What would you do? Stocking 20 gal. 9/9/08
Hello Crew!
<Hello Audrey,>
I am in need of some guidance. We have recently upgraded our tank to a 20gal. We moved the plants and snails to the new tank. After a while, we decided to get some Pseudomugil Furcatus. We brought home 6 of them. All was well for the first 36 hours or so.
<Lovely little fish; hitherto very rare in the trade, but thankfully starting to appear a little more often.>
After about 36 hours I found fuzz on one of the males - not ick, one big infection spot. The fish was still active and eating at that point so I moved him to a treatment tank and treated with what I had around (Furan - supposed to treat mouth fungus, cotton wool and infections so I thought it would work). I found him dead the next day. I examined the body and saw a big red zone, an injury under the fuzz, so I think he died as a result of a mechanical injury, either in transit or at the store (they're too small and fast to do a thorough exam at the store).
<I'd be treating with a combination Finrot/Fungus medication such as eSHa 2000 or Maracyn. This should handle the "big three" -- Fungus, Finrot, and Mouth Fungus -- all of which are possibilities here.>
The day I found the injured male dead, I also found a dead female in the main tank, this one with no visible sign of illness or injury.
<Do check other issues: water chemistry, oxygen, temperature. It is possible they simply travelled badly, but still, for the sake of your peace of mind, check the tank.>
Now I am left with only four fish. I think they would be much happier in a bigger group. I'm also worried because I have a trio and a solo, and, although the lone female comes out for food, I have a feeling she'd be more happy if the dominant fish had more fish to chase away.
<Indeed.>
It has barely been a week and, while the other 4 fish seem happy, I'm worried they'll die suddenly like my female.
<Always a concern when you're keeping an apparently delicate species for the first time.>
Now, this is my dilemma. This LFS where we bought or fish is the best close to us, they're the only serious, specialized fish store around, but we haven't been happy with the fish we've bought there so far. There is a pet store that has healthy-looking, vigorous fish, but their selection is limited, and they don't have any Furcatus. There is also a very new fish store a little further away who insists heavily on the virtues of wild-caught fish - I'm weary of them because the seller told me I was crazy to have a heater for my Betta (another tank), and was rambling on some nonsense about UV sterilization. I know this doesn't mean they have bad stock, but I don't know if I can trust their husbandry. I also don't know if they have Furcatus in stock.
<You pays your money and you takes your choice... In this case, I think you need to focus on the matter at hand, grabbing a few more female Blue Eyes. Get them from whichever store has them, or online if you prefer.>
So, do I wait a few weeks before I get new fish until I'm certain enough my current 4 are going to make it? But if I do that, should I worry about my lone female?
<Depends on the price. If getting another batch only sets you back a few dollars, then go for it. I'd be looking to see that my existing stock are settled in and feeding. I'd like them to have nice rounded bellies -- and just for once, I'd perhaps overfeed slightly with live daphnia or whatever just to be sure. If this was all in the positive, I'd order/buy some more Blue Eyes.>
If I do get more fish should I go back to our usual LFS and risk buying another half-dozen, and hope those make it?
<Ask if he can get a batch in just for you, and you pick them up when they arrive before they're unboxed. Otherwise, buy a decent size group, factoring in a certain amount of attrition. Maybe get twice as many females as males, just to be on the safe side.>
My other choice is mixing the Furcatus with long-fin rainbows (those are easy to find) - would they even interact, given they're not the same species?
<Not even the same family, so doubt they'd have any meaningful interaction.>
What would you do?
As usual, I appreciate your guidance. I have options, I just don't know where I should go from here...
Thank you,
Audrey
<Good luck, Neale.>

Re: What would you do? Stocking 20 gal.  9/10/08
Hello again,
<Ave,>
I'm including the previous correspondence below for reference.
Well, things didn't work out. I lost another male a day after I wrote you, then yesterday night one of my remaining females pineconed (I euthanized her when she started swirling). I have two Furcatus left. I'm wondering if I should put my misfortunes down to bad stock or bad husbandry.
<Maybe both...?>
My tank is 20 gal standard, with Fluorite substrate, plants (Bacopa, Anubias, Amazon chain sword, Dwarf Hygrophila), two Coralife T5 bulbs. pH is steady around 7.4-7.5. Temperature was a bit high, hovered around 80 but is now going down with the cooler weather coming in, is now steady around 78 - this is with the heater set on low, if I remove it, it goes down to 70-72.
