Update On Tank

[Starywary]

Hi all, I'm a newbie, been about 3 weeks maybe ( can't rememember exactly) since my tank has been good to go . Now in the tank I have: 7 gold pristella tetras
7 serpae tetras
5 harlequin rasboras
5 cherry barbs
2 albino corys
1 cory melini (false bandit)
1 albino paradise
1 chocolate pleco (poss. albino, not sure)
1 angel ( had to be moved from my gf's tank-was getting beat up)

I am finding it really hard to not buy every fish I want when I go to the LFS. There have been a few times I saw a fish I really liked and had been wanting AND was on sale, but I decided to pass since some of the fish in the tank looked like they weren't in the best shape. I would like to add at least 1 dwarf gourami, and a few more corys. I don't want to overcrowd the tank though and I dont' want to add too much too close together. But so far, the tank seems to be doing good. I checked yesterday and the ph was about 6.8 and ammonia was bet. 0 and .25 I also added a piece of driftwood for the pleco. I love that guy so much, is it possible to be in love with a fish? lol, I still haven't figured out if he is an albino or not, I'll have to post pics in the right forum. I have been taking pics, just haven't uploaded them on this comp yet, as soon as I do I'll post them here. I love my first tank!!

 

[Miles_hot]

glad you'r having fun how big is your tank? How often are you testing the chemistry of the water? How long did your fishless cycle take?

Miles

 

[KittyKat]

+1, need to know the size of the tank.

You should not buy any more fish until your ammonia is solidly at 0 ppm and staying there.

You might find this hard to understand, but a tank will often look much nicer and the fish will have much more interesting behaviour if there are only a few species and schooling fish are kept in larger groups. I have been keeping fish for almost 16 years now and still, there are a lot of commonly available species which I would like to keep, but have not kept yet for this exact reason. I would strongly recommend that you get all your schooling species up to at least 6 fish per schooling species (preferably more) and find a new home for the coolwater paradise fish before considering getting any new species.

Albino is when the fish lacks all pigment, including in the eyes. This means that albino fish will look pink with red eyes.

 

[Starywary]

glad you'r having fun how big is your tank? How often are you testing the chemistry of the water? How long did your fishless cycle take?

Miles

thanks Miles. It's a 30 gal. I have been doing the testing about once a week now. I was lucky (kind of cheating I guess, lol) in that it was my gf's tank, and she upgraded to a 72 bowfront, so I got to start my first tank from hers. She left all the gravel, most of the decor although I rearranged it and added some stuff, and left me the heater, filters, and lights. so yeh, it was already cycled, I just did refilled the water after she emptied out about half, left it for a a little over a week, then started adding some fish.

 

[Starywary]

+1, need to know the size of the tank.

You should not buy any more fish until your ammonia is solidly at 0 ppm and staying there.

You might find this hard to understand, but a tank will often look much nicer and the fish will have much more interesting behaviour if there are only a few species and schooling fish are kept in larger groups. I have been keeping fish for almost 16 years now and still, there are a lot of commonly available species which I would like to keep, but have not kept yet for this exact reason. I would strongly recommend that you get all your schooling species up to at least 6 fish per schooling species (preferably more) and find a new home for the coolwater paradise fish before considering getting any new species.

Albino is when the fish lacks all pigment, including in the eyes. This means that albino fish will look pink with red eyes.

I made a mistake, there are actually 6 cherry barbs. I am going to add some more corys. The pleco is very very small right now, and I do know what albino means, lol, I just wasn't sure based on pics and info about chocolates if it was in fact an albino since from what I read they havve reddish eyes and light brown color, I think a chocolate is just an albino rhino pleco from what I understand but I'm not clear on that. mine does have reddish eyes but theyre not pink and it is not white or pink but more of a very light brown. I am new to fishkeeping so I appreciate your input, but my gf has been keeping fish for 38 years, so I am under her guidance. ALso, in talking to an experienced keeper, I was told that what he learned over the years is that everyone has their own way of doing things, and what works for some may not work for others. he has heard of people who have combinations of tank inhabitants that are not usually recommended or heard of, but it has been working for them with no problems and they have had a lot of success with it, so why change it. My paradise has been doing great in the tank. When I added the angel there was one night of him staying in the upper corner of the tank, and then next day back to normal. I haven't had any problems with my combo of fish so far.

 

[KittyKat]

You're basically fully stocked once you get the Cory number up.

What your friend says is true in terms of compatibility, but what I am saying is from the point of view of the fish's health and conspecific behaviour. For example, a tropical fish would never live a healthy life in cold water and a coldwater fish will never live happily in tropical water: they would maybe survive, but that is not the same as flourishing.. one side effect will be a short lifespan and health problem. Another example: a social fish can survive on its own, but it would be "lonely" (as far as that can be applied to fish), so not as happy as with its own kind.

To be honest, I wouldn't put an angel in a tank that small either, but it's definitely a better option than leaving it to be shredded somewhere else.

 

[Starywary]

You're basically fully stocked once you get the Cory number up.

What your friend says is true in terms of compatibility, but what I am saying is from the point of view of the fish's health and conspecific behaviour. For example, a tropical fish would never live a healthy life in cold water and a coldwater fish will never live happily in tropical water: they would maybe survive, but that is not the same as flourishing.. one side effect will be a short lifespan and health problem. Another example: a social fish can survive on its own, but it would be "lonely" (as far as that can be applied to fish), so not as happy as with its own kind.

To be honest, I wouldn't put an angel in a tank that small either, but it's definitely a better option than leaving it to be shredded somewhere else.

yes, I do hear what you're saying. yeh the angel was not really what I wanted in my tank, but he was getting pretty badly beat up, I'll post pics, he's a mess and it was the only option at the time since we didn't have another tank running and the bowfront has a green severum in it which she said would be no better for the angel. he's big but it was the convict and the pink convict who it turned out just hatched some eggs who were doing the damage, and then the tiger barbs started chiming in.

oh also, from what I understand, Paradise are well kept in both coldwater and tropical water.

 

[KittyKat]

To be honest, I wouldn't put an angel in a tank that small either, but it's definitely a better option than leaving it to be shredded somewhere else.

he's big but it was the convict and the pink convict who it turned out just hatched some eggs who were doing the damage, and then the tiger barbs started chiming in.

That's the main reason convicts are not really compatible with anything at all..

 

[Starywary]

To be honest, I wouldn't put an angel in a tank that small either, but it's definitely a better option than leaving it to be shredded somewhere else.

he's big but it was the convict and the pink convict who it turned out just hatched some eggs who were doing the damage, and then the tiger barbs started chiming in.

That's the main reason convicts are not really compatible with anything at all..

I have to say, they are amazing parents though, lol. The babies (not sure what they're called at this point, fry or wigglers?) are swimming around, still in one basic area, but getting bigger by the hour. I do feel kinda bad for the tiger bars though, as the male convict is doing a very good job of keeping them in one corner of the tank. We have a 10 gallon running in my daughter's room, cycling, but she still hasn't been able to earn enough stickers to get her first fish, lol, so we were thinking of moving the barbs to there for now, but there is also a pictus ( I think tha't swhat it is) catfish.

 

[KittyKat]

Yes, they are really good parents, as are many other cichlids. Fry, wrigglers are the stage before they start swimming.