Vanishing fish

[seangee]

How big is the red tail shark? They are not community fish and if not aggressive now will become so. If he is distressing everybody else he should go. Angelfish are aggressive to each other and a group of 3 will most likely end up in fights (to death) until there is a sole survivor. Tiger barbs will be very tempted by those fins. Neon tetras are their natural food.

Tiger barbs are also naturally aggressive and not good tankmates for the calmer tetras like neons. Bigger groups help limit this aggression to each other but it is no guarantee. Whatever happens with your current stock any dead fish will be fish food after death and the evidence will be consumed quite quickly.

I'm afraid that with your current stock that tank has no chance of ever being a peaceful community. Its not the plec or bristlenoses, but nearly everything else. If you let us know the hardness of your water we can advise what will work in your tank. Mollies need very hard water and most of the other fish you mention need much softer water than mollies. The number we are interested in is GH, we need a number and the unit of measure.

 

[Guyb93]

How big is the red tail shark? They are not community fish and if not aggressive now will become so. If he is distressing everybody else he should go. Angelfish are aggressive to each other and a group of 3 will most likely end up in fights (to death) until there is a sole survivor. Tiger barbs will be very tempted by those fins. Neon tetras are their natural food.

Tiger barbs are also naturally aggressive and not good tankmates for the calmer tetras like neons. Bigger groups help limit this aggression to each other but it is no guarantee. Whatever happens with your current stock any dead fish will be fish food after death and the evidence will be consumed quite quickly.

I'm afraid that with your current stock that tank has no chance of ever being a peaceful community. Its not the plec or bristlenoses, but nearly everything else. If you let us know the hardness of your water we can advise what will work in your tank. Mollies need very hard water and most of the other fish you mention need much softer water than mollies. The number we are interested in is GH, we need a number and the unit of measure.

The shark is around 4/5 inches and he is aggressive about his cave and food thts it he keeps his self to his self kind of thing the angelfish were bought from the same tank as a 3 and live with each other well they just don’t live with anything else well my tiger barbs are aggressive but only towards each other they stay in a school and just squabble amongst there selves and I haven’t been keeping track of the hardness only the ph which is as neutral as I can get , when my common plec is active my angel fish behave but he’s large n lazy so they just do as they please , would feeding more often Curb there aggression or just increase waste

 

[Essjay]

only the ph which is as neutral as I can get

Have you been adding stuff to change the pH?


For hardness, look on your water company's website. That should be South Staffs Water in Walsall.

Water Hardness | Water Hardness Map | South Staffs Water

Check out the information on water hardness in your local area. If you need additional advice please contact the South Staffs Water team.

www.south-staffs-water.co.uk

Under Useful Downloads you'll find 'water hardness ssw 2018' That is a pdf containing harness for every region in South Staffs Water. You need the number in the Degrees (German) column for your area.

The reason we are asking for this number is that fish have evolved in water of a certain hardness. If you keep soft water fish in hard water, all the hardness minerals will collect in their bodies and the deposits will shorten their lives. If you keep hard water fish in soft water, there aren't enough hardness minerals to keep them healthy and they'll get sick and die more easily. We should aim to keep fish which come from water with similar hardness to our tap water.

 

[Guyb93]

Have you been adding stuff to change the pH?


For hardness, look on your water company's website. That should be South Staffs Water in Walsall.

Water Hardness | Water Hardness Map | South Staffs Water

Check out the information on water hardness in your local area. If you need additional advice please contact the South Staffs Water team.

www.south-staffs-water.co.uk

Under Useful Downloads you'll find 'water hardness ssw 2018' That is a pdf containing harness for every region in South Staffs Water. You need the number in the Degrees (German) column for your area.

The reason we are asking for this number is that fish have evolved in water of a certain hardness. If you keep soft water fish in hard water, all the hardness minerals will collect in their bodies and the deposits will shorten their lives. If you keep hard water fish in soft water, there aren't enough hardness minerals to keep them healthy and they'll get sick and die more easily. We should aim to keep fish which come from water with similar hardness to our tap water.

