Three Tanks Need Stocking!

[yashinfan]

After my fry are all grown up and sold off to the store, I will be left with empty tanks.

30 gallon:
Fluval 203
pH 7.6
temp 24C/77F
Planted (sword & japanese cress aka cardamine lyrata)
Current occupants: 10 adult zebra danios.

Would like to add:
4 swordtails, 1 male and 3 females.
Either 2 Striata Botia Loach -or-
4 julli cory cats.

Is this okay? any recommendations?

23 gallon:
Undergravel filter + powerhead
pH 7.5
temp 24C/77F
Not planted, few fake plants. Might add floating plants.
Current occupants: zebra danio fry, but most will be sold. Hope to keep a small school ~5-7 danios.

Would like to add:
3-5 dwarf gouramis
Either 2 Striata Botia Loach -or-
3 julli cory cats.

Would this tank be understocked? Any suggestions on additions to this tank?

10 gallon:
Currently a sponge filter, but will most likely changed to an aquaclear
pH 7.5
temp 24C/77F
not planted, no fake plants; may add plants
substrate is currently marbles but will be changed to gravel
currently home to danio fry, would like to keep a small school of 3-5

Would like to add:
One male betta
Java fern

10 gallon:
Filter either aquaclear of sponge filter
parameters non-existent

Any suggestions?

[MrGoodbytes]

Wow! So many possibilities... and you certainly like danios :).
I would be here all night coming up with ideas. If you get striata loaches, get maybe 4 or so for the 30 gallon. I like how yoyo loaches look better, and they grow really slow. Just make sure if you want to keep them in a planted tank, you want them in there, 'cause there in there for good. They are impossible to catch :p. Yoyo or striated loaches are entertaining fish.
For your 10 gallon that's up and running, maybe you could stuff it full of plants and get some livebearers.
Rainbowfish are another option. I have only kept dwarf blue (Melanotaenia praecox), but you could try larger ones like M. trifasciata or M. herbertaxelrodi too. I find them to be lively, attractive fish.
Maybe this will give you some ideas...
Graeme

[Captain Hook]

I agree with MrGoodbytes in that the 10 gallon would look really nice planted with some small livebearers. I am planning on doing this with a 20 gallon in the future. Although a betta would look very nice in that tank as well. I think you could still add the betta and possibly some other smaller fish, like tetras or keep some danios. I think they would be fine together but you may still have to watch and be careful.

[yashinfan]

The 10 gallon with the betta would definitely have some danios in it as well. No way I'm that nice to a betta to give him his own tank! :) Probably 3-5, but I don't want overcrowding because then danios might start nipping, and bettas are fish whose tails you want intact!

[Dapple2]

Some Endler's livebearer's would be cool for the 10g.

Some sugg for either of the other two tanks include: rasboras, pearl danios, white clouds, cherry barbs, celebes rainbows, upside down cats, dwarf plecs...

[Captain Hook]

Dapple is that an Endler's in your avatar? Whatever it is, it's really nice.

I've heard some people recommend Endler's and heard they are very small livebearers but that's all I know. Are they common in fish stores because I don't think I have ever seen them.

[Dapple2]

*grumblegrumblegrumble* I took too long digging up the Endler's site and it logged me off somehow....argh! That's gotta be my biggest pet peeve about AC...

anywho...

Lol, nope! It's an Aphyosemion striatum (http://www.killifish.f9.co.uk/Killifish/Killifish%20Website/Ref_Library/Aphyosemion/A.striatum.htm) Gorgeous lil things aren't they? They are also a good starter killi, but I wouldn't personally mix them with the danios. You're the second person to ask me about the avatar lol, believe it or not that isn't even the greatest pic!

As for the Endler's (one of my runner-ups for avatar selection, btw) a good site for them is Dr. Newcomb's site (http://members.cox.net/newcomb1/) Drooling yet? :D They aren't commonly avail in pet stores and many stores seem to only stock the boys when they do have them. The best way to get them in through fellow hobbiests, a good reason to find a somewhat local (hopefully) fish club or they are often up for auction at aquabid.

[yashinfan]

For my 23 and 10 gallons, they are in my basement and receive NO natural light. Both tanks have flourescent lighting. The 10 gallon has 2 watts per gallon, but the light in the 23 is so old that the sticker wore away and I cannot tell you the wattage.

