Two Questions ...

[pauly]

I have a relatively new tank 8 gallon which I started (once cycled) with 8 neon tetras. After keeping those for a week, I added two green t barbs and a black widow. They have been in the tank for four days now and I've noticed a few problems.

Firstly, I've got an outbreak of white spot amongst my tetras. In addition to this, most of them seem to have had their fins "nibbled" at! Would the culprit be the t barbs? If so, what can I do about it? Get rid of one or the other?

Secondly, after reading a few articles (I know I should have read them before I started), some suggest that I stock my tank to roughly 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. So that would work out to just eight fish in my tank? Is that right?

Paul.

 

[penguinpimp1990]

first off, a 8 gallon tank is far too small for all the fish you have in your tank. Your black widow, needs to be in a group of 6 minimum as they are a schooling fish. Also the barbs must be in groups, for they are also a schooling fish, and when kept in small groups like yours they became extremly nippy towards other fish. The nippled fins are your barbs. Id get rid of the barbs and widow back to the store where you bought them from. Theyll probally give you store credit, if not, not much of a loss as they arent expensive. Also neons dont do well in newly established tanks, was it fishlessly cycled or with fish? are you doing water changes? there are too many questions to ask you, other than what i previously said, the other advice i can give is read all and understand the articles on this site. Hopefully youll find this an enjoyable hobby!

 

[pauly]

So what fish can I get that will get on ok with my Neons, and will confortably live in my tiny tank?

I dont understand how so few fish can be too many for my tank, when the tanks at the aquatics store are smaller than mine and crammed full of fish?

 

[bogwood]

I dont understand how so few fish can be too many for my tank, when the tanks at the aquatics store are smaller than mine and crammed full of fish?

...because the fish in your lfs are only 'temporarily' (in theory) housed in those small 'for sale' tanks...

 

[penguinpimp1990]

and because they honestly dont care if a fish is in a highly overpopulated tank, if they were to keep all of their tanks stocked at the correct amount it would cost a ton of money to setup new tanks, space, and equiptment.