Filter Slime, FW    12/10/08 Hello All! Just a simple and easy question this time! I have a 60 gallon long tank w/ 2 Whisper 60 filters. I've had the tank for over a year. Anyways on to the question: I was just curious ... Every time I do a water change and rinse my filters there is always this brownish slimy gunk on my filter media and in the intake tubes and on the overflow outlet of the HOB filters. I've always had it since I first setup my tank. Every time I pull the filters out to rinse them some of this slime flows into the tank. I was just wondering what this is and if its harmful to my fish. Thanks guys (and gals)! - Nick - <No it's not harmful, and yes, it's quite normal. It's mostly bacteria with a bit of decomposing organic matter and inorganic silt throw in for good measure. You can buy bottle-brush type cleaners for scraping pipes and hoses clean. Fluval, Eheim and all the usual brands sell them. Never bothered myself. Freshwater waters are typically laden with silt, and the fish are quite used to it. In fishkeeping, it's important to remember that it's the invisible stuff -- ammonia and nitrite -- that harm the fish, not the stuff you can see -- like silt or solid wastes. So long as you have good biological filtration and a steady pH, most everything else looks after itself! Cheers, Neale.> Slime build up   12/10/08 Btw ... My tank is a FW tank. Here's a pic of what it looks like now. And here's my fish list: 2 Bamboo Shrimp 4 Black Neon Tetras 2 Cardinal Tetras 5 Dwarf Golden Puffers 1 Dwarf Gourami 8 Emperor Tetras 4 German Blue Rams 2 Mickey Mouse Platys 10 Neon Tetras 3 Otocinclus Catfish 3 Peacock Gudgeons 2 Swordtails <Tank looks nice. Not convinced the Golden Puffers will work out in the long term: they're notorious biters. It's also time to beef up some of those groups: two or four tetras does not a school make! Six of each, at least, please! Peacock gudgeons are great. Ram cichlids, likely won't work in the long term; they need MUCH hotter water than Neons or Otocinclus will tolerate, so either the Rams will get sick and die (weakened immune system) or the Neons and Otocinclus will become stressed and die (too warm). There's not much of a happy medium between what warm water and cool water tetras want; but at about 25 C (77 F) you will be at the MAXIMUM than Neons will take and the MINIMUM that Cardinals will accept. It's really a case of choose one, but not both, when it comes to Neons and Cardinals. Platies and Swordtails also need quite cool conditions, particularly by contrast with Guppies and Mollies, which thrive on warmth! Getting the temperature wrong is one of those slow burning mistakes people make; while the fish don't keel over at once, you will find fish dying much quicker than they should. So instead of lasting 2-3 years, as Neons should, you'll find them dying off, one at a time, every couple of months. By the way, there is ZERO chance Dario or Badis spp would work in here. If you want an oddball Perciform, you're much better off looking at one of the smaller anabantids, perhaps Microctenopoma fasciolatum or maybe Betta unimaculata, though these larger Betta species can sometimes be surprisingly predatory. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Slime build up   12/10/08 Hey Neale thanks for the quick response as always. I am writing this in response to the temp comment you sent me. Here is a list of temps for the fish in my tank that I have found. As you stated, my tank is currently at 77F. I was considering turning it up to 80F. (Oxygen is not an issue I would think bc I have the 2 Whisper 60 filters, 1 mag drive power head, and 3 airstones in my tank). Bamboo Shrimp: 70-80 Black Neon Tetras: 74-80 Cardinal Tetras: 75-84 Dwarf Golden Puffers: 72-82 Dwarf Gourami: 72-82 Emperor Tetras: 72-82 German Blue Rams: 78-85 Mickey Mouse Platys: 68-79 Neon Tetras: 73-79 ; 68-85 (min/max can tolerate) Otocinclus Catfish: 70-80 Peacock Gudgeons: 72-82 Swordtails: 70-80 As I said in a past email I sent you, I have not bought up to 6 of each tetra bc the cardinals school with the tetras, and the black Neons school w/ my emperors so I didn't see it as an issue. If it still is I will address it. In terms of the puffers ... YES absolutely they have been nipping at my emperors BUT I had 2 @ that time. AFTER I added 3 more (to make 5 bc I read on the internet they were