what fish swims in middle level of water?

[gagaliya]

what are some small fish that swims in the middle(dont want bottomfeeders) of the water? guppies?

I might as well not have gotten the fish i did - 6x zebra danio 6x whiteclouds ALL hug together at the surface of the water. With my biorb's water pump making the water surface constantly moving, cant even see them. The entire tank looks completely empty. So i am thinking of adding a fish that swims in the middle of the tank.

any ideas? thanks.

[Hannys_Papa]

Doesnt that biorb only hold 8 gallons of water ? I think 12 fish is more than enough for a tank that size....

[gagaliya]

well i just want 1 fish that swims IN the tank not ON TOP of the tank. will guppy work? i am doing almost daily 25% water changes anyway.

[kyperman]

Most of my Tetras and my Danios swim all over the place, I am wondering if there is another reason yours are hanging out on top like maybe they can get more oxygen up there. You might want to check your ammonia levels.

[pbrack]

If that is an 8 gallon tank, I'd remove all the danios ASAP. If all danios and whitclouds hang at the top, there may be a lack of oxygen or there may still have some chlorine in the tank (use a tap conditioner).

Even if it's not an 8 gallon tank, I'm guessing it's still a small tank and I'd remove the danios, they simply need more space to move around because they are quite active!

[gagaliya]

ok it's a brand new tank, i just got the fishes today. They stayed in the ups box for 2 days while getting shipped to me.

I spent 1 hr doing the usual acclimation process and then released the fishes into the tank/bowl 5 hrs ago. For the past 5 hrs, they NEVER went to any part of the tank but the top. Should i be concerned?

Here's what i did:

1) setup biorb
2) add tap water
3) add bio-safe (remove chlorine)
4) turn on biorb
5) run test with master kit, everything at 0, ph 7.0 exact
6) left it running for 24 hrs until tonight
7) acclimation for 1 hr
8) test water, same result - 0 everything, ph 7.0 exact
9) add half pack of bio spira
10) add fishes to biorb
11) 5 hrs later...
12) run water test, 0 everything still, ph 7.0 exact...
13) all the fish continue to remain on top of the water...

I havent fed them yet, dont plan to do it until tomorrow morning. But now im concerned, you said i dont have enough oxygen? :(

most people assume the biorb doesnt have enough surface area, that's completely false. If you follow the instruction and only fill the water to 2" above the pump, you have a HUGE surface area. It's only when you try to fill up the entire bowl then you have issues.

[stingray4540]

Give them a week and see how they are, if they just got put in there then they will take a few days to settle into there new habitat.

[gagaliya]

well i thought maybe they stayed on top because of hunger, so decided to feed them a little bit of bio blend but didnt know it had two #Y@(#@ different openings on the bottle cap, ended up pouring half a bottle into the tank.

this is turning into 1 giant disaster, i am getting the food out by hand right now with a tissue, didnt buy a water vaccuum yet. arggg

[stingray4540]

:laugh: Sorry, you have to admit, that's funny. Make sure you get as much out as you can. Sorry about your trouble. Hope it all works out for you and you can enjoy the hobby.

[Onikun]

guppies like to hang out at the top. I have some harlequin rasboras and they swim in the middle.

[Emg]

A betta will swim in the middle....dwarf gourami............umm......(trying to think of fish that will do well with just one).......tetras will swim in the middle towards the bottom, but they like to be in groups and you have plenty in there already......ok.....a betta or a dwarf gourami, that's all I can think of at present. I am thinking that those danios are going to drive you nuts before too long. I had some of those and am glad I don't have them any longer..they never STOP moving.

Good luck with your orb.....sorry about the food thing...lol....happens....just make sure you get that gravel vac so you can clean that all out or you will have major ammonia and algae problems. Do water changes every day and read the sticky on cycling your tank. It takes more than 2 days to do that and you'll have to keep an eye on the readings for weeks to know when the ammonia spikes and then the nitrites.

All the best ! :)

[spinjector]

Harlequin Rasboras are great schooling middle-swimmers. I have some Lambchop Rasboras and they are great. They are beautiful fish, but hard to find in the shops, so if you see them, grab them - and then send me an email where to find them because I would like a dozen or so more. :-)

Here is a Lambchop description, and a really good picture - that fluorescent orange and iridescent gold color in the pic is pretty accurate:
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=27073

Also, Cherry Barbs look nice and seem to be middle-swimmers. I don't have any yet, but I have been watching their behavior a lot at the LFS because I like them and I am thinking of getting some.

[UncaBret]

When my daughter was 2-3 years old we had goldfish in a 10g in their room. Until the day she decided to feed them. An almost full container of Tetra-Min. OMG, what a smell. 2 were dead before we found them, the other went into a bowl of water with an airstone. After a few days of just floating listless as the top he seemed fine. We had 'Lazurus' for several more years, then gave him to a friend with a larger tank.

I would keep the white clouds and either a dwarf gourami or a betta. I would get the DG, maybe a red flame DG.

[Genral72]

Guppies will hang around the top but neon tetras are very small fish that hang pretty much anywhere but mostly the middle. You do seem over stocked though

[gagaliya]

thanks guys looks like i am all set! Though i do wanted the rasboras, but definitly overstocked for a school of them, so not going to get anymore fishes.

1) fishes are swimming everywhere now, not just the top.
2) left over food from the half bottle spill all got eaten by my 6 red cherry shrimp. i think i love those guys more than the fish!! too bad they are so hard to see!
3) complete test today(no water change yet) showed:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5ppm
ph: 7.5

which indicates the biospira i added yesterday had worked like a miracle! You guys think the risky initial break in period is over for this fishbowl? :clap: :clap:

[ParadoxLiz]

First, I'm glad you didn't add more fish, that your fish are swimming all over and that your readings are good.

I have used Bio-Spira myself and would therefore suggest that you continue at least every-other-day testing, but daily would be better - for at least a few weeks (perhaps less often as time goes by unless you start to get readings on ammonia and nitrite, in which case, start doing readings every day). IMO, more Bio-Spira after a while (esp. if you start to get nitrite readings) should help. Most reports are that Bio-Spira speeds up a cycle and doesn't eliminate the spikes, so you'll need to keep a close eye on the ammonia and nitrites.

If the readings stay where they are, be sure to do weekly water changes (if readings go up, you'll need to do them more often). And be sure to get that gravel vac and use it when you do your water changes.

Congrats,

Liz