Will they settle

[inflexion]

Hi guys,
Firstly here's my situation. I have just got my tank past the fishless cycle and then i added a male figher, rainbow shark and a silver tip as they were all in the same tank in the pet store and they seamed happy as pie.

Planned on leaving it like that then i came home and found out that my mum has gone and got 3 tiger barbs, 2 glass fish, 2 frogs and a pleco

Now i did read that tiger barbs and a fighter are a no no but has had tropicals before and siad that it was fine and has been untill now.

One of the barbs just wont leave my fighter alone the other two dont bother it.

What should i do now they are in the tank? Buy more tiger barbs and hope it chases them are try to remove the barbs or what?

Any help much appriciated

 

[Ferris]

How big is your tank?

Also what kind of Pleco is it? if its a common or sailfin Plec you need at least a 75 gallon tank.

Tiger Barbs and male fighting fish are usually a very bad combination. If you have a really big tank, you may be OK but i think you will need to either return the TB's or the male fighter.

 

[Squishiebabe]

Could you explain "male fighter fish" ...Do you mean a Betta? If so, you can take him out, and put him in a 1gal+ bowl of a sort, and then get him his own little tank or something. Bettas dont need filters, or heaters really(Unless your house gets really cold at night) they have learned to adapt and are hardy. I'm sure the barb just wants his long fins, they annoy other fish. Please tell us how many gallons the tank is, is there a lot of hiding space?

 

[Ferris]

"male fighting fish" is indeed a Betta (must be a UK thing ).

Inflexion - you will need a heater as you live in the UK (like me) and our weather is nowhere near good enough to not use one.

 

[inflexion]

yea i know about that ive been doing a good deal of reading about them all before i got any.

Its a 20gallon hex tank and there are plenty of hiding spaces, he seams to spend his time hiding behind the castle/ resting in the plants and then the rest swimming about in the open.

At the moment they are leaving him alone when he comes out but if he's out for ages then thats when they go for him.

As for the pleco i have no idea what kind it is at the moment so ill see if i can find out what he is when he comes out for me to get a good look at.

thanks for all the help so far though guys

 

[OohFeeshy]

Hi guys,
Firstly here's my situation. I have just got my tank past the fishless cycle and then i added a male figher, rainbow shark and a silver tip as they were all in the same tank in the pet store and they seamed happy as pie.

Planned on leaving it like that then i came home and found out that my mum has gone and got 3 tiger barbs, 2 glass fish, 2 frogs and a pleco

Now i did read that tiger barbs and a fighter are a no no but has had tropicals before and siad that it was fine and has been untill now.

One of the barbs just wont leave my fighter alone the other two dont bother it.

What should i do now they are in the tank? Buy more tiger barbs and hope it chases them are try to remove the barbs or what?

Any help much appriciated

Right, so in your tank, you have-
1 male betta
1 Rainbow Shark
1 Silver Tip (tetra??)
3 Tiger Barbs
2 glass fish (Catfish or tetras?)
2 frogs (ACF or ADF?)
1 pleco (type?)

You have a lot of problems. You have a hex tank. Hex tanks aren't very good as they offer little surface area. But, it will do. Your stocking, IMHO, is one of the oddest assortments I've seen Who advised you on stocking? Lets examine each type of fish.

The betta- Generally not suited for community setups due to long fins and aggressiveness. Yes, it might have been living with other fish in the shop, but from my experience, after a few weeks they start to get aggressive.

The Rainbow Shark- Gets to about 5 inches, too big for you tank. A semi-aggressive species, can attack other sharks especially.

The silver tip- I'm assuming this is either a tetra or a mislabeled silver shark. If its a tetra, it needs about 5 more tetras to make up a school. If its a shark, it gets to 12''+ long and is schooling.

The tiger barbs- Very prone to being nippy, especially when kept in too small a group. A good sized group is about 6 or more.

The glass fish- These could either be tetras or catfish, if they're tetras, again, they need to be in groups of 6+, catfish, not sure on them but someone else will know.

The frogs- Depends on whether they're clawed frogs or dwarf frogs. Dwarf frogs are OK but need to be fed bloodworms every day, clawed frogs get large and eat other fish.

The pleco- Most types of pleco you are likely to see are VERY messy and get far too large for you tank.

Thats the basics, I'd work out exactly what type of fish you have then decide whether you are going to take them back or get a bigger tank.

 

[inflexion]

Thanks for confirming what i said

Right to clear up a few things
the silver tip is a tetra as well as the glass fish. The pleco is a common one and the frogs are drawfs so ive been told.

As for the advice on stocking it came from me reading and going on what ive seen put togeather and the second half is my mum getting carried away.

I got the betta, silver tip and rainbow shark as like ive said they were in the same tank at the store and seamed to fine togeather. I got them with the intention of buying another 6 silver tips and another rainbow shark the week after and leaving it at that.

I was away over the weekend and came back to find that i had acquired some more fish thanks to my mum getting more excited about it than me. She has kept tropicals before so was going on what she had in her tank previously (which ill tell you now was a 65 gallon tank)

I got home and played havoc with her sayin that

1) it was too many in the first week on having fish so lots of water changes
2) there were too many different kinds in the tank as the tiger barbs are now proving!

I really dont know what to do, should i dig my old 2x1x1 tank out and set that up and transfere some fish into that as soon as possible, i dont want to have a tank with no fish in it because they have been killed by others or because they have out grown it

 

[Morrgan]

I got the betta, silver tip and rainbow shark as like ive said they were in the same tank at the store and seamed to fine togeather. I got them with the intention of buying another 6 silver tips and another rainbow shark the week after and leaving it at that.

First of all, never keep two sharks in the same tank together. They're very territorial and will kill each other eventually. Second, in a tank as small as 20 gal, the shark may even start to kill off other fish. They can get nasty when there isn't enough room. I strongly suggest you take the shark back and wait with that until you get a bigger tank. The 2x1x1 isn't big enough for it either.

The common pleco grows way too big, take him back as well.

Finally, I'm told you should never keep amphibians (frogs, newts) together with fish, because their waste is so strong (concentrated?) that it will poison your fish.

 

[inflexion]

morrgan thanks for the info much appriciated

Its hard work when you see fish kept in the store and then ask if they will be fine like that at home and they say yes.

As for the shark and pleco i shall bag them up and take them back.

Finally on the frogs though ive been reading that they are fine with fish as long as you have filtration and keep and eye on ammoina levels etc??

 

[OohFeeshy]

I'd check the frogs actually are dwarf, a lot of shops mislabel and people only realise when the frog gets huge and fish go missing . Yep, the 2'x1'x1' would work fine, its roughly the same gallonage. In there you could put the tiger barbs and make the school up a bit. Another good idea would be to get a smaller tank (3 gallons ish, bit more, bit less) for the betta and frogs as neither do well in a community setup, however people successfully keep bettas and frogs together.

 

[inflexion]

thanks for all this help guys its more than appriciated.

ive found a 3 gallon tank in the loft so im off to buy a heater so i can stick my betta in that now and prob put the frogs in there, they are deffinately dwafs as well the guy who sells them has been in the fish game for a good 30 years so ill trust him on that.

another quick question though, would a 50W heater be ok if its turned down as i cant find a 25W heater.

also if i steal the water from my existing tank can i just put him in the new one with out it being too much of a shock to him as i dont want to have to wait too long as his is constantly hiding now

 

[ferrikins]

On the newt and frong things, I've had frogs in a comunity, they where fine, I currently have a disabled frog, that I have owned for over a year, he and his friend now life with my krib pair, and are very happy, and very fat.

I also have a Fuzong warty newt, in my other tank, never mix newts with frogs as the frog will come off worse, just ask one of my frogs that lost an eye, and sadly died last week, (she died for a different reason.) But mixing newts with fish are ok, if you know your newts, as some secrete more toxins than others. I have fish in with my newt, my water is kept perfect in both tanks, and I lost like 1 fish in, about 9 months.

Sharks do ok in odd numbers aparently, if they have anothe space.

 

[inflexion]

well at the moment i have my betta in a betta isolation chamber and he seams a little happier and just fed up the others in the tank are still as happy as pie so i think that the soon i move my betta the better i just have to get him his own tank

 

[fatguppy]

If your glass fish are glass catfish they ideally like to be in a school of at least 2/3+. They do NOT like to be alone. They are very shy and don't come out often unless feeding. Frogs - as said - be careful they are african dwarf frogs and not african clawed frogs. Dwarf frogs will live happily with community fish and cause no problems whatsoever. They prefer frozen food or ours love tiny bits of cooked chicken. Again they will also not come out much until fed. African clawed frogs get huge and will eat your fish! To my knowledge our african dwarf frogs have NEVER eaten dried fish food! But give them some frozen bloodworm and they are straight out!

Not sure on the mix with Tiger barbs - all I can tell you is that we have 6 and they tend to leave the others alone because they are too interested in themselves. However, I am reliably informed (from here and other media) that any long finned fish and Tiger Barbs are a very bad combination. Our tigers are completely non-aggressive with the other fish but we have no long finned varieties in the tank. We were informed that glass catfish and Tigers are a complete no-no, however in an emergency some months ago we were forced to house our glass catfish and tiger barbs in the same tank. They have remained there and we have no problems. What can I say - maybe we are lucky The tank is 40 gallons by the way - so that may make the difference.

 

[Slyspy]

Frogs are fine in a community tank that "poison" stuff is rubbish. But bear in mind that they are not good "hunters" and feeding may be a problem in a tank filled with alert, agile fish. Mine are out-competed by the shrimp that live with them! Also hex tanks are normally tall meaning they have to go a long way for air. They should do ok in the 3 gall with just the betta though (unless he is really very aggressive) although they both love bloodworms. Feed the frogs from a pipette or such like and they soon learn where their food comes from.

If I were you I'd take back all the fish that you didn't get yourself and stock the tank according to your wishes, then maybe your mum will get the point!

Regards the heater - get a 25W one ASAP. I found that using a 50W one in a tank that size causes a very unstable temperature, which is generally considered worse than a steady-but-wrong temperature.