148.6L (39.2 gallon) aquarium journal

[Colin_T]

The sparring is normal and nothing to worry about.

You need some floating plants to shade the tank and then they will show better colour and won't be as stressed. Water Sprite is one of the better floating plants and should be available here because it's not a noxious weed like most other floating plants.

If you don't want Water Sprite, you can let Ambulia or Hygrophila polysperma float and they help too, but Water Sprite is better.

You need a picture on the back to darken things up a bit. A black or dark green backing will help the fish show more colour.

 

[elephantnose3334]

The sparring is normal and nothing to worry about.

You need some floating plants to shade the tank and then they will show better colour and won't be as stressed. Water Sprite is one of the better floating plants and should be available here because it's not a noxious weed like most other floating plants.

If you don't want Water Sprite, you can let Ambulia or Hygrophila polysperma float and they help too, but Water Sprite is better.

You need a picture on the back to darken things up a bit. A black or dark green backing will help the fish show more colour.

Yeah, that would be a good idea. I will look into it in the future.

 

[Colin_T]

If you can't get a backing straight away, you can tape newspaper, coloured card or even a plastic bin liner to the outside of the tank (on the back). It does the same job and costs less than a backing.

 

[elephantnose3334]

If you can't get a backing straight away, you can tape newspaper, coloured card or even a plastic bin liner to the outside of the tank (on the back). It does the same job and costs less than a backing.

Good plan. I actually like the silvertip group's shoaling behaviour, that actually makes me want to add a few more members to it to make it in full display and to interact with them in the future.

 

[elephantnose3334]

I put in a very small dose of Flourish Trace in the tank on today (a Monday) when used in conjunction with normal Flourish (Wednesday and Saturday). If I had made a mistake, I will remember to put in normal Flourish and/or Trace during Saturday water changes next time.

 

[elephantnose3334]

It's night time now and I've seen a lot of chasing activity of their own species in the aquarium, happening more frequently when the lights are out. I've even seen two males pursue a female. Are they courting or are they nipping her fins? I haven't got pictures or videos of it, but has the chasing got something to do with the breeding season for the silvertips or is it stress-related?

 

[Colin_T]

Could be stress or could be warm weather and soft water bringing on the love

Video would help.

See if they are swimming near plants and shaking while near them. If that happens it's breeding.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Could be stress or could be warm weather and soft water bringing on the love

Video would help.

See if they are swimming near plants and shaking while near them. If that happens it's breeding.

One day... The water temperature is 26 degrees Celsius, which is close, but not exactly to the main breeding temperature (28 degrees Celsius) and the water is somewhat hard. There is mulm on the driftwood where the fish sometimes pick on it and earlier today I tried to feed them flakes and very small pellets, but they haven't accepted them yet when I'm in view, and only eat when I'm out of the toyroom.

 

[Colin_T]

Any temperature change can get fish breeding. It might go up a couple of degrees or down and that can get fish going. I had rainbowfish and other fish breeding in temperatures that ranged from 22-32C. Some tropical fish bred at lower temperature but the eggs didn't hatch when it was below 18C.

We normally have desalinated (reverse osmosis) water in Perth and it should have a low GH and KH. However, it does have a high pH, which is caused by the Water Corp adding stuff to buffer the pH. You might have different water to that but I think you will have the same water as me (low GH, high pH).

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If the fish are in a room that doesn't have many people moving around it they can become shy and nervous and hide whenever anyone goes in the room. You can tie some streamers to the front cage of a small fan and have the fan on low and oscillating. The streamers will wave about and create movement in the room. You can also have a small television on (no sound needed) and the flashing light and movement on the screen can help calm fish down. Outside of that you just need to spend lots of time in that room with the fish.

Once you get a backing and floating plants they will be more relaxed and might start taking food while you are there. They also need a few days to settle in so hopefully they will start to see you as the food provider and eat while you are there.

Don't worry too much if they aren't eating because they can go for a while without food. Just make sure there's no uneaten food in the tank because it can cause water quality problems if it's left there for more than 30 minutes.

 

[MattW]

I think vallisneria would look great in this tank, along with the floating plants which colin suggested + the Java ferns.

 

[elephantnose3334]

I think vallisneria would look great in this tank, along with the floating plants which colin suggested + the Java ferns.

Yeah, but not jungle vallis because they rot when put in the tank. Narrow vallis is better.

 

[elephantnose3334]

I haven't got water sprite today because they were out of stock, but I got hornwort instead which cost only a dollar per bunch, a close match to water sprite. It is a floating plant like water sprite. I am experimenting with it to see if it works well in the tank (and try not to kill the java ferns because they like a lot of cO2). Tweaking the environment is a good thing when it comes to single-species aquariums. Before I put it in, I tried washing the snails and duckweed off of it. I will actively try to monitor its growth before any further damage will be done.

 

[MattW]

I use floating hornwort in my 10L breeding tank. It's great to use as an area for fry to hide and for me to attach fertilized eggs to. What is Silvertips breeding behavior like? They may make use of the hornwort in no time

Have a wonderful Christmas too!

 

[elephantnose3334]

I use floating hornwort in my 10L breeding tank. It's great to use as an area for fry to hide and for me to attach fertilized eggs to. What is Silvertips breeding behavior like? They may make use of the hornwort in no time

Have a wonderful Christmas too!

Egg scatterers, but they don't look after them and see them as food.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Spending Christmas Day with the 13 silvertips... Very active, the males sparring, lots of activity. Topped off with the Wednesday fertilisation of Flourish. Gave them bloodworms earlier today as a Chrissie gift, and just fed them pellets recently.