Ember Tetra Questions.

Zbbal said:
Thanks everyone for your help.

I've had them for about a week. And yes, I would have preferred to have more, but these guys were all that they had left. Looks like I'm not the only aquarist interested in these little buddies. They've just barely started to color up. Four of them have a light orange coloring, and two of them are still very pale. I'm starting to think the paler ones are female because they are much bigger than the rest.

That is not much time. I would not worry too much yet. Do you have the tank planted (sorry if I missed if you said already). THey are shy fish. I keep 20 in a 16g and they school tightly but are shy. They definitely prefer areas of dense planting to add security.

 So they can adapt to alkaline pH? I know the water around here is rather hard as well, so is that a concern? I'm just intrested in providing them the best home possible.

They absolutely can. They do great for me. I am bringing in 600 more today in fact.Keep your water quality pristine and stable and they should do just fine.

 I've thought about adding shrimp, but I've heard too many horror stories about them. I would think they'd be too delicate for me. As for other kinds of snails...let me get rid of the pond snails that are taking over my tanks first.

Shrimp are not hard, they just are particular. If you are interested, a neocaridina species or an indian species would be best for your water. They both do well in hard water. You have great water for snails as well, hard is good in their case as it helps to preserve shell health and prevent erosion.

 Now about other fish. I might just ask my LFS to get more Ember's. That won't solve the matter of all the extra flakes that float to the bottom, but it might make these guys more comfortable. I guess it all comes down to what my LFS has when I go there.

Feed less as well. With your hard water, you really don't want to pollute your tank. Half what you are feeding at each feeding. You can always feed less but more frequently if you are worried about them getting enough but overfeeding especially in a small tank can be a really bad thing.

Tannic water. Never messed with that before. Any info is welcome.
Click to expand...

Tannins are released from wood/leaves/peat. With your hard water, it probably won't effect your pH but will give the water a tea colored appearance that alot of people (myself included) really like and which can highlight the colors of fish beautifully.
 
The tank is indeed planted. Not a whole lot yet, but I have tons of baby Java Ferns about to break loose of their parent plants.

I have noticed that snails love my water. I'll look into the shrimp species you suggested.

I don't feed them a lot, but I grind the flake food into small particles. No matter what, they can't eat every single particle. But yeah, maybe spacing the feedings out into smaller ones will help.

Ah, now I understand. I'll have to look into finding the stuff needed for tannic water. I've always liked the look and the Ember's will probably like it.
 
I also have embers in 7.8 ph water without any issues. I have about 40 embers in my planted 75G and another 40 in my planted 50G. In the 75 I also have 6 adult albino cories and 8 sterbai cories, as well as red cherry shrimp, 2 adult SAE's and my longfin L144 plecos. In the 55G is also a pleco tank with 3 adults in with them along with 6 otos and 12 black cories and some red cherry shrimp. You don't have to go with dwarf cories with the embers. They are not too boisterous for the embers. My embers don't bottom feed since they have the cories to kick up the food particles to them. What's funny is...if the cories don't get to making little waterborn food particles fast enough for the embers....the embers give the cories a little peck on the dorsal fins! I doubt that it hurts, but it startles the cories and they jump! The embers even move in real close to the plecos when the plecos are eating so they can get those waterborn pieces too. Quite the comedians they are in my tank.
 
Hm.. I wonder how many of the shrimp fry will be eaten by the ember tetras if I put some in my 10g shrimp tank. It is just moderately planted. I'm getting into these smaller fish lately!
 
I also have a few of these guys in a somewhat high pH (just bought some). I have only test strips, so it's hard to tell exactly, but it's between 7 and 8. They are pretty cool and keep it tight, schooling with the celestial danio. It would have been better if they ate flake foods as my cherry barbs do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom