Hey all. First time poster here! I recently started a new job and decided to reward myself by purchasing a new tank since I had one during my childhood. I've had it for a few weeks now, all the water has continuously tested perfect. I started the tank off with a 5 Zebra danios and then added 5 more neon tetras later. Everything is peachy so I decided to add more fish...a lot more fish...at once. In one plop, I added 3 swordtails, 2 dwarf gouramis, 1 oapline gaurami, 3 clown loach and my black red tail shark.
Oblivious to my mistake, nothing at first really happened. Everything seemed to be okay but I started to notice some weird behavioral issues that I didnt take anything too seriously until now. Sone of the fish were hiding in corners and others were hiding behind the heater. I thought it was a temperature issue at first so I was slowly trying to adjust the temp when I came home from work and one of my tetras was dead.
No big deal, I remembered that some neons can just croak. I stopped changing the temp but the behavior stayed the same. The next day 1 of my Zebras was a goner. A few days later I notice some more of the tetras and Zebras aren't in a school like usual but I didn't notice them missing until today. I got home today and 1 of my female swordtails and 1 dwarf gaurmi were dead (untouched) along with another zebra chewed up and dead and one that had escaped with no tail and another neon tetra causality.
Took my water to the LFS (even though I was testing it myself) to doublecheck and get a second opinion. They said the Opaline Gourami is the culprit as they are known to boss around tetras and smaller danios.
I immediately put 2 more plants in my tank for hiding but I am not sure what more I can do. Any advice?
29 gl. freshwater tank, AquaClear200
2 Red Wag Swordtail
1 Opaline Gourami
1 Red Dwarf Gourami
3 Zebra Danios
3 Neon Tetras
1 Red-Tailed Black Sharp
3 Clown loach
On a side note, I haven't seen very much of my Clowns at all. They had been in hiding ever since I put them in the tank.
Oblivious to my mistake, nothing at first really happened. Everything seemed to be okay but I started to notice some weird behavioral issues that I didnt take anything too seriously until now. Sone of the fish were hiding in corners and others were hiding behind the heater. I thought it was a temperature issue at first so I was slowly trying to adjust the temp when I came home from work and one of my tetras was dead.
No big deal, I remembered that some neons can just croak. I stopped changing the temp but the behavior stayed the same. The next day 1 of my Zebras was a goner. A few days later I notice some more of the tetras and Zebras aren't in a school like usual but I didn't notice them missing until today. I got home today and 1 of my female swordtails and 1 dwarf gaurmi were dead (untouched) along with another zebra chewed up and dead and one that had escaped with no tail and another neon tetra causality.
Took my water to the LFS (even though I was testing it myself) to doublecheck and get a second opinion. They said the Opaline Gourami is the culprit as they are known to boss around tetras and smaller danios.
I immediately put 2 more plants in my tank for hiding but I am not sure what more I can do. Any advice?
29 gl. freshwater tank, AquaClear200
2 Red Wag Swordtail
1 Opaline Gourami
1 Red Dwarf Gourami
3 Zebra Danios
3 Neon Tetras
1 Red-Tailed Black Sharp
3 Clown loach
On a side note, I haven't seen very much of my Clowns at all. They had been in hiding ever since I put them in the tank.
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