I have a 38 gallon with 12 embers (down from an original 18 purchased a year ago) who mostly hide amongst the plants until food comes. There is an active Siamese algae eater and one lone cory leftover from an original 11 (this is an old cory). There is also 4 glass catfish and they mostly hide under some driftwood “cave areas”, but I have seen them come out and just hang out together mid tank. There is usually not a lot to see, and I wanted to liven things up, so I am going to add 18 kubotai and 12 green neons. I figure the neons and the embers may school together and I may see a little more activity swimming around the tank. The rasboras should be in a good enough number to stay to themselves. I took a “before” pic, while it is still a “boring” tank to watch. I’m sure with the new fish I’ll be spending a lot more time watching this tank. I have 6 aquariums and I spend the least amount of time watching this one. Should be pretty with orange embers, neon green and pale greenish silver kubotai, and the teal shine of the green neons. I’ll be sure to take pics when the new arrivals settle in and color up.
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This tank needs something to liven it up
- Thread starter Aqua67
- Start date
Plants look like they're doing well. Neon's will love that
Do you want to add kubotai loaches or kubotai rasboras?
If the fish are hiding you need to make sure everything in the tank is good. If the water quality has gone bad or the fish are being stressed by something, adding more fish won't encourage the others out.
Do you gravel clean under the rocks?
How often do you clean the filter and do water changes?
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It doesn't look like there is a picture on the back of the tank. Adding something to the back (on the outside) can help the fish feel more secure. Cleaning out some of the rock work can open the front and middle up so the fish can swim in the open and take off into the plants it they feel threatened.
How often are you in the room near that tank?
If fish are kept in a dark room without anyone going near them, they become shy and often panic if someone comes into the room. Having a small television on (don't need the sound on) can help with this. The flashing light and movement on the screen helps the fish get used to things moving near them. You can also use a fan with some streamers tied the the front cage on the fan. Have the fan on oscillate and the streamers can wave about and help the fish get use to movement. Ideally the best place for any aquarium is somewhere people and animals (if you have pets) are constantly moving around the fish tank. Then the fish see people all day every day and don't care is someone goes near the tank.
If the fish are hiding you need to make sure everything in the tank is good. If the water quality has gone bad or the fish are being stressed by something, adding more fish won't encourage the others out.
Do you gravel clean under the rocks?
How often do you clean the filter and do water changes?
--------------------
It doesn't look like there is a picture on the back of the tank. Adding something to the back (on the outside) can help the fish feel more secure. Cleaning out some of the rock work can open the front and middle up so the fish can swim in the open and take off into the plants it they feel threatened.
How often are you in the room near that tank?
If fish are kept in a dark room without anyone going near them, they become shy and often panic if someone comes into the room. Having a small television on (don't need the sound on) can help with this. The flashing light and movement on the screen helps the fish get used to things moving near them. You can also use a fan with some streamers tied the the front cage on the fan. Have the fan on oscillate and the streamers can wave about and help the fish get use to movement. Ideally the best place for any aquarium is somewhere people and animals (if you have pets) are constantly moving around the fish tank. Then the fish see people all day every day and don't care is someone goes near the tank.
Hi @Colin_T thank you so much for your insightful reply. I am awaiting the arrival of the kubotai rasboras today, along with the green neon tetras, a total of 30 new fish to add to the aquarium.
Most of the plants are ephiphytes growing on driftwood and yes, I usually pull out all of the driftwood to do a thorough gravel vacuum once every month or so. That is the beauty of epiphytes. The only plants in substrate is one sad rosette sword that I often find floating as it doesn’t have many roots, the plant was not a great plant from day one when it arrived in the mail, but it is still alive. There is also some hornwort floating around and some dwarf water lettuce that I keep in a coral above the anubias. There are a lot of plants and I wasn’t planning to remove any of them.
I change water when it needs to be changed and I use my TDS meter and water testing to determine when that is. Usually it is once a month as the tank is lightly stocked at the moment and I feed lightly, skipping a day once a week (sometimes twice). The TDS is around 180 right now and parameters were tested this morning. Yesterday was the most recent water change.
When I first brought the embers home (around Oct 2022, I think), they would swim from end to end of the aquarium. They eventually settled in to just hanging out in the plants. I used to have half the top covered in duckweed but pulled all of that out a couple of weeks ago. The glass cats seemed to come out of hiding more now that the duckweed was removed. Now the hornwort is floating around and the ember also like hanging out under that, and under the anubias leaves.
