Should I Expect Trouble?

[sank5]

Hi All,

I've been floating round this forum for a few weeks and have just decided to Join. I recently bought a second hand tank from eBay with a couple of fish and have added a few more myself. The tank itself is a Juwel Rio 180 which came with

1 large red rainbowfish (3 - 4 inch)
1 large Bosemans rainbowfish (3 - 4 inch)
1 Pearl Garrami (2 - 3 inch)
1 large yellow angel fish (2.5 inch diameter)
1 tiny suckling loach (1 - 2 inch)

I transported about 80% of the original water with the tank, but replaced the existing gravel. I immediately added about 5 bunches of plants and a few extra deccorations. After around a week and a half all seemed well so I added 2 dwarf gourammi's and a honey sucking loach. One of the dwarfs was very active, while the other just hid in a corner. I was a bit concerned for the quiet one, but to my supprise the lively one died within about a week. The quiet one seemed to deteriate very soon after too and died about a week after the first. All my other fish looked happy and healthy. (BTW in the meen time a friend of mine bought a tank, wouldn't wait to cycle it and filled it with fish. They were starting to look very ill, so I took them in for a couple of days. One of them, a garrami, repeatedly bullied my bosemans rainbow fish so my friend collected them back.) Once his fish went back and both my dwarfs had died, my tank looked a little empty, so I bought 5 zebra danio's and a plec. (One turned out to be a pearl danio, but I kept him anyway.)

A couple of days after my last purchase I noticed about 10 - 20 white spots on my Boeseman. I followed advice I read on here, turned my temperature up, did a partial water change and purchased some whitespot treatment before I went to work. When I came home, there was only about 5 spots on him, so I was unsure weather to treat or not. I kidnapped 2 seperate fish keepers I know to have a look for me. The first said he was unsure and to wait to see if it got worse. The second said they were all healthy and I had nothing to worry about. I searched the net and this forum in particular and the pictures I found convinced me I had ICH and I should treat immediately. I've now treated twice, as per instructions and have not seen a spot for well over a week. I'm still not convinced It was ICH since only 1 fish was effected and it was only for 2 days. He was not scratching or flashing, but he had been severely bullied.

All my fish now look very happy and healthy, but I am yet to put my carbon filter back in. (Do I need a new one or will the old one be OK? I've kept it submersed in water I took from the tank). It's been over a week since my last treatment and I couldn't resist the tyre track eel (6 - 8 inch) I spotted this morning, so I went back for him after work. He looks very happy in the tank, he doesn't seem bothered by my other fish and has not attacked anyone yet. From what I've read on here, I feel I will have to buy a bigger tank once my plec and my eel have grown and I should fear for my danio's safety, but so far, so good.

My other major worry at the minute is feeding. I currently feed for about 5 mins at around 8.30 a.m and 8.30 p.m. I normally feed aquarian flakes and tetra pleco wafers, with defrosted frozen blood worm a couple of times a week as a treat. Most of my fish are greedy buggers, so the only food that hits the bottom is the pleco wafers, which are eaten by the plec, the golden sucker and the garrami. The rainbow fish and my angel often bite the wafer before it hits the bottom, but they don't seem to like them, so spit em out. I've only fead once since I got my eel. He's been out all night but seemed to dissapear when the blood worms went in. I tried to occupy my larger fish with flakes, whilst the bloodworm went in, but very few worms hit the bottom of the tank. The eel had a bite of pleco wafer, but I haven't seen him eat any bloodworm or flake. He's had a good scout round the gravel and may have found a few, but i fear he won't get enough to survive.

Any advice on what, how much and how often would be very much appreciated. The lady at the LFS said he'd be fine with a portion of frozen bloodworm every couple of days, but for a fish this size (6 - 8 inch), I really doubt it. I was told to feed my pleco a wafer every couple of days but along with one of my suckers and my garrami they easily munch through 3 to 4 a day.

I'm also interested in any advice on expanding my collection and what my maintenance routine's should be, (everything I read seems to contradict everything else). Will I be OK to have a Golden Nuggett along with my other plec? (If they'll get along, my mrs is gonna buy me one for Christmas).

Thanks for reading and sorry if I've bored you. I've taken a load of pictures which looked great on my phone but rubbish on my computer, so I'll get some better ones and post them. I'd like to identify my plec. He only cost £2.99 but looked different to all the others in the tank.

Thanks again

Dave

 

[rdd1952]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'm concerned that your tank isn't cycled and that your problems so far have been a result of poor water qualiy (high ammonia and nitrite). What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitate and pH?

I'm also concerned with your stock not being compatable. If the sucking loach is a chinese algae eater as I suspect it is, then it will soon become very aggressive and start harassing the other fish, especially the angel and gourami, and trying to suck the slime coat off. Also, the tyre track eel will very quickly outgrow your tank. They can grow to 36" and most likely need at least a 150 gallon tank. Since your pleco only cost what it did, I strongly suspect it's a common pleco and will also quickly outgrow your tank. They can grow to 24".

As far as he carbon is concerned, you may want to put some new carbon back in to remove the remaining medication from the tank but I would suggest getting a better type filter media such as ceramic. Carbon is primarily a chemical filter for removing medications from the tank. It becomes saturated in a very short period of time (as little as a day) and is then doing nothing. Nitrifying bacteria will colonize on it but every time you change it (every couple weeks), you throw your bacteria away and uncycle your tank which can cause all sorts of problems.

As far as maintenance, most people so a water change of about 25% every week. Water changes not only add fresh water to the tank but also reduce nitrates and keep other minerals at the proper levels.

