Looking for input on my tank

[Kaitlynkec]

Hi all! First time poster here. The community here looks nice and friendly so I picked you all to join! (Lucky you, right?)

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f73/Kaitlynkec/Fish%20tank/074-1.jpg

That's a picture of my tank from a few months ago. I know, my camera skills are abysmal, but mooooving on!

As of right now I have:
4 zebra danios (husband's fish, he loves them)
2 harlequin rasbora (got 1 free when he got snapped up in a batch of fish we bought, he lived so we bought him a friend)
4 red minor serpae tetra (plain ones, not the feathery fin ones)
3 neon tetras
2 diamond tetras (supposedly, but they have a neon purple color in this back fins and are fairly aggresive, also don't have that diamondy sheen to them)
1 dying guppy

I love love love love guppies. I've kept trying to convince myself that they were killed by other fish, but I am now willing to face the fact that the water in this area is hard and ours is especially bad. I love the variety of colors they bring, the beautiful tails, the fiesty females.

So question 1.
Is this really a diamond tetra?
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f73/Kaitlynkec/Fish%20tank/diamondtetra2.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f73/Kaitlynkec/Fish%20tank/diamondtetra.jpg

2.
What would you suggest as other fish to bring into the tank? Ones that are pretty and colorful, but can survive the hard water?

[Star_Rider]

what is the tank size/volume? (gallons)

FYI, I believe all of the fish in your tank are shoalers/schooler. meaning.. they usually do best in schools.
the recommended minimum schools size is usually 6 of the species. some of us prefer larger numbers when setting up a tank with these fish.

you tank volume will help determine the proper mix/size of school.

[lateinningmagic]

:welcome:

As Star has said, many of those fish- Tetras, Rasboras prefer the company of their own kind, and will not be their true wonderful selves without them.
A couple of standard questions we always ask here on AC is:

Tank size?
Temp?
Substrate?
Is the tank Cycled?
Water Parameters? (Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte)

Also, while its possible that your water isn't good for the guppy, most likely it is something that can be corrected via the Cycling process.

PS: I've tried the best I can and I've had 6 adult Guppies and 5 Guppy Fry die (from 2 different batches). Now I've somehow managed to keep 2 of my Fry alive for over a month now and they are starting to color up nicely. Is my water going to kill them eventually? Were the other Guppies (especially the adults) just from a sick stock? I don't know, but for now I'm staying away from Guppies.

[tanker]

The tetra is not a Diamond Tetra. Looks like a Kerri, but not sure. Too Blurry.

[kraemerwa2003]

Your tetra looks like a Congo tetra to me from the picture. Either that or a Buenos Aires tetra.

Cherry Red Barbs are a good choice for schooling, colorful fish that are hardy. But, don't jump out and buy anymore fish unless you have the space in your tank.

[andyjs]

Your tetra looks like a Congo tetra to me from the picture. Either that or a Buenos Aires tetra.

Definitely not those. I'd say it's a blue tetra, Boehlkea fredcochui

[Kaitlynkec]

I currently have a 29 gallon tank. I've had it set up for about a year and a half. I stupidly thought that once a tank had been established, it didn't need major adjustments to it. I'd just been gravel vaccing every week (doing one side of the tank one week and the other side the next) and replacing water when needed.

I'll go out and buy test strips galore to get the tank right. I won't buy any new fish until it is right, and hopefully once it is good again all my fish will still be with me. If they are alive, I'll go get them some more friends to school with. I also plan on apologizing profusely to them at every feeding for being so ignorant and trusting crappy fish stores.

As for question number 1, I think they look most like blue tetra. After looking at them with a flash light to get rid of any environmental coloring, they do look more blue than purple.

[Kaitlynkec]

Okay, tested my tank water yesterday.
Chlorine 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 425
pH 8.4

I tested the actual tap water today.
Chlorine+Nitrite 0
Hardness 250
pH 8.4

Future looking grim for my fish tank =/

[Oscars]

1. Test for Ammonia

2. One test data point does not mean any thing - Good or bad - You need to continue monitoring by testing regularly. There is a lot of help available within this community on this subject. You may even plot your test results on a chart with Day 1 day 3 etc and look at the results collectively. This will give you enough insight that you will start guiding others (like I am doing now--:evil_lol:)

[Kaitlynkec]

Decided to update...

I did eventually lose that guppy, but I haven't had any mysterious deaths since then. I did lose one zebra danio, but I think he sliced himself on rocks or the plasticy leaves. I took the plastic plants out and have started growing some little plants in the tank.

I went back to the store where I got my "diamond tetras" today to buy two more friends for them. I could only find two fish that matched the ones I had and they were both randomly thrown in with different tanks. The guy couldn't figure out what kind of tetra they were and sold them to me as von rio tetras, I didn't correct him since they were a dollar cheaper than the blue tetras (does that make me bad or just a cheap?). They are a good bit smaller than the ones I already have, but they already seem to like each other. *hip hip hurrah*


I also found a nice little fish store that has a lot of saltwater fish and cichlids, but also a few tanks of freshwater fish. The guys breeds most of the fish himself. I'm hoping that if his water is still slightly hard that any fish I'd buy from him would at least be used to it!

[BreezeRuehls]

What kinda light do you have on your tank? Have you thought about plants? Fishy love them...

[Kaitlynkec]

Its one of those cheap walmart fish tanks, so the light probably is on the crappy side. I positioned the tank in the living room so that it gets a bit of natural light for an hour or two a day. I got some of the little packets of plant bulbs and stuck them in the breeding net. After a week I got a bunch of moldy bulbs, but one of them sprouted. I tossed the bad ones and let the plant grow.

[gmh]

Sounds like you found a better fish store. Ask the guy what kind of water he uses. He should be able to give you great advice if he breeds fish.
Your water is actually perfect for guppies if you want to go that route.

[Schneider]

Sounds like you found a better fish store. Ask the guy what kind of water he uses. He should be able to give you great advice if he breeds fish.
Your water is actually perfect for guppies if you want to go that route.

Guppies may be the only fish on this list that would do well in this water. How big isw your tank?

[Kaitlynkec]

Its a 30 gallon. Guppies are the only fish I've had a problem with though. I've had some from many different stores (after the tank was already cycled) and none of them lived more than a few weeks.

[abarilot]

Guppies and neon tetras are very prone to being diseased thus can be hard to keep. If you find a local breeder with stronge stock then you'll have better luck. I've lost every guppy ive bought this year but I have pristine water so go figure.

What about adding some dwarf corys or some other bottom dweller? It'll add a different dimension to your tank!

[Kaitlynkec]

Most of my fish stay towards the bottom anyway, even the blue tetras and they are the biggest bullies (they have mellowed out now that they have friends). A few of them flit around in the plants and the zebras will zip around to the top of the tank when they are doing their spastic dance. But yeah, I've been thinking about getting some cories, I love the way they dart around =)

[Quinn1928]

and if you are super religious about vaccing and keping the tank in good params.then you could do a trio a swordtails (1m 2f) as they do VERY well in hard water from my experience.

[Quinn1928]

I'd say you will have too many top and middle dwellers if u wanted to upgrade the schools to 6. My suggestion is to upgrade 2-3 schools to 6-8 and return the other fish or give them away. Then i might put in a school of 6 cories (any kind).

[angyles]

I've never been able to keep guppies alive for any length of time so don't beat yourself up.

I would also just pick a couple schools and build those up to 6-8. Once you do that, they probably won't hang at the bottom so much. In groups they get more confident and will head upwards where they belong. That will leave the bottom open for a nice little group of cories or khuli loaches!

[Quinn1928]

just what i said:iagree::)

[Kaitlynkec]

Well, I stupidly went to petsmart today and figured I could at least get away with some fish (since my husband whines any time I ask to go out for fish, we happened to be near petsmart today and the good store is closed sundays).

I bought 3 zebra danios, 4 otos and apparently a non-aquatic plant that's labeled as aquarium safe!

The woman getting my fish out of the tanks was a horror (chasing and smashing at the glass nearing crushing them... a little finesse is all that's needed, really!). After watching her catch the 4 otos I couldn't watch anymore. She had to catch 1 of them twice... since she didn't manage to put it in the bag and released it back into the tank without looking.
I paid for my fishies and go out to the car to coo and talk to my new babies only to find an imposter in the zebra danio bag. I was horrified to be looking at a red version of my blue tetras!! I thought about just forgetting it and going home, but I couldn't stand the thought of another fish that might be a schooler being a loner. I went back into the store with my zebra bag and informed the woman that one of my zebras was not in fact, a zebra. She told me..........

She TOLD ME!!!!!!!.............

That the fish she had put in there was just the female version of the zebra. THE FEMALE ZEBRA DANIO!...... I almost cried.

I told her that females and males look nearly identical to each other and what I had in the bag was NOT a female.

She looked at me like I was the crazy one and said, "Well I'll get you a different one then".
.................................................. ...............................

I doubt I'll ever learn.