Yes, you are right, there is no backing on my aquarium. In all of my years keeping aquariums (since the late 1980s) I’ve never had a backing on my aquariums. It makes it easier for me to see them and take pictures without a background, especially in my little dark water shrimp tanks.
This tank is in my basement and my husband works 12 hour shifts directly across the from that aquarium, three days a week. Other than that, we might pass by doing laundry or if I go down there to sit and watch my aquarium. I have 6 aquariums and that is the only one in the basement, and since there is never a whole lot going on down there, it is my least watched aquarium. There are motion detector lights down there and they come on as we walk downstairs. I don’t use electric lights too often, a habit I got into over the past 25 years keeping parrots. When the sun goes down we leave things dim/dark so the parrots stay quiet and go to sleep. So I will sit downstairs in the dark (better for taking pictures too) and watch them. There is one corner of the tank that receives natural light in the afternoon from a daylight window in the basement though.
I don’t think the fish are hiding on me. Maybe they’re also bored? There are scuds in that tank to hunt. The Siamese algae eater probably bothers the lone cory more than any of the embers. The SAE also chases a glass cat out of hiding now and then too. I would like to keep the SAE though and I don’t plan to rehome it. I don’t have an algae issue, but I’ve grown fond of it and right now it is the most excitement in the tank as that fish is active and swims around most of the time.
I really appreciate the tips and you’ve made me think of things in a way I hadn’t in the past. Thank you so much.
Most of the plants are ephiphytes growing on driftwood and yes, I usually pull out all of the driftwood to do a thorough gravel vacuum once every month or so. That is the beauty of epiphytes. The only plants in substrate is one sad rosette sword that I often find floating as it doesn’t have many roots, the plant was not a great plant from day one when it arrived in the mail, but it is still alive. There is also some hornwort floating around and some dwarf water lettuce that I keep in a coral above the anubias. There are a lot of plants and I wasn’t planning to remove any of them.
I change water when it needs to be changed and I use my TDS meter and water testing to determine when that is. Usually it is once a month as the tank is lightly stocked at the moment and I feed lightly, skipping a day once a week (sometimes twice). The TDS is around 180 right now and parameters were tested this morning. Yesterday was the most recent water change.
When I first brought the embers home (around Oct 2022, I think), they would swim from end to end of the aquarium. They eventually settled in to just hanging out in the plants. I used to have half the top covered in duckweed but pulled all of that out a couple of weeks ago. The glass cats seemed to come out of hiding more now that the duckweed was removed. Now the hornwort is floating around and the ember also like hanging out under that, and under the anubias leaves.
Yes, you are right, there is no backing on my aquarium. In all of my years keeping aquariums (since the late 1980s) I’ve never had a backing on my aquariums. It makes it easier for me to see them and take pictures without a background, especially in my little dark water shrimp tanks.
This tank is in my basement and my husband works 12 hour shifts directly across the from that aquarium, three days a week. Other than that, we might pass by doing laundry or if I go down there to sit and watch my aquarium. I have 6 aquariums and that is the only one in the basement, and since there is never a whole lot going on down there, it is my least watched aquarium. There are motion detector lights down there and they come on as we walk downstairs. I don’t use electric lights too often, a habit I got into over the past 25 years keeping parrots. When the sun goes down we leave things dim/dark so the parrots stay quiet and go to sleep. So I will sit downstairs in the dark (better for taking pictures too) and watch them. There is one corner of the tank that receives natural light in the afternoon from a daylight window in the basement though.
I don’t think the fish are hiding on me. Maybe they’re also bored? There are scuds in that tank to hunt. The Siamese algae eater probably bothers the lone cory more than any of the embers. The SAE also chases a glass cat out of hiding now and then too. I would like to keep the SAE though and I don’t plan to rehome it. I don’t have an algae issue, but I’ve grown fond of it and right now it is the most excitement in the tank as that fish is active and swims around most of the time.
I really appreciate the tips and you’ve made me think of things in a way I hadn’t in the past. Thank you so much.
I just went downstairs and sat with them for a little bit. They weren’t hiding, they were spread into all 4 corners of the tank doing their own thing. The cory and the SAE were swimming around. I had already fed them today, about 5 hours ago, so they were relaxed and just swimming around. Still with only 12 in the tank there wasn’t much to look at. I do hope the green neons and the kubotai rasboras liven things up. I made a little video to remember the tank how it was.