What plants could survive in those lighting conditions? I am able to grow some nice varieties of algae so I assume something like java ferns would survive but I am not too fond of that since it tends to end up floating around.

Thanks for the tips :)

[MrGoodbytes]

You might be able to grow some Ludwigia repens, but it would probably not get very red. L. arcuata would look better in your 10 gallon because it has smaller leaves.
Water sprite is really nice too; it grows insanely fast for me (some fronds ~20cm/week).
Some variety of Hygrophila polysperma would look nice too. I didn't have much luck with it so now I grow giant Hygro.
Some other smaller/finer-leaved plants like Rotala rotundifolia and Limnophila [aquaticum?] would grow pretty well too.
The tubes on a 10 gallon are usually 15W so are you sure you have 2WPG? You might want to change the tubes on your 23 if they are that old, lol.
You can usually tell the wattage of a bulb by its length: 18"/15W, 24"/20W, 36"/30W, 48"/40W, and so on.
HTH,
Graeme

[Rometiklan]

For your second 10 gallon tank, if you add a layer of gravel with some rocks, driftwood, and some low wattage plants like java fern, I would recommend a pair of German Rams (Blue Rams). I really like these beautiful little fish. I have been looking for some nice specimens for a long time now in the hopes of breeding them. If you use some black cotton thread, you can secure the java fern to the driftwood until the roots grab hold. The thread will eventually disintergrate on its own and the java fern won't float away.

[yashinfan]

Originally posted by MrGoodbytes

The tubes on a 10 gallon are usually 15W so are you sure you have 2WPG?

There are two seperate tubes and each one is 10W. They are very odd lights and kinda give off a bluish colour.

As for the very old bulb in my 23 gallon, I don't see why I should replace it if it still works? It was not used for ~14 years but when I set it up this year, it worked fine. I'm pretty sure the heater that is the same age will go soon, but everything that came with that setup, works to this day :)

[MrGoodbytes]

I have some old equipment myself :p.

I thought that you might have used the tube for a while and that it's spectral output might have degraded. I find old tubes promote more algae. Nobody likes algae (well, almost nobody).

Graeme

[yashinfan]

Hehe, yes, I have some nice algae now.. :o

Yesterday, rather impulsively, I picked up a pineapple swordtail that I have since named Anna. (Anana is french for pineapple). She is VERY skiddish!! She is alone in a 5 gallon tank in my kitchen where I used to keep my goldfish until they were eaten by the neighbourhood animals during the summer!

Any suggestions on how to calm her down?? Would adding more swords really help her out?

[Rometiklan]

For skiddish fish, I usually reduce the lighting for a few days. If it's incandescent lighting, I would turn off one of the bulbs, or use lower wattage bulbs. I think the subdued lighting calms the fish down. Or I'll use natural room lighting, and place lots of floating plants in the tank, and create some hiding places with driftwood and/or rocks with java fern or java moss for a quick and simple solution. If the fish is healthy, and once they recover from the stress, they usually come around once they have adjusted to their new surroundings.

Yeah, I really like those pineapple swords too. I'm always on the lookout for nice livebearer species. I'm a sucker for fancy guppies, especially the really colourful strains. Maybe I'll pick some up soon if I ever get my 33 gallon set-up.

[yashinfan]

Okay so the fish is in my kitchen, so I only use the natural lighting (ie: windows, or flourescent lights on the kitchen cieling). I have one fake plant in there, and there really isn't anywhere for her to hide.. Do you think it would help to add more fake plants? I think I have two lying around... What about another sword? Do you think she would be more comfortable with a friend?

PS: The pineapple swords at PetSmart are by FAR the nicest ones I have ever seen!

[Rometiklan]

Yes, more plants would definitely help calm your fish down. I find that new fish are often skiddish when they are introduced into a new environment without any hiding places...they are often crammed into the corner hoping to find refuge there. If you can get some floating plants, I find that helps fish overcome their fear.

The answer to your question about whether you should get another sword is yes and no. Yes, I think you should get another sword to accompany the one you have now. Livebearers are social fish and are happiest when there are members of its species present, especially of the opposite sex. As well, because male swords are fairly prolific, it is a good idea to get 2 or 3 females per male to offer some respite for the females.

However, I also say no because I would be remiss if I didn't point out that a 5 gallon tank is kind of small for 2, 3, or 4 swordtails. A group of swords won't have the swimming space to move around freely in a 5 gallon.

