Whitty
- #1
HI all,
New to the forum but have found a wealth of information and appreciate the knowledge.
I decided to join and ask a question I have not been able to find an answer for.
Is there such thing as a "fish death stare"?
Background -
My sister bought my 2.5 year old a goldfish at a carnival a few months ago.
I haven't kept fish since I was a teenager but I knew the little bowl it came in wasn't going to cut it.
The goldfish died before I picked up a new tank with a filter. Luckily my kiddo was at her grandmas for the weekend so I bought two mollies at the recommendation of the guy at the pet shop.
Long story short - the tanks at Wal-mart are garbage and the tetra whisper filters are a joke. I learned that the hard way.
3 tanks later - I finally got a Fluval 15 Gallon Flex tank. (so far so good and my nitrogen cycle appears to be almost complete)
Side note: I drove myself crazy with water changes because I couldn't get the ammonia down. Turns out my tap water tested positive for 1-2ppm ammonia so the water changes were doing more harm than good I think. I've been treating it with Prime and the ammonia is declining (around 0.50 now). Nitrites are 0. Nitrates are between 5-10
Water temp is at 79 degrees and I added biospira when I got the Flex tank.
The 2 mollies are still alive and somewhere in the mix I added two Skirt Tetras (one glow and one black skirt), a tiger barb, and a pleco to the tank.
(Yes, I now know adding more fish before the cycle was complete was dumb)
Back to the "fish death stare" question:
The tiger barb was one of the glofish ones - when we bought it, it was the last one in the tank and hiding under a cave and acting kinda weird. I thought maybe because it was alone. After it was added to our tank - it acted fine for about 4 days and then all the sudden started having staring contests with one of the plants.
It was hovering at about a 40 degree angle just staring at a plant. It would eat fine but I'd always walk by the tank to see it staring at the plant. All my numbers were good on the water tests (except ammonia which I treated with Prime but my nitrates hadn't established yet) and I did daily 25% water changes before I knew I had ammonia in my tap water.
The tiger barb died a few days after it lost it's battle with the plant stare.
Now my glofish tetra is starting to do the same thing but it's staring at the water line at more of a 95 degree angle. Eats fine and chases around with the black skirt tetra but I've caught it doing the weird stare twice today. I'm hoping it's not a sign of things to come but understand it's a possibility with a fish-in cycle.
My nitrogen cycle is finally nearly complete I think and I've continued to treat the <1ppm ammonia in the tank with prime. I think if I leave it alone a couple more days the ammonia should be at zero very soon.
Long intro but I'm happy to be here and appreciate the info. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about the death stare. I'd also like to know if anyone knows why the black skirt tetras are also known as Black Widow Tetras?
I've re-discovered a love for aquariums and hope to do less stupid things moving forward.
Once I establish good habits with this 15 gallon aquarium, I'd like to start a 75 gallon long.
New to the forum but have found a wealth of information and appreciate the knowledge.
I decided to join and ask a question I have not been able to find an answer for.
Is there such thing as a "fish death stare"?
Background -
My sister bought my 2.5 year old a goldfish at a carnival a few months ago.
I haven't kept fish since I was a teenager but I knew the little bowl it came in wasn't going to cut it.
The goldfish died before I picked up a new tank with a filter. Luckily my kiddo was at her grandmas for the weekend so I bought two mollies at the recommendation of the guy at the pet shop.
Long story short - the tanks at Wal-mart are garbage and the tetra whisper filters are a joke. I learned that the hard way.
3 tanks later - I finally got a Fluval 15 Gallon Flex tank. (so far so good and my nitrogen cycle appears to be almost complete)
Side note: I drove myself crazy with water changes because I couldn't get the ammonia down. Turns out my tap water tested positive for 1-2ppm ammonia so the water changes were doing more harm than good I think. I've been treating it with Prime and the ammonia is declining (around 0.50 now). Nitrites are 0. Nitrates are between 5-10
Water temp is at 79 degrees and I added biospira when I got the Flex tank.
The 2 mollies are still alive and somewhere in the mix I added two Skirt Tetras (one glow and one black skirt), a tiger barb, and a pleco to the tank.
(Yes, I now know adding more fish before the cycle was complete was dumb)
Back to the "fish death stare" question:
The tiger barb was one of the glofish ones - when we bought it, it was the last one in the tank and hiding under a cave and acting kinda weird. I thought maybe because it was alone. After it was added to our tank - it acted fine for about 4 days and then all the sudden started having staring contests with one of the plants.
It was hovering at about a 40 degree angle just staring at a plant. It would eat fine but I'd always walk by the tank to see it staring at the plant. All my numbers were good on the water tests (except ammonia which I treated with Prime but my nitrates hadn't established yet) and I did daily 25% water changes before I knew I had ammonia in my tap water.
The tiger barb died a few days after it lost it's battle with the plant stare.
Now my glofish tetra is starting to do the same thing but it's staring at the water line at more of a 95 degree angle. Eats fine and chases around with the black skirt tetra but I've caught it doing the weird stare twice today. I'm hoping it's not a sign of things to come but understand it's a possibility with a fish-in cycle.
My nitrogen cycle is finally nearly complete I think and I've continued to treat the <1ppm ammonia in the tank with prime. I think if I leave it alone a couple more days the ammonia should be at zero very soon.
Long intro but I'm happy to be here and appreciate the info. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about the death stare. I'd also like to know if anyone knows why the black skirt tetras are also known as Black Widow Tetras?
I've re-discovered a love for aquariums and hope to do less stupid things moving forward.
Once I establish good habits with this 15 gallon aquarium, I'd like to start a 75 gallon long.