Stocking Help, Freshwater

[Larm6063]

Hi,

We have recently upgraded to a 110 Litre Tank, We had a 28 litre previously stocked with a Male Betta and few Harlequins and Tetras they all lived together fine and have done for the past year.

After upgrading we now have the following;

1 male betta
7 neon tetras
6 Harlequins
2 Blue Rams
1 Clown Roach
1 Red Tail Shark,

We trust the guys in our local fish shop who specialise in tropical fish and we have built a relationship with them over the last year or so, However i feel like instead of just trusting them we should of now done our own research as we have found the following;

1. Clown loaches need to live in groups and can grow up to 12 inches
2. Reed tip shark is aggressive towards the betta
3. The blue rams are constantly on the top of the tank (My partner is getting an air pump today as he thinks the water needs more oxygen, would this help?)

So my questions are;

Should we take the shark back? hes only been in the tank less than 24 hours my partner got him from a different shop and i feel the woman was talking rubbish. however he has seemed to group with the roach or is the roach sucking up to the shark?

Should we take the loach back also or get a few more?

I am just concerned the size of them, we wanted a bottom feeder to help clean the tank but i honestly just want the fish to be happy and not in a too small tank, we also still have our 10 gallon tank should we just but the betta in there and let him live on his own?

If we look the shark back can anyone recommend a nice "centre piece" fish preferably bright in colour.

Thanks

 

[NickAu]

We have recently upgraded to a 110 Litre Tank,
Should we take the loach back also or get a few more?

110l is way to small for Clown loaches, first you need at least 5 or 6, Clowns are highly social fish and suffer when on their own.

Reed tip shark is aggressive towards the betta

Return it.

2 Blue Rams

Bettas and rams are not good tank mates, are the rams male and female?

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

I am afraid you have received some inaccurate advice from that fish store. I'll explain.

The shark and the clown loach must be returned (hoping they will accept them), as these are never going to work in a 110 liter (29 gallon) tank. The shark is normally a feisty fish, sometimes downright nasty and aggressive, and it gets too big (6 inches) for any tank under 4 feet in length regardless of the behaviour problems. Clown loaches must have five, and get large--this you already know. One will be severely stressed alone; two or three or even four will probably establish an hierarchy resulting in deaths. And even one would not work in anything under 4 feet, but wiith the proper group you are looking at a 6-foot tank minimum.

Betta are not community fish. While an individual male Betta will sometimes appear to "get along" with other upper fish, the norm is they do not, and even one that seems to can suddenly change. The 10 gallon, or a 5 gallon, for the Betta alone is worth it; a beautiful fish that should have a suitable home to itself. The fact that the Betta, neons and rasbora co-existed in a 28 liter (7 gallon) tank for a year does not mean they were healthy; I can assure you they were struggling and you are lucky they are all strong enough to have survived, though internal damage is likely to have been done but we can hope for the best. Fish confined to unsuitable conditions, like too small a tank, or the wrong tankmates, sometimes react by aggression, but sometimes the opposite. What appears on the surface as "OK" rarely actually is.

The remaining fish mentioned have issues too. First, temperature. Neons are tropical fish but cooler water, 75-76F (24 C) is the upper limit. The Harlequin Rasbora could manage with this, but the rams will not. Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (the common or blue ram, in any of its varieties) needs warmth, around 80F (27 C) or above. The neons will literally melt with this as a permanent temperature. And the rams will not be healthy with anything cooler; this is why they rarely live their normal 4-5 years. Rams at the surface is a sign of something very wrong, as this is a lower level species, even substrate level; they feed from the substrate. It may be something internal, or they may bee terrified of one of the other fish (the shark, the loach ???). As the temperature is going to limit tankmates, I would return these as well.

Before suggesting suitable fish, what are your water parameters for the source (tap) water? GH (general or total hardness), KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) and pH. You should be able to get these fro the municipal water authority if you are on mains water, check their website, or call them. We need the number and also the unit of measurement (there are several used).

What filter/filtration do you have? This can be used to create some surface disturbance as the water enters the tank which should be all that is needed for a good gas (oxygen/CO2) exchange.

Last for now, a comment on the bottom feeder to "keep the tank clean." No fish will do this. There are substrate fish that eat from the substrate, but they must be fed proper sinking foods; most will not even look at upper food like flake that sits on the bottom, though some might. But this is not beneficial anyway, as one should never be over feeding to that extent. Snails (the small common ones, like pond or bladder or the ideal Malaysian Livebearing) are better for this as they eat all organics including fish excrement, breaking it down faster for the various bacteria that live in the substrate.

Byron.