Video Link: Ember Tetra before adding more fish
Video Link: Ember Tetra before adding more fish
The new fish arrived and 2 kubotai were lost over the past week. They were small and it may have been the stress of shipping. I heard they are more sensitive than the neons. The tank is definitely more active and much more interesting to watch. That was exactly what I was hoping for and I posted a very short video below.
Video of my New Community
Video of my New Community
I have been away from home for nearly a month but have been able to stop by the house daily to drop food in for my aquariums. I am finally home for a few days and was sitting down there with one of my aquariums last night when I noticed what appears to be a young ember tetra, roughly half the size of all the adults in the aquarium. I was very happy and quite surprised to see that obviously fish had spawned and amazingly one fry was lucky enough to make it. I managed to snap a picture of the young ember tetra. I have always wanted to try breeding my tetras, but I was originally intending to try the neons first. That is OK, I’m happy with an ember youngster.
Attached is a picture of the youngster along with two adult embers and several neons in the picture. It must have happened shortly after I left last month (Sept 20).
I have roughly 40 nano fishes, roughly equal numbers of each, ember tetras, neon/green tetras, and kubotai rasboras. There is also betta in the aquarium, a SAE and 3 glass cats, plus 5 cories. When transferring plants I accidentally dropped in an adult cherry shrimp so she has stayed in there and because she was alone I trapped a few males and dropped them in with her. There are also a few snails including one nerite snail. So that makes up the inhabitants.
Attached is a picture of the youngster along with two adult embers and several neons in the picture. It must have happened shortly after I left last month (Sept 20).
I have roughly 40 nano fishes, roughly equal numbers of each, ember tetras, neon/green tetras, and kubotai rasboras. There is also betta in the aquarium, a SAE and 3 glass cats, plus 5 cories. When transferring plants I accidentally dropped in an adult cherry shrimp so she has stayed in there and because she was alone I trapped a few males and dropped them in with her. There are also a few snails including one nerite snail. So that makes up the inhabitants.
Attachments
Are you sure it's a young ember tetra and not one that is stunted and deformed?
It appears to have a curved spine and the muscle tissue looks a bit cream coloured. The curved spine is probably genetic but the white muscle tissue could be a microsporidian infection that will eventually kill the fish. A couple of weeks of salt should fix the infection but there's nothing you can do about the spine.
You could also deworm the fish to make sure they are free of worms and gill flukes. Section 3 of the following link has information on deworming fish.
www.fishforums.net
You appear to have a cardinal tetra with your neons. Cardinals have a red line that runs the full length (or most of the length) of the body. Neons have a red line that runs about half way along the body and a white belly.
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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water (2 litres or 1/2 gallon) and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
It appears to have a curved spine and the muscle tissue looks a bit cream coloured. The curved spine is probably genetic but the white muscle tissue could be a microsporidian infection that will eventually kill the fish. A couple of weeks of salt should fix the infection but there's nothing you can do about the spine.
You could also deworm the fish to make sure they are free of worms and gill flukes. Section 3 of the following link has information on deworming fish.
What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.
Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...
www.fishforums.net
You appear to have a cardinal tetra with your neons. Cardinals have a red line that runs the full length (or most of the length) of the body. Neons have a red line that runs about half way along the body and a white belly.
---------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water (2 litres or 1/2 gallon) and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
Yes, I’m very sure it is not a stunted or deformed ember tetra. I purchased all of them together about a year ago. They were all plump, brightly colored and healthy, normal sized and mostly female. I only had 2 males, possibly 3 out of the batch of 12. I did lose one female who developed a buoyancy issue. This fish is young. I wasn’t planning for babies, haven’t even been home longer than 15 minutes per day over the past month. I tossed food in, making sure some sank for cories, some floated for the schooling fish, meaty food dropped in for the betta and glass cats, made sure I saw everyone going for food and then I left again. Never saw the baby until I was sitting with them after I got home, finally relaxing and spending some time just watching my tank. I took a little video if you wanted to get a better look at the young fish. At first you will see it swimming in the background while plump adults swim in the foreground with the neons, but soon it will swim into the foreground.
Baby Tetra Discovered In My Aquarium (click this link to view video)
Baby Tetra Discovered In My Aquarium (click this link to view video)
One of the cories is very old and probably doesn’t have much longer to live. She is leftover from a group of 11 from many years ago. Being a lone cory, over this past summer I did feel sorry enough to bring home 4 more younger cories.
There are no cardinals in this aquarium.
There are no cardinals in this aquarium.
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