My water is moderate to hard and no I keep an organic tank no chemicals added I used a drop of fresh lemon juice now and again to lower ph

 

[Essjay]

We need a number because water companies' words are not the same as fishkeeping words. The 'water hardness ssw 2018' link contains a table with the hardness listed as numbers. You need the number in the Degrees (German) column for your town.

It is not advisable to add anything to chnage the pH of a tank - chemicals or lemon juice. pH does not need to be neutral. pH is related to GH (hardness) and GH is more important than pH. Keep the fish in the GH they need and let the pH be whatever it wants to be.

 

[Guyb93]

We need a number because water companies' words are not the same as fishkeeping words. The 'water hardness ssw 2018' link contains a table with the hardness listed as numbers. You need the number in the Degrees (German) column for your town.

It is not advisable to add anything to chnage the pH of a tank - chemicals or lemon juice. pH does not need to be neutral. pH is related to GH (hardness) and GH is more important than pH. Keep the fish in the GH they need and let the pH be whatever it wants to be.

Hardness is 7.5 (German)

 

[Essjay]

This is what I mean about words. As far as fish keeping is concerned this is at the upper end of soft. It is not hard water, or even moderate.

Your water is suitable for all the fish named in your first post except mollies which need very hard water.
But just because the water is suitable does not mean they are compatible. As the other members have pointed out you have incompatible fish in your tank.


Also, please stop adding the lemon juice. You don't need to change the pH.

 

[Guyb93]

This is what I mean about words. As far as fish keeping is concerned this is at the upper end of soft. It is not hard water, or even moderate.

Your water is suitable for all the fish named in your first post except mollies which need very hard water.
But just because the water is suitable does not mean they are compatible. As the other members have pointed out you have incompatible fish in your tank.


Also, please stop adding the lemon juice. You don't need to change the pH.

Thanks very much for the advice as I was almost obsessed with keeping neutral ph so my mollies need re homing as soon as possible or can I add a different t food to there diets to substitute the minerals they are lacking from the water , I haven’t had a fish die as yet but I don’t know if I’m being lucky , are the angelfish the main problem for aggression in my tank ?

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Did you say your Red Tail Shark is about 4 to 5 inches ?
If yes, then most likely is your Red Tail Shark that ate them.

How big is your Angel fish and Tiger Barbs?

 

[Essjay]

Making the water harder for mollies would be bad for the other fish, I'm afraid. There is no happy medium.

If you were to set up another tank and keep just hard water fish in it, there are ways to increase hardness for them. But not in the same tank as soft water fish.

 

[Guyb93]

Did you say your Red Tail Shark is about 4 to 5 inches ?
If yes, then most likely is your Red Tail Shark that ate them.

How big is your Angel fish and Tiger Barbs?

Yeah shark is 4/5 inch angelfish are similar size bit smaller and tiger barbs from 1 inch to 2 they are small to be fair

 

[Guyb93]

Making the water harder for mollies would be bad for the other fish, I'm afraid. There is no happy medium.

If you were to set up another tank and keep just hard water fish in it, there are ways to increase hardness for them. But not in the same tank as soft water fish.

Il have to do far more research on hard water fish as I Don’t want to shorten their lives

 

[Byron]

I strongly suggest you get rid of the fish needing harder water...the mollies especially are not going to be healthy and they will not last long in soft water. Another aquarist, or a store perhaps. You have sufficient problems with the one tank that will take some work to sort out and having to set up another tank for mollies is only going to add more.

We must pin down the tank size too. A 5-foot tank that is only 66 gallons is very odd. What are the exact dimensions, being length, width (front to back) and height? In cm or inches, doesn't matter.

You have fish now thaty are not at all compatible, and you could have trouble from most of them. Tiger Barbs, angelfish, even the pleco...any of these can be the source of fish deaths. You shouldnever have angelfish in with Tiger Barbs, and you should never have a Red Tail Shark in with angelfish.