Tank doing well

I'd just like to check in and say that my aquarium is bringing a lot of pleasure into my life. Thanks to Fishlore folks I have learned enough to have some confidence and I know where to go when a problem arises!

My tank has been cycled for two weeks now. I did my weekly 25 % water change today - all readings were good before but I can see why the weekly attention is needed. There is a lot of poop to vacuum each week.

We continue to have the pleco, 9 female and 3 male cherry barbs and 4 male guppies. I am researching and getting ready to add fish. Because of our high pH (8.2) I'm leaning toward and angelfish.....and some platies? I like to stick to the easier fish....I'm still not THAT confident! When I added four guppies two week ago only two survived. I'm blaming the fish store since I was very careful about travel and acclimating. Both of the dead fish were missing their tail.....could the Cherry barbs be attacking at night?

 

HI Faye
and congrats on your cycled tank.. and happy tank! (For the most part.).
It could be the cherry barbs that attacked the guppies tails. Others may give you a more definitive answer. But I wanted to add tho, Angelfish prefer a low PH and water on the acidic side, which means that your PH of 8.2 may be a bit too high for them. Just wanted you to know.. tho some folks have kept fish in higher and lower Ph than is required, Angel fish are sensitive to their water conditions so you may run into problems with that high PH.

~ kate

 

Maybe one of the African Cichlids would be better? I know CoBetta had recommended them before - but are there any that would be ok with the fish I already have?

 

Before long you will want to rehome your common pleco. They grow too large for a 55 gallon tank...

The cherry barbs are probably the culprits on the guppy tails, and likewise will be on any fish with lovely long fins/tails, or I would suggest CONGO Tetras except for the long tail thing
....but maybe you would enjoy a pair of bosemanI rainbows, they would add interest, and color. Their fins are not flowing so the barbs won't bother them. Then if you want a pleco a Bristlenose is a good small 4-5 inches and still does a good job on algae.

Three corys would also be a nice addition if you don't get anything else.

 

Before long you will want to rehome your common pleco. They grow too large for a 55 gallon tank...

The cherry barbs are probably the culprits on the guppy tails, and likewise will be on any fish with lovely long fins/tails, or I would suggest CONGO Tetras except for the long tail thing
....but maybe you would enjoy a pair of bosemanI rainbows, they would add interest, and color. Their fins are not flowing so the barbs won't bother them. Then if you want a pleco a Bristlenose is a good small 4-5 inches and still does a good job on algae.

Three corys would also be a nice addition if you don't get anything else.

Hi!

Acctualy, unlike any other Barb Cherrys are totally peaceful! I have kept them in pairs with guppys, all sorts. Not a ripped fin! Cherry barbs have to live in the shadow of their terrifying cousins - the Tigers - and people call them aggresive because of it! I also keep mine with Gouramis and they co-exist famously. Sorry if that sounds like an attack - I'm really tired of people calling peaceful cherry barbs aggresive.

Faye - angels would eat your Cherrys. I know you don't want that happening, so maybe forget angels? Platys would be lovely! I like to get pairs of the different strain - all male of course. Like, 2 Tuxedo, 2 Red wagtail... You should really get rid of Common pleco and get a BN instead before you really get attached to him.

 

Faye - angels would eat your Cherrys. I know you don't want that happening, so maybe forget angels?

I have to disagree on this. I have had Angels with everything from barbs, tetras, rainbows, mollies and even the small cardinal tetras which still live peacefully with my Angelfish.
I have never seen the Angel eat any fish. They only seem, ( in my case) to be aggressive to each other and the larger fish such as my Discus and at times the Gouramis. But I have never seen my angelfish eat any fish. I would think that the cherry barb is much to large for the angelfish to eat, unless it was already dead and laying in the gravel.
~ kate

 

I have to disagree on this. I have had Angels with everything from barbs, tetras, rainbows, mollies and even the small cardinal tetras which still live peacefully with my Angelfish.
I have never seen the Angel eat any fish. They only seem, ( in my case) to be aggressive to each other and the larger fish such as my Discus and at times the Gouramis. But I have never seen my angelfish eat any fish. I would think that the cherry barb is much to large for the angelfish to eat, unless it was already dead and laying in the gravel.
~ kate

Hi!

Cherry barb = Neon tetra size. I guess it really depends on the individual Angel - I've never owned Angels before, but I hear it all over that most angels eat small fish like Cherrys or Neons - I daren't find out!

 

I guess the cherry barbs you have seen the size of neons must have been juvies. The cherry barbs I have had were much bigger than neons, and rounder,so may have been older. My cardinal tetras are not much larger than neons and were pretty small 8 months ago when I got them. A Neon tetra will grow to about 1.5 inches whereas the Cherry Barb will grow to 2 inches.
But in any event, the cherry barbs prefer a slightly acidic water and lower PH as well.

~ kate

 

Hi!

