Beginners To Tropical Fish, All Was Going Well...

[Thumbs22]

Hi guys,

First off a thankyou to the forum for providing myself and family with great info and advice while we begin this journey into the tropical fish keeping world.

We started 2 weeks ago with a trip to our local stockists, we were persuaded (mainly by the dazzling lights and pretty colours) to switch from a coldwater to tropical fish setup. Sadly our coldwater fish had passed away a week before. We cleaned out the tank and everything was ok, went to the store bought a heater on a Sunday and various other setup things and let it run for a couple of days to check things were A-OK.

Went back to the store Wednesday and purchased 6 rummynose tetra and 4 cherry shrimp, took them home and loved how they settled in things were going good the water was fine they were all eating and thoroughly entertaining to watch, especially the little shrimp scurrying around the place. We were advised to add to our collection over 6 weeks.

Yesterday we went back and purchased 2 blue rams, however as it was an impulse trip I didnt have time to check your forums for advice on how these additions would affect our tank. Everything seemed ok but this morning 2 rummynose have died (no visible attack marks) and 2 shrimp have died, one half eaten!!!

On doing some basic searching I now understand blue rams eat the shrimp, didn't expect that as the store have been very helpful and knew what we had in our tank. We have a fluval edge 23litre tank, on doing some readup I believe this is the smaller end of the tropical tank range?

Anyway the point of this is to ask a couple of questions

Any clue as to why the rummynose would have died?

Should we take the blue rams back and replace them with other fish, which ones wouldnt eat/distress any other tankmates?

What fish would be suitable?

Would it be ok to introduce new rummynose tetras and shrimp when there are already some in the tank?

Is it ok to bring in new fish when some have died in the tank?

Thankyou for your time and any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[the_lock_man]

I suspect that the rummynose died as a result of ammonia poisoning. In the week between your coldwater fish dying and putting in the Rummynose & shrimp, most of your bacteria will have died back, due to there being no ammonia for them to feed on. Then you added 6 fish, and soon after 2 more, and any bacteria you had left would not have been able to process the amount of ammonia being produced by those fish.

The Edge is a great looking tank, unfortunately there isn't a huge amount of fish that you can easily put in one. Certainly rams need a bigger tank than that, even if there weren't 6 rummynose in there beforehand. 6 rummynose is probably a bit more than you'd really feel is ideal in a 23l tank.

I would take the rams back, and buy a liquid based test kit. Read the info in the link in my signature area. Once you've ascertained that the bacteria have re-established themselves (by seeing that the test readings are 0ppm for ammonia and nitrite for a week without having to change water), then you can replace the 2 rummynose.

THe shrimp are a good addition to the tank, they don't add significantly to the bioload on the filter, but don't get any more of them again until the filter is fully cycled (as above).

Any more questions - ask away!

 

[LoachLover!]

I would say that the rams should be taken back. 23 litres is small for rams, so they will need to be taken back. IMO Rummies are on the active side for a 23L tank. Rummies can be incredibly sensitive, and as said above, it is probably ammonia poisoning due to the bacteria dying off.

I would say that rummies and shrimp will be your maximum if you want to keep the rummies. I personally feel however, that 23L is a bit on the small side for them. Shrimp will be fine in that sized tank.

My suggestion is, that once your tank is fully cycled, and you have got your water quality as it should be, I would stock it with a few small microrasboras such as Celestial pearl danios, ember tetras or chilli rasboras to name a few. Shrimp will be fine with them.

First off, before you add anything else, make sure your paramaters are as they should be and your tank is fully cycled

Good luck with it

 

[Thumbs22]

Thank you both for your responses guys, will reply back if we have any further issues!