Galaxy rasbora, this little guy look sick?

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lostintheforest

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 16, 2012
Messages
21
Location
southern california
Hi all,
I recently added 5 galaxy rasboras to my newly cycled fluval edge (6 gallon) and for the most part it seems like they're slowly getting more comfortable--still pretty skiddish but they have a good appetite and seem to like the flake food I have (as long as its crushed into tiny bits). Anyhow I'm concerned about one little guy, it's much smaller than the rest and is much more pale than the rest (see attached photos). Ive noticed it is also the most antisocial of the bunch and spends a lot of time hiding in the moss and not moving very much (where as the other four are much more active and physically robust). Does something look wrong with it? ive been trying to determine its sex and it's been a little more difficult than the others it looks to me like a juvi male, but im not sure. Any ideas? Should I be worried?
Thanks!
 

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Hm, hard to tell from the pic. I have these guys too, they're fun. :) Does the bottom fin have a red or clear tip? That's how I usually tell. Red tip is male, clear is female. Males tend to be darker too and the fins more reddish orange but if its a male and sick or stressed its colors won't be as vibrant. His/her eye looks large too and is that a white mark on its side or is it the camera?

Other than the white mark and him behaving oddly I don't see any visible signs of disease. Is he eating? Do you notice any chasing or anyone bothering it? Do you know how many males or females you have? I have 12 of them and they are peaceful fish but sometimes there is some harmless chasing (males wanting to mate with females or males sparring off to get to a female). It's possible it's being bullied for some reason (territory maybe), keep an eye on it and see if it's being harrassed.

The more hiding spots (plants, etc) you give them the more you'll see them ironically. They do like a variety of foods. The NLS .5mm community pellets or Hikari pellets for small fish go over well, as does frozen daphnia and golden pearls (kensfish sells these online). They'll eat almost anything if it's small enough. They also like to feed as the food falls down so anything that stays on the surface won't go over too well unless you can train them to come up top. Good luck!
 
Wow thank you for your great reply. I am happy to say that somewhat miraculously the little fish I was worried about is looking at acting almost completely different just 24 hours later. It's really remarkable, I had a hard time finding him (almost positive he's a male now) in the group he had changed so much both physically and behaviorally. He's schooling with the others and and they all have quite healthy appetites. So far I've just been feeding them very small amounts of crushed up flake food, which they seem to really like judging by how fast they devour it. I want to give them more of a variety in their diet so I really appreciate the advice on food. Oh yeah, I've attached a somewhat better photo of him
So far they've only had three days to get used to their new home so I imagine that was a big factor in this guys behavior, he is still the smallest so perhaps he just needed more time to get comfortable...either way I'm feeling very relieved and happy to see them start to show themselves a lot more (after I sit still for a minute or two of course).
Ive been doing quite a bit of research on these awesome little fish and I'm pretty sure that I have 2 females and 3 males. The males are smaller and more blue with much brighter orange and red markings on the fins, and the two females I have have gravid spots which makes it easy. Do you think having a male majority will end up being a problem?
I was also somewhat shocked this morning when I noticed a little fry stuck to the side of the tank. I had some zebra danios in the tank before and I'm assuming it's one of theirs, but it got me quite excited. I'd like to try to breed the celestials at some point so it's encouraging to know that I've provided an adequate environment for spawning.
how many do you think is the ideal number of celestials for such a small tank (6 gallon fluval edge)? I don't plan to have anything else besides a few cherry red shrimp, but don't want to overcrowd the tank.

Yikes sorry for rambling on. thanks again for your response!
 

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Glad to see he's doing better. His coloring looks great (and yep it's a male). I don't think the ratio should be a problem but it's hard to say for sure. You could get one or two more females to increase their numbers a bit more just in case. Once they get comfortable (looks like they're on their way) and get some variety in their diet they spawn pretty regularly in the mornings after feeding. I've never seen eggs or babies (my other fish proabably devour them anyway) but you may be more lucky without any other fish in the tank (although they tend to eat their own eggs too). Males will spar off (they'll display for each other and move in a tight circle). For little fish they pack in a lot of entertainment. Enjoy them and I'm glad yours is doing better (and congrats on the fry, how cute!!).
 
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