Need to add fish, but what?

M

mjfmn

AC Members
Mar 2, 2005
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Fairmont, MN
Hello all! I have a 30gal tall setup in one room that currently has 1 blue betta, 6 neon tetras, and 3 albino corys. I just lost a honey gourami, my wife's favorite. And, somehow, I lost 2 clown loaches and a chinese algae eater, they disappeared without a trace (not in the filter or anything). I've had a small problem with trumpet snails, but think I have it "controlled" for the time being.

What would you add to this tank? The betta is nice & showy, and I like flashy fish. Could I add a couple more honey gouramis, or would they get too agressive (the one I just had chased the betta periodically, but not too severe).

As a side note, the life cycle of my fish seems to be about 6 months - none have lasted longer. The water chemistry always checks out ok, I don't think I'm over feeding - any ideas?

Thanks!

Mike
 
First, I wouldn't add anything until we figure out why your fish aren't living longer. Let's talk about your maintenance routine--how often do you change water, how much, how, etc.
 
bettas and gouramis are both labyrinth fish, closely related. they do tend to fight with each other for that reason, though individual fish may have better temperments.
the clown loaches would have gotten too big for the tank and prefer to be in groups of at least 3. the chinese algae eaters get both big and mean, eventually attacking other fish. don't replace those.
the water chemistry is very important. . it may be okay, but what are your actual numbers for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates?
are there any chemicals that you add to the tank? do you regularly test your ph? how do you clean your filters and other areas of the tank? added any new fish recently? have you checked under decorations and after lights out for the missing fish? if not in the tank, they'll be somewhere behind or underneath it, drying out into fish jerky. if they died in the tank, your water would probably be very cloudy and defintely have some massive ammonia and nitrite spikes, which would be harming the other fish. the cories aren't big enough to completely eat a small loach before it can start to foul the water.
 
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My tank

Good questions, all! Ok, here's what I do. I do a 3/4 water change the first of every month, which is also when I change the carbon filter (I use a tank-side filter, not an under gravel filter). I clean out the sponge in the "dirty" water when I'm siphoning it out. I use regular tap water treated with Start Right or Biosafe tap water detoxifiers. Temp is about 76. As far as numbers for the water, I use the all-in-one strips, no numbers, just the color pads to say if you are or aren't in good shape (ph, alkalinity, hardness, nitrate & nitrite). I'm always in "good shape" according to this (can't remember the ph right now, sorry) - but I'm out of strips at the moment too.

No real plants, all plastic. A big hiding rock, some other little decorative rocks, a hidey-hole thing for them too. I have good aeration, one tube on each side blowin' bubbles.

The hard part for me is that the nearest LFS is 30 miles away! So I usually have to combine my trips for fish with other necessities.

I appreciate the advice!

Mike

PS: Tuesday's water change and gravel "cleaning" showed nothing of the other two fish. My personal belief is that someone actually took them, there's just no way all 3 disappeared within a couple of days.
 
So I'm ok then? If so, any suggestions on what I could add that would give some flash in the tank, maybe a bigger fish with a good nature?
 
One thing I might suggest first is that you spread out your water changes. personally I like to do 30-50% each week. The problem is that as the water ages certain biological factors in the tank can lead to eating up of the buffer. In my tank this becomes imporatnt as the buffer is small. When that buffer is used up the pH will start to drop. Then whena large water chaneg is doen the buffer is replenished and the pH jumps back up. These sudden swings can lead to deaths in weaker fish. It is often called old tank syndrom.

Doing more frequent water changes will make the water paramaters much more stable and might possibly explain why there were some deaths in your tank.

Cleaning the sponge and replacing the carbon are good ideas, keep that up.

Oh and fish can disappear fast as other fish will eat them quickly when dead.

For future fish? Well I would avoid gouramis as bettas and gouramis are not the best of friends. Personally I would add more to what you already have. Larger school of fish can easily give that flash you crave. More cories become much more active. More neons become very colourful indeed and much braver.
 
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