new fish and one of them was food...

[carrcn]

Well, I went to the fish store last night to see what kind of loaches they had to help control my snail population that has been rapidly growing. They had some skunk loaches that looked kind of cool, so I said what the hell? I'll get 3 of them for the $5 they cost. I also picked up 5 more amano shrimp. Looking through the tanks, I noticed they only had one neon tetra left in the tank. Since I killed 4 of the 7 neons that I had through a hydrogen peroxide experiment, I figured I'd bolster the neon tetra population by another. Figured I'd do the guy a favor and put him in a tank with more of his species and give him a better life. I was looking at him and thought he looked awfully small. I remember thinking, "Man, I hope my Giant Danios won't eat him." Nah, surely not so I picked him up also.

Got them back to the house, acclimated them to my water and then proceeded to put them in the tank. Any time I put new fish in my tank, I try to net them and push them all the way to the bottom of the tank because my Giant Danios think they own the place and will pick on any new-comers I place in there for the first few minutes until the new guy can find a suitable hiding place. It's kind of like a hazing they put the new fish through.

I had the neon in the net and was pushing him to the bottom when he escaped about halfway down. Immediately he took off across the 55 gallon tank where he was being chased by 4 Giant Danios and 7 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish. As soon as he reached the opposite corner...gulp...one of my Rainbowfish had him down his mouth. I tried chasing the Rainbow with the net, but to no avail. Little guy was gone. Doh! Guess I'll have to get some bigger neons next time.

Now for the question. I know the loaches will eat the snails, but will they eat my shrimp? I like the shrimp and would like to keep them around, so if the loaches are going to eat the shrimp, I'm going to have to take them back. Any advice?

 

[WILDER]

Skunk loaches will dig and play dead, will fin nip fish with flowing fins, yes they will eat snails.

 

[Gourami Lover88]

Skunnks are basicaly small versions of clowns except that they are a slighty agressive and more sensitive to light.

 

[carrcn]

But they're not going to eat my shrimp right? If so I need to get them out of there tonight because I'll be gone for the holidays Wednesday through Saturday.

 

[WILDER]

I wouldn't think so but I would probably remove them if you can if you have a spare tank, just in case while your'e away.

 

[a1wonder]

Since I killed 4 of the 7 neons that I had through a hydrogen peroxide experiment, I figured I'd bolster the neon tetra population by another.

l umm... am I missing something here? Did i just hear that you added hydrogen peroxide on your fish? Please explain what the heck your talking about because right now it sounds as if your refering to a twisted case of animal abuse.

 

[Flyaway_Firefly]

im glad this has kinda popped up about skunk botias, ive just found out that the mystery fish that i got free with 14 potted plants, was a skunk...and he;s currently in a tank with shrimp too!

 

[Gourami Lover88]

If the shrimp is bigger then the skunks mouth then they wont eat them. But loaches are courious fish so they may try to fit them down.

 

[carrcn]

a1wonder, as for the hydrogen peroxide, it's chemical makeup is h2o2, so I figured it would be safe if used sparingly. I used a syringe to apply it to the top of some of my plant leaves trying to get rid of the algae. It killed the algae, but it also killed my clams, 4 neon tetras and a few of my plants also, plants that I didn't even squirt it on directly. That jungle vallisneria was really starting to grow too...

I read about it on the plant forum here a while back. I tried to use it sparingly to see what it would do to the tank, but even my test run with it was too much and did more damage than good. I might have used 4 syringes total in a 55 gallon tank. Wasn't a whole lot, but it wound up making the water really cloudy and stinky, along with the other damage. I did 50% water changes over the next 4 days to try and get it out of there, but it was too late for some of them.

Won't be doing that anytime soon again...or ever. Hope that clarifies.

 

[Discomafia]

I've been thinking of doing that too to combat my algae. I did I mean, until I had doubts about it affecting the fish and killing off some plants, because I know that not all plants can take that treatment. As soon as I read your first post where you wrote "Since I killed 4 of the 7 neons that I had through a hydrogen peroxide experiment" I knew from the start what you were trying to do.

http/www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquai...e_peroxide.html

I wanted to use this website as a guide, but in the end didn't as my CO2, increased lighting and less frequent feeding took care of the algae for me. I posted some questions about trying this out in the Plants forum some time ago, but most of the people there advised against it because noone knew the side-effects it would have on other tank inhabitants, so I didn't do it, and worked on giving my plants the advantage they needed to outcompete algae for nutrients.

That, and I wasn't prepared to risk losing 2/3 of my plants in the process, as the guy in the website did. He said he would be happy if even 1/3 of his plants were to survive after the treatment, and I didn't think the algae in my tank was that bad as to warrant risking it. Maybe if it was worse, I might have seriously considered it.