 

[sank5]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'm concerned that your tank isn't cycled and that your problems so far have been a result of poor water qualiy (high ammonia and nitrite). What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitate and pH?

I'm also concerned with your stock not being compatable. If the sucking loach is a chinese algae eater as I suspect it is, then it will soon become very aggressive and start harassing the other fish, especially the angel and gourami, and trying to suck the slime coat off. Also, the tyre track eel will very quickly outgrow your tank. They can grow to 36" and most likely need at least a 150 gallon tank. Since your pleco only cost what it did, I strongly suspect it's a common pleco and will also quickly outgrow your tank. They can grow to 24".

As far as he carbon is concerned, you may want to put some new carbon back in to remove the remaining medication from the tank but I would suggest getting a better type filter media such as ceramic. Carbon is primarily a chemical filter for removing medications from the tank. It becomes saturated in a very short period of time (as little as a day) and is then doing nothing. Nitrifying bacteria will colonize on it but every time you change it (every couple weeks), you throw your bacteria away and uncycle your tank which can cause all sorts of problems.

As far as maintenance, most people so a water change of about 25% every week. Water changes not only add fresh water to the tank but also reduce nitrates and keep other minerals at the proper levels.

Hi RDD,

thanks for the quick response. I'm sure the tank is cycled, since the fish had been kept in it for a couple of years before I bought it. So far I've changed about 20% of the water every week, so I'm not that far off. I'll check my water chemistry tonight - I haven't been able to do it since the whitespot treatment sugested it would send my readings all over the place. I realised my tank was too small for the plec once he's grown, but I have picked a spot which could easily accomodate a 6 foot tank as and when the need arrises. I have so far not replaced any of my filter media. I have removed it and shook off the extra debris in used tank water, but not replaced any.
The guy I bought the tank off said he hadn't changed the water or filter media for about 2 years and only ever topped the tank up with water straight from the tap with no declorinator - this horrified me, but the fish all looked happy and healthy. I have bought all new filter media and will start to change the sponges a bit at a time, so as to not kill all the bacteria in them.
My eel is currently not large enough to eat any of my fish - I think. I know this probably won't remain true for very long but I read somewhere on this forum that eels tend to ignore any fish that are already present in the tank and only eat new additions. So far all the fish seem to get on well with one exception. After feeding, my garrami always chases my boesemans rainbowfish. I don't want my rainbowfish to get stressed, so I'm giving the garammi away.
Whats the best way of feeding the eel? Has hasn't come to the top for feeding yet and all the blood worm I drop in are gobbled up before they get to him.

Thanks Again

Dave

 

[rdd1952]

I'm sure the tank is cycled, since the fish had been kept in it for a couple of years before I bought it.

Actually, the filter is what is cycled. If you bought the tank, moved it and immediately set it back up while keeping the filter media wet, then it sould still be cycled. If the media dries out or the bacteria go without food for a extended period, the bacteria wouls have died off.

I'm not certain about feediing the eel. You may try adding the bloodworms after the lights go out. That will usually mean more will get to the bottom for him.

 

[sank5]

Actually, the filter is what is cycled. If you bought the tank, moved it and immediately set it back up while keeping the filter media wet, then it sould still be cycled. If the media dries out or the bacteria go without food for a extended period, the bacteria wouls have died off.

I'm not certain about feediing the eel. You may try adding the bloodworms after the lights go out. That will usually mean more will get to the bottom for him.

Hi RDD,

The filter was only out of the water for half an hour max, so I'm sure it'll be ok. I managed to feed my eel ok last night. I waited till the eel was in the middle of the tank and poured a portion of blood worm stright in (rather than in bits and draps). I watched him eat quite a few, so I'm not so worried about starving him anymore. I put another portion in after lights out and I'm sure he'll get a good share of them, since he spends most of his time poking around in the gravel. He's a fantastic looking fish and really active. He's showing no aggresion towards the other fish and likewise back to him. I thought being nocternal, I'd never see him but he's always out and about.

Does anyone know how fast he's likely to grow? He's about 6 - 8 inches now and I'm guessing he'll need a bigger tank when he gets to about 18 inch's. Being an eel, I don't think he'll need as much room as a similar size fish, since he can scrunch up to about the size of an egg.

Thanks again for all your help

Dave

 

[merry78]

hi, i wouldn't worry too much about your eel not getting enough food......in fact from what i've understood from your posts, i'd say there is no chance at all that he will be going hungry! I have an eel-tailed catfish (similar appearance, totally different type of fish) and i almost never actually see him get any food, however he is growing quickly and gaining weight very nicely from cleaning up missed bits overnight while the other fish are not eating. I feed proportionately much less for my fish quantity than you, and have no probs with underfed fish, so i wouldn't be too worried.

 

[rdd1952]

Not really sure about the rate of growth for the eel. You might ask in the Oddball section.

Another way to get food to bottom feeders if you have a lot of over eaters in the tank is with a tube. Simply stick it in the tank down to the bottom, pour the food in and blow air lightly in behind it to force the food out. If you use frozen bloodworms, just thaw them in tank water and pour the water and contents into the tube. I had never thought of that until we went to the Georgia Aquarium last year and went on a behind the scenes tour. That is how they feed the bottom dwellers in their large tank (the one the whale sharks are in). They pour a bucket of food in the pipe (looked like a 4 to 6 inch piece of PVC pipe) and use an air hose to blow it out the bottom. The tubes are out of site from the viewing area for regular visitors.

 

[sank5]

What a great idea! I'd have never of thought of that.