Fish Selection Advice

[azzaknight]

i agree with drobbyb. the angels will grow to big for your neons and your neons will become an expensive snack for the angels

 

[Ozzy Ozborne]

Thanks.................
Just another question my guppies chase the platies,as though they are trying to smell them!
It looks strange to see 1 platie being chased / followed by up to 4 guppies.It is not nasty at all athe the platie does not seem bothered.
Any idea whats going on?

 

[azzaknight]

are they male guppies and isit a female platy. if so the guppys will try to mate with anything that swims.

 

[Ozzy Ozborne]

This may sound crazy but how can I tell the difference between them!
When I bought them the retailer did not know.

Thanksl

 

[azzaknight]

a male guppy has a bigger tail and is usually more colourful.a male platy has an extra fin under. hav a look at this:male and female platy

 

[Rubyuk]

Get a male Neon Dwarf Gourami. I love those guys, so full of charcter. Only grow to about 6cm so they are not that big, but they look gorgeous in a tank and will get along well with the fish you alreay have.

Only probelm with these is that there really crap at living lol. They can get fungal infections easily and drop dead, well mine did. In a new tank i wouldn't risk it.

Is the 0.05ppm ammonia a constant thing, if so i would wait for that to drop first.

andrew

Thats odd, i only have 1 male been in my tank for about 3 months and always lively, flaring his fins and looking cool. No sign of desase or infections, fingers crossed he stays that way. Anyone else had bad experience with Neon Dwarfs ?

I got 2 males,shop didn't have any females and told me they would be ok as they have a full tank of all males.

They thought like mad so I ended up taking them back.

Shop were ok with it but told me that they used to sell in pairs (which is what I'd read as the norm) but that so many people were taking them back/reporting that the one male had harrassed the female to death often within days that they now only stocked males.

As I'm a newbie (only had fish for 4 weeks) I didn't want to risk this fighting upsetting my other fish (maybe panick on my part).

I have read though that they can be suseptable to disease.I suppose its down to luck.

I do know that the two I had were gorgeous colours.

 

[hollanda88]

Angels can be really good at eating any small fish like a neon tetra ao i would avoid anything like that. i.e. micro rasboras...

 

[Ozzy Ozborne]

Would i be ok to get some bottom feeders now..................the tank is nearly 7 weeks old with fish in cycle.All water tests are ok.
Which ones would you advise,as I have been told to leave these until last as they are very territorial ?

Thanks

 

[jonp]

A good guide to dwarf gouramis on this here forum clicky but basically they are bred in tanks with a lot of antibiotics to ensure more survive, this means specimens that are not really strong enough to live make it to the shops, where the antibiotics run out.


I have had a male and two females for a couple of months now without any problems.

 

[oliesminis]

Would i be ok to get some bottom feeders now..................the tank is nearly 7 weeks old with fish in cycle.All water tests are ok.
Which ones would you advise,as I have been told to leave these until last as they are very territorial ?

Thanks

depends what you want one the bottom

a bristlenose plec would do well in a tank that size http/www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/f...ristlenose.html

a shoal of corydoras would also look fantastic. what size is your substrate as corydoras need sand or fine gravel

 

[OldMan47]

Not quite right but close Oliesminis. Cories don't really need small substrate but do need a smooth substrate. Often the two are the same thing but if you want cories roll some of your gravel or sand between your finger tips. If it is rough and would be good for making sandpaper, forget it. If it rolls easy like marbles it is the right stuff. Cories use barbels, those little growths around their mouth, to find food and if exposed to a rough substrate they can get badly damaged by the substrate. I love my cories and keep large groups in most of my tanks. Some tanks have 5 mm gravel that is well rounded and others have coarse sand that is not made from crushing stones but has rounded particles. The cories thrive with either substrate. At 7 weeks, it is fairly early for the more delicate of the cories but the most common kinds like peppered or trilineatus, often called julii, should do fine in a tank that old.

 

[Inchworm]

Corydoras do best in tanks with a substrate that is both small and smooth. Their delicate barbels can be damaged by wear and tear caused by rough or sharp surfaces, and also by bacterial infection. The best way to avoid this is to use a fine gravel or sand.

Gravel that is composed of larger pieces of rock has relatively large spaces between the individual bits. Uneaten food can easily settle down between them and decompose. This feeds bacteria that could infect the corys and erode their barbels. With sand or finer gravel, uneaten food will remain on or close to the surface and the corys will be able to find and eat it.