Keyholes

[Danh]

Hey ya gang.

Yesterday i went out and brought me some new fish seeing as i had a cycled 70ltr that had one surviving leopard danio.

So i decided that i would have some keyholes and four flame tetras after reading on here that tetras make them less shy.
While i was in the LFS the dude said that i needed 3 keyholes - so i did, but now im unsure if i only need a pair and not a trio. - whats your thoughts on this ??

Also they still seem really shy and hide away most of the day, i have plenty of hiding places, (coconut shells, plants, rock work, driftwood. ) Will they eventually stop hiding all day and come out and swim. Or is it down to the fact that theres three of them.

But then im also wondering if the lone danio is causing them to hide away, but i cant personally see that as he dont chase them or owt.

So if any of you guys have any ideas let me know.

thanks in advance,
Dan

 

[Gage]

ok, the guy at the fish store is obviously just trying to sell u stuff, i have 2, i bought them as 2, and they are fine, and growing quite well.

also, keyholes are just very shy natured, you can try all those dither fish and such techniques, but in my experience, they dont work with keyholes for the reason i just mentioned, they are very shy natured.

the danio is most likely not the reason they are hiding, unless the danio is that much bigger and its nipping them trying to get them to school with it

hope this helped.

 

[Danh]

ok, the guy at the fish store is obviously just trying to sell u stuff, i have 2, i bought them as 2, and they are fine, and growing quite well.

also, keyholes are just very shy natured, you can try all those dither fish and such techniques, but in my experience, they dont work with keyholes for the reason i just mentioned, they are very shy natured.

the danio is most likely not the reason they are hiding, unless the danio is that much bigger and its nipping them trying to get them to school with it

hope this helped.

Thanks Gage, the danio seems much more interested in the tetras. Should i take one of the keyholes back or can i leave all three there and just build up the tank with the final school of tetras and some more flame tetras and some more plants.

Dan

 

[scouse_andy]

I bought three of these myself about ten days ago.

I bought them at about an inch big. Ideally you want to get a pair but at such a small size it is not easy to sex them, having observed behaviour in my tank and had a good look at the fins I'm pretty sure I've got a male and two females. I will monitor how things go and see if they get on. I have read that they do tend to pair off but as I have a four foot tank I hope that they will have enough room and the remaining female won't get bullied.

If I was in your shoes, with a 70 litre, I would keep an eye on them as they grow and when a definite pair forms take out the remaining fish and sell/take back to the store. It is probably better that you bought three as you have a very good chance of getting a pair, if you only buy two then unless it is an established pair you don't always know what you're getting.

How big are yours now? I find that mine are out and about all the time. Give them plenty of hiding places, the more plants the better I find as this should make them feel more secure, also if you are keen on breeding them in time they need some rounded stones on which to breed, I'm looking forward to giving this a go in time.

Hope this helps.

 

[Danh]

Hey ya,

Still having problems with the keyholes, ive added more plants and introduced the last of the flame tetras and moved some guppy fry into the main tank ( the ones that were being culled and some that i wished to have in the community.

But this afternoon at feeding i noticed a dead guppy, but then i saw a dead keyhole, - tested the water stats - all clean, so carried out a water change - ( 15 % ) and neither if them showed signs of ill health.
However one of the keyholes is now breathing very heavily and the other is breathing rather rapidly but not as heavy as the other.
But it is the markings on the one breathing rapidly.

Any ideas what these markings mean and what i can about them still hiding and breathing heavily ??

Dan

 

[Davo86]

my keyholes usually go that colour when they feel threatened, gasping usually means there is a lack of oxygen or there is ammonia or possibly even another substance present in the water

could you verify what fish are in the tank and what the parameters actually are?

for the time being you could move your filter outlet to just above the waterline, this should increase the amount of oxygen in the tank

 

[Danh]

my keyholes usually go that colour when they feel threatened, gasping usually means there is a lack of oxygen or there is ammonia or possibly even another substance present in the water

could you verify what fish are in the tank and what the parameters actually are?

for the time being you could move your filter outlet to just above the waterline, this should increase the amount of oxygen in the tank

Stocking so far -

Around 11 guppy fry - about 2/3 months old.
2 Keyholes
6 Flame Tetras.

Parameters.
Ammonia - 0
NitrIte - 0
Nitrate - 20
Ph - 7.6

I have the standard jewel filter running and another internal from a fry tank - ( fully cycled ) with an airline connected to outlet and packed out with activated carbon to remove any nastys i cant detect.

 

[Davo86]

is there any way that chemicals could have gotten into the water? air freshner or similar

from your first post it seems that the fish have only been in the tank for around 1 week, so it maybe they are still adjusting to their new surroundings, as you say your stats are all fine so it may be that they just need time, my keyholes hid for almost the first fortnight i had them, now they are 3 inches bigger and are very active in their tank.

 

[Danh]

I cant honestly say about the chemicals i can only really think of my girlfriends purfume, but i honestly doubt that because she does that on the other side of the room but its a possibility.

I shall wait and see what happens im hoping that they are still settling in.

 

[Danh]

Woke this morning to find the one without the stress marks dead in the same manner as the last with no visible signs of illness. The other is still hiding and showing stress marks.