Fish got an upgrade to a 55, looking for suggestions!

[libertybelle]

Just finished setting up a new-to-me planted 55 gallon, I updated the details on my account page. The only fish in there are 5 glo- skirt tetras 4 glo- tiger barbs (and a few dozen shrimp.) The planting will eventually be pretty heavy but it’s just starting out so there’s not a ton of cover, but it will fill in. (Photo attached of what it looks like now.)

So now I’m looking for recommendations for potential new tank mates! Eventually I may move the otos from the 29 into the 55 for more grazing territory but the tank is too new for that so they’re staying in the 29 for now.

I started out with 6 each of the glo fish tetras and barbs (maybe a year -18 months ago) which was all I was comfortable squeezing into the 29. Lost a few to a standard water change a few weeks ago (bad timing of a Water company chlorine flush I think, emergency dosed safe which saved the rest of the tank but I still lost a few ) so my first addition will be to bump those schools up again. Though, so far there hasn’t been any aggression despite the small school size.

Any suggestions for other interesting tank mates I should consider? This tank is (kind of, sort of, not really but maybe a little ) a fish tv for my 2.5 year old, which is why I chose glo-fish initially. So fish with a lot of activity and personality would be a big plus to help capture his attention! I know the shrimp are potential casualties to a lot of fish but they can be disregarded. I’ll move them to the 29 with less aggressive fish if needed.

 

[charliebankston]

Pretty tank. I'd do a school of Rummy nose tetras or Lamp eye tetras. 8-12. They school together really well, and it would be entertaining for the 2 year old to watch a big clump of little fish swim from one end to the other. And they're no threat to the shrimp

 

[libertybelle]

Pretty tank. I'd do a school of Rummy nose tetras or Lamp eye tetras. 8-12. They school together really well, and it would be entertaining for the 2 year old to watch a big clump of little fish swim from one end to the other. And they're no threat to the shrimp

Thank you!! I have always loved rummy nose tetras and they were definitely something I was considering in the past, but haven’t seen them anywhere around here in ages. So I went out today and one of the places I normally get my fish randomly had rummy nose tetras!

So thanks for the idea. I was going to pick up 12 then I thought what if some don’t make it, it might be ages before I find them locally again (they were at a big box store that keeps their fish well, but still...) So I was going to get 18. But I couldn’t just leave those last two at the store all by their lonesome.... so long story short I now have 20 rummy nose tetras qt in the 29 I can already tell 1 is probably not going to make it, but the others all look stunning all schooling around together!

 

[charliebankston]

Haha! Awesome! We always buy a couple of extra of the little fish because inevitably 1 or 2 die. I bought a school of 6 sword tails last year, but that left 1 all alone in the tank. So I came home with 7. I feel your guilt! Lol

 

[libertybelle]

Yeah, there are already a couple that I can see are not keeping up with the school very well. one looks like it may have sustained a minor injury during netting so fingers crossed it recovers okay. I suspect I’ll end up with about 18. The rest have colored up a bit already and are zipping around the tank like they’ve been there for weeks. Can’t wait to see them in the bigger tank, should make their tight schooling even more neat looking.

I also picked up two each of the glo tetras and barbs and 6 otos. Since I have the fully established 29 the other fish just vacated to use as a quarantine tank, I figured might as well get them all at once. (I split the established media between the two filters and the 55 has some plants and decor from the 29, so the cycle kept up without a hiccup in both.)

The new tiger barbs are teeny tiny. Not even half an inch long. And the 4 in the 55 are at least 2 years old so they have some bulk to them. I was hoping that adding two to the school at a time would keep either from getting picked on too badly, but now that I’m looking at them next to the big ones I’m wondering how that will work out. Guess I better feed them really well while they’re quarantined and just hope there’s enough cover and distraction in the tank to allow them to settle into the pecking order without too much fuss. I see very little bullying among this group of fish, even when there were only 4 barbs and 5 tetras in the 29, so I may have gotten lucky with the temperament of these particular fish. From everything I’ve read about tiger barbs, having only 4 in a relatively small space is a recipe for disaster, and I’ve had zero issues.

 

[charliebankston]

That's great! I have tiger barbs and they are also in a 65g with a opalescent gourami. Mine don't really fight too much, and I've never seen them nip fins. I think I have 7 or 8. Maybe the numbers keep them from being too aggressive

 

[libertybelle]

Well I had the highest death rate in the first 12 hours that I’d ever seen with a new fish acquisition. The rummys had just arrived at the store that day and normally I’d have give them a bit before buying so the ones too stressed by transport don't come home with me, but I haven’t seen rummies in this store for years and I knew someone else would snap them up!

I started with these new additions:
21 rummys
2 Glo tetras
2 glo barbs
6 otos

They died off one by one until the next morning I had left;
12 rummys
2 glo tetras
1 glo barb
4 otos

Must have tested my QT water a dozen times but all was totally normal 0/0/5-10

But after that first night the rest look fantastic. I think I may have just made a purchase on their restocking day so the losses were way higher than normal due to shipping stress I got refunds for all of them but it’s still depressing to lose so many fish in great water with no real signs of illness.

I gave them a week in quarantine and then moved them over to the 55. I know... too soon. I was excited to get everyone upgraded, hopefully I won’t regret that impatience!

