capekate

HI Folks...
I have had a community tank for 6 months now along with betta tanks, Discus tank and an Angelfish tank. My community tank is constantly loosing fish. Tho the water perimeters are fine, the tank cycled I keep loosing fish. Sometimes its a whole group of one species other times its the random fish I find floating in the tank. Sometimes I know the cause, such as aggression in the tank, swim bladder disease. Other times I have no idea why. My observation is that the hardy fish seem to be the larger ones. The Betta's are all doing fine. The two Angelfish are doing great and growing since I brought them home. I have had only one death in the Discus tank. But it seems that the smaller fish are dying off more easily than others. I just lost the last two tiger barbs in the tank. I do believe they finally killed each other. There has been an awful lot of aggression with this new batch of tiger barbs. I also lost an oto yesterday as well and have had them since may. I checked the water and AMMO-0, nitrite-0, nitrate-10.pH 6.0. I just did about a 95% water change 5 days ago with a thorough vacuuming, was trying to clean up all the diatoms in the tank. Now five days later, there are these deaths in the tank, where before that they seemed fine.
My questions that I would like to put out there to everyone is this:
1)What fish lived the longest in your tank?
2)What is the longest length of time that you have had a fish survive in your tank?

I'm just curious to find out how long fish have lived in other tanks and I would also like to find out what fish seemed the hardiest.
thanks so much! ~ kate

COBettaCouple

well our otos lasted only a month. Our corys, we had for 2 months but had to find a new home for them. 3 of the 4 platys that we got the 1st week in January are still alive, but 1 is dying now.

capekate

Thanks Dave!
You remember when I lost all the platy about 3 months ago, havent re-introduced any, tho they are great little fish. My corycats only lasted one week or so. The otos were doing great but have lost one or two over time. I lost the pair of dalmation mollies within a month of getting them, they were really cool fish. I do not want to add anymore fish to the community tank now, and at some point would like to try some dwarf cichlids in that community tank when its appropiate. I wonder if there is any connection to buying the fish from a large LFS such as petsmart, where I bought all these fish from. Maybe by going through a breeder they may have a better chance?
thank you for your input.
~ kate

COBettaCouple

yea, i think we get weak fish at the big chains mostly.. we're planning on getting fish from Dino.

capekate

I am also thinking of getting fish from Dino as well! I hear such good things about them... hmmm wonder if he breeds dwarf cichlids?? Any idea?
~ kate

Allie

We've switched up our tanks themes a lot but my african were in my 80g for a good part of a year...only one murder.

capekate

With all your tanks in the siggy.. you have only lost one fish? I want to know your secret!!! PLEEESE! lol...
~ kate

Tom

I still have 2 of the original harlequin rasboras that I got when I started my tank last year. They were used to cycle the tank. I am really amazed that they are still alive, but I glad they are.
Tom

capekate

Good for you Tom! Glad to hear they are still doing great!

sgould

I still have 5 of the original 6 zebra danios and all 6 tiger barbs I started in my 20 gallon tank in March. In my 55 gallon, I have all 4 angles, and 4 of 7 serpae still going, also from March. The serpae that died have all been mysterious...water fine, no sign of disease, etc. But they have also all been smaller specimens and I have wondered if they were being outcompeted for food.

mlinden84

I have 2 panda cories that are almost 3 years old in my 20 gallon community tank. The other's I have from feb-july and only 1 death, a little skunk cory I got last week.

Growing up I had 3 goldfish that lived for 6 years (in a 10 gallon tank) looking back I don't know how those guys made it, I knew nothing of the cycle and water changes and proper tank sizes... poor little guys...

capekate

Thanks for the responses... Well it sounds like most of you have been lucky in keeping your fish alive. I have pondered this over and over and still cannot figure out what I have done wrong to loose so many fish in 6 months. Most it seems was due to aggression in the tank. Other than that, chain LFS can be a cause of some loss. But for the most part it remains a mystery to me. thank you all for your input..
~ kate

Dino

What type of dwarf cichlid are you looking for?


Mostly we deal with fish from the up side of 7.0 pH, so no apistos.

capekate

Hi Dino
since my PH is only around 6.0-6.5 I can only go with the Apistogramma. All the other cichlids require higher PH than I have. Unless you know of any others?

