Jferrante
Aquarium Advice Activist
I brought my father to a well kept aquarium store and he became really interested in the Electric blue rams they had (with orange faces.)
So i want to figure out everything I can and make sure they have a great chance of survival before we get them.
On a side note the fish at this store are probably in the best condition of all the fish stores in my area. Currently the fish I own are not from this store. So this may effect what I am about to explain.
My tank is a 55 gallon and about a month old now it appears to be cycled. I told him I have to wait before I can add more fish to be sure everything is in check.
3 of 5 of the new cories died this week (that I got last week. One died 2 days after being introduced, one the next day and one 3 days later.) I'm not sure why but all of them died of seemingly different reasons and they were young and all looked more similar to one another and behaved different than the 2 that are still alive and are happy and constantly active. Since i got them I set up a quarantine tank and bought all the supplies needed and have media in the canister for it when I get new fish. I also set up an drip acclimation tube to provide the best introduction I can. None of these fish though so far have been through this process. 1 rummy nose also died mysteriously and I found him pinned under some gravel with a thick mucous substance on him and what appeared to be white fungus this is the most strange occurrence I've encountered but I quickly disposed of him and did a 50% water change.
Because of these incidents I know I need to wait at least 2 weeks to a month to make sure everything is fine.
My ammonia and Nitrites are at a steady 0ppm (with ammonia giving a false reading between 0 and 0.25. It's an API Master Kit and after researching it, it turns out they can give this reading despite being 0ppm and is no sign of alarm unless it rises.) Nitrates stay around 5ppm, they drop slightly and slowly rise but never seem to surpass 5ppm probably because of the plants which are starting to grow in. I'll do two to three tests a day to see how it fluctuates for this week.
Anyways aside from all that what do you think of them? are they fragile? can they be housed with a bolivian rams or peaceful Gourami varieties? should there be 3 or 4 of them?
I can show a picture of my tank if you want tomorrow when it's light out to show you where they can hide and if it'd be efficient enough.
So i want to figure out everything I can and make sure they have a great chance of survival before we get them.
On a side note the fish at this store are probably in the best condition of all the fish stores in my area. Currently the fish I own are not from this store. So this may effect what I am about to explain.
My tank is a 55 gallon and about a month old now it appears to be cycled. I told him I have to wait before I can add more fish to be sure everything is in check.
3 of 5 of the new cories died this week (that I got last week. One died 2 days after being introduced, one the next day and one 3 days later.) I'm not sure why but all of them died of seemingly different reasons and they were young and all looked more similar to one another and behaved different than the 2 that are still alive and are happy and constantly active. Since i got them I set up a quarantine tank and bought all the supplies needed and have media in the canister for it when I get new fish. I also set up an drip acclimation tube to provide the best introduction I can. None of these fish though so far have been through this process. 1 rummy nose also died mysteriously and I found him pinned under some gravel with a thick mucous substance on him and what appeared to be white fungus this is the most strange occurrence I've encountered but I quickly disposed of him and did a 50% water change.
Because of these incidents I know I need to wait at least 2 weeks to a month to make sure everything is fine.
My ammonia and Nitrites are at a steady 0ppm (with ammonia giving a false reading between 0 and 0.25. It's an API Master Kit and after researching it, it turns out they can give this reading despite being 0ppm and is no sign of alarm unless it rises.) Nitrates stay around 5ppm, they drop slightly and slowly rise but never seem to surpass 5ppm probably because of the plants which are starting to grow in. I'll do two to three tests a day to see how it fluctuates for this week.
Anyways aside from all that what do you think of them? are they fragile? can they be housed with a bolivian rams or peaceful Gourami varieties? should there be 3 or 4 of them?
I can show a picture of my tank if you want tomorrow when it's light out to show you where they can hide and if it'd be efficient enough.