Hello,
I've just joined the forum and haven't filled out my profile yet.
I'll explain what is going on and what the problem is. I'm sorry for it being so long.
My Aquarium is unfortunately pretty small. 60 Litres. It had been out of action for a while, after an idiotic friend bought home a massive koi fish, saying it was cute, and I didn't want to kill it, so I added it to an already overstocked cat.
So recently, someone I knew told me they used to own run a fish shop, and wanted to help me set up a great new colourful set-up inside, which he said would be fine.
So we cycled the tank, and then bought 4 Demasoni's, 4 Yellow Labs, and 2 cat-fish like fish of a similar size, which were spotty, and apparently also from Lake Malawi. Since then he has abandoned me
!
At this stage, I had a large external filter, to which we had added some filter material from the shop, and a heater.
Over the next 2 weeks, we lost 3 demasoni's, and 1 yellow lab, who appeared to be pregnant.
After this, unfortunately it only seems to have gotten worse. The remaining demasoni, is naturally very aggressive. One yellow lab got nipped a fair bit, so I bought an even smaller tank of 40 litres, and segregated him there, along with some 'general-aid', but he didn't make it.
After this I was left with one really voracious demasoni, a yellow lab, and 1 smaller yellow lab, who was bullied. So, I removed the smaller one, and put to the smaller tank. Then, the other yellow lab, was also targeted by the demasoni, and couldn't seem to hold his own, so I tried moving him over to the small tank, but that looked like it would end up in a fight to the death, so I let him stay with the demasoni a bit longer. Now he's fairly stressed, and the two yellow labs are now successfully coexisting without much aggression inside the 40 litre.
Meanwhile, the 60 litre tank, keeps going green, seemingly no matter how much I scrape the walls, or change the water. I put some magic powder an hour ago in the aquariums filter, and this seems to be clearing up. I believe I have to put a little more tomorrow, and do a water change, according to the guy in the fish shop.
So, I am now aware, that what I have is too small, for what I have, and you are aware of what my situation is... so I'll get to the point -
What's the best way out of this, without spending money I don't currently have on a large aquarium?
I'll also add, I have 4 large rocks in the 60 litre, and I did have a piece of driftwood, but it was becoming very ridiculous with algae, and some sort of fluffy looking pale slime, so I removed it.
Will adding more fish be a solution, or a death sentence? I guess algae could be controlled by suitable algae eaters (which are they for this tank?) , and that the cichlid aggression could be controlled by adding some more yellow labs and demasonis , but I don't want to buy more fish simply for them to die. If that was the case, I'd rather just do my best to keep everything healthy and happy as long as I can, and then make a better choice next time, which I'll be sure to consult this forum for this time around!
I've just joined the forum and haven't filled out my profile yet.
I'll explain what is going on and what the problem is. I'm sorry for it being so long.
My Aquarium is unfortunately pretty small. 60 Litres. It had been out of action for a while, after an idiotic friend bought home a massive koi fish, saying it was cute, and I didn't want to kill it, so I added it to an already overstocked cat.
So recently, someone I knew told me they used to own run a fish shop, and wanted to help me set up a great new colourful set-up inside, which he said would be fine.
So we cycled the tank, and then bought 4 Demasoni's, 4 Yellow Labs, and 2 cat-fish like fish of a similar size, which were spotty, and apparently also from Lake Malawi. Since then he has abandoned me
!At this stage, I had a large external filter, to which we had added some filter material from the shop, and a heater.
Over the next 2 weeks, we lost 3 demasoni's, and 1 yellow lab, who appeared to be pregnant.
After this, unfortunately it only seems to have gotten worse. The remaining demasoni, is naturally very aggressive. One yellow lab got nipped a fair bit, so I bought an even smaller tank of 40 litres, and segregated him there, along with some 'general-aid', but he didn't make it.
After this I was left with one really voracious demasoni, a yellow lab, and 1 smaller yellow lab, who was bullied. So, I removed the smaller one, and put to the smaller tank. Then, the other yellow lab, was also targeted by the demasoni, and couldn't seem to hold his own, so I tried moving him over to the small tank, but that looked like it would end up in a fight to the death, so I let him stay with the demasoni a bit longer. Now he's fairly stressed, and the two yellow labs are now successfully coexisting without much aggression inside the 40 litre.
Meanwhile, the 60 litre tank, keeps going green, seemingly no matter how much I scrape the walls, or change the water. I put some magic powder an hour ago in the aquariums filter, and this seems to be clearing up. I believe I have to put a little more tomorrow, and do a water change, according to the guy in the fish shop.
So, I am now aware, that what I have is too small, for what I have, and you are aware of what my situation is... so I'll get to the point -
What's the best way out of this, without spending money I don't currently have on a large aquarium?
I'll also add, I have 4 large rocks in the 60 litre, and I did have a piece of driftwood, but it was becoming very ridiculous with algae, and some sort of fluffy looking pale slime, so I removed it.
Will adding more fish be a solution, or a death sentence? I guess algae could be controlled by suitable algae eaters (which are they for this tank?) , and that the cichlid aggression could be controlled by adding some more yellow labs and demasonis , but I don't want to buy more fish simply for them to die. If that was the case, I'd rather just do my best to keep everything healthy and happy as long as I can, and then make a better choice next time, which I'll be sure to consult this forum for this time around!