Chief_waterchanger

A lot of the central americans could deal with that pH, as well as keyhole cichlids, curvacepts, and kribensis.

capekate

I do like the look of the kribs.. I don't know what the curvacepts are and I have seen the keyhole cichlids. Hopefully I will be able to have some kind of selection based on that low PH. I was surprised when I did some research to find some that did, I thought my plans of cichlids were not going to happen since most of them preferred the higher PH. Maybe there is hope after all!

mlinden84

What about adding something to keep your ph high? I use lots and lots of limestone in my african cichlid tank. not only does it keep the ph around 8, but it also provides lots of good hiding places!

capekate

Hi mlinden
I have heard about the texas limestone that is used in the cichlid tanks, but when I researched I found that it gets pretty expensive. But that is a good idea if I need to raise the PH. I would rather not have to tamper with the PH levels if I can help it. So may do some more research on the limestones anyway and take it from there.
thanks for your advice... ~ kate

Callum The Cat

Chief_waterchanger

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Spec...y.php?id=12262

There is a link to Curviceps (sorry for misspelling it yesterday)

http://www.fishbase.org/Reproduction...tockCode=12588

There's a little more on them, looking to see if I can find the full breeding colors.. they are beautiful when breeding.

Bah, I can't find a picture of breeding colors. But our male and female in a 10g breeder tank are colored up with a deep purple belly coloration... almost like DARK red wine coloration. They've laid eggs once but ate em, so perhaps they'll learn in time.

capekate

Thanks for the link, Ive checked them out. Im hoping to find some dwarf cichlids that are colorful. Any suggestions that would go with my PH? I would like to stock them in the 29g tank. Any suggestions on how many I can have in there, if I only go with cichlids? And also, if you dont mind, any suggestions on tankmates, if i go with any?
thanks, ~ kate

darkwolf29a

We have one betta that's lived for about 7 or 8 months now. Blue is the oldest. Sparky was before he got cut in half by the crawfish. Now the crawfish is gone and the barbs in the tank. I've had the three tigers for 6 months.

It seems like the only fish that weren't staying alive for us is guppies. And those just seem impossible to get going.

capekate

thanks darkwolf..
It seems our Betta's are pretty hardy... My oldest is 6 months and doing great. Knock on wood, no fin rot or problems with Phoenix. Sorry to hear you lost one of your bettas to a crawfish.. uggghh!!! My tiger barbs did ok, til the last batch I bought.. for some reason they really were an aggressive bunch. To actually see a tiger barb kill another and so fast too.. was unbelievable. I love the TB's, but will not get any more of those guys. The killer that I named.. lil Ba*****... was moved around four times to other tanks just trying to find a place for him. Eventually he ended up in the breeder net that hangs off the side of the tank a 5x5x6 inch box. I kept him there for two weeks, not knowing what to do with him. finally I let him back into the community tank since there was only one TB left there. He seemed to be doing fine, hoping that he learned his lesson, but three days later.. I found them both dead. Unbelievable...

mlinden84

I don't even use the texas limestone (holey rock). I just have limestone slabs that are used for landscaping. They are different thicknesses/widths, and i just give them a few taps with a hammer and they break into nice sized pieces, great for making good hiding places. You won't need too big of pieces, so you may even be able to contact a landcaping company and see if they have some scraps leftover. It's a lot cheaper than having the holey rock shipped to you. I'm jealous, you get to plan ANOTHER tank!?!?!

capekate

Hey.. that is a great idea! I know that the landscapers limestone has to be cheaper than those texas holey rocks. I also know a mason and landscaper, where I may be able to get it from. Thanks for the idea! Im looking forward to planning and setting up a dwarf cichlid tank. It was my other choice before the Discus which were my first choice for the 55g. I may not be able to have many in the 29g but it will be fun anyway. BTW, how many dwarfs would you recommand in the 29g?
thanks, kate

mlinden84

Well I'm no expert, just though I'd tell you = ) What kinds are you looking at getting? I've got a small assortment of african cichlids, they'll get between 4-6 inches. I have 12 in there and it seems like a good number. I really like the electric blue johannis that I have, very pretty. (and already having babies!). I've also got yellow labs, red zebras, etc. I don't know much about south american or others... mainly just malawi cichlids... if you want to know more about them just let me know... i just wouldnt want to type for hours and have it not be the kind of fish you want in the first place
I'll try to get a recent picture of my tank with the limestone chunks to give you an idea of how it will look.

capekate

I love the african cichlids but they need a higher PH than what I have. So having to opt for the smaller SA dwarfs, the apistogramma types, like the cockatoo, panda, parrot and panduro to name a few that I have researched. I love all the africans that you named, they are so colorful wish I was able to use them. I also love the german blue rams as well, but not sure if they tolerate the lower PH that I have. ( ph 6.0-6.4).

COBettaCouple

I'll test the water here in denver when the van gets here, but I expect it to be low from what Dino told me.

capekate

HEY HEY HEY!!!.... Dave... are you offically in CO now? I just noticed your screen name change.. How is it going?

COBettaCouple

yea, i'm here now.. got in at 7:30 yesterday morning. Just waiting on the van to get here with the fish & everything else so we can get settled in.