The tank looks amazing, no bullying even though the new glow fish are all easily 1/3 the size of the adults in there. All the schools are happily swimming about and exploring all the new plants I’ve been moving in.

Actually there was one hilarious moment of “bullying”. You know how tiger barbs tend to sleep nose down sometimes (or at least mine always have). The tiny new tiger barb pecked the biggest barb in the tank in the stomach while it was napping this evening. It woke up chased him around a bit and all is back to normal. I guess someone told it to pick a fight with the big guy in the yard if you want to make it in the big tank

 

[libertybelle]

Updated tank photo! Most of the glofish are hanging out in the plants but you can see some of the rummys cruising!

Current residents:
12 rummy nose tetras
7 glo tetras
5 glo barbs
7 otos
5 nerite snails
A couple dozen Amano/ghost/cherry shrimp
Sooooooo many plants

 

[charliebankston]

Tank looks fantastic! I love watching a school of rummy noses, swimming back and forth. Good stuff. My barbs "vampire" too, they're so funny. I've had a school of tiger barbs for 3 years, moved them to 4 different aquariums, never lost a single one. They are tough little critters

 

[libertybelle]

Well I regret the impatience. A week in qt and no spots, moved the rummys into the display, 2 days later I see spots on the rummys.

Had fish for over a decade and I’ve never actually had ich before. I definitely know better then such a short quarantine, I usually do at least a couple weeks, so it is 100% my fault, but still annoying.

 

[charliebankston]

Haha! Good news is, it's pretty easy to cure. Bad news is, the most effective meds are hard on tetras for some reason. I've used Hikari ich-x and Kordon rid ich plus both (same ingredients) to great success. I think they call for a half dose with tetra. I liked 6 buenos Aires tetras once using full dose after a couple of days. But at half dose I've treated some tetras with no problem

 

[libertybelle]

(I have no clue why my subject line is an angry face... for the record)

That’s good to know, as I said I have no experience with ich. Clean water and luck I guess usually kept even my qt tanks illness free. Any experience with paraguard? I think it’s a variant of the formalin type meds. I have it on hand because I got it a long time ago when I thought a fish in qt had ich. It turned out to be a nip, not an ich spot so I think I used it one time then realized what the spot was and ceased treatment. But I still have it.

 

[libertybelle]

Well the store got more rummy nose tetras in, absolutely infested with the most ich I had ever seen on a fish. So like any soft-hearted dope, I took the whole school. Figured my tank was already going through treatment so I may as well give them a chance.

Boy am I glad I did. I only lost one fish, despite most being tiny, malnourished and just utterly ravaged with ich postules. I now have about 2 dozen rummy nose tetras zipping around my 55 completely ich free and they are just delightful to watch.

I just took the temperature up to 82 (air stone at night, no oxygenation issues during the day due to tons of plants) and dosed paraguard at 50% daily dosage for almost 2 weeks then up to 75% daily dosage until the spots disappeared. (About 2.5 weeks total until all spots disappeared and no new ones were showing up. I’m sure it would have taken less time if I hadn’t introduced the new ich ridden fish a week into treatment or if I wasn’t using a lower dosage in deference to my otos who I don’t think would have loved full strength).

I haven’t seen spots in about a week or so and have been slowly dropping the temperature and paraguard dosage. Yesterday I did a larger than usual water change (~70%) and used the gravel vac on any substrate I could without disturbing the plants. I think I’ll do 25% paraguard dosage for a few more days then declare victory.

Interestingly while the new fish (the otos and rummys) were ravaged with ich, during the entire treatment period not a single spot showed up on the glofish (barbs or skirt tetras.) I guess paraguard is really good at killing that free floating stage of the parasite so it never managed to infect any new fish.

 

[Caliban07]

Well the store got more rummy nose tetras in, absolutely infested with the most ich I had ever seen on a fish. So like any soft-hearted dope, I took the whole school. Figured my tank was already going through treatment so I may as well give them a chance.

Boy am I glad I did. I only lost one fish, despite most being tiny, malnourished and just utterly ravaged with ich postules. I now have about 2 dozen rummy nose tetras zipping around my 55 completely ich free and they are just delightful to watch.

I just took the temperature up to 82 (air stone at night, no oxygenation issues during the day due to tons of plants) and dosed paraguard at 50% daily dosage for almost 2 weeks then up to 75% daily dosage until the spots disappeared. (About 2.5 weeks total until all spots disappeared and no new ones were showing up. I’m sure it would have taken less time if I hadn’t introduced the new ich ridden fish a week into treatment or if I wasn’t using a lower dosage in deference to my otos who I don’t think would have loved full strength).

I haven’t seen spots in about a week or so and have been slowly dropping the temperature and paraguard dosage. Yesterday I did a larger than usual water change (~70%) and used the gravel vac on any substrate I could without disturbing the plants. I think I’ll do 25% paraguard dosage for a few more days then declare victory.

Interestingly while the new fish (the otos and rummys) were ravaged with ich, during the entire treatment period not a single spot showed up on the glofish (barbs or skirt tetras.) I guess paraguard is really good at killing that free floating stage of the parasite so it never managed to infect any new fish.

What a lovely story. Never had Rummies. I was told they are not a beginner fish and I’ve never had a tank large enough for them.