Hello :) New To The Forum :)

[Bandit-is-Me]

Hello I found this forum while trying to discover what our mystery fish is. The shop didn't know what it was since it came in a bag with unrelated fish and sold it to us for a euro Next thing I knew I was reading up and down and lost track of what I was doing...

A little about me - I'm a critter crazy housewife living in holland. I currently have 3 tanks up and going and one waiting in the wings to get set up for my angels. Outside of my fish I keep cats, rats, birds, a hamster, a hubby, a teenager and a bunny (who thinks she's a dog).

I'm a seriously lazy aquarium keeper, I started off good, I remember all the work I put into my tank 20 years ago and shake my head but then I remember my mom made me do it and I lost a lot of fish . Now at best I add water, toss in fish food and clean it out and thin out the plants once a year. I might even remember to put in heaters one day but after 4 years with no heaters they're still fine and breeding. (I have my own cold issues to the temp never goes below 78 in my house so I guess thats why they are fine). I won't even discuss my filter system since its just that sad. Please if you are new to the hobby don't follow my lead - go by the book first and then do what works best for you - I don't want people coming after me with sporks
I love keeping fish and will have fishies for the rest of my life. My love must have started from birth since my mom kept fish till I was about 7, the first thing I remember thinking is they are all different, personality wise I mean. I've always been fascinated by how no matter what, fish, dog, person, bird, cat, rat or fish, each one is different. But fish are a bit different in that its hard to understand their language *grrr* like wth are my angels fighting about and what triggered it? I know they are arguing, they must have some form of communication outside of body language. It always works like this, they swim along happily together, the next thing you know one gets upset and faces off with the other - sometimes its settled quickly, sometimes it goes to blows but it levels up stages and the body lingo gets more and more intense. It's always the same pair and they are pretty funny. The 6 other angels always come of to watch so there must be name calling going on. My red tailed shark (Max) is easy as pie to read and understand, I LOVE her 'you suck you suck and I'm ALL up in your pad' dance she does over Dogface the albino CAE who is pretty much equal sized, after 'beating' Dogface into 'submission' there is the 'I'm Queen of the Tank' victory dance. Actually Dogface just gets bored with it, but I don't tell Max that. I've had Max the longest and she's considered to be our main fish.

Max is over 5" and has lived in tanks ranging from a 2.5 gallon to the current tank which is about a 40 I guess. Max was just as happy and healthy in her little runty tank as she is in the great big tank (she was the same size in both tanks). She had the little tank to her(him?) self but has to share the 40 (might be 45? never bothered to figure it out since with delivery fees it cost me a pack of tobacco) with 8 angels, 40+ (haven't counted) paradise fish, 2 albino CAEs, 2 raphel (sp?) talking cats, 1 wood shrimp, 1 albino pleco, 1 African Moony, 2 big mollies, 2 muscles and an apple snail (yeah I know its full but I have a very low death rate so it must be all good lol). It's a very flashy tank when you can actually look in it, my plants tend to go mad too. The big tank is more played with than looked at to be honest with you. Fish toss is a favorite game, see how many paradise fish you can scoop up in your hand and toss to the other side of the tank - weird fish love it. The smaller angels look jealous, but they just seem to fragile to toss and the other fishes are too big.

Max shares her 'cave' spot behind a log with her 'pets' Alucard the pleco, Woody the wood shrimp, and the smaller CAE named Sushi, and she baby sits the para nest at the top (that fish has a major fry fetish -doesn't eat them so this is why I think Max is a girl) - her molly died, Max was so bummed about that but the molly was pretty old. She followed Max everywhere like a little dog but then again she was a dalmatian haha! Other than harassing Dogface and defending her 'pets' she like to get the lil pleco to suck on her sides, maybe its for a massage? Grooming? We were really surprised the first time we saw her get the other fish to do it, she kept bumping him till he latched on, when Alucard stopped, she bumped him some more lol.
I had no misgivings about keeping Max in the tiny tank since I learned a long time ago red tails can live in anything and be happy, she had been going through her silly teenage period and wasn't being fish friendly so she spent a year in time out. When I was a teen my dad had bought me a red tail that he fell in love with at the pet shop (only fish he's ever bought). Not long after the tank crashed killing 'all' the fish, but because I was moving to my own place I just drained a bit more than half the water and left it sitting there - my baby brother and his friend dumped a massive amount of dirt into it to keep tadpoles... needless to say after 7 months I was finally able to bring my tank to my own place and while cleaning all the mud and crud out I saw something moving around (there was only about 3 inches of water in it when I started cleaning)... Got the net thinking it must be a huge tadpole or something my brother stuck in and to my shock it was my dad's red tail only MUCH bigger. He must have some how gotten into the under gravel filter when he was a little one, but needless to say that fish thrived in an unflitered mud filled tank with about 5-10 gallons of water at best and no food added for a total of 9 months and grew like you wouldn't believe. My deepest respects to that fish! It also struck me then that if you don't do anything to your tank your fish live...
The other two tanks up and running are a pair of 70 liter tanks, one for a 'breeding' pair of paradise fish (now divorced for reasons unknown to me) a trio of koolies and a little pleco, the other tank was 'free to a good home' complete with fish - sand loaches, guppies, Spaz our #2 CAE and smallest, a pleco, shrimp, and some tetras (kid's tank).
Here's a pic of Max showing Alucard (dracula spelled backwards) some love when they lived in the guppy tank...

