40g tank! Switching from 10g!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Freakgecko91 said:
Serpae or red minors tetras are not skirt tetras, so the may not school. Fish tend to school with similar colored fish from what I've come to notice. and by school, I mean school as most tetras are not true schooling fish
Click to expand...

Them not being true schooling fish is actually news to me, never have I ran across that in my research. What do you suppose might happen then, with the red minors? I've viewed black and white skirts grouping together in a tank acting as a a school with other community fish, and black skirts are housed with red minor tetras in the lfs, please do explain! :)
 
What you have to remember about fish in the pet store, especially big chain stores like petsmart, the fish are absolutely freaked from massive amounts of travel as well as cramped conditions, poor water quality, incompatible fish, and hundreds of eyes staring in at them, as well as fingers slamming on the glass. They get so scared that they'll school (shoal is a better word, as they don't move the exact same direction as one unit, but will move around the tank together, and may stray from the group every so often) with basically anything. Once they become more comfortable, they usually won't stay together with different colored species. I had 3 black skirts with my Serpae originally, and they never kept together, not to mention that black skirts prefer to occupy the paper regions of the tank while Serpae prefer the lower portion of the tank. Black skirts will stay with white skirts due to similar body shape and size. Although there's still no guarantee that they'll stay together anyway
 
I have 3 red minor tetra, 3 black skirt tetra and 1 that I am not sure what it is. None of then long fined. When they are stressed during water change or whatever they stick close. Otherwise they are all over the tank. I have these 7 various tetra in with my angel and you saw my angel. he isn't nipped in the slightest. However, I used to have a male betta in with them and he was very severely fin nipped. He has been out of the tank for about 2 months and his fins have grown at least a quarter of an inch. The tetras are more calm since removing the betta and everyone gets along, except for a minor scuffle here and there. I say go for it, just do it when you can watch them closely.
 
smomus said:
I have 3 red minor tetra, 3 black skirt tetra and 1 that I am not sure what it is. None of then long fined. When they are stressed during water change or whatever they stick close. Otherwise they are all over the tank. I have these 7 various tetra in with my angel and you saw my angel. he isn't nipped in the slightest. However, I used to have a male betta in with them and he was very severely fin nipped. He has been out of the tank for about 2 months and his fins have grown at least a quarter of an inch. The tetras are more calm since removing the betta and everyone gets along, except for a minor scuffle here and there. I say go for it, just do it when you can watch them closely.
Click to expand...

I only have two days of finals left, and they're half days, so I think it would be a good idea to get them tomorrow, and then Thursday (my last finals day) they can be given the morning as a grace period otherwise I'll stare them down and probly stress them out. I am only getting three at a time, and in smaller groups they're aggressive, do how much issue would that cause the angel? (the guppies are speedy suckers and can last a few days avoiding the minors, which are the first on the list) the barrel is hollow on the inside and can provide a hiding place, and there's a little free-floating anacharis, so will this be enough cover for a couple days for the angel?

The one that you don't know what it is, post a pic, I know alot of the tetra species and livebearers species, and I'd love to help, and I might get one of whatever you have if I like it :)
 
alia258 said:
I only have two days of finals left, and they're half days, so I think it would be a good idea to get them tomorrow, and then Thursday (my last finals day) they can be given the morning as a grace period otherwise I'll stare them down and probly stress them out. I am only getting three at a time, and in smaller groups they're aggressive, do how much issue would that cause the angel? (the guppies are speedy suckers and can last a few days avoiding the minors, which are the first on the list) the barrel is hollow on the inside and can provide a hiding place, and there's a little free-floating anacharis, so will this be enough cover for a couple days for the angel?

The one that you don't know what it is, post a pic, I know alot of the tetra species and livebearers species, and I'd love to help, and I might get one of whatever you have if I like it :)
Click to expand...

If your angel is still stressed in the morning, I'd hold off on it for another day. Give the little guy a chance to recoup. Maybe putting them in thurs night would be better, then hopefully they will sleep?
I'm about to do a water change then I'll get some pics for you. I'll post in another thread though so as not to hijack yours.
Good luck on finals!
 
smomus said:
If your angel is still stressed in the morning, I'd hold off on it for another day. Give the little guy a chance to recoup. Maybe putting them in thurs night would be better, then hopefully they will sleep?
I'm about to do a water change then I'll get some pics for you. I'll post in another thread though so as not to hijack yours.
Good luck on finals!
Click to expand...

I already have the red minors, who are occupying the bottom half of the tank. The angel is showing some serious signs that look like swim bladder, and I'm hoping it's just pH shock. What I read is that it takes 2 days to recover from pH shock...so we'll know tomorrow.

As for the reds, they're very young and haven't nipped any tails as of yet, but I won't cross out any possible tail biting until I get the other skirts.
 
