Is it possible to humanely place two dwarf gourami in a 10 gallon planted tank?

[nellafantasia]

Yes, skipping a day or even 2 is fine for your fish & better for your water quality. Keep up the vacuuming! You'll see good results very soon!

Good luck!

You were right on!! Tonight the ammonia is barely at a trace and no nitrites. I did another 40% water change and more vacuuming. The two cardinals are going back to the store. Soon I hope my little fellas will be happier with all the same species in the tank. I will replace the cardinals with neons.

I noticed something I'm not sure I like. There were two teeny tiny snails on the glass. I just don't like it because I know as a past med tech freshwater snails carry schistosomiasis. Granted this is in other parts of the world. I suppose the chances are slim, but there are schistosomes in the US causing "swimmers itch".

Could the snails be beneficial? Will they go bananas and multiply over night??

 

[nellafantasia]

HELP!! I finally took the two cardinal tetras back and brought home 4 new neons. That is a total of 10 neon tetras in a 10G tank. After about 6 hours there seems to be some pretty fierce bullying going on. There is one male who is the aggressor. He will fight other fish nose to nose twirling fiercely even to the top of the water line. He will pick on any size but really goes after smaller neons. I am afraid he will end up chasing another fish to death. Will you please advise me? Should I take two of them back? It is pretty distressing to watch.

 

[fishorama]

Sorry nobody else answered you, I'm on vacation & pretty much offline.

Starting with your earlier snail question, I don't mind some.They can even be useful.

I've never seen schisto in fish that I know. They can carry some diseases & some parasites.

If you're worried, most pest snails can be removed by hand, squished against the glass if they are pond, bladder or (my favorites) ramshorns. They lay eggs that look like clear jelly masses,...anywhere. You can scrape them off but they have to removed (vacuuming).

Trumpet (MTS) snails are live bearing & have hard shells (not squishable). They live in the substrate & are mostly nocturnal.. a few are ok, they can eat excess food & help keep the substrate from compacting...

But ALL snails will increase rapidly with excess food. So feed less &/or try baiting or trapping them to remove them.
l
Now on to tetra aggression. In some ways, that's normal behavior for them & why they need larger groups to spread it out among individuals. Smaller, weak or new fish can be picked on to the point of death. It can be part of breeding too; although females are usually bigger they're less aggressive than males.

Hopefully they will work out a pecking order in a few days. You can add décor (plants rock, wood) to let them get away from &/or hide from the aggressor.

Is it getting any better now?

 

[nellafantasia]

Sorry nobody else answered you, I'm on vacation & pretty much offline.

Starting with your earlier snail question, I don't mind some.They can even be useful.

I've never seen schisto in fish that I know. They can carry some diseases & some parasites.

If you're worried, most pest snails can be removed by hand, squished against the glass if they are pond, bladder or (my favorites) ramshorns. They lay eggs that look like clear jelly masses,...anywhere. You can scrape them off but they have to removed (vacuuming).

Trumpet (MTS) snails are live bearing & have hard shells (not squishable). They live in the substrate & are mostly nocturnal.. a few are ok, they can eat excess food & help keep the substrate from compacting...

But ALL snails will increase rapidly with excess food. So feed less &/or try baiting or trapping them to remove them.
l
Now on to tetra aggression. In some ways, that's normal behavior for them & why they need larger groups to spread it out among individuals. Smaller, weak or new fish can be picked on to the point of death. It can be part of breeding too; although females are usually bigger they're less aggressive than males.

Hopefully they will work out a pecking order in a few days. You can add décor (plants rock, wood) to let them get away from &/or hide from the aggressor.

Is it getting any better now?

Yes actually, the fighting has stopped. Is it possible that the addition of 4 new neons resulted in the need to establish a pecking order?

Thank you for your reply. I trust you are having a good vacation.

 

[fishorama]

yes for both