Sick White Cloud Behavior?

Riso-chan

Riso-chan

The Blue Girl
Jan 17, 2005
322
0
0
41
Florida, USA
I just bought 6 white clouds about a day or two ago, and noticed that one of them is acting strange. He gets very close to the surface of the water(sometimes underneath the outflow) and seems to hover there, every so often with small swiming movements. I checked to see if it was disoriented by checking the reactions to my hand and a net. That seems alright. I know they have been stressed from moving to my tank, they all seem very cautious, they even seemed suspicious of food at first. They're behvior is so different from the zebra danios I have. I've even seen the males displaying already, which at first made me nervous. Another thing that seemed odd was when I fed them this evening, one of the other minnows got real excited and started darting rapidly and flashed up against the cabombas a few times. I've only seen this one other time with one of the danios that had flashed just one time against a rock, but it was almost like it was motion of where it was going. Advice is appreciated. Should I add some salt as a tonic with a water change to improve this?
 
Is the tank cycled? What else is in there? How big is the tank? 2 days really isn't enough time for a fish to be comfortable in a new tank.
 
From Riso

Yes, the tank has been cycled with 9 zebra danios and 30 ghost shrimp. First I added plants after siphoning gravel, maybe a week later added shrimp, two weeks later the danios, two weeks after that the white clouds. I didn't do a fishless cycle, but I'm slowly introducing each group of fish after a few weeks each. I suppose you're right that they haven't calmed down yet, but I'll be watching closely just to be sure.
 
White clouds are much different in reactions than danios. The males will flare all the time if healthy. That is good. They also tend to head to the strongest current in the tank (filter output) and "hover" there swimming against the current but not going anywhere. That is fine. And generally at feeding time there will be some display, some chasing and a little "fighting". All of this is good, IME.

With the fish you have chosen I suggest that you lower the tank temp to room temp or as low as you can. Danios and White clouds tend to do better in cooler water, say 70-74F, IME. The lower the temp the higher the oxygen content.

They are hardy little fish and lots of fun. And when healthy and grown up (they should be 1.5 inches or so) they will be brightly coloured in the fins, a blood red colour. It is very nice.
 
From Riso

Wow, that's good to hear! The fish that was at the outflow is already back with his buddies down in the depths of my 55gal. (20 inches deep.) I knew something was up if he could be so still at the surface one minute and back below the plants the next. And the water generally is pretty cold, seems to level out in the 70's, the 60's on cold winter nights. Speaking of water temps, I've heard platies and swortails like to be in warmer water, and those were the next fish I wanted to add. Will my cold temps cause problems for them? I suppose I could get a heater of some kind if needed.
 
I would add a heater for stablity, even for a cool water tank. The more stable things are the better. Add a heater that can handle 3-5wpg (for ex: 20 gallon tank equals a minimum of a 60 up to a 100 watt heater). The bigger a heater is the less it has to work, so don't worry about it being too much. Just set it really low so it rarely comes on.

As for platies and swordtails. Not a good mix as they will interbreed. I would stick to one or the other if I were you. But as for temps, definatley get a heater for these guys, but keeping it at around 72-74F should be fine. They don't seem to need nearly as much heat as say neon tetras. And 74 is the upper end of fine, IMO, for white clouds.
 
From Riso

What if I stuck with only a few male platies and got a few m/f swordtails? I don't think the male platies would be able to breed with such large females, would they?
 
They sure would. They are fromt he same family of fish and can intrbreed easily. If you liek the swordtails, then I suggest sticking to just them. Get 1 male for each three females. Or if the platies are to your like stick to just them and get the same ratio.
 
From Riso

Swortails it is then! How many should I start out with, just 1 male and 3 females? It's fine if they breed, my only worry would be if some babies were male would they fight? I've heard you can't put more than one male in together for this reason. Or is that only if there is a limited number of females?
 
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