I have had my school of silver dollars (10) for a month or so now in my 165g tank. Last addition to the tank was a few weeks go and there has been no disease/ problems of any sort all fish eating and acting totally normally. I actually have a couple questions about silver dollars in general that I cannot seem to find the answer to.
1) the initial problem and the only one I am actually even slightly concerned about- I have 2 red hooks, they are the most voracious eaters out of the school and are very active. They are also the only silver dollars in the tank that my flagtail does not harrass. Recently I have noticed one of the red hooks bottom jaw area seems to be discoloring, it now appears to have a red or orange tinge/hue to it. Its hard to describe and doesn't seem to show up in pictures, I noted about a week ago but it was so faint that it had to be in the perfect lighting to see it but now when I look its a little more obvious. Is this a normal color change that red hook silvers go through as they mature or is this potentially cause for concern? I know it is NOT hemorrhage or other trauma.
2) A good number of my spotted silvers are starting to get colorful tails. When I got them they all had the noticeable spots (many of which have now gotten to be a deeper black) but not 4 or the 8 have a good portion of their tail fin turn black and more recently the more proximal portion of the black coloration is beginning to show a orange/red color forming. The reason I cannot find info about this is because when you google silver dollar with black tail you get about 100 yahoo answer pages about fin rot. I have had fish with fin rot before (long time ago, never in this tank) and I know what that looks like. This coloration has been going on for weeks and seems to be developing more, its a "healthy" looking black if that makes any sense, the fins are in perfect condition (not receding or damaged in any way) and the fish themselves are active and eating. Is this again a normal coloration that comes out in one sex or???
3) In the past when I had silver dollars they ate almost exclusively algae wafers and flakes, but this new batch will eat massivore pellets before or just as soon as they will eat an algae wafer. Its almost difficult to feed the oscar and JD with how crazy they get over a massivore pellet being dropped in. It was my previous impression that these fish were primarily herbivorous fish and would devour plants and algae wafers, is there any disadvantage to them having a meaty pellet (massivore) as the majority of their diet?
1) the initial problem and the only one I am actually even slightly concerned about- I have 2 red hooks, they are the most voracious eaters out of the school and are very active. They are also the only silver dollars in the tank that my flagtail does not harrass. Recently I have noticed one of the red hooks bottom jaw area seems to be discoloring, it now appears to have a red or orange tinge/hue to it. Its hard to describe and doesn't seem to show up in pictures, I noted about a week ago but it was so faint that it had to be in the perfect lighting to see it but now when I look its a little more obvious. Is this a normal color change that red hook silvers go through as they mature or is this potentially cause for concern? I know it is NOT hemorrhage or other trauma.
2) A good number of my spotted silvers are starting to get colorful tails. When I got them they all had the noticeable spots (many of which have now gotten to be a deeper black) but not 4 or the 8 have a good portion of their tail fin turn black and more recently the more proximal portion of the black coloration is beginning to show a orange/red color forming. The reason I cannot find info about this is because when you google silver dollar with black tail you get about 100 yahoo answer pages about fin rot. I have had fish with fin rot before (long time ago, never in this tank) and I know what that looks like. This coloration has been going on for weeks and seems to be developing more, its a "healthy" looking black if that makes any sense, the fins are in perfect condition (not receding or damaged in any way) and the fish themselves are active and eating. Is this again a normal coloration that comes out in one sex or???
3) In the past when I had silver dollars they ate almost exclusively algae wafers and flakes, but this new batch will eat massivore pellets before or just as soon as they will eat an algae wafer. Its almost difficult to feed the oscar and JD with how crazy they get over a massivore pellet being dropped in. It was my previous impression that these fish were primarily herbivorous fish and would devour plants and algae wafers, is there any disadvantage to them having a meaty pellet (massivore) as the majority of their diet?
