, one normal one UV.

I feed the fish twice a day with flakes and cat fish pellets. I change the water (25%) once a week and put in the cycle stuff and chorine stuff and wash the filters in the fish water so i dont mess with the bacteria culture.

I have 2 questions

1. In the past month i have noticed that the blue guppies have big chunks missing from their tails. What am i doing wrong and how can i stop this happening? Feel badly for the poor guppies

2. 2 of the plants are dying badly (I dont know what they are but they are tall and leafy - a bit like a yucca plant leaf)

Could someone tell me what I am doing wrong? I feel like I am playing a majour game of catch-up here and dont want the fish to suffer becasue of it!

Thanks and sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure I got all the info in!

J xx

 

[Raechal]

Definately the siamese fighting fish. The siamese fighting fish will attack the guppies until they are dead one by one. He thinks they are a rival since they have long pretty tails. If you don't remove the siamese fighting fish he will most likely kill all of your guppies, or chew all of their tails off until they die. I suggest purchasing a cheap 5 gallon tank for the betta. Add some of the gravel from the main tank and some live plants and he should do well in there. If you can, try treating the tank with Melafix it should help the fins grow back. But there is no point really in adding Melafix if you aren't going to remove the siamese fighting fish because he will keep on chewing up their tails.

How big are the catfish? Most catfish feed on smaller fish and will probably eat your tetras. Can you describe the catfish a little more or get a picture? Also how many gallons is 100 litres? Clown loaches need a pretty big tank.

I am not sure of what the plant is because I don't have a pic, but it could be dying due to not enough light. What kind of light do you have in your tank?

EDIT: The tetras may also be nipping at the guppies and siamese fighting fish's tails, but it is more likely that the siamese fighting fish is attacking the guppies.

 

[jflowers]

The fin nipping is possibly down to the betta, they don't like fish with fancy fins. The plant problem I can't help with, as I am useless with them, but they could be decorative plants that are only any good in a tank for a few months as they are usually bog plants that don't spend thier life submerged, only some of it. Also, what lighting do you have?

Just incase you didn't know, sorry if you have already been told this, those clowns need rehoming, they get huge and may be stunted if left in a small tank.

[EDIT: beaten to it BTW 100L = 22UK gallons/26US gallons]

Jon

 

[lilmisstrouble]

Thanks guys,

I'm really cross with the pet shop as I went and asked them if all the fish were ok together (and told them if they werent then I would buy another tank = money for them) and they said they would be!

I'll get a new tank for the fighting fish tomorrow (thats the beta?, sorry, not up on fish terms yet).

Any suggestions about what to do on the loaches? How do I go about re-homing?

sorry, no idea how many gallons that is but my BF guesses its 64 pints...

The cat fish are roughly 3 cm long, if that! They r tiny. Will try to get a pic tomorrow but they tend to hide.

I have one normal light at the from of the tank and one blue one (I added the blue one because thats what the fish shop man said I should do).

Thanks again for all the help/advice. Wish I knew a bit more about all this!!

J xx

 

[Raechal]

The fin nipping is possibly down to the betta, they don't like fish with fancy fins. The plant problem I can't help with, as I am useless with them, but they could be decorative plants that are only any good in a tank for a few months as they are usually bog plants that don't spend thier life submerged, only some of it. Also, what lighting do you have?

Just incase you didn't know, sorry if you have already been told this, those clowns need rehoming, they get huge and may be stunted if left in a small tank.

[EDIT: beaten to it BTW 100L = 22UK gallons/26US gallons]

Jon

I am not good with converting litres into gallons. I usually just skim through the articles and see 100L and assume it is 100 gallons since that is what I am used to.

In that case, the clown loaches will definately need to be re-homed. How large are they now and where do you live? I wish I could have them. I am looking for some larger clowns.

 

[Raechal]

Thanks guys,

I'm really cross with the pet shop as I went and asked them if all the fish were ok together (and told them if they werent then I would buy another tank = money for them) and they said they would be!

I'll get a new tank for the fighting fish tomorrow (thats the beta?, sorry, not up on fish terms yet).

Any suggestions about what to do on the loaches? How do I go about re-homing?

sorry, no idea how many gallons that is but my BF guesses its 64 pints...

The cat fish are roughly 3 cm long, if that! They r tiny. Will try to get a pic tomorrow but they tend to hide.

I have one normal light at the from of the tank and one blue one (I added the blue one because thats what the fish shop man said I should do).

Thanks again for all the help/advice. Wish I knew a bit more about all this!!

J xx

About re-homing the loaches...You could post in the buy sell and swap section of this forum and tell people the area you live in and maybe someone would be willing to buy them off of you and pick them up. Or you could talk to the LPS you bought them from and ask if they will maybe make an exchange for you.

And yes, the siamese fighting fish is the betta. It's not your fault...I mean the LPS guy told you the fish would be okay together. When I first started out I had a 10 gallon and I went to a LPS and they sold me all of these fish that were "perfect" for my 10 gallon. Let's see...he sold me a blue botia that gets up to around 9 inches and is semi-aggressive, a peacock eel which grows way too big for a 10 gallon, he also told me that my guppies and paradise fish would do well with a siamese fighting fish. I was curious as to why my paradise fish's tail was gone the next day so I researched it online. From that day forward I learned I can never trust what an employee at a LPS tells me.

 

[FrAnK3333]

The clowns will need to be rhomed eventually. Clown loaches are very slow growers, and grow usually to 8 inches, some 12 inches, and if your commited to getting a bigger tank for them keep them if not they have to go back to the lfs.

 

[lilmisstrouble]

glad its not just me! I'm in fulham, london if you are near here.

Thx again for the help. xx

 

[lilmisstrouble]

oops, they are about 4/5cm long at the moment.

xx

 

[Raechal]

glad its not just me! I'm in fulham, london if you are near here.

Thx again for the help. xx

A lot of people buy fish because the LPS tells them they are just fine for your tank. That is why I only go to the LPS when I know what fish I am buying all the information about them. I like going to petsmart because they usually have small signs underneath each species and it tells if it is aggressive or not and how large it gets. That helps out kind of for people who don't know much about fish.

Anyways, I live in Florida so I am not near you at all. But I believe I lot of people live in London on this site. You could try posting in the buy sell and swap forum and maybe someone would be interested.

 

[lilmisstrouble]

will do. thx