Hospital Tank

[talenzmeier]

Greetings fellow aquarists!

Upon inspecting my freshwater planted tank at lunch time, I saw that one of my newly added Angelfish was in an awkward position. His nose pointed straight down towards the bottom of the tank and his tail pointed straight up. When I realized that he wasn't being cute, I gave him a closer look. I could see that some of his tankmates had been picking on him. His tail and dorsal fins were torn, but only the soft tissue. Since he was still alive I took him out of the tank and put him in a large plastic cup, about 28 ounces in size. I put him there in order to isolate him and the cup seemed like the only option I had. I don't have a proper hospital tank, so I am wondering if this will do. I also put some stress relief medication in the cup. I also put a little flake food in it too. His tankmates include 2 Angelfish (excluding him), 4 gouramies, 4 Clown Loaches, 2 Bolivian Rams, 1 Plecostomus Temminicki, 6 White Clouds, 6 Leopard Danios, and 6 baby Neon Tetras. They're in a 58 gallon tank that is well stocked with plants and some structure.

So do you think he can stay in the cup if I change the water every 8 hours? Also, who do you think the most likely bullies are?

Thanks.

 

[SixFootDaisy]

Chances are he would be very unhappy in the cup.

Check out walmart, get a 10 gallon setup. THey are ultra cheap and great to have just incase something like this happens again.

Good luck getting him healthy!

As for who did it, any of them could I suspect.

 

[talenzmeier]

Yes, But . . .

Thanks for the tip. I'm still wondering, though, if I'll be ok using my "temporary" setup? I won't have time to get a real tank until Sunday.

 

[e-cat]

i think i would go with what sixfootdaisy said and buy a smaller tank, you will need a filter and heater and im not sure all of that will fit in a cup. i could be any of your fish besides the clown loaches and the pleco, id watch the danios and tetras as the main ones.

 

[Allivymar]

OOoo...a 28 oz cup is really too small unless he's around dime size. Even with 8 hr water changes, you may be taking a chance, and things change VERY quickly in something that small. You may want to block off a section of the tank instead for now, maybe some plastic with holes punched thru for water circulation, since you say you can't get to the store till Sunday. Or (and I realise the chances are slim LOL), if you have a new rubbermaid container, you can even use that (after scrubbing it out with some salt and rinsing VERY well). At least it would up the water volume and give you more elbow room in terms of water parameters.

As for who, I put my money on the other angels. Remember, they're cichlids, and as such are territorial buggers! I have 5 angels of varying sizes in my tank, from dollar size to full grown and ALL of em cept my midget angel have some sort of ripped/bit fin. Nothing major, but they all have a need to establish dominance on a regular basis. Like every hour or so LOL Usually its a chase or a half hearted nip, but once in a while someone takes a good chunk out of someone elses fins. And just wait till your guys decide to breed. They will most likely beat the heck out of each other, as well as chase everyone else away from the chosen breeding side of the tank LOL