Fish beating up other fish

[NY Detailer]

Ok, I am new to this fish tank thing so i have another questions.

I have this fish, have no clue what it is. It is gold and has these long whisker like things that hang from its front. It hides all day, and then floats to the top, i think its dead sometimes, but then it swims away.

I have noticed that my Clown Loachs swim up to it and nip it in the butt until it swims away and them sometimes they case it.

The other day i saw the fish floating the the plants, i helped it out and then it swam to the top of tank and just hung up there.

Is it sick? I know its hard to say as i am not sure what kind of fish it is, but anyone have any clues.

Thanks.
I am starting to feel like I should have got a dog!

 

[Leopardess]

How new is it?


Also, I'm a little confused...does it swim throughout the tank sometimes or does it almost always float at the surface?
Is it this fish?

Or this fish?

The way you describe its floating, I think it may be the second picture? If so, its an "african butterfly fish"

Those are the only whiskered gold fish I can think of at the moment.

What are you nitrate/nitrite/ammonia levels?

 

[anonapersona]

Water change

Whenever the fish are acting mean or sad, change water.

Also test the water, do you have a test kit, or can you take some water to the pet store for testing? But, change water now, take a sample of the water as you drain it to take to the store, for they may tell you something important about why the fish were acting that way.

Be sure to dechlorinate and match temperature as you refill the water.

How long has this tank been set up? How large? How many fish?

I suspect bad toxins in the water due to cycling, that is, the waste processing bacteria are not set up yet and/or you have too many fish and/or are feeding too much and/or not changing water often enough.

The one with whiskers is probably a gourami.

 

[NY Detailer]

The first pic looks like the fish, except my fish is orange. It just floats up at the top, or goes to the bottom by the rocks and hides.

I have also noticed that my 2 rainbows like to go near the corners and swim in place. but then they swim around the tank and play with each other. (hope the swimming in place is normal)

The tank is only 1 week old. Everything from the filter to the fake plants are all new. I have a total of 6 fish right now.
2 rainbows, 2 clown loaches, 2 floating orange things.

I am getting the water tested tomorrow.

 

[Leopardess]

I'd do a water change. You didnt' cycle your tank before you added all of your fish- and I bet your ammonia levels are pretty high - which can be lethal. Do a search on here for cycling or just look around, there are plenty of threads about it.

Basically, your fish poop and stuff and that creates ammonia (you know, like the stuff you use to clean with). That can build up to toxic levels. There is a bacteria that forms in your filter that transforms that ammonia into something called nitrite. This is also bad for the fish. Then a second set of bacteria forms in the filter and converts the nitrites into something called nitrates. These are a much less harmful thing. They are the end result of the "cycling" process. I like to keep these numbers as low as possible, preferably under 25ppm.

This process can be done using pure ammonia from a store BEFORE you put your fish in - that way you don't harm any fish. However, its a little too late Best thing to do is frequent-ish water changes and/or try to find some biospira - its like "bacteria in a bottle" that will help cycle the tank.

The floating orange things are called "Golden Gouramis" and it sounds like they have ammonia poisoning.

Clown loaches and rainbowfish are not well suited to enduring a cycling tank - you might lose them.

Also, what sized tank is it? Clown loaches can reach 1 foot in length, and depening on what kind of rainbowfish, they'll get to be 4-5 inches a piece.

Hope that helped?

 

[NY Detailer]

Thanks for all the info.
The tank size is a 46 gallon.

When you say a water change, do you mean a complete water change or just 20% of the water.

I did let the tank run for 3 days prior to adding any fish to the tank if that helps at all.

 

[snakeskinner]

25% seems to be the norm for water changes. Some people do bi-weekly, some do weekly. I personally do a 25-30% change weekly but I am pretty heavily stocked too. Being that you just set your tank up, you will need to keep up with the water changes until the levels drop. I'm no expert but I'd try to do 30-40% weekly until the levels of ammonia and nitrites are acceptable. You aren't overstocked right now so once the levels get under control, you can probably sit back and do 20% biweekly and get by with it. do you have lots of plants and stuff for the gourami's to hide (your orange floating fish). It sounds like maybe you have some sunset dwarf gourami's possibly. Is the fin on top sort of blue? Gourami's, especially dwarf's, need cover so they can hide when they want. good luck, KYle

 

[NY Detailer]

I went to the store today and had them test my water. Everything was pefect they told me. They tested 2 times for me. I asked them about the fish that is floating, it turns out thats what this fish does. It like the top water. LOL, i thought it was dying. He should me others in the tank he had and they are all doing the same thing. As for the Clown Loaches beating him up, they are just making this fish move out of the way, i was told.

SO right now I guess (hope) everything will be fine with the tank.

I want to add some more fish to the tank in about another week or so. Can anyone suggest what kind of fish to add
here is what i have so far. My tank size is a 46 gallon bow

2 rainbows
2 floating things (golden guarami) i think
2 clown loaches

 

[SBA]

what Leopardess said. read up on cycling before adding any more fish.

assuming you didn't use bio-spira(?) your tank is not cycled. you really need test kits for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte so you can check the progress of the cycle. even though the LFS tests the water for you 'perfect' is not very helpful (and highly unlikely!). it would be in thier interests to sell you more fish and then meds to treat them when they get sick.

when your ammonia and nitrite levels drop to 0 (not nearly 0, actually 0) and nitrAte levels start to rise you wil be able to add more fish, slowly.

it could be that your tank is relatively large for the current stock so the ammonia has not started to show up in detectable amounts yet, but you can be assured it will. and when it does (lots of partial) water changes are the best way of protecting your current fish stock, as many as you can be bothered to do.

this thread details fishy cycling, well worth a read.

HTH

EDIT: I see from your other posts that you have already added more fish. Good luck.