Any Suggestions?

[Traci]

Here in the office we have a tank. It's an Eclipse, 20 inches wide, 16 inches tall and about 11 inches deep. Don't know how that translates to gallons. It's been here for about 2 years (belonged to my boss' kid, and when they didn't want it anymore he brought it in), and originally held 8 fish, at least 5 distinct species, all freshwater. Now there are 3 left. One is yellow, about 5 inches long with orange eyes, a black spot on either side at the start of his tail, and two really long (about 3 inches) barbels (?) or antennae kind of things from his chin. He originally had a mate with a longer tail and no long attenaes. There are also 2 bottom dwellers. One is pretty standard looking sucker mouth fish (not a plico I don't think) that's greyish with small blackish-brown dots covering his body in a striped pattern. He spends about an equal amount of time attached to a tank wall and in the artificial cave. The other is a catfish of some kind. He never comes out of the cave and is usually attached to the top of it. He sticks out his head to eat and the only time I see him clearly is when I clean the tank. He has a huge head, smallish body and is covered in spikes. He is a variety of dark brown blotchy colors. The tank is also chock full of snails. Literally hundreds of them. They are in the cave, they get in the filter, and they don't seem to keep the tank any cleaner that I can tell.

So, the question. THe boss wants more fish in there. Obviously, I don't know what I have already and have no clue what to add. Any suggestions would be a real help!
Thanks.

[Tempest]

Traci, I think that's probably between 15 and 20 gallons. My 20 gallon tall is somewhat wider but the same length and height.

We need to know what the big gold fish is I think to be too helpful. There is a section at the Aquaria Central introduction page that should point you to fish profiles with some pics that you can look at to help.

The bristly nosed catfish is probably a bristlenose pleco. They don't get real big so that one shouldn't be a problem. How big is the other suckermouth cat? It may be another of the smaller plecos...

[Traci]

Tempest, thanks for the quick response. Both of the smaller fish are about 2 inches, maybe 3 tops. I assume that all the fish are mature as none have grown appreciably since we got the tank 2 years ago. The "mystery" fish I will investigate further. Further ID for the one you think might be a pleco, he has greenish white underbelly and a lateral dark grey stripe under the dots that runs along both sides.

[Tempest]

Does it look anything like this?

http://tropical-fish.net/Scavengers/chinese_algae_eater.htm

[Traci]

Tempest. That's it exactly! As to the yellow fish, I looked through the db and didn't see anything that looked like it. I was going to describe it more, but a pic is worht a 1000 and all that, so:

[OrionGirl]

Just a comment on the snails--overfeeding. When there is more food available than the fish consume, snails boom. Cut back on the feeding to every other day, and they should go down in number. You may need to hide the food to prevent others from feeding--adult fish do not need to fed every day, much less several times a day.

Also, help us with the cleaning process. What do you do, how often?

The orange fish could be a type of barb, or a koi. If it's a koi, you have serious problems--they get to be about 2 feet, and need to be a in a pond to be healthy.

What kind of fish do you think the boss wants added? Lots of choices for a 20.

[OrionGirl]

Ah, never mind. That's a gold gourami, no doubt. Good fish.

So, for adding, I would suggest a schooling fish, such as silver tip tetras, blue tetras, or one of the other peaceful tetra fish. Avoid fish that are frantic swimmers--they will make the gourami unhappy.

[Traci]

I feed once a day, usually right when I get in in the AM, so about 8 or so. They aren't fed on weekends, and their light isn't turned on either. Since the tank has lost fish in the past 2 years, I've adjusted the amount of food. They get Wardley brand tropical flakes, and the amount I use now is small. I haven't bought new food in about 8 months and the 1.95 oz container is stil 1/3 full. Also, I've never seen any fish poop, only when I clean the tank.

Uhm, okay. Bad Traci. I've probably cleaned maybe 8 or 9 times in 2 years it's been here. Twice I have replaced all the water and cleaned all the gravel/rocks at the bottom, washed out the cave and all the plants (artificial) and rocks, etc. No soap or anything like that, I'm not completely unaware. When I add water to the tank, I acclimate the tempartures by touch and add AmQuel to the water that I add. Also, twice I have put in a few drops of Termin-ITE that's supposed to add "good" bacteria or something. I test infrequently with AquaLab strips and have never been in the "stress" or above range. Just tested and it reads about .5 Nitrite. Don't have a hose so I can't vacuum the rocks.

The boss said only non agressive and colorful. Since it's a work tank and I can't really devote a lot of time to it, and they don't get fed 2 days a week (or more if I'm out sick or something), they should probably be something hardy. The tank itself sits in a shaded corner of the office, near a large window but not in any kind of direct sunlight. 2 sides face walls, and the top is covered. The tank light is on from about 8 to 5, M-F.

[Tempest]

I'd keep an eye on the CAE(Chinese Algae Eater). They have a bad reputation for becoming agressive as they get older. A lot of people here don't like them but I have a Golden Algae Eater in my 20 gallon that has done a tremendously good job over the last few months of keeping that aquarium clean. The Golden is just a different color of CAE. They can get very large but they do seem to grow slowly. Mine has been in the 20 gallon for several months and it seems to have grown well less than an inch.

If you are wanting more activity in the tank, you may end up wanting to call a local fish store and see if you can get them to take the larger gold fish. (Not to mention id'ing it) With a tank of 15 to 20 gallons, I think then I would maybe put in a nice sized school of harlequin rasboras or a school of one of the smaller sized tetras and then perhaps add two or three cory catfish. The cories don't hide as much as the bristlenose but they won't bother one another.

I don't think I would add neon tetras unless you are changing water frequently eough to keep the wastes down and the water in good condition. The snails seem to indicate what OrionGirl said and neons are a little delicate.

[Traci]

I don't think the cave dweller is a bristle nose pleco. I looked at some pics of that species and it doesn't really look like that. I took some pics, and I will post the best couple. Unfortunately I had to remove his cave and then nudge him off, he'd suckered himseld onto the roof. After that he was trying to find his home and it was hard to get a solid pic. From the pic of the pleco it seems like the bristles are just around the mouth and nose. This cave dweller is bristled on the entire body. Also, no poop. Oh, and when my co-worker and I got a good look at him, we both noticed immediately that he his FAT. His belly was chock full of food. I didn't think I was overfeeding, but I guess that I really AM! THe other two look fine though.

[Traci]

And another view

[OrionGirl]

Looks like a spotted rapheal cat. Tough as nails in my experience. Not actually an algae eater--these guys are carnivores, and will eat very small fish if they can. Nocturnal, and sedentary even then.


Okay--on cleaning, I understand that it can be tough to clean while you're at work. So, do you think you could go with 2 cleanings a month? Every other week, we should be able to keep it to about 30 minutes each time. Might need a few supplies, but less than $20 total. The Amquel is great--it deal with chlorine and chloramine, as well as the ammonia that results. Good product. The other thing it a siphon (gravel vacuum) if you don't already have one. With a good cleaning, the substrate won't trap wastes, and contribute to nitrates. You don't ever need to completely break the tank down to clean it. Decorations can be removed and cleaned occassionally, if desired. You'll want to pull about 5 gallons out with each cleaning, so tubing to reach a drain, or a bucket to hold it will be needed.

Also--dump the bacteria in a bottle. With few exceptions, these are snake oil products, and not needed for an established tank. Bio-Spira is a good product, but it's not needed for an established tank, though it would be useful when adding fish.

Get a timer for the lights--it's better to have a regular schedule of lights, even on the weekends. Not required, but helps the fish behave normally.

Was that nitrates, or nitrites? Nitrites are very toxic, while nitrates are just indicative of other DOCs.

[Traci]

Thanks so much to both of you. You've really helped.

I checked out some on-line pics and I think your id is on the nose! Since he's a carnivore, have I been feeding him all wrong and also should I be worried about any small fish I put in there?

I think I can manage the bi-monthly schedule. I will get the siphon and bucket, and toss the bacteria stuff. The window next to the tank is actually a balcony, so getting rid of the "waste" water isn't a problem.

There might be a timer lying around here, I'll check.

It said Nitrites with an I. I hope I haven't been testing for the wrong thing!

A last question. One of the sites I read said the spotted Raphael can get to 8 inches. Is that a problem? I thought he was about 2 inches since he's always in the cave and the cave isn't so big, but from the items to scale in the pics I took, I'd say he's more like 4 inches, way bigger than I guessed! Could he have been eating the snails? And how do I get rid of the snails, and do I WANT to get rid of the snails?

[OrionGirl]

Most flakes are okay for carnivores, but you may want to get some sinking carnivore pellets or shrimp pellets. One very other day will be plenty, and other fish will nibble on them as well.

It's important to test for nitrites, but their presence is worrisome, since it indicates that the tank is not cycled--there are not big enough populations of the right kind of bacteria. Search around on the nitrogen cycle--it will explain where the nitrites come from. More regular cleaning and less feeding will help lower them. You may want to wait until the nitrites test 0 before adding more fish, though. Other tests that are helpful: ammonia, nitrates, pH, and GH/KH (hardness). Once the tank stabilizes, nitrates, pH and hardness are the ones to test regularly.

Fish produce hormones that act to slow their growth in confined spaces. More frequent water changes will reduce the level of hormone in the water, and the fish will grow a bit more. Not a problem--one large fish, with light feeding, with a low level of activity will be okay in your tank. I wouldn't add anything small, nor many fish that will occupy the same turf. The raphael's that I've had were very peaceful-they defend their cave, and eat anything small enough, but they are not mean. A trio of medium sized skunk or peppered cories should be fine, for example, while pygmy cories (less than 1 inch) might be snacked on.

Not sure if raphael's eat snails or not. Many fish do, so it wouldn't be surprising. I'm sure the gourami has been snacking on eggs--all of mine do, anyway. As for getting rid of them--manual removal, supplemented by reduced feedings, will winnow the numbers to a desirable level. Snails are not bad, but they can be too numerous. I'd see what cutting back on the feeding does to their numbers.