would like to buy fish

[J rider]

Hello,

I'm sorry if I posted in the wrong forum. I didn't see one that would be appropriate. I would like to try to buy some fish from a hobbyist or highly reccommended vendor. Some of you will remember me, as I needed lots of help for my 55 gallon planted tank. Its been 2 months of growth and fish and plants are happy so I would like to carefully add.

I'm looking for Bolivian Rams, Skunk Botia, and Rainbows. Let me know if anyone has any? (I don't intend on adding at once)

Thanks,
Jackie

Current set up:
55 gal
2 65W 6700K bulbs
Fluval 304 on low

5 ottos
2 SAEs
6 red cherry shrimp
snails

2 wide leaf swords
2 anubias barteri
10 crypt wendti
30+ crypt lucens and crypt walkeri
1 dwarf lily plant
6 sagittaria chilensis
8 green hedge
3 apon longipulimus
6 water lettuce
duckweed

pH 7.4
GH 7
KH 4
phos < .1
nitra > 10

 

[TankGirl]

I am going to move this into the General Discussion forum to get recommendations for vendors, but I'd recommend looking at Aquabid and ebay. Read the feedback and you'll get an idea if the seller is reputable, but many very well respected breeders use these auction sites for their fish, and you can find just about anything.

 

[megladonsharky]

what type of rainbows are you looking for

 

[J rider]

Thanks guys,
I went to Aquabid and didn't have luck finding Bolivian Rams or Skunk Loaches so I might just go ahead and order from AZ gardens. I ordered all my plants through them and everything was so healthy. With live fish, I was trying to avoid shipping them across the country.

I couldn't find anything live on Ebay....is there a key word or something?

As far as Rainbows go I would like something brightly colored, growing to more than 2-3 inches. Health is very important and also it has to be happy with my tank conditions. Lastly, not easy to kill.
My tank has been going so well but I really had every problem you could think of the first go around. I lost 8 danios and 4 clown loaches over a 6 month period. My algae eaters were untouched.
I'm hoping that my stable conditions and healthy plants are evidence that I'm ready for fish.
Jackie

 

[greenmaji]

have you tested your tanks peramiters.. how is your nitrogen cycle doing?
ammonia, nitrite, nitrate....?

things looking good is good but on rare ocasoins looks can be deciving.. expesially if your PH has droped low and you have some ammonia.. ack! 8O

 

[J rider]

I set up my tank in December and made some mistakes that led to battles with algae and fish losses. So in April I removed all my plants and started over. The water and bacteria cycled in November. I did list some parameters in my original post.
pH 7.4
GH 7
KH 4
nitra 10-20
phos .1
Jackie

 

[TankGirl]

Check out Irian red rainbows - they might fit the bill for you.

 

[oxymoron]

Bosemani Rainbows are really cool, but they may get a little bigger than 3". The owner of my LFS has 3 tanks that are set up as display only and one of them has a nice school of bosemani in it, one of them is close to 5" but he said it took almost 5 years to attain that size.

 

[TankGirl]

Yeah, my Boesemanis are about 2 1/2 years old now and are ~ 3". Irians get larger.

 

[J rider]

Ok guys I ordered 6 Boesemani from Aquabid. There was an old article on this site where someone reccomended the seller so I thought i gotta do it.
I'm really excited I was planning on getting 4 different types of fish. But one at a time. Now that I have learned so much about the Rainbows' breeding possibilities I may just try to make more of them.
Thanks for all your help.

I'll try to take pictures when they acclimate.

Jackie