Hello everyone,
I'm new here and new to the hobby. It all started for me when I attended a company dinner in which small bowls with two
goldfish in them were used as centerpieces. A cruel practice, really. The bowls were so small that the fish were sure to die within 24 hours. There was no cover, and they were obviously miserable. Anyway, I took our centerpiece home (as did several others), and went to the pet store the next morning with my two boys (2 and 4 years old) to buy a small 3 gallon Eclipse tank, which has been up and running for about 11 days. I liked the little Eclipse 3 so much that within a week I had a 30 gallon tank with an Eclipse 2 for "daddy," which has been up and running for 6 days.
The goldfish in the 3 gallon are thriving, although it is pretty obvious to me that the tank is already a bit overloaded (4" of dirty fish in there). While it's cycling, I'm doing a 15% change every 2 days, so the fish are happy, but I'm trying to figure out how to tell my boys that Harry and Bobby are going to have to go back to the store to get a new home in a bigger tank! I'm thinking that the 3 gallon will become my quarantine tank, or (depending upon the boys' reaction) perhaps a home for a small (6 or so) school of cardinal tetras.
I'm cycling the 30 gallon with a school of 5 Tiger Barbs (yes, I'm aware of their reputation, but I'm hoping that they will keep to themselves since I have 5 of them, and I'm thinking of adding sixth). I just love the looks of the Tiger Barbs, and I am also attracted by their active nature.
Before I get to my question, here are the basic water parameters for my 30 gallon tank:
pH 7.0; Alk 80; Hardness 120;
nitrite 0;
nitrate 0;
ammonia <.25; 78 degrees F. 15%
water change every 2-4 days while it's cycling. I'm not using any cycling boosters or anything like that. I do condition the water to detoxify it. Feeding lightly once a day using Tetra flakes, and frozen bloodworms every couple of days as a treat. Lights on for 12 hours a day total, but not continuously (we turn them off when we leave, or are not going to be in the room for a while).
Now my question. For the last 3 days, the Tiger Barbs do nothing but hide, pretty much all the time. At first, the Tiger Barbs acted like Tiger Barbs, swimming throughout the tank very actively in a school, and chasing each other around. Then they started fighting, which I assumed was a perfectly natural event to establish a pecking order. It does not appear that anyone got hurt (fins intact, etc.). Then for a day or so, the dominant fish would hang out in the open while the other four hid most of the time. Whenever one would come out, the dominant fish would chase him back into hiding. This went on for about a day. Now they seem to all hide all the time. I fed them last night and no one came out to eat! However, this morning the food seems to be gone. When you turn out the lights, two or three of them sometimes will come out. They seem to be very aware of what's going on outside the tank, and if they are out they will go into hiding if someone approaches the tank.
So, I'm thinking there are a couple of possibilities: (1) they are still getting used to their new environment, and this will all work itself out in time (they have been in the tank for 5 days); (2) there is some problem, possibly stemming from the aggressive behavior of the Alpha-fish, that has basically destroyed the playful schooling behavior that makes these fish so appealing in the first place.
I'm considering what, if anything to do, and I'm thinking that my first step may be to add a sixth Tiger Barb to see if that helps the social dynamic at all.
Sorry for the very long first post, but thoughts are appreciated. Thanks in advance.
--Adam
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