Quartine Tanks Stocking

[Akasha72]

oooh yes ... can't beat a lovely dwarf cichlid for personality. I love em. Bolivian rams are great and as PJM says - so much personality. Some of the little apisto's are lovely too although they'd prefer the water really soft. For a cichlid to 'cut your teeth' on (as in a beginners cichlid) I would look at the Bolivian ram. They are generally easy to get and they are a bit more forgiving on the water than some of the other dwarves

 

[cowgirluntamed]

PJM- I would get the neons last but I'm going to be getting them all online from the same place. (Depending on if my floating plants will grow with the new small ten gallon. I plan on picking up the tank today and then I would just need to order the lid.) It's a $20 shipping charge. I was hoping to only pay it once if I could. If not then I will have two batches. Just depends on what happens soon.

Good news! Heard back from the bristlenose breeder and there is at least one super red calico! Yay! Hopefully there will be another one but if not I'm going to get a regular super red. They said they'd be an inch in a few weeks so I'll check back then.

Also the mature tank thing I read somewhere a few times. That the neons are somewhat sensitive. Could be wrong. Though I had bought a group from petsmart once and one by one they just died....I'm hoping this other place will be better. All I have is Petsmart unfortunately.

I'm not knocking all the cichlids..alot of those tanks look great. I just like my little fish best. Lol. I know the Bolivian ram stays somewhat small, but could you put it in a tank full of tetras? Not sure I would do this but figured I'd ask. Lol.

Thanks again for the tips!

 

[Akasha72]

the bolivian will be fine with the tetra's you are planning

 

[PepperjacksMama]

Ah, I understand on trying to save on shipping.

Super red calico...sexy! Been waffling about a Bristlenose or two for quite a while. Using the excuse of finalizing my tanks.

As I stated, it is my belief that the reason Neons are so sensitive is due to over/inbreeding, as they have been so popular in the hobby pretty much from the start. Like most fish, I have found clean stable water is the key.

I understand about Petsmart, as well. Have two locally. One is a hot mess. The other at least has a couple of hobbyists in the fish department. But being a big chain store, fish are a loss leader for them. They want you to buy an overpriced aquarium kit, and fish as an afterthought.
Our only fish only store is about 80% saltwater. So we take what we can get.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks akasha! Hmm....*goes off to think...lol* I may do the tetras all first and then maybe..if I think I may need something more... I may think of a Bolivian. Lol.

PJM, we don't even have a fish only store. Oh well. All my fish so far have been from petsmart except my betta. I saw him on eBay. Hehe. He's awesome. It's funny when I hold a mirror up to the tank....if I don't take it back fast enough the poor guy scares himself....big bad betta..lol.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

So....i found a guppy dead a couple days ago. I have one left now in the ten gallon plus a couple of nerite snails. Now, if this other one goes before I'm ready to purchase fish, I want to sterilize everything in the tank. Gravel will just be thrown out and I will replace with sand. My plastic plants and filter stuff will get bleached and my anubias plants will get a quick bleach dip. So...my only problem is the driftwood. I think I can just boil them(one is a bit too big for my pot but I an turn it over and book more), but how long would I boil it just to sanitize it? I don't care about getting tannins out of it, I just want to sanitize.


Also....if this other guppy doesn't die by the time I'm ready to purchase fish, I will more than likely just get the fish in two groups. I don't want to chance putting this guppy in the big tank and risk whatever has been killing them. So he will live out his life in the ten. Never doing guppies again!

 

[Akasha72]

guppies are no longer the hardy fish that they used to be unfortunately. They also seem to be old before their time. Mine only lived about 2 years but the guppies we had as kids lasted way longer

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Well, I think these were all full grown when I got them. I think I've had them for maybe a year and a half? Not for sure. I think one died from internal parasites. The others were fine for quite a while other than nipped tails. Then one by one they just started dropping. I lost three really fast to the same thing..had another start to go and that's when I first treated with antibiotics. Two diff kinds. It recovered(it's also the last surviving one and the one I had actually bought last). Then maybe a month or so ago I lost one to similar circumstances as the other three. This last one didn't have any major things I could see wrong but it died. Now the surviving one is still active and eating though the tail seems thinned out. So who knows. I just don't think I want to take a chance putting it in a big tank with other fish.

Anyway, do you know how long to boil driftwood to just sterilize it?

 

[Akasha72]

I don't know if it helps but my Dad bought 6 male platies for his tank about 3 years ago now. Four died one after another about a year ago and we had the conversation about live bearers not being the hardy fish they used to be all those years ago when I was a child and Dad kept them then. The remaining male platy is still going strong. The same happened with his black ruby barbs. He had 4 females and a male. The male got himself trapped in a hole in the bogwood during the night and Dad found him dead in the morning. Two females died soon after - no symptoms, nothing. Again we had the conversation that maybe it was just old age etc. The remaining two females are just going on and on ... they've outlived the others by a good 2 years now.
 
I don't know how or why this happens. You would think when you buy them all at the same time as young fish they'd all live the same length of time - provided they don't get hit by parasites or similar. That doesn't seem to be the case though. I find it odd that some live short lives and some live on much longer 

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks akasha. If he doesn't get worse or die by the time my tank is done....well...would you put him in with other fish or just leave him be?

 

[Akasha72]

if your certain he's not got anything infectious there's no reason why he can't have the company of other fish

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Well, thats the thing, I don't know if it is. The first ones that died had some sort of ulcer(red spot that stuck out) on their tail. They'd stay at the top for a bit just hovering, not eating.then they'd go to the bottom and almost seemed to be paralysed in their fins. They didn't make it much longer than that. Three of them died that way and the one I have left got sick shortly after which is when treated the tank with diff stuff and he got better. That's been a while ago but since I've lost two others now...maybe a month apart...i just don't know. Now, they didnt have the same symptoms. Ones color faded for a while until he died. The last one well..didn't show too much at all. Just slightly off maybe? Next thing I knew I found him dead. I know it seemed like it was contagious at first, now I don't know.

 

[Akasha72]

in that case keep him seperate. Don't take the chance with the new stock

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks akasha. I feel better about that decision now. Sad to just have one guppy in the ten gallin but I just don't have the heart to put him down when he's still active and eating. Or to give him away to anybody knowing about the illnesses. Guh...the pains of fishkeeping sometime!! I've though about getting into the breeding side eventually if I can get the keeping part down good...lol. but the culling...depending on what it is...geeze....lol. that'd be the hard part!

 

[Akasha72]

I can only euthanize when a fish is very ill and needs putting out of it's misery. I know of angel breeders who cull any young angels that arn't 'perfect' and I get quite cross about that. My male angel has a deformed side fin but that doesn't stop him being a stunning fish. It impares certain movements occasionally but he gets around it.
When I found out I had hybrid cories the thought occurred to me that a serious breeder would have culled them but I found them a home instead. Breeding doesn't mean culling if you don't want to. It means being responsible about what you are breeding if you are doing it intentionally and it's always best to make sure you have an outlet for any baby fish you may have before you intentionally set out to breed