Looking for input on my tank

K

Kaitlynkec

AC Members
Jul 24, 2009
14
0
0
Nixa, MO
Hi all! First time poster here. The community here looks nice and friendly so I picked you all to join! (Lucky you, right?)

074-1.jpg


That's a picture of my tank from a few months ago. I know, my camera skills are abysmal, but mooooving on!

As of right now I have:
4 zebra danios (husband's fish, he loves them)
2 harlequin rasbora (got 1 free when he got snapped up in a batch of fish we bought, he lived so we bought him a friend)
4 red minor serpae tetra (plain ones, not the feathery fin ones)
3 neon tetras
2 diamond tetras (supposedly, but they have a neon purple color in this back fins and are fairly aggresive, also don't have that diamondy sheen to them)
1 dying guppy

I love love love love guppies. I've kept trying to convince myself that they were killed by other fish, but I am now willing to face the fact that the water in this area is hard and ours is especially bad. I love the variety of colors they bring, the beautiful tails, the fiesty females.

So question 1.
Is this really a diamond tetra?
diamondtetra2.jpg

diamondtetra.jpg


2.
What would you suggest as other fish to bring into the tank? Ones that are pretty and colorful, but can survive the hard water?
 
what is the tank size/volume? (gallons)

FYI, I believe all of the fish in your tank are shoalers/schooler. meaning.. they usually do best in schools.
the recommended minimum schools size is usually 6 of the species. some of us prefer larger numbers when setting up a tank with these fish.

you tank volume will help determine the proper mix/size of school.
 
:welcome:

As Star has said, many of those fish- Tetras, Rasboras prefer the company of their own kind, and will not be their true wonderful selves without them.
A couple of standard questions we always ask here on AC is:

Tank size?
Temp?
Substrate?
Is the tank Cycled?
Water Parameters? (Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte)

Also, while its possible that your water isn't good for the guppy, most likely it is something that can be corrected via the Cycling process.

PS: I've tried the best I can and I've had 6 adult Guppies and 5 Guppy Fry die (from 2 different batches). Now I've somehow managed to keep 2 of my Fry alive for over a month now and they are starting to color up nicely. Is my water going to kill them eventually? Were the other Guppies (especially the adults) just from a sick stock? I don't know, but for now I'm staying away from Guppies.
 
The tetra is not a Diamond Tetra. Looks like a Kerri, but not sure. Too Blurry.
 
Your tetra looks like a Congo tetra to me from the picture. Either that or a Buenos Aires tetra.

Cherry Red Barbs are a good choice for schooling, colorful fish that are hardy. But, don't jump out and buy anymore fish unless you have the space in your tank.
 
kraemerwa2003 said:
Your tetra looks like a Congo tetra to me from the picture. Either that or a Buenos Aires tetra.
Click to expand...
Definitely not those. I'd say it's a blue tetra, Boehlkea fredcochui
 
I currently have a 29 gallon tank. I've had it set up for about a year and a half. I stupidly thought that once a tank had been established, it didn't need major adjustments to it. I'd just been gravel vaccing every week (doing one side of the tank one week and the other side the next) and replacing water when needed.

I'll go out and buy test strips galore to get the tank right. I won't buy any new fish until it is right, and hopefully once it is good again all my fish will still be with me. If they are alive, I'll go get them some more friends to school with. I also plan on apologizing profusely to them at every feeding for being so ignorant and trusting crappy fish stores.

As for question number 1, I think they look most like blue tetra. After looking at them with a flash light to get rid of any environmental coloring, they do look more blue than purple.
 
Test routine

1. Test for Ammonia

2. One test data point does not mean any thing - Good or bad - You need to continue monitoring by testing regularly. There is a lot of help available within this community on this subject. You may even plot your test results on a chart with Day 1 day 3 etc and look at the results collectively. This will give you enough insight that you will start guiding others (like I am doing now--:evil_lol:)
 
Decided to update...

I did eventually lose that guppy, but I haven't had any mysterious deaths since then. I did lose one zebra danio, but I think he sliced himself on rocks or the plasticy leaves. I took the plastic plants out and have started growing some little plants in the tank.

I went back to the store where I got my "diamond tetras" today to buy two more friends for them. I could only find two fish that matched the ones I had and they were both randomly thrown in with different tanks. The guy couldn't figure out what kind of tetra they were and sold them to me as von rio tetras, I didn't correct him since they were a dollar cheaper than the blue tetras (does that make me bad or just a cheap?). They are a good bit smaller than the ones I already have, but they already seem to like each other. *hip hip hurrah*


I also found a nice little fish store that has a lot of saltwater fish and cichlids, but also a few tanks of freshwater fish. The guys breeds most of the fish himself. I'm hoping that if his water is still slightly hard that any fish I'd buy from him would at least be used to it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom