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January 17th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| I finally have fishies again! wOOt!
Today I put fish into my 20g for the first time in 3 weeks. So far, so good.
Background (the good, bad and the ugly): Major tank disaster - advice please?? Restarting 20g tank, don't want to overstock... Is this a bad idea?
Earlier this week I gave the tank 10 PPM ammonia, then left it for two days, testing twice a day. Finally! nitrites dropping to zero along with ammonia, just as it should, mini-cycle kaputsky! And nitrates too high to be read by API dropper kits. I did as suggested, and changed out some of the water each day until they were at acceptable levels (5-10). I also started using Prime instead of aquasafe. I decided to start with four fish - cherry barbs! I missed cherry barbs  I guess I might have been able to add more right off bc it had such a strong biofilter, but didn't want to risk too much. These four will stay in the 20g alone for the next two weeks, then the DG will go in, then I'll buy some more cherry's and QT them in the 5g for 2 weeks....then I don't know yet.
The barbs seem healthy enough and aren't shy - any time I come near the tank they swim up and say hi! They also spend a lot of time going up and down the glass on one side of the tank..I've read fish do that when they're bored, but they were doing this an hour after being added to the tank, so who knows? They are definitely doing lots of exploring too. The female's gills are a little red. I know my water's good and I didn't test the LFS water, so I'm going to watch that one. I'll be testing their water every day at first, until I know all's well.
Pics of newly refurbished restocked 20g, and of the new barbs: | 
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January 17th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Dwarf gourami (Gabriel!) going to be added to 20g in 2 wks
This little guy is such a ham...he poses so nicely. And the kitties...well I couldn't resist  | |
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January 17th, 2009
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| | Moderator
|  Your tank looks really nice.
Love the fish and kitties! | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Oh, the DG is gorgeous! | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thank you
The cherrys spent a lot of time yesterday evening going up and down the glass on one side (the same side as the airstone). There's a lamp on that side of the living room, and on the other side of the tank is the kitchen light (dimmer). I turned off the airstone for a bit and they immediately stopped going up and down the glass; when I turned it on again they started again. They like throwing themselves into the bubble stream too - I guess they like the current! I also found that when I turned off the living room lamp they immediately went to the other side (towards the dimmer kitchen light). Interesting - their store tank had solid-coloured sides. Today they don't seem as concerned with any one side, they're just happily swimming about. It is so good.... 
Does anyone know if cherry barbs are supposed to have red gills (like otos)? the females' gills are red (can't tell on the male) but they don't act parasitized. Still a little gun-shy. | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Beautiful tank! and I'm not sure about the cherry barb..Might just be the way they're colored? Somebody else who has kept them will come along shortly | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thank you
I googled some cherry barb images and they have red gills too, so hopefully all ok--? | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Nice! Looks heavily planted . . . I like it.  | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| That's a happy illusion (and the intention)...all fake (I know zilch about aquarium plants yet). Thanks though! | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Hey prairielilly, thats a really nice looking setup...Im thinking about cherry barbs for my tank...I like there coloring...I like the picture of your gray cat...it looks just like my lacey...Do you know what your cat is?..we have no idea what lacey is... | |
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January 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| The grey cat is Muffy - no idea what she is. She is ten this year and is from the Humane Society. When I got her she was skin and bones and would only eat off the floor and drink from the bathtub drain (slightly neglected poor thing!) Well she's more than made up for it and is currently on a vet-prescribed reducing diet as is the other kitty (Izzy, who's one year older). She looks asleep but was just blinking at the flash.
They both ignore the fish for the most part (thank goodness) but every once in a while it's like they suddenly figure out there's something alive in there....they stare at the tank for a while but then lose interest!! | |
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January 20th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Thats funny my cats do the same thing...My smaller cat was actually standing on the lid one day...thank goodness shes only 6 pounds... | |
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January 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| OK I'm impatient
Well I know all about quarantining now, I've been taught how things should go and with a major disaster in the not-too-distant past I had great plans....
...kinda got altered. I had 4 cherrys in the main tank since last Saturday, a dwarf gourami in the 5g for nearly a month, and one surviving oto in a 3g for nearly 3 weeks. Long story short is they are now all in one tank. Hardly the 'at least 2 weeks' quarantine for everybody I planned on. However they were all active, interactive, ate like little piggies and had no visible signs of disease. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I really hope I didn't just blow it.
The oto is the happiest I've seen him. He discovered the driftwood and basically hasn't been off it since. Everyone leaves him alone which is good. He swims the length of the tank now and then, first exercise he's had since I got him. My reasoning for moving him to the 20g rather than putting him in the 5g and adding some more otos then QTing them all together was that this way he only has to move once - hopefully less stress on oto. So far so good.
My dwarf gourami adjusted beautifully. He's claimed one of the caves for his own and seems fascinated by the filter intake (now covered with a nylon so he can keep his weird pectoral fins). He seems to be able to change from dull silvery brown to irridescent blue and back again on a whim. He also seems to appreciate the extra space.
The cherrys ignore the oto but are very curious with the gourami. Their behaviour reminds me of small puppies - always curious. They just carried on like normal - the male chasing whichever female was closest to him all over the tank, then finding another, then another.... poor girls good thing they're 3 to 1. No nipping yet (hopefully won't be any). I put zucchini in the tank for the oto and he ignored it, but the cherrys nibbled at it all evening!
Future stocking plans: I'm currently 'sterilizing' the 3g and the 5g with ammonia. Later in the week I'll get them both all cleaned up, then on Saturday I plan to purchase a female betta for the 3g which will be her permanent home. For the 5g I plan to get 3 pygmy cories and 2 otos, and QT them for 2 weeks (this time, the entire 2 weeks!) They will then go into the 20g, and the 5g will be home to a male betta. Or maybe 2 sparkling gouramis.... I did originally want at least 6 cherrys, but they seem to be doing really well with just 4. I may still add them later, wait and see. May change my mind yet again too on the otos/cories. The cories are a) cute as can be, and b) good at cleaning the missed food, and c) tiny! The otos are friends for the current oto. I don't have any algae, but that poor little thing has survived the lfs and whatever killed his comrades, so he has a home here as long as he wants.
I've done all the fish-inches calculations and bioload considerations and....blah. I'm going to make sure everyone has some company, enough room to swim and a place to hide, and I'll keep a close watch the nitrates. I'll be testing my water at least once a day for the next while, but I don't foresee any issues (there weren't any when the barbs went in). So looking forward to the tank being full! | |
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January 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| aww congrats! | |
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January 27th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| it's a dangerous thing to own a digital camera...
New pics of DG and oto in main tank! I did try to take a few of the cherry barbs too, but I don't have an 'action' setting on the camera and well they never stay still - lots of blurry cherry barb pictures! They always come right up to the glass as soon as I get close (gotta see what's going on! they are so darn cute!) | |
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January 31st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| New babies!
Well I went to the lfs today for a female betta for the 3g, and 2 otos and 3 pygmy cories to be qt'd in the 5g and eventually go into the 20g. The lfs didn't have any pygmys or otos in stock, and the female bettas didn't look very healthy. I ended up taking home a male betta for the 3g, and the 5g currently is holding 3 panda cories! The pandas seemed really stressed by the move and hid for the first few hours, but then I went to check on them and they were all happily munching on the wafer I put in the tank (: They are soooo cute - they're also really hard to see in this tank seeing as the gravel's light & dark beige. I didn't use the flash in the pictures as I didn't want to scare them. The betta seems happy so far, and is actively exploring his tank. To me he looks just a little bit puffy and I got all concerned, but I'm probably overreacting since my last one had such problems. This guy's pretty preoccupied with his own reflection! Everyone in the main tank is still doing fabulous, and I'm really hopeful this is all going to work out well. I haven't named any of them yet, suggestions welcome! | |
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