LOULOU

hello everyone, just thought id share with you what new fish ive bought to fill the gap in the middle of my tank. i have bought a male red and yellow guppie. and a blue and silver fork tail guppie, also male, he is beautiful. and 2 black widow(now im not sure which as i cant remember,maybe someone can tell me) either tetras or barbs, my 5 yr old nephew chose them and i wasnt paying much attention to what the were called i was just more involved with watching the lady in the shop chase the little buggers round the tank with the net. they are all getting on very well together, no fighting!! im really enjoying this fish thing, didnt think i was going to but my husband persueded me it would be a good thing. im now more interested than he is!

Gunnie

Heheheheheheheheeh. I am so happy you are enjoying it!

LOULOU

just looked up the black widows they are tetras not barbs, thank god for that, couldnt be a fish fan if i didnt know what the **** i was talking about eh. hehehe

0morrokh

hehehe aren't fishies just addicting?? have fun with them!!
Um, and you do know that tetras need to be kept in shoals of 6?

LOULOU

oops do they why is that? do i have to have all black widows or can they be other tetras? thanks for the information

0morrokh

In nature tetras hang out in big groups as a survival mechanism. A single fish in a large group of fish is less likely to become someone's lunch, and more fish means more likelyhood of finding food...among other reasons for shoaling. So, if tetras are not kept in a shoal (the minimum for a shoal is considered 6 fish of the same species), they will become timid and always be hiding. Black Widows probably won't be as bad as some of the more shy species, but I can almost guarantee they will be more active and happy if you get 4 more of them. And yes they have to all be Black Widows, different species will not shoal together. 6 of one species is a lot more interesting than 2 fish of 3 species. They will show brighter colors and more interesting behaviors.
By the way, all tetras, barbs, danios/minnows, and rainbowfish are shoalers. Otos, Cories, and some sharks are considered shoaling fish, but seem to do fine in groups of 3 or more. All livebearers and most loaches, while not considered shoaling fish, will not be happy unless kept in groups of 3 or more. Then there are a lot of Cichlids and Gouramis that need to be kept in pairs. Very few fish are happy on their own.

LOULOU

i went and got 4 more black widows and 2 more plattys to keep the single platy i had company. they do seem much better since i got more, as you said they are alot happier, and yes when i only had the 2 they were hiding in the weed. i got the plattys cos the 1 on its own was chasing the other fish around, now he has friends he seems ok. thats it now i think, it looks good in the tank now. thanks so much for the help. it means so much to no there are people out there that can help,xx

0morrokh

That's great! Watch the water carefully though, you may have a mini-cycle from adding so many fish at once. How big is the tank?

LOULOU

huge. not sure of litres or gallons, thats my husbands department, lol, whats the minimum it should be with that many fish, hope we havent overstocked, the man i get the fish from doesnt think it is, he says we have room for more. he is very good and im sure he would say. what do you think??

Craig

lol it looks like a lot of fish ! depends on what size ur tank is but it has 2 b big

C W

0morrokh

I just did a very rough calculation and it should probably be over 55 gallons. Could you find out the size?