The angel died, I think it did get swim bladder. Is that contagious by any chance? I thought it was a sign of shock from a change in the water? One of my neons is having trouble staying upright :( bless his buddies souls, they're staying with the sweet little guy! He appears to be able to control his balance, but with some extra effort. This particular one (whom happens to have a tear on the bottom half of his tail fin) never really hung with the group, but this is the first sign of illness I've seen out of him. I can't figure out why this happened. I got a new 150 watt heater today (guaranteed great heat up to a 55g btw) and the temp only went from 76.3 (higher than this morning) to 78.5 (exactly where I like it to be) and I tested the pH, an it's at 7, exactly where it's supposed to be, an on top of that he's been in the aquarium for about a week and it has cycled material. I don't want my fish to he sick, and I don't want the disease to spread, so what can I do? I have salt and CopperSafe aquarium meds on hand, and I have a few other non-disease related chemicals that aren't in use. It can't be the liquid fertilizer, because he would've shown symptoms in the 10g before the transfer. Any ideas guys?

On a separate subject, I've released the guppy fry which are officially an inch long each! I did make sure to watch and make sure they weren't being bullied, and all but a few will be sent to a friend with a 55g, but I had to check and make sure my fish didn't bully them because they have a black skirt that can be aggressive at times. I've made sure they'll be provided hidin places, so no worries! :)

I think I might get another angel when I get my three white skirt tetras. The whites are more docile and less aggressive than the blacks, and them being in the tank before the blacks seems like a good idea because the blacks will become calm with the whites present :)

As for the lone Cory cat I have, I want to get him four more friends, but the store carries much younger and smaller ones, so will there be an issue with the way they school? I don't want my Cory to be left out!
 
Oh no! I'm so sorry your angel died. He might have just been bad stock from the store. Do they have a return death policy? I don't think swim bladder is contagious, but may be wrong.

Be careful adding fish too fast. That might be what is getting them sick. Even though you have cycled media in your filter, it does need to get used to the bio load your fish have. Have you ever gone from sea level to a high altitude? Or tried running even though you haven't trained? How do your lungs feel? Out of shape? That is kind of like your filter. It needs to work us way up to the more strenuous bio load converting. Add a few then wait at least a week before adding more. I know its hard when you see all those cute fish and know there is room in your tank! But in the long run things will be much better off!
 
The lfs has a policy, but my mom happened to gulch the angel before I could tell her :( I saw a black and yellow one I might get, it was an excited one but I'm not so sure since it seems like its very tail-nippy and such. When I get the three black skirts, I'll either get a dwarf gourami or another angel :)
 
okapizebra said:
Did you test your water?
Click to expand...

My mom won't let me get a water testing kit, wether I pay for it or not :( maybe if I ask for my birthday though?

As far as I can tell, the remaining fish are healthy and the red minors have been docile. The guppy babies have been swimming in open water since last night, and they're all doing well. The red minors tend to follow one another, I think they're playing :)

Oh and guys, this is the unnatural coloring of white skirts (I've seen the green glofish variation, it looks much more natural)

View attachment 96488

Just thought this might show you how unnatural that this seems, I really don't like that people actually dye fish.

I was thinking I might get the gold skirt tetra variation, do you believe that they'll still school with the blacks?
 
The neon with the possible swim bladder is getting some serious fin decay o some sort, but the other fish are all fine and entirely full finned, so what could be wrong with the little guy?
 
If you are seeing fin rot, make sure to do a water change and possibly do them more often since you can't test yet.

Fin Rot is often a sign of poor water quality.
Be careful not to overfeed and if you have Prime water conditioner you can add a bit extra to the tank.

Fin Rot can also be from fin nipping injuries, so keep an eye on them. Try not to add fish if you have unhealthy fish. Figure out why your fish is sick before adding new ones. JMHO.
 
Coursair said:
If you are seeing fin rot, make sure to do a water change and possibly do them more often since you can't test yet.

Fin Rot is often a sign of poor water quality.
Be careful not to overfeed and if you have Prime water conditioner you can add a bit extra to the tank.

Fin Rot can also be from fin nipping injuries, so keep an eye on them. Try not to add fish if you have unhealthy fish. Figure out why your fish is sick before adding new ones. JMHO.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what JMHO means, but I'll be checking up on my fish. Since stress coat helps repair fins, do you suppose that might promote recovery? None of the other fish are showing signs of fin rot, so ill go buy either prime or stress coat depending on which one will help the neons recovery faster. I'll be doing more pwcs definatly. Here's the little guy, he's also showing signs of swim bladder, but that could be because he can't use his fins to keep upright.

View attachment 96638

I don't know if you guys can see him, but I can see him wiggling around in there. I figure leaving him in there is best, because he picked to be in there
 
JMHO = just my honey opinion

I've never used prime but stress coat does well to help my fish grow their nipped fins back. Idk a anything about swim bladder, sorry.
 
smomus said:
JMHO = just my honey opinion

I've never used prime but stress coat does well to help my fish grow their nipped fins back. Idk a anything about swim bladder, sorry.
Click to expand...

So what is your opinion on honey then? >:) lame, I know, but I had to
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
Greetings from NorCal!
Replies
14
Views
629
Figuringitout
F
Danio8
Upgrading Tank Size
Replies
8
Views
314
Danio8
Danio8
J
Greetings from Sedona
Replies
2
Views
432
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
E
What should I add to my tank alongside my current neon tetras?
Replies
5
Views
690
Joe_D
J
G
Please help... Tank is getting away from me
Replies
6
Views
1K
Joe_D
J

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom