Larkspur
Fish Crazy
Well, we drove a good 45 minutes to another city to do other things, but decided to check out the local pet store and what fish selection they had. They had some really neat fish, but the tanks were in such BAD condition. There was a tetra with very obvious ICH swimming in the live plants section (nope...not buying those aquatic plants) And they had a larger variety of platy types and such. They had a single loach...I wanted BAD. It was listed as a "ring" loach. Same thing as a chain loach? I tried to have my local LFS special order some chain loaches for me about a month ago and he was having trouble getting them in.
They also had this sewer green patterned pleco with big red eyes. Ugliest darn fish I've ever seen, but my fiance loved it. (But not for $70 dollars) And they had a single German gold ram who was GORGEOUS. I wanted it!! But due to the condition of most of the tanks we fought the urge and left. There were about 6 dead fish in every tank. And it was obvious the fish had been dead for days and nobody was caring for them.
So we went out of our way and drove another 20 minutes to a Petsmart I went to about a year ago and thought had a good selection.
We got pretty good luck there! They had nice tanks and enough employees to actually stand around and help us. They were real nice. They saw us looking at their African cichlids and a few minutes later one of the employees leaned over to us and asked us if we wanted an Oscar and a Jewel Cichlid. A military guy who was moving couldn't find them a home so he dropped them off this morning at the store and left them. They took us into a back room and showed us them. The jewel cichlid is very pretty! And the Oscar is fairly large already. We decided to take them since they were giving them to us.
We also bought a couple of fish as well.
We bought
2 Angelicus botia (?)
2 rubbernose pleco
1 male auratus cichlid
And then we got:
1 jewel cichlid
1 oscar (and he's about 6 inches long at least already)
So we have a bunch of new fish we are very unexperienced with. I've been wanting loaches for a while, but couldn't find anything smaller than the clowns. I only got two of the Burmese Border Loaches, but they seem to be perfectly happy with just two in the tank. I put them in the 37 gallon community tank. They are real active and curious and remind me of dogs. They're also cute sliding around on top the sand!
Never had rubbernose plecos before, but my fiance wanted them. He has a thing for plecos and I couldn't complain when I saw they get about 5 inches...not 24 like the common pleco! They're feisty too! In the bag coming home they were thrashing around. They now live in the 55 gallon cichlid tank where they are cleaning all the brown algae off the rocks.
Unfortunately the male auratus has already died. We decided to QT him with the Jewel because he was being housed in the back tank with the Jewel at the store. The reason why was because they said he was beating up the other fish in the tank. Well, he looked healthy, but the Jewel is not. It's suffering from some sort of fungal problem. It had a light fungal issue going on its back, but its mostly the fins. They're tattered and visibly having fin rot issues. The guy who owned it was probably not cleaning his tank well. In case its something serious like columnaris we decided he's not going in tank with the others. We weren't able to get heat in the tank ASAP. We're pretty certain the temperature drop (from high 70's to the 60's) was what killed the auratus so quick. The Jewel is still alive, but seems rather unhappy in the QT tub we set up, but we have a steady heat source now that we put in a heater. And the Jewel also has a cloudy eye which he can probably see out of, but will never be perfect again. Poor guy!
As for the oscar he is sitting in a 10 gallon by himself. He's in far better condition than the Jewel even though he was in the same tank at Petsmart (just a divider between them). He just sits on the bottom and his eyes will follow us when we are in the kitchen. We've dubbed him "Little Timmy". He's shy and...big. He has a couple scales missing, but otherwise looks okay. So far he isn't doing much. Never liked Oscars before, but I think if he ends up passing we will get another and start off with a small one first. He seems really smart compared to our other fish.
So we picked up some Melafix (?) We dosed the QT tub with the Jewel and the Oscar. I have a feeling the Jewel will die. He looks rough. Not sure about the Oscar. Oscar looks fine, but seems depressed. Never owned either so tips would be great! If Little Timmy pulls through we're putting him in a 29 gallon tank. But we aren't sure what to do with the Jewel cichlid as it will be a little too aggressive for the 37 community.
They also had this sewer green patterned pleco with big red eyes. Ugliest darn fish I've ever seen, but my fiance loved it. (But not for $70 dollars) And they had a single German gold ram who was GORGEOUS. I wanted it!! But due to the condition of most of the tanks we fought the urge and left. There were about 6 dead fish in every tank. And it was obvious the fish had been dead for days and nobody was caring for them.
So we went out of our way and drove another 20 minutes to a Petsmart I went to about a year ago and thought had a good selection.
We got pretty good luck there! They had nice tanks and enough employees to actually stand around and help us. They were real nice. They saw us looking at their African cichlids and a few minutes later one of the employees leaned over to us and asked us if we wanted an Oscar and a Jewel Cichlid. A military guy who was moving couldn't find them a home so he dropped them off this morning at the store and left them. They took us into a back room and showed us them. The jewel cichlid is very pretty! And the Oscar is fairly large already. We decided to take them since they were giving them to us.
We also bought a couple of fish as well.
We bought
2 Angelicus botia (?)
2 rubbernose pleco
1 male auratus cichlid
And then we got:
1 jewel cichlid
1 oscar (and he's about 6 inches long at least already)
So we have a bunch of new fish we are very unexperienced with. I've been wanting loaches for a while, but couldn't find anything smaller than the clowns. I only got two of the Burmese Border Loaches, but they seem to be perfectly happy with just two in the tank. I put them in the 37 gallon community tank. They are real active and curious and remind me of dogs. They're also cute sliding around on top the sand!
Never had rubbernose plecos before, but my fiance wanted them. He has a thing for plecos and I couldn't complain when I saw they get about 5 inches...not 24 like the common pleco! They're feisty too! In the bag coming home they were thrashing around. They now live in the 55 gallon cichlid tank where they are cleaning all the brown algae off the rocks.
Unfortunately the male auratus has already died. We decided to QT him with the Jewel because he was being housed in the back tank with the Jewel at the store. The reason why was because they said he was beating up the other fish in the tank. Well, he looked healthy, but the Jewel is not. It's suffering from some sort of fungal problem. It had a light fungal issue going on its back, but its mostly the fins. They're tattered and visibly having fin rot issues. The guy who owned it was probably not cleaning his tank well. In case its something serious like columnaris we decided he's not going in tank with the others. We weren't able to get heat in the tank ASAP. We're pretty certain the temperature drop (from high 70's to the 60's) was what killed the auratus so quick. The Jewel is still alive, but seems rather unhappy in the QT tub we set up, but we have a steady heat source now that we put in a heater. And the Jewel also has a cloudy eye which he can probably see out of, but will never be perfect again. Poor guy!
As for the oscar he is sitting in a 10 gallon by himself. He's in far better condition than the Jewel even though he was in the same tank at Petsmart (just a divider between them). He just sits on the bottom and his eyes will follow us when we are in the kitchen. We've dubbed him "Little Timmy". He's shy and...big. He has a couple scales missing, but otherwise looks okay. So far he isn't doing much. Never liked Oscars before, but I think if he ends up passing we will get another and start off with a small one first. He seems really smart compared to our other fish.
So we picked up some Melafix (?) We dosed the QT tub with the Jewel and the Oscar. I have a feeling the Jewel will die. He looks rough. Not sure about the Oscar. Oscar looks fine, but seems depressed. Never owned either so tips would be great! If Little Timmy pulls through we're putting him in a 29 gallon tank. But we aren't sure what to do with the Jewel cichlid as it will be a little too aggressive for the 37 community.
