new Adevnture Begins

[TwoTankAmin]

I recently had a well planted tank which held my sidthimunki loaches, a couple of young albino BN males and amano shrimp crash and kill all the fish. I am not sure but I think it was caused by the maid having failed to cover the tank before she started cleaning. She did that many years (about 15) ago when she accidentally wiped out almost 1/2 of a tank with 21 zebras about 1.5 inches. That was mu fault as i should have covered all the tanks. After that I explained that it was important to cover the tanks using the bathmats and/or towels in the bathroom. Ever since then she has covered them when I failed to do it.

But I have no other explanation for the wipe out. I discovered the day after she cleaned. But it could have been another cause so I just lived with this. But I had those sids for about 20 years. I cleaned the tanks up, rescaped it and change the filter media. I then added some of my emergency bottle of Dr. Tim's bacteria which I keep in the fridge. I change the water a few times first. I even ordered 6 moss balls which are now in it. I am dosing ammonia as well.

AAT the same time I had set up a 29 gals a couple of months ago because i needed to park some tall ferns and a few other plants. The ferns were shipped out in late Jan. But from other tanks I had excess plants I them parked there. it is bare bottom and the plants are to be sold at some point. But after the recent wipe-out I decided both the cleaned 25 for the loaches and the 29 with plants needed to be repopulated with some fish. I also decide I needed to add a sand substrate to the 29.

As a result of the above I wanted to buy and assortment of new fish for those two tanks. I wanted to get them all at once so each tank would serve as Q for the incoming fish and then as their final tank. I had only two options for doing the stocking. One was to take a 30 minute drive to one of the very few store from which I will skip Q. To work there you have to pass a written test on your fish knowledge. But their prices are extremely high and I really did not want to spend many more $100s of dollars than I did ordering fish online over the weekend.

I used two sources. one was AquaBid and I used a highly rated seller who had a ton of listings. I assumed he was either a full time online only or a serious home based type seller. His rep was excellent, so I order from him 4 redline barbs at about 2 inches. These will Q with the rest but end up in my 150 where I have 6 adults already. The other fish from him included 10 harlequin rasboras (Trigonostigma heteromorpha) and 6 tank raised panda cory (Hoplisoma panda). The seller name on AquaBid was 90125. But the next order was a risky one.

Knowing that Aquqa Huna had a spotty rep. I decided to take the risk in order to replace my sidthimunkis. So I ordered the following from him: 10 amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata), and 12 small sids. (Ambastaia sidthimunki). I thought I had ordered 8 espei rasporas but they are sending chilis instead. There are no chili listed for sale on the Aqua Huna site. Since they will also work, I accepted that one of us made a mistake. I just emailed them about this and we will see how they resolve it and how their fish arrive. But they charged me $1 more for the chili than the price for the espei I wanted and do think I ordered. I di not really read the invoice unti today as I was quite busy over the weekend.

I will update this thread with the results of what I receive from both sellers.

edited because I had a zillion typos- sorry

 

[connorlindeman]

I recently had a well planted tank which held my sithimunki loaches, a couple of young albino BN males and amano shrimp crash and kill all the fish. I am not sure but I think it was caused by the maid having failed to cover the tank before she started cleaning. She did that many years (about 15) ago when she accidentatlly wiped out almost 1/2 of a tank with 21 zebras about 1.5 inches. That was mu fault as i should have covered all the tanks. AFfter that I explained that it was imporatnt to cover the tanks using the bathmats and/or towels in the bathroom. Ever since then she has covered them when I failed to do it.

But I have no other explanation for the wope out. I doscovered the day after she cleaned. But it could have been another cause so I just lived with this. But I had those sids for about 20 years. I cleaned the tanks up, rescaped it and change the filter media. I then added some of my emergency bottle of Dr. Tim's bacteria which I keep in the fridge. I change the water a few times first. I even ordered 6 moss balls which are now in it. I am dosing ammonia as well.

AAT the same time I had set up a 29 gals a couple of months ago because i needed to park some tal ferns and a few other plants. The ferns were shipped out in late Jan. But from other tanks I had excess plants I them parked there. it is bare bottom and the plants are to be sold at some point. But after the recent wipeout I decide both the cleaned 25 for ths laoches and the 29 with plants needed to be repopulated with some fish. I also decide i needed to add a sand substrate to the 29.