Sorry for such a long intro I'll shut up now

 

[maximinimus]

You think that's a happy looking RTBS? The poor thing is so stressed all her colour is flushed out. I'm not surprised since the CAE is happily eating her slime coating!
You could have any animal, shut it in a small room, let it sit in it's own waste but it would stay alive as long as you feed it. Cleaning your tank does more than just remove waste, it replenishes trace elements and removes hormones secreted in the water.

 

[Bandit-is-Me]

You think that's a happy looking RTBS? The poor thing is so stressed all her colour is flushed out. I'm not surprised since the CAE is happily eating her slime coating!
You could have any animal, shut it in a small room, let it sit in it's own waste but it would stay alive as long as you feed it. Cleaning your tank does more than just remove waste, it replenishes trace elements and removes hormones secreted in the water.

Err, that's the flash on the camera stressing her out, to be honest she doesn't like that flashly thing - I have see her go pale a few times (tank moves and picture taking) so I do know what you mean. That's not a CAE but a little pleco. The RTS was the one getting the lil pleco to suck on her, not the pleco going after the RTS.

The RTS I had 20 years ago had gotten in the under gravel filter and was presumed dead or the tank would have never been left to sit that long.
Like I said I would never tell anyone to follow how I keep fish, this is a system that works for me and its taken me over 20yrs to get this lazy. As long as my fish stay alive, have nice fins and body condition and are showing good color I won't change. I still lose fish every now and then, but its generally to old age which is how it should be. Like I said, I used to do it all by the book, testing the water, reg. water changes etc. It was a lot of work and I lost a lot of fish which is just plain heart breaking.

 

[JenCliBee]

LOL ur wrong on so many things and u think it's acceptable even down 2 u thinking it's clever 2 be lazy enough not 2 clean ur tanks out properly oh well

ur rtb is stressed lol flash (i dont think so) and i think u mentioned any size tank is suitble 4 an RTB lol again very wrong.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Yes!! way to go you Bandit..... I also rely a lot more on personal experience than what I see in literature... especially when it gets round to chemical aspects (pH/Hardness and the like) which tends to be too specific and do not incorporate the range of conditions tollerable by some species and I may add that all pet stores that has obtained fish from me in the past (almost 40 years) has commented on the particular hardiness and superior condition of my fish.

 

[Bandit-is-Me]

Yes!! way to go you Bandit..... I also rely a lot more on personal experience than what I see in literature... especially when it gets round to chemical aspects (pH/Hardness and the like) which tends to be too specific and do not incorporate the range of conditions tollerable by some species and I may add that all pet stores that has obtained fish from me in the past (almost 40 years) has commented on the particular hardiness and superior condition of my fish.

Thanks, I really had nightmares with messing with the chemicals and what not, cloudy tank nightmares! I never want to go through that again.
I get that as well from the shops I've traded with and its a good feeling isn't it? The fish pay for their own upkeep which is nice plus I get the odd bag of rat food and any odd/old/ugly/deformed fish that doesn't seem to sell(fish need forever homes too). The fish I bring in all sell with in a few days which I think is saying something good. I've never had a complaint about the fish being ill or dying (since I would replace them if it did happen) and I'm always greeted with an "Oh perfect!" when they see the bag coming or "their all gone" the next time they see me after.

I really don't see what's so hard to believe about a fish not liking the bright flash of the camera, that wasn't they first pic I snapped at that time. I kept bettas a few years ago and a few of them would stripe up as soon as they saw the camera heading their way. In contrast I had a few that loved the camera and would really put on a show for me (generally the males, go figure ) I could always sneak up on Max and try to capture that lovely velvety color but thats not easy to do

 

[adamgreen240]

oh leave him alone guys!! Welcome to the forum!!

 

[rabbut]

Yes, leave the flame raiser alone, stop playing with them.

I think they would have got the message by now if they were going to. Leave them to act on the good advise, not fully including Ludwigs's, or ignore it and go back to the days when they were loosing fish left right and centre. I agree with Ludwig about water chemistory aspects not always being the same as litriture surgests, but stocking is recomended in the way we do it on here for a reason. 40g isn't enough for an RTBS, let alone 2.5 The poor thing this probibly is stressed out.

Bandit, if you listen to the advise given, great for you. If you don't want to know, let your fish die as quickly and painlessly as possible in the circumstances, and please refrain form replacing them untill you have learnt the error of your ways

There is more than one way of keeping a healthy tank, and each to their own. However, to run a tank in your fassion, you need a deapth of knowlage that is increadibly good, brought through years of research. It sounds like you lack this, thus I wouldn't think it too long before things start going "belly up", literally

Best Whishes
Rabbut