Greetings all,
This is my introduction. I am not new to fish but new to the planted tank. I have had a little pond in my small backyard for about 6 years. I've re-dug to make it bigger three times now. I started it with 6 21 cent goldfish thinking I didn't know what I was doing and they would probably perish. Six years later and then are the size of pond koi and have reproduced 5 generations. Each summer I give away about 40 goldfish to neighbors (keeping about 40 myself) and each summer they continue to reproduce. I winter them outside with a de-icer and air stones.
I decided I'd like to try my luck inside with a planted tank. I carefully planted my 38 gallon tank from seeds and small plants, cycled it and waited until I thought it was safe to add fish. I now have 6 Neon Tetras, 6 Pristella Tetras, 3 Corycats, 2 Guppies (I've lost several and I'm not sure why) and Amano shrimp. As I said, the guppies haven't faired well even though my temperature and water measurements are all good. I have guppie food and have followed all the directions I've found online and the advice of the people at the fish stores.
The tank has several kinds of plants - including carpeted areas, hiding spots and floating plants. I have a the cocoanut shell for for my amanos and a tube through which I can feed them their food.
Recently - yesterday - I added 6 Mollies - 3 dalmatians, 2 black and 1 white. They are larger than the other fish (about the same size as my corycats) I noticed right away that the mollies are going for the sinking wafers I have for the corycatfish and even pushing the corycats out of the way. They seem to be semi-aggressive and I'm wondering if I made a bad choice.
Following what I've read - I got 6 so they would have a group, put them in last so that the smaller fish could feel comfortable and even claim space before they joined the group. From everything I've read, they are supposed to be good community tank mates. They now are - for the most part - hanging at the bottom of the tank and invading the space of the corycats.
Is this normal? Should I return them and just stick to tiny fish? I'd love some advice.
Thanks so much!
This is my introduction. I am not new to fish but new to the planted tank. I have had a little pond in my small backyard for about 6 years. I've re-dug to make it bigger three times now. I started it with 6 21 cent goldfish thinking I didn't know what I was doing and they would probably perish. Six years later and then are the size of pond koi and have reproduced 5 generations. Each summer I give away about 40 goldfish to neighbors (keeping about 40 myself) and each summer they continue to reproduce. I winter them outside with a de-icer and air stones.
I decided I'd like to try my luck inside with a planted tank. I carefully planted my 38 gallon tank from seeds and small plants, cycled it and waited until I thought it was safe to add fish. I now have 6 Neon Tetras, 6 Pristella Tetras, 3 Corycats, 2 Guppies (I've lost several and I'm not sure why) and Amano shrimp. As I said, the guppies haven't faired well even though my temperature and water measurements are all good. I have guppie food and have followed all the directions I've found online and the advice of the people at the fish stores.
The tank has several kinds of plants - including carpeted areas, hiding spots and floating plants. I have a the cocoanut shell for for my amanos and a tube through which I can feed them their food.
Recently - yesterday - I added 6 Mollies - 3 dalmatians, 2 black and 1 white. They are larger than the other fish (about the same size as my corycats) I noticed right away that the mollies are going for the sinking wafers I have for the corycatfish and even pushing the corycats out of the way. They seem to be semi-aggressive and I'm wondering if I made a bad choice.
Following what I've read - I got 6 so they would have a group, put them in last so that the smaller fish could feel comfortable and even claim space before they joined the group. From everything I've read, they are supposed to be good community tank mates. They now are - for the most part - hanging at the bottom of the tank and invading the space of the corycats.
Is this normal? Should I return them and just stick to tiny fish? I'd love some advice.
Thanks so much!