As a result of the above I wnated to buy and assortment of new cish for the=ose two tanks. I wanted to get them all at once so each tank would serve as Q for the incoming fish and then as their final tank. I had onlt two options for doing the stocking. One was to take a 30 minute drive to one of the very few store from which I will skip Q. To work there you have to pass a written test on your fish knowledge. But their prices are extremely high and I really did not want to spend many more $100s of dollars than I did ordering fish online over the weekend.

I usedf two sources. one was Auqabid and i used a jighly rated seller who had a ton of lisitings. I assumed he was either a full time online only or a serious home based type seller. His rep was excellent, so I order from him 4 redline barbs at about 2 inches. These will Q with the rest but end up in my 150 where I have 6 adults already. The other fish from him included 10 harlequin rasboras (Trigonostigma heteromorpha) and 6 tank raised panda cory (Hoplisoma panda). The seller name on aquabid was 90125. But the next order was a risky one.

Knowing that Aquqa Huna had a spotty rep. I decided to take the risk in order to replace my sidthimunkis. So I ordered the following from him: 10 amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata), and 12 small sids. (Ambastaia sidthimunki). I thought I had ordered 8 espei rasporas but they are sending chilis instead. There are no chili listed for sale on the Aqua Huna site. Since they will also work, I accepted that one of us made a mistake. I just emailed them about this and we will see how they resolve it and how their fish arrive. But they charged me $1 more for the chili han the proce for the espri I wanted and do think I ordered. I di not really read the invoice unti today as I was quite busy over the weekend.

I will update this thread with the results of what I receive from both sellers.

They do sell chilis. https://aquahuna.com/products/chili-rasbora

 

[jaylach]

Sorry about the tank crash. Quite a while back I made the mistake of buying a moss from a local Petco that ended up being contaminated and killed everything.

Good luck with the new stuff.

 

[fishorama]

I'm so sorry about your sids, etc.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I checked the Rasbora page before I posted and emailed them. Chili were not there then. wasn't there then. The top row had only two species. What I can find is using the WaybackMachine from Apr. 3, 2025. Yes this was about 16 days before I ordered. It also doesn't include the pictures only the text. But on this date chili rasboras were listed as sold out. Scroll down to the final two species and they are there. https://web.archive.org/web/20250403061937/https://aquahuna.com/collections/rasbora

My guess is they came in or were only made available after I placed my order. The confirmation of that order came in an Email with the title Order #161280 confirmed and with this date and time: Sat 4/19/2025 2:22 AM.

I spent a some time both on the Aqua Huna and AquaBid Sites before placing my orders. I highly doubt that I messed up the order for the espei or that the chili were listed for sale at that time. But, the two species are similar in many ways except for their coloration/appearance. The Google AI sums it up this way:

Espei rasboras and chili rasboras are both small, colorful freshwater fish commonly kept in aquariums. While they share similarities in size and general care, they differ in their coloration and markings. Chili rasboras are known for their deep red with black markings, while espei rasboras have a more vibrant, orange-red body with a dark stripe along their sides.

So I can settle for the chili but they are mnot what I orderd and they are a whopping $10 more. That is not inmporatnt in terms of the amount buy very important in terms of why it is there. What I would consider an acceptable response form them would be were are sorry we will return the $10. I do not expect them to exchange the fish nor do I want them tosend me 1o espei. I have no place to put them.

The whole point of this thread is to report how the trans actions went and what the quality of the fish and shrimp involved is.If I can get pics when they come, I will do so. I expect the ones from AquaBid to arrive on Wednesday and the ones from Aqua Huna on 4/22/25 before 12:00 PM.

 

[Magnum Man]

some sellers seem quirky, one I rarely use, does an excellent job, with plants, but in 2-3 orders, has sent the wrong fish, each order... tetras are easier to deal with but sending geophagus instead of cupids, as in my case, the cichlid family is a bad mistake, that put one of my tanks 6 months behind, and caused loss of the fish they sent me...