:( Another One Bites The Dust

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Nolapete

Nolapete

Monster Tank Builder
May 29, 2007
5,274
1
0
New Orleans, LA
A few months ago I bought 15 tiny albino ancistrus cats. Three of them were white and the rest were golden. The three white ones perished in the first month or so for no apparent reason. A few weeks ago, I moved the remaining 12 to the 90H planted. Withing the first week, I noticed that another had died. Once again, no apparent reason. Yesterday, one of the larger ones showed up dead. Nothing has ever shown any aggression towards anything else in the tank. The rainbows spar with each other, but I don't even think they touch each other.

Here's what's in the tank:

trio painted (not dyed) swordtails 1M 2F
trio pearl gouramis 1M 2F
3 red irian rainbows
blue rainbow
10 otos
10 albino ancistrus
female kribensis
7 clown loaches
2 true SAEs
4 auratus pencilfish
 
pinkertd

pinkertd

Moderator
May 29, 2007
5,976
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New Jersey
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Debbi
I know this sounds stupid, but are you sure they are getting enough food? You have 10 otos in there, plus 2 SAE's also so there can't be enough algea to go around and keep everyone growing well.
 
Nolapete

Nolapete

Monster Tank Builder
May 29, 2007
5,274
1
0
New Orleans, LA
They get cucumber on a regular basis and hikari algae wafers. When I moved them to the tank, the glass was coated in algae with the otos and SAEs having been in the tank since it was setup. They cleaned the glass in a week. I don't think it's a lack of food thing. Their bellies are always full.
 
pinkertd

pinkertd

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May 29, 2007
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Debbi
OK, good! Are any of them beginning to get any bristles yet?
 
Nolapete

Nolapete

Monster Tank Builder
May 29, 2007
5,274
1
0
New Orleans, LA
Exactly the same. In fact, when I moved the ancistrus over I did a 50% water change on the 90H and filled it with water from the 110. The mysterious 3 deaths happened in the 110 before I moved them, just the 2 since the move, so I don't think it's related.

Krib is friendly. All she does is eat all day.

I did find the first one that died at the mouth of the clown loach cave, but there wasn't any signs of any injuries on it. The second was on that end of the tank as well, but once again no injuries, so I think it was coincidental.

The one that I found last had just started showing bristle growth and was one of the largest ones :(
 
pinkertd

pinkertd

Moderator
May 29, 2007
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New Jersey
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Debbi
Nolapete, If he was starting to show bristles that you could see, it's possible he was reaching spawning age. I was keeping 5 young albinos in my 72. They were not all the same age. I knew the largest was female, she looked wider and no sign of bristles. Caught glimpses of one of the smaller ones, looked like I could barely see bristles. the other three still couldn't see any differences in them physically. Lo and behold I'm doing a water change one evening and there's a baby albino bristle on the glass. Just judging from the size of him, I wouldn't have thought it was possible. You could have some pleco sparring going on, males will kill each other. I have one batch of 3/4"plecos in my breeding tank. Last night I was watching 2 of these little guys pretending to spar with each other. It's cute when they are little.
With mine, I took the other three albino's out. Turned out one was just getting a single bristle on each side of the face and the other 2 looked to be females. It was time to separate them. You may have to do the same with that many plecos.
 
T

TwoTankAmin

X
Apr 2, 2002
3,534
642
120
New York
I would not mix bn with clowns. I learned that the hard way- Lost 5 alfs and one big regular bn. I am not sure if the clowns killed em intentionally or just sat on them. But bn and clowns inhabit the same places and clowns dont take kindly to others trying to steal their hiding places.
 
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