Paradise Fish

[diptankguy]

Originally posted by delmore


How long have you had them/how large are they? I've read that juveniles can get along, but as they get older males fight, but not to the extent of betta splendins.

I have had 2 for 6 months and both of them are around 3inches long and then i have 3 other which are 2.5 inches in length.

I guess well when they get older they might fight and i may have to move them around but as of now they are a peaceful community.

you can click on the link below, you might not see the paradise fish properly. This was taken just after i trimmed my plants.

http://www.dipsworld.freeservers.com/pictures/full1.jpg

 

[delmore]

Nice tank + plants!!! Do you use CO2 - what type? flourish excel?

I just decided what to do with my spare 10g.

 

[PumaWard]

I agree, that's a beautiful tank. What do you feed your paradise fish? Their gorgeous too!

 

[diptankguy]

Originally posted by delmore
Nice tank + plants!!! Do you use CO2 - what type? flourish excel?

I just decided what to do with my spare 10g.

No i don't use Flourish Excell but Yes on CO2. I initially had some problems with water quality (Central New Jersey) but then later i was able to stabilize my tank.
Also i buy my plants from NY..there are some nice shops which give you all kinda plants.

BTW do you have any CT or MT Bettas? If yes do let me know.


My tank Specs
10 Gallon Tank
Flourite Substrate
DIY CO2
3 watts per gallon lighting
Ferts: Flourish, PMDD (twice a week)

Plants
Rosette Sword (right front)
Pennywort (left corner)
Ludwigia palustris (center background)
Bacopa Monneri (left corner behind Pennywort)
Ludwigia repens (center background)
Mayaca fluviatilis (right front)
Hygrophila difformis and Hygrophila polysperma next to each other in center right (Hygrophila polysperma got all the new green leaves i think due to low light)
Baby Tears (small bunch below the rocks)
and finally some Riccia in the front and floating.

 

[diptankguy]

Originally posted by PumaWard
I agree, that's a beautiful tank. What do you feed your paradise fish? Their gorgeous too!

Freezed dried tubifex and Live Black worms twice a week. I guess u all do the same isn't it?

 

[Hebdizzle]

you know the pleco will get too big right?

 

[ChilDawg]

Originally posted by PumaWard
He has a Masked Julie...

These aren't the nicest fish...a singleton Julidochromis spp. Cichlid is willing to cause much mayhem, especially in a small and very very likely overcrowded tank!

I'd move the Julie and the Pleco, and maybe give some bottom-dwellers to that tank, but Paradisefish, according to AFM, really do do best when kept alone.

 

[wanda_crab]

I got a Paradise fish a few months ago and he seemed fine for the first couple of days. Then his swimming became erratic and got progressively worse very quickly. Eventually, he would wedge himself under a piece of driftwood in my tank and, when disturbed from that spot, would start tumbling rapidly all over the tank and bumping into things. It made me sick to my stomach to watch him as it was clear something was very wrong. I tested my water and it was fine as were the other fish in the tank. I quickly started doing some research on the symptoms and I'm pretty sure it was Icthyophonus hoferi often referred to as "tumbling disease". There used to be a great article on this disease and I just did some searches to try to find it again, but the website that hosted it is out of business (although about a zillion sites still point to it). All I can really remember is it is not related to white spot Ich and I think it is caused by a fungus. There is no cure and the author recommended euthanizing any fish with this disease which, sadly, is what I did (the worst part of this hobby in my opinion).

I sincerely hope this is not what is going on with your guy, but wanted to pass the info along just in case.

 

[PumaWard]

Thank you for all your input!

I seriously hope that this is not tumbling disease.

Also, I want to address some other things you guys have said. When the pleco gets to big for my small tank, I will put him in my 75g. And I have never seen the Julie touch my paradise fish, and lately I have watched it closely. The specific specie is Julidochromis transcriptis, which maxes out at 3in. . In fact, the Julie doesn't let any other fish besides my paradise down at the bottom of the tank (I used to have black mollies in there at one point with the two), which I think is because my paradise fish is prob 4 times his size (a very wise little fishy in my opinion).


Anyway, I took the little albino paradise out of my 75 and put it in the 10gal. I also went down to the LFS and got more plants to put the tank. Now it has many more plants, so I'll give it a few days and see how it goes. Hopefully everything is okay and the light is just to bright for him .

Again, thank you all and I will keep everything you all have said in mind. I appreciate your help.

 

[wetmanNY]

Ichthyophonus hoferi is currently affecting salmon in Alaska, which brings it to our attention from time to time, but Dr Beverley A. Dixon had this note on Ichthyophonus, in an Aquarium Fish, article on fungal diseases, back in May 1991, archived at http://www.petsforum.com/cis-fishnet/afm/G29112.htm

"In addition to Saprolegnia, other types of fungi may infect fish. One of these, Ichthyophonus hoferi, is generally considered to be a fungal disease of marine fish. However, at one time it was held responsible for half of the total losses attributed to fungal infections in freshwater aquarium fish. More recent evidence has shown that many of those cases attributed to this fungus were actually misidentified piscine mycobacteriosis, a bacterium that is in the family that causes tuberculosis in animals. Both of these infections produce a similar wound and resulting host response. Ichthyophonus is now considered rare in aquarium fish."

More recent cladistic analysis places these obscure protists near the division between fungi and animals.

Other agents can infect the central nervous system and produce tumbling and staggers. They include sporidians, viruses and bacteria.