LAR_PA
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi everyone,
I wrote a while back about my algae and guppy fry but haven't given an update. I have some new questions.
First an update: I moved the fry from the net breeder to the 2nd tank a little too soon. They did great for several weeks and about 2 weeks ago we were watching them zoom all over the place and trying to count them. I think there were about 12. The next morning, there were only 2. I think they succumbed to a nitrite spike as the tank finished cycling
I felt horrible. We quickly moved the remaining two back to the original tank in the netbreeder. After the tank finished cycling and I got 0 nitrites and ammonia for 4 days in a row I moved them back. They seem to be doing fine. THey still look tiny.
In the meantime I had an unfortunate accident in the first tank involving a new eclipse filter hood that I couldn't get the inflow basket filter on because of length. I didn't think big fish would get sucked up but apparently a guppy and platy (together) died this way. Obviously I corrected this problem.
So I let the kids get 2 dwarf african frogs and we also picked up 3 oto catfish. Boy are they fun to watch! They've done a great job keeping the tank clean and the water is now crystal-clear.
However, and here are where my questions come in, the remaining platy and guppies starting acting a little weird after the otos arrived (and soon after losing the friend platy and guppy). At first they still swam all around and then the platy started to just hang out behind the filter. Then the 2 guppies joined him there. This went on for a few weeks. The female guppy looked like she was going to drop fry again and started hanging out in the cave. Two days later I found her dead at the bottom of the tank.
I tested the water and it was fine but did a partial change anyway. The remaining platy (female)and guppy (male) are still hiding. The only other occupants of the tank are the 2 frogs and the 3 oto. Are they lonely? Sick? What should I do?
The 2nd tank with the 2 six-week old babies is starting to grow a rust-colored algae. It wipes up easily. Can I or should I get some oto fish for that tank? How do I know the babies are big enough not to be eaten? They still seem pretty small. From what I read the oto can be senstive to changes so I assume it is not a good idea to move them from one tank to the other or to separate them. Correct?
Sorry to be so long-winded.
I wrote a while back about my algae and guppy fry but haven't given an update. I have some new questions.
First an update: I moved the fry from the net breeder to the 2nd tank a little too soon. They did great for several weeks and about 2 weeks ago we were watching them zoom all over the place and trying to count them. I think there were about 12. The next morning, there were only 2. I think they succumbed to a nitrite spike as the tank finished cycling
I felt horrible. We quickly moved the remaining two back to the original tank in the netbreeder. After the tank finished cycling and I got 0 nitrites and ammonia for 4 days in a row I moved them back. They seem to be doing fine. THey still look tiny.In the meantime I had an unfortunate accident in the first tank involving a new eclipse filter hood that I couldn't get the inflow basket filter on because of length. I didn't think big fish would get sucked up but apparently a guppy and platy (together) died this way. Obviously I corrected this problem.
So I let the kids get 2 dwarf african frogs and we also picked up 3 oto catfish. Boy are they fun to watch! They've done a great job keeping the tank clean and the water is now crystal-clear.
However, and here are where my questions come in, the remaining platy and guppies starting acting a little weird after the otos arrived (and soon after losing the friend platy and guppy). At first they still swam all around and then the platy started to just hang out behind the filter. Then the 2 guppies joined him there. This went on for a few weeks. The female guppy looked like she was going to drop fry again and started hanging out in the cave. Two days later I found her dead at the bottom of the tank.
I tested the water and it was fine but did a partial change anyway. The remaining platy (female)and guppy (male) are still hiding. The only other occupants of the tank are the 2 frogs and the 3 oto. Are they lonely? Sick? What should I do?
The 2nd tank with the 2 six-week old babies is starting to grow a rust-colored algae. It wipes up easily. Can I or should I get some oto fish for that tank? How do I know the babies are big enough not to be eaten? They still seem pretty small. From what I read the oto can be senstive to changes so I assume it is not a good idea to move them from one tank to the other or to separate them. Correct?
Sorry to be so long-winded.