<In summer I have to confess I tend to switch the heaters off; leaving tanks to daily fluctuate slowly from 68-78 F is entirely in keeping with the wild, and nothing most tropical fish can't handle. Overheating, and the resulting loss of oxygen from the water, is more critical.>
No detectable ammonia, nitrite or nitrate (the algae must use it all). Filtered with two Aqua-Clear Minis (each rated up to 20 gallons), with sponge. One with added ceramic media, the other with carbon (I know what you think of carbon - I'll explain myself later). We were good in the last few weeks and did weekly water changes, about 25% each time. Not much vacuuming because the plants were new and there were only three snails in the tank. We had a problem with BGA these last few months, but with the new substrate, new plants and new lights it's slowing down radically. We still remove it manually.
<Very good.>
The first thing we tried keeping was Mollies, but they all died of Camallanus over the course of a few months. They were in brackish water too. We now know the tank was too small anyway.
<Ah, yes, Mollies can be sensitive. Camallanus is not common among the (Asian) fish I see in the UK; it seems to be more of a problem with (perhaps) the Mollies bred in Florida?>
The Amano shrimp lasted a long while (several months), and we used to have Cherries also. At some point, they started dying too. The only thing I changed was that I stopped using carbon, so I put it back. No luck. Our new batch of Cherries didn't make it past two weeks either. The Apple snail seemed to fare better, he's been with us for about 6 weeks and seems happy.
<OK.>
The Nerites, though, are with us since the beginning and growing at a steady rate. The beginning was when we got our Betta, over a year and a half ago. He's his usual increasingly-grumpy old self, in another filtered, heated tank of his own.
<Interesting; Nerites are quite good "bellwethers" and will climb out of the tank if oxygen drops or they get too warm. So if they're happy, the tank can't be seriously hostile.>
Basically, even if we know that Bettas are resilient, I'd be surprised we kept it this long (even neglected it at some point along the way) if our husbandry or water was this bad. And snails are sensitive to contaminants, or so I hear, but they seem to be doing fine. But we seem to be serial shrimp and fish killers.
<Well, shrimps are sensitive to copper. Snails are to a varying degree, but shrimps usually react immediately and fatally. But as you say, this mix of fatalities and survivors is interesting.>
What is our problem? Did we start with bad stock?
<Always possible. Fish are often bred to a price rather than a standard, and couple that with ropey husbandry in some stores, and the track record of many species is poor. None of the fish you're keeping is "delicate" by default, so poor stock is certainly something I'd consider.>
Or are we doing something wrong?
<Difficult to say; if you're doing things by the numbers, keeping on top of water quality and feeding issues especially, I can't imagine you're doing anything fatally wrong.>
Can you point us in the right direction?
<The first thing would be to leave the tank as it is for a couple weeks. Don't do water changes. Every 2-3 days, do nitrite and pH tests. Keep a record. Ditto water temperature. Try and develop a picture of how the aquarium is operating in terms of environment and stability. By the end of two weeks you can return to your normal maintenance schedule. Slight variation in pH over time is normal, but if it's great (e.g., from 7.0 to 6.0) then you may have a problem there. Carbonate hardness is often overlooked in this regard.>
What would be your absolutely easiest, sturdiest, non-plant-eating, compatible with inverts, non-aggressive, easily available fish for a 20 gal tank?
<Many options. Depends what you're after. At the moment in my 10-gallon tanks with shrimps and snails I have peacock gobies, Aspidoras pauciradiatus catfish, bumblebee gobies, and Limia nigrofasciata. Wrestling halfbeaks are also good, being able to adapt to a very wide range of water chemistry values.
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/Projects/freshwaterreef.html
Most of the smaller tetras should be good too, though they usually prefer soft water. If you have hard water, then the smaller livebearers are better choices. Endler Guppies for example should be easy to obtain and tend to be quite robust. Don't overlook "feeder Guppies"; these are much hardier than fancy Guppies and have added benefit of more natural colours.>
I doubt we'll have the heart to try Furcatus again any time soon.
<Oh.>
We're at the point where we barely glance at the aquarium anymore because we always expect to see some tragic event taking place. This is supposed to be a fun hobby...
<It IS fun... but sometimes it seems otherwise. Once a tank is stable and working, and provided you haven't added too many fish or the wrong type of fish, they're pretty much autopilot things that need little maintenance. Do be patient, and go slowly, leaving things to settle for a while before rushing out to buy some more livestock.>
Thank you for your guidance,
Audrey
<Good luck, Neale.>