I guess. I've had a female cherry for a year now and she's only 1.5".

 

my water is also a high ph (8.0). Combined I have or have had swords, platys(no longer have this pair, tiger barbs, red eye tetra's , cory cat , pictus cat, serpae tetra, mollies which have all trived in my tanks. The majority of my fish i've had 2 years now and the pictus is going on 5 yrs. Hope this helps.

 

All of you are very helpful - I appreciate the discussion. It helps more than the general descriptions that can be found about the various species of fish.

We are already attached to the pleco I'm afraid. He put on a show for our weekend visitors - and yes he is growing. I have my eye on two or three heated ponds in the area for his future

My barbs have been peaceful also - but I have quite a few. They don't seem to pay any attention to the guppies. The guppies do pick on each other so maybe they are the ones that didn't accept the two that died and were found without tails?

I'm going to look up and read about all of the fish you have all mentioned - the other one that has been mentioned before is dwarf gourami - I've been looking at them.

My question about the African cichlids is: are there any that will live with the fish I already have in the tank?

 

Hi!

Africans won't go in a community, no. Shame that!

 

There are some africans that can do alright in a community tank. Check cichlid-forum for profiles.

 

There are some africans that can do alright in a community tank. Check cichlid-forum for profiles.

Hi!

Really!? What kinds?

 

.. just select peaceful for temperment and conspecific temperment, or even just peaceful for conspecific. There's a whole range of temperments with cichlids. ;D

 

I'm looking at the website about cichlids but am a little confused. There are SO MANY choices! I found the Electric Lab/Yellow Lab/Labidochromis caeruleus/Kakusa.....are they all the same fish? Grows to 5 inches - good for my pH and temperature - can one male or female go in a community? Will it eat guppies? And are most cichlids too big for a 55 gallon?

I'm still leaning more toward platies and dwarf gouramis....but it will be a couple of weeks before I get to a fish store.

Thanks for the website, CoBetta - it's very entertaining to look at so many, many fish!

 

You should be able to pull up a profile of each species (and often other articles on them) when you click on the species name. I've not had the species listed and don't know about them - I'm pretty new to cichlids myself.. but there are cichlids that can go in tanks 55 gallon and smaller for sure. A pair of the Julies that we have fit in a 15g.

 

I was just surfing around Fishlore and found that BoSox is also looking at the Electric Yellow/Yellow Lab/Labidochromis caeruleus under specific fish questions. Maybe someone will give us some information on that thread.

The cichlid website says they are a peaceful fish....so maybe. I think my early experience with fish loss has made me overly cautious. It's nice to have had a few weeks with no fish death!

 

The cichlid website says they are a peaceful fish....so maybe. I think my early experience with fish loss has made me overly cautious. It's nice to have had a few weeks with no fish death!

Hi!

I have a feeling a cichlid website's view on 'peaceful' fish is slightly different than what we're thinking about! Here is some more on the Yellow Lab: , .

Kribs (Kribensis cichlids) can be OK in a community.

 

Thanks Hatchet.....this looks like an interesting fish. If I catch MTS I think I would convert this 55 gallon to a cichlid tank. I have the right pH for it. But as a new fish owner I'll probably get a few platys next. And possibly dwarf gouramis. And see how it goes. The info on both is that they can take a wide range of pH.

 

Thanks Hatchet.....this looks like an interesting fish. If I catch MTS I think I would convert this 55 gallon to a cichlid tank. I have the right pH for it. But as a new fish owner I'll probably get a few platys next. And possibly dwarf gouramis. And see how it goes. The info on both is that they can take a wide range of pH.

Hi!

TBH, most freshwater fish can adjust to high pH if properly acclimatized. I've hear of GBR's being kept in pH 8.0 with no problem at all!

 

We added three platys on Thursday - all male I hope. Two are all orange and one is a Mickey Mouse. And a Dwarf Gourami that is taking his time and making sure everything is safe before he checks out much of his new home. The platys on the other hand seem to be completely comfortable. On another thread it was recommended that I add some floating plants for him so I'll do that tomorrow.

These four fish add some color and flash to the tank. I'm waiting a couple of days before doing my weekly water change to give the DG time before I stir things up.

 

I love platys, hope you can post pics of them.

 

We added three platys on Thursday - all male I hope. Two are all orange and one is a Mickey Mouse. And a Dwarf Gourami that is taking his time and making sure everything is safe before he checks out much of his new home. The platys on the other hand seem to be completely comfortable. On another thread it was recommended that I add some floating plants for him so I'll do that tomorrow.

These four fish add some color and flash to the tank. I'm waiting a couple of days before doing my weekly water change to give the DG time before I stir things up.

Hi!

Sounds cool! To tell male platys from females, look at the analfin. The males is long and tube shaped (A gonopludium), and the female's is triangular. Once you've done it once, you'll never get it wrong.