Silver Dollar Fins

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Panther

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Messages
2
Location
USA
Hello everyone :)

I've had some Silver Dollar fish for quite some time now.
At first they were in a 20gl tank then I moved them to a 30gl wide and upgraded my filter from a Wisper 2 to a Eheim Professional II.

But the thing is that they always look the same.
I have 3 - 1 looks super healthy and the other two always have chopped up fins.

The behavior of these fish is something I dont like.
You do a sudden movement like 4ft away from the tank and they go crazy and you can't put a regular ligh on the tank otherwise they do the same thing.

So I attributed the bad fins to this or maybe they were sick at some point but I dont remember seeing anything strange about them.

I do a light water change usually ever 1 or 2 weeks with a python hose, add the water treatment add a bit of salt.
Water temp is 70-80deg and they are fed once a day.

Before they had some white tetras I think in the tank, these were taken out thinking they were biting the fins or something but I guess that was wrong cause I don't see any improovement since taking them out.

What should I do?
I want a more colorful tank with neon tetras and other colorful comunity fish but these silver dollar scare the other fish with their panic attacks.

Here is a link to a photogallery I put up for this post:

http://www.fusioncreativa.com/tmp/fish/

Thanks
 
I can almost guarantee you its the one healthy SD picking on the other two.
SD's really should be in a larger group than three, more like five or more (5+) fish in a school, this helps spread the aggression of a dominant fish.
Same thing goes for their frantic behavior, they don't feel safe outside of a school, also SD's do seem IMO to prefer subdued lighting and seem to like some structure and/or floating plants, sort of like a homebase when not cruising the tank.
SD's are a very fast and active fish and need alot of room, especially when startled, they can also reach six plus inches (6"+) and will need IMHO atleast a 55gal or larger tank for five or more fish.
 
Sounds like a resonable deduction on whats happening.
Thanks for your response.
 
Back
Top Bottom