Are the others as red underneath, call it the chest area?
I read this a million times and couldn't figure out what you were asking. Today I look at it once and instantly understand! lol I don't know what was wrong with me that day, maybe being up for 22 hours (right now) helps my brain lol. They are slightly less orange on their chest area.
I moved the 1 that wasn't doing so hot to the 29g to be the only pleco and it seems to be maintaining a better girth now. Fingers crossed it rebounds.
For today's update....I just got back from a LFS going out of business sale! Unfortunately it has been going on for a week almost but I was deathly ill and couldn't go until yesterday and then it was snowing so there wasn't much left and even less I could actually keep in my water/tanks.
Start with the least exciting, 4 long fin black skirt tetras for $4. They were so lonely and I have a single leftover black skirt in the 72g so I said 5 almost makes a school and they will please the parents. My water is not ideal for them but the entire 72g community is not suited for the water I use now and some of them are 8+ yrs old. *shrug* We will take more about water in a minute.
Next, a dozen longfin leopard danios for $12. Ok I like long fins! The leopard is a nice bonus too and they can tolerate my water! And for that price I will just be pleased as can be to have some fish in this tank.
Finally, 6 celebes rainbows for $10!!!! This store NEVER has anything like these guys and they are exactly what I wanted (or furcatus or meteor minnows but I missed Rachel's sale of them AGAIN) and they were so cheap! I wish they had more cause they are tiny and who knows what sex ratio I will get. Being that it is such a small group and I can only hope to get A trio out of it, they will most likely go into a tank of their own for breeding instead of into this tank for show.
So what did I leave behind? Ugh, I literally forgot to ask for a better look a sultan pleco that was $10. Never heard of it before but kinda glad I didn't get a better look because they like it a bit warmer than I keep any of my tanks and info seems limited but the high of pH being 7.6 makes me a little leary as well. But man it's a cool pleco for $10 and under 6".
I also wanted the 2 albino channel cats for $2 each. 2 because that's what they had and it's good to have a back-up. They would go in the pond but I've been hesitant to get a channel cat for many reasons, good reasons but man I LOVE them. I love bottom dwellers and catfish in particular!
Nevermind all the cichlids I couldn't even consider *faint* But honestly at 75% off they were still the most I'd pay for them, so over priced IMO. Oh they have some monster oscars and syno cats that I just *drool* and a tank full of baby bichirs *cry*.
Oh and the blue "lobster"
And the scissortail tetras looked awesome and schooled so tight but moving on!
Water - So they say their water is "soft" and 6.6-6.8 pH. Takes me 20 mins to get home so say 30 mins in the bag total before I open and test it. The whole "bag fluctuation" involves pH dropping from respiration and such, right? I opened a bag and instantly dipped my pH meter in there....8.1!? Ok, right. TDS was 500-600 (different bags). My pH is 8.2, TDS 200-300 so I decided forget acclimating I am gonna try to the plop and drop method again. Most of their TDS is probably salt and meds anyways. They are resting in darkness right now. I'll let you know how it goes.
EDIT: OMG sorry for the long post! I don't get new fish often. lol
