Harlequin Rasboras not eatin frozen food

[Country joe]

My tank test levels were finally good, added 10 Harlequin Rasboras yesterday, today I fed them them some frozen Bloodworm, which I defrosted in water, was surprised as they never looked at them, not one had a go at eating them, they are still lying on the gravel two hours later, will syphon them up later, did a water test everything is fine, along with temperature, is this usual ?

 

[Colin_T]

If the fish are new to the tank they might take a few days to settle in and get used to the new food. If you post a picture of the entire aquarium we might b able to offer some ideas to encourage the fish.

You don't want any food left on the bottom for more than a couple of minutes because it will cause ammonia levels to rise and possibly kill the fish. Get the uneaten food out asap.

 

[Country joe]

If the fish are new to the tank they might take a few days to settle in and get used to the new food. If you post a picture of the entire aquarium we might b able to offer some ideas to encourage the fish.

You don't want any food left on the bottom for more than a couple of minutes because it will cause ammonia levels to rise and possibly kill the fish. Get the uneaten food out asap.

Have done, thanks

 

[Country joe]

 

[Country joe]

There you go Colin

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Also, I keep he same fish and I feed them frozen but this does not include the normal blood worms. They are likely a bit big for such a small fish. They like smaller foods. I feed a mix of frozen brine and smaller mysis as well as daphnia. I also have a different mix of frozen food for fry and smaller fish. Rotifers, daphnia and cyclops work great. Unfortunately, cyclops have not been easy to find lately. I normally buy my frozen in 12-15 pound lots, So I need slabs not cubes. The exception are bllods to which I am very allergic and I can only use cubes and wearing exam gloves.

I am not certain that the Harlequins will eat them, but San Francisco Bay offers smaller bloods. I do feed these in their tank and I am pretty sure they do so.

https://kensfish.com/cdn/shop/products/1505747228000945880514_thumb1_480x.jpg?v=1570230605

 

[Country joe]

With my 10 Neon Tetras, and ten Harlequin Rasboras I was talking to staff today in my local fish Aquarium shop who are excellent, not PAH. And they said I have room for a wee bit bigger Tetra as as a show piece they should me their bleeding heart Tetras, and I do like them, they said I could have five in my 125 litre tank, if okay I would put them in a month's time, give my new fish time to settle down. On the subject of not eating the bloodworm, would I be better trying them on frozen Daphnia?

 

[Colin_T]

If frozen foods are too big for the fish, use a pair of scissors to cut the food into smaller pieces.

If the picture of the tank with harlequins is the entire aquarium, I'm not sure there's room for more fish. You also have a blue green algae (Cyanobacter bacteria) problem, the dark green slime on the plants, wood, rock and substrate. This is normally caused by excess nutrients (uneaten food, particularly dry food) and unused plant fertiliser will contribute to its growth. Cyanobacteria also like red light, low oxygen levels and slow water movement.

To treat blue green algae (bga), do big daily water changes and gravel clean the substrate every day for a few weeks. Try to remove as much of the bga as possible. Don't use plant fertiliser during this time. Reduce the amount of food going into the tank. Increase aeration and water movement, especially around the bottom half of the tank. If you use fluorescent light globes above the tank, try to have globes with a 6500K rating. LED lights are normally fine but have a 6500K rating (cool white globes) on them too.

If you still can't get the bga under control, get some "Ultralife Blue Green Slime Stain Remover".

Amazon.com

 

[Country joe]

If frozen foods are too big for the fish, use a pair of scissors to cut the food into smaller pieces.

If the picture of the tank with harlequins is the entire aquarium, I'm not sure there's room for more fish. You also have a blue green algae (Cyanobacter bacteria) problem, the dark green slime on the plants, wood, rock and substrate. This is normally caused by excess nutrients (uneaten food, particularly dry food) and unused plant fertiliser will contribute to its growth. Cyanobacteria also like red light, low oxygen levels and slow water movement.

To treat blue green algae (bga), do big daily water changes and gravel clean the substrate every day for a few weeks. Try to remove as much of the bga as possible. Don't use plant fertiliser during this time. Reduce the amount of food going into the tank. Increase aeration and water movement, especially around the bottom half of the tank. If you use fluorescent light globes above the tank, try to have globes with a 6500K rating. LED lights are normally fine but have a 6500K rating (cool white globes) on them too.

If you still can't get the bga under control, get some "Ultralife Blue Green Slime Stain Remover".

Amazon.com

Would adding an air stone not be to much airiation for a 125 tank, I'm waiting on an order of slime out from the States, shouldn't be too long.my lights on a timer for 10 hours, should I cut this back to eight ?

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

You can have an air pump on a timer so the airstone comes on for part of the day and is off at night.

I wouldn't reduce the lighting times, this is more to do with excess nutrients.

 

[Country joe]

tank dimensions length, 32 inches
Hight, 18 inches.
width , 14 inches.
Sorry its in inches, I'm old school.

 

[Colin_T]

Inches, cm, mm, it's all good. When I started in the pet industry we used feet and inches and metric kicked in around the same time. So I used feet and inches for tank sizes, and litres for volume

Your tank is big enough for a few more fish. Bleeding heart tetras are nice but so are black phantom and rosey tetras. Bleeding hearts are bigger and if you go for more tetras, get 6-8 (3 or 4 prs). The males have longer more pointed dorsal (top) fins, females have shorter more rounded dorsal fins. Alternatively you could add a pair of dwarf cichlids like Apistogramma cacatuoides, assuming the GH is below 150ppm.

 

[Country joe]

Inches, cm, mm, it's all good. When I started in the pet industry we used feet and inches and metric kicked in around the same time. So I used feet and inches for tank sizes, and litres for volume

Your tank is big enough for a few more fish. Bleeding heart tetras are nice but so are black phantom and rosey tetras. Bleeding hearts are bigger and if you go for more tetras, get 6-8 (3 or 4 prs). The males have longer more pointed dorsal (top) fins, females have shorter more rounded dorsal fins. Alternatively you could add a pair of dwarf cichlids like Apistogramma cacatuoides, assuming the GH is below 150ppm.

Thanks for that, I will send for a air pump and a fine stone, I have just done a 25%. Water change a couple of days ago, I plan to do this once a week.
Would you recommend a 12 inch or 6 inch airstone ?

 

[Colin_T]

You don't need a long airstone. Just get a small plastic multi-coloured airstone. The better brands have a small weight in the bottom piece that stops them floating around. The plastic multi-coloured airstones can be taken apart and cleaned and last a lot longer than the normal sand airstones. They also put less back pressure on the air pump compared to a sand airstone. And if you really want a longer airstone, you can join a few together.

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[sharkweek178]

I've fed frozen bloodworms to neon tetras. So I don't think size is an issue here.
Since they're new to the tank, it's probably more an issue of acclimating.
Fish should be fed sparingly when they're first added to the tank. You want to let the tank adjust to the new bio load. I usually wait 2 or 3 days until the first feeding. Some people give it a week.