Hello,
About a week ago, I added three Harlequin rasboras to Fafner's side of the tank. Fafner's a betta, for the curious. Well, Fafner ignores them, and spends his day swimming around saying "ain't I just the prettiest Betta?". But this post isn't about him, though he will be mentioned later.
The harlequins don't appear sick at all, fins erect, eating fine. But every once in a while, especially in the morning, two of them, my largest one and a slimmer one will swim really close together side by side, and kind of nudge against each other. This goes on for about 30-minutes to an hour, and by the time their done, they, but especially the larger one, seem tired. They are fine an hour later and then go about their normal rasbora routine, which consists of swimming around the tank and eating as a happy trio.
Here are my water specs...
pH 7.2 (a little high for rasboras, but that's as low as it will go in liquid rock land, without chemical interference, and I won't go that route, but it's very stable)
amm 0ppm
nitrit 0ppm
nitrate I don't have that test. But I also have live plants.
Temp: It is summer in Illinois! I turned off my aquarium heater in May! The tank stays between 82 and 83, I know really warm, but it's again, very stable. I have a very fancy digital thermometer that measures the degree to two decimal places. It was pricey, only $10, but I wanted to make sure I could monitor the temp well especially when my apartment can approach 90! During the fall, the temperature gradually falls to the 77 I maintain in the winter with the heater.
I do 25% weekly water changes and they're due for one today. The nudging is also punctuated by chasing. Are they fighting, or is
in the air? It's fascinating to watch. If it's breeding, Fafner is intrigued by the free porn in his tank and will just sit and watch them from his cave. 
A fish with a fetish! Please feel free to edit if this is too racy for the board. 
Any advice?
About a week ago, I added three Harlequin rasboras to Fafner's side of the tank. Fafner's a betta, for the curious. Well, Fafner ignores them, and spends his day swimming around saying "ain't I just the prettiest Betta?". But this post isn't about him, though he will be mentioned later.
The harlequins don't appear sick at all, fins erect, eating fine. But every once in a while, especially in the morning, two of them, my largest one and a slimmer one will swim really close together side by side, and kind of nudge against each other. This goes on for about 30-minutes to an hour, and by the time their done, they, but especially the larger one, seem tired. They are fine an hour later and then go about their normal rasbora routine, which consists of swimming around the tank and eating as a happy trio.
Here are my water specs...
pH 7.2 (a little high for rasboras, but that's as low as it will go in liquid rock land, without chemical interference, and I won't go that route, but it's very stable)
amm 0ppm
nitrit 0ppm
nitrate I don't have that test. But I also have live plants.
Temp: It is summer in Illinois! I turned off my aquarium heater in May! The tank stays between 82 and 83, I know really warm, but it's again, very stable. I have a very fancy digital thermometer that measures the degree to two decimal places. It was pricey, only $10, but I wanted to make sure I could monitor the temp well especially when my apartment can approach 90! During the fall, the temperature gradually falls to the 77 I maintain in the winter with the heater.
I do 25% weekly water changes and they're due for one today. The nudging is also punctuated by chasing. Are they fighting, or is
in the air? It's fascinating to watch. If it's breeding, Fafner is intrigued by the free porn in his tank and will just sit and watch them from his cave. A fish with a fetish! Please feel free to edit if this is too racy for the board. Any advice?
But pygmy corys are just sooooo cute! Decisions, decisions... 
My sex ratio still sucks though, I have 3 males, 2 females. Love to get one more female, even things up a bit. But the poor guy took 20 minutes netting the one female, so I wasn't gonna ask him to net another 
That would have just been mean! 
eggs! Might be better in the long run! I only had success once raising rasbora and not sure I'd do it again!
Poor rasboras didn't even get a single egg, even though they produced them. Now, he's like looking at me and asking, "I want more, man, make 'em do it again!" He's sulking now. 
