hi new here and need advice

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motherspice

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Hi everyone my name is clara and we are new to this and got wrong advice from petsmart, so here is my problem now


My glolites are always down hiding, is this normal or are they scared of the other fish??
I was thinking of maybe moving......... them here is where they are and the new plan, what do you think?:confused:


14 gal
3 black phantoms tetras thinking of moving these to the 29 gal and glolites here???
4 xrays tetras
4 zebra dainos
1 otto

29 gal has
5 long fin zebra dainos
2 blue dainos
3 black skirt tetras
5 glolite tetras ..............wondering if I should move them to the 14 gal, and move the black phantoms from the 14 gal to the 29??
1 red minor tetra
3 lemon tetras
 
Welcome to AA!

When fish are hiding it usually means that they aren't comfortable for some reason. With schooling fish it can help to increase their school. Safty in numbers. It can also be helpful to increase and/or rearrange the decor. Often by providing more hiding spots, the fish don't feel the need to hide any longer. Of course it could be that they are intimidated by one or more of your other fish, unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with what your keeping to be able to hazard a guess as to which it would be or whether they would be better off in the other aquarium.
 
Welcome to AA!

When fish are hiding it usually means that they aren't comfortable for some reason. With schooling fish it can help to increase their school. Safty in numbers. It can also be helpful to increase and/or rearrange the decor. Often by providing more hiding spots, the fish don't feel the need to hide any longer. Of course it could be that they are intimidated by one or more of your other fish, unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with what your keeping to be able to hazard a guess as to which it would be or whether they would be better off in the other aquarium.


they have only been in the big tank about a week so maybe they need more time:confused: I will give them another week or so...... thank u;)
 
Welcome to AA! The danios might be frightening the glolites by their fast movement. Or as Joy has mentioned schooling fish can feel uncomfortable in small groups. If it were me I would leave them where they are for another week since you have danios in both tanks.
 
You say you are new to this. What does that mean?

Do you happen to know any of the chemistry in your tanks?

Having abnormal parameters can stress the fish and cause them to hide as well.
 
Hi everyone my name is clara and we are new to this and got wrong advice from petsmart, so here is my problem now

Oh, if I had a dollar... :) Welcome Clara. Plenty of good advice here to get you on the right track, mostly from other people. :D

It would be really useful for us to know a few more details regarding your tank.

1. How long has it been setup?
2. Is it cycled?
3. What is your maintenance routine, particularly water changes. i.e: how much and how often
4. What are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrITE and nitrATE) levels?

This info paints a good picture.
 
Oh, if I had a dollar... :) Welcome Clara. Plenty of good advice here to get you on the right track, mostly from other people. :D

It would be really useful for us to know a few more details regarding your tank.

1. How long has it been setup?
2. Is it cycled?
3. What is your maintenance routine, particularly water changes. i.e: how much and how often
4. What are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrITE and nitrATE) levels?

This info paints a good picture.

The 14 gal havs been set up almost 3 months yes cycled finley, lol
all water are great 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 20 nitrates

the 29 about 5 weeks I put the filter media in that tank with a hand full of gravel............. again water same as above all great
I do a 20 to 25 % water change weekly and vac. the gravel, I also rinse the medias in the water from the tank, I add prime to the new water

I have 3 live plants in my 29 gal and 1 in my 14 gal, I feed them once a day.......hope thats all u needed to know:D
 
You say you are new to this. What does that mean?

Do you happen to know any of the chemistry in your tanks?

Having abnormal parameters can stress the fish and cause them to hide as well.

I mean this is my 1st tanks and I admit I have made some mistakes like to many schooling fish but trying to fix it...........read above yes I know I test my water every day, and my levels are great;)
 
With most aquarium fish, sitting and hiding in a corner indicates there is something "not right" (i.e. there is something stressing the fish). Among the explanations would be:

1. The water parameters are not good for the fish.
2. The fish is sick with some disease.
3. The fish perceives something else in the tank as a threat.
4. The fish is a schooling fish and you have it alone or with too few of its kind.


Note that all fish typically do the "hiding" routine when put in a new tank, but usually that only lasts for a few days. However, being in a new tank combined with any of the above stress factors. Also note that often fish in pet stores are already quite stressed, as they are usually kept in tanks that provide little cover, they can be poorly fed (either too little or too much), often overcrowded, and often all of this on top of a fair amount of stress from shipping.

A few thoughts on your specific situation:

1. Between your tanks, you have a combo of some hyperactive fish (danios) and some slow-moving fish (most tetras). That doesn't always make for an ideal combo, as the slow-moving ones tend to get freaked out by the danios zipping all over. If you could do it without overstocking, I think it would be better on the fish if you had all your danios in one tank and all your tetras in another. Given the numbers of fish you have, you might be able to swing the danios in the 15 and the tetras in the 29. I don't entirely like that idea because ideally fast swimming fish need to be in a larger tank...but the idea of putting 18 tetras in a 15 gallon tank is simply out of the question, you have so many tetras you would HAVE to put them in the 29.

2. Overall, you probably have too many fish (in both tanks), unless these tanks are fully cycled and have very good filtration systems on them, and even then the stocking is such that if something goes wrong, the tanks are going to crash in relatively short order. Since it sounds like you're a beginner, I would definitely say you have too many fish right now.

3. Especially with the tetras, which are schooling fish, in retrospect it would have been better if you had bought fewer different varieties, but more of each one. So, if your plan was to have 18 tetras, the fish would feel more comfortable and you would probably see more of an authentic schooling behavior if you had 6 fish each of 3 varieties (or honestly, even better, 9 fish each of 2 varities) rather than 5-4-3-3-3-1. So for example, if you had 6 glowlite, 6 lemon, and 6 black skirt (or black phantom), you would still have a nice variety of colors in the tank, plus the fish would probably feel better about their situation.
 
That's good advice from JohnPaul. I wouldn't disagree with any of it.

Along the same theme, I think I should tell you that Otos are very social fish and need to be with their own kind. It is not recommended that they are kept on their own. I have three in my 15g, and that would be the minimum number I would keep together.

LFSs will often take back fish and give a store credit.
 
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