Aquarium Advice For Pedeatric Aquarium

[KatieBug2k6]

Hello there! At my pediatric clinic there is a pretty bad tank. I need help identifying the fish in it (one is a bristle nose pleco), they keep getting more. They have three carp-looking pond fish. Two smaller new ones, and one giant who is most defiantly to big and keeps bumping his face into the walls. Two little orange striped fish (one is new), and one bigger fish who looks like them but brown and cream. One fish who I don't even know what he might be but his right fin is crumpled (this is new, I saw him Monday) and is looking sad.

What I aim to do is write an email to the clinic with advice of what to do. I have talked to the people there before and nobody knows what kind of fish they are. Someone brought them in and they just took care of them. The tank has been there for a couple years along with the big carp. They recently redecorated the tank from super cramped and sponge bob to more open and with coral. Never any real plants. The big fish used to swim in circles instead of scraping against the plastic plants. He now has more room to move, but still not enough as he has to move slowly, unless he goes above the decor and goes as fast as he can from one end to the other. The tank looks sad and overstocked. If there are any suggestions as to what to stock it with and change, I already have some ideas but would love more! I don't know dimensions or equipment, but the pump moves fast.

Here are some pictures:



If you'd like more images, I have more though some of them are blurry.

 

[Shrimpgeek]

That little red fish is a cherry barb. It's lucky to be alive in that tank, the other stuff in it could easily eat it. If you can convince them to let you take the smaller tropical fish, that would be great.

I hope no one slams me for this, but I think the best bet is to leave the largest fish, who I think is a bala shark. I think the tank is too small for him, but he'll be better off staying there.

 

[F1sh]

My advice is to take as much fish as possible from that tank. I think the other two big fish other than the ball shark are tinfoil barbs(i'm not too sure), and they get huge(up to 1 foot), so that aquarium is way too small with them. That Other fish with the horizontal yellow stripe in the third picture looks like a Sahyadria denisonii, which need to be in schools, so take that as well. The Bala Shark also needs to be in a school, so try to convince them to let you take that as well. You can leave the cherry barb, but try to convince them to get it a school.

 

[KingOscar]

The tank looks clean so someone is regularly taking care of it. It may be a commercial aquarium maintenance service. Either way, find out who it is caring for it and go straight to them with your concerns. The largest fish looks like a tinfoil barb to me.

 

[F1sh]

The largest fish looks like a tinfoil barb to me.

oops... my bad, it does like a tinfoil barb, but it likely should still be removed because its still way too big for the tank

 

[Hellfishguy]

The fish in the first photo looks like an elderly Buenos Aires tetra.

 

[Mudminnow]

Here are my guesses when it comes to the species in your photos:

• Picture 1: Buenos Aires tetra maybe (I'm not too sure)
• Picture 2: male cherry barb
• Picture 3: female cherry barb
• Picture 4 & 5: tinfoil barbs

I'd guess the tank is a standard 55 gallon (more or less).

In my opinion, the fish (other than that tetra) look healthy enough, and the tank appears well maintained. Granted, it's not an optimal size tank for those larger tinfoil barbs, and keeping smaller fishes (like the cherry barbs) might risk the smaller fish being eaten. But, it's a tank for kids in a place that probably does a lot of good. To be honest, if it were me, I probably wouldn't say anything.

 

[JustAFishServant]

Uh-oh...3 tinfoil barbs (which typically get over a foot long - and you're right; they're a cyprinid and related to carp), 1 male cherry barb, 1 female cherry barb, and what looks like a buenos aires tetra to me

That doesn't look suitable AT ALL for those poor fish