[yashinfan]

The 5 gallon tank is just a quarantine tank as these swords will be tranferred into my 30 gallon after I am satisfied that they are disease free (a couple of weeks). I put in another plant, but when I had it floating she freaked out. I dug it into the gravel near the front of the tank and she seems to have calmed down a bit. She's fine if I walk very slowly towards/by the tank. My original plan was 3 females and 1 male. I have to decide whether I want to breed them or not.. I don't think the fry would live unless I intervened...

Anyway, here's a cute lil pic of her.

[Rometiklan]

Hey nice pic! I'm a little surprised the sword was freaked by a floating plant. If anything, floating plants usually calm stressed out fishes down.

[yashinfan]

Eeep! She's developed fin rot, so I guess it's a good thing I put her into quarantine, eh? She had it since she came but I wasn't sure if it was finrot or she had white edging on her fins. But alas, it is fin rot and she must be treated. I have this "Fungus Eliminator" stuff but it says you have to remove the carbon for it to work. Since the filter is an AC mini, the carbon is in the media of the filter. What should I do? Leave the tank unfiltered ?? Or will the meds still work with carbon??

[OrionGirl]

Carbon will remove the meds from the water column. If you can put in a sponge or floss from an established tank, do so and remove the carbon. But, if the carbon has been running on the tank for more then a week, it is likely no longer doing more than providing bacteria with a place to live, so don't worry. Carbon can only adsorb so much, then it ceases to act as chemical filtration.

Is it a bacterial infection? Fungus is rare in the aquarium, while bacterial infections are quite common.

[yashinfan]

The carbon is new and was only put in last Saturday night, so it has been less than a week. I'll definitely do a 2nd dose, most likely on Saturday night. Now I suspect she has fin rot from my experience and from reading the Fish Disease book ( fun pictures ). The fungus eliminator is kinda a generic med, it pretty much cures a whole bunch of odd things. I used it on my goldfish who had cotton gill before and it worked wonders for that. Do you recommend a different type of treatment?

[yashinfan]

Alright, so these crazy fish farmers in Hawaii wrote about the disease that I think my swordtail has.

An infection from the Fungi, Saprolegnia, usually occurs as a result of injuries incurred during handling. It usually appears as a white or light gray patch on the surface of the fish. When viewed under a microscope it is best described as having a cotton-like strand appearance.

One of the tried and true methods is a formalin bath at a concentration of 250 ppm for 1 h/day for five consecutive days.

Alternatively, placing the fish in a bath of methylene blue at a concentration of 3-5ppm for 2-72 h has also been shown effective.

Now this formalin bath stuff sounds very dangerous and says it needs to be mixed under well circulated conditions. Also it says it has to be diluded by 100 litres of water before it is safe... so that doesn't seem to be an option. I will start a new post about methylene blue.

[MrGoodbytes]

I would not trust formalin in the lowest concentrations. I chekced an MSDS for formaldehyde (CH2O), and it becomes toxic around 100-110mg/kg (if I read it right).
I'm quite sure formalin is just concentrated formaldehyde. Be careful :).

Graeme

[stik6shift98]

Originally posted by yashinfan
Alright, so these crazy fish farmers in Hawaii wrote about the disease that I think my swordtail has.

An infection from the Fungi, Saprolegnia, usually occurs as a result of injuries incurred during handling. It usually appears as a white or light gray patch on the surface of the fish. When viewed under a microscope it is best described as having a cotton-like strand appearance.

One of the tried and true methods is a formalin bath at a concentration of 250 ppm for 1 h/day for five consecutive days.

Alternatively, placing the fish in a bath of methylene blue at a concentration of 3-5ppm for 2-72 h has also been shown effective.

Now this formalin bath stuff sounds very dangerous and says it needs to be mixed under well circulated conditions. Also it says it has to be diluded by 100 litres of water before it is safe... so that doesn't seem to be an option. I will start a new post about methylene blue.

ik have used formalyn before and it wasnt dangerous....just use it as it says dont overdose and u will be fine...

[yashinfan]

Hey stik6shift98,
I went to go check out your pictures, but honestly you need to invest in a tripod!! The tanks look gorgeous but the pics are not great quality! I would love to see what they actually look like when they aren't blurred.