less aggressive in groups) my emperors have shown 0 signs of fin nipping at all. In terms of the tetras and rams, its possible you are right about the rams; I won't know till they die, but the rams and Neons are all over a year old (in my tank age b4 purchase is unknown) I have not had any die at all. But if you are suggesting that I need to change something, I have no problem getting all cardinals instead of Neons and getting rid of the swordtails if that's what I have to do to raise the temp for the others and be able to purchase the badis badis. <Nick, the temperature range is informative, but the place to keep a fish isn't at its extremes but at the centre of its tolerance range. That's where you'll get best results. Hence Platies certainly do best around 75 F/24 C, gouramis around 77 F/25 C, cardinals around 82 F/28 C, and so on. In the wild Neons experience water temperature up to 25 C and down to around 22 C, so they're very much cool-tropical fish compared with Rams, which live in shallow, sun baked pools where temperatures between 28-30 C are typical. Each species evolved for specific conditions, and you abuse those requirements at your peril. If things are fine, then I have no problem with that. What I'm trying to say is that you're not keeping all your fish at their ideal conditions, and so you're more likely to encounter various health problems or overall shortness of life. On the whole aquarists tend to keep their fish too warm, which not only causes problems, but also wastes money (and increases global warming, I suppose!). Cheers, Neale.> Re: Slime build up   12/10/08 Also, I'm not too worried about the puffers bc after Christmas they will b moved to a 30 gallon puffer only tank <Okay. Cheers, Neale.>

Various Questions (Community tanks; cichlid selection) 12/01/08
Hello all, Hope things are going well for you there. I have several questions, please. I start reading and hearing too much conflicting information about some freshwater aquarium fish (not from you there) and it starts taking all of the fun out of trying to pick what tank inhabitants I want. I hope you will help me. I am still in the process of setting up a 75 gallon fw aquarium and wanted to make sure that all levels of the water were utilized and also make sure that I had slow and fast swimmers. For the faster swimming fish I had thought about rainbow fish. I know they school and stay around the mid level I think.
<Excellent fish; they don't like real soft water, but beyond that most species are hardy, peaceful and long-lived.>
My choice for the top level was going to be several pairs of pearl gouramis since I love their color and I know they occupy the top region of the tank. I also heard that the pearl especially was peaceful. Now I have read in several different places that gouramis can be aggressive as they get older, even the pearl. So now I am not sure if I should forget them or not.
<Easily worth the risk in a 75 gallon tank. Often reports of aggression with gouramis comes from two males in a 20 gallon or smaller tank. In your tank there's really no risk of trouble.>
I had also thought of using angel fish and Severums in place of the rainbows, but then I read that I should get at least 6 smaller angels at the same time and let them grow up together because getting 2-4 would cause them to fight. I also read never to buy a large angel to start with because as a fish gets older it does not acclimate well to a new surrounding.
<A school of Angelfish should be fine; yes, pairs become territorial when spawning but in large tanks groups of six or more usually balance out okay. In groups less than six bullying can occur. Certainly worth the risk.>
And as far as the Severums I read that they got extremely large.
<They do get big, and they're also plant-eaters. Another thing you might consider are Discus (surprisingly good community tank fish IF you choose tankmates carefully. Festivum cichlids are nice too, but you might also check out a pair of Hypselecara temporalis ("Emerald Chocolate Cichlid").
Kept these before and they're just amazing fish, with unique colours that constantly change from green to purple to chocolate brown. Smaller options including Blue Acara and Flag Acara. African Jewel Cichlids can be an option, though you need to choose tankmates carefully; I'm fond of Hemichromis lifalili.>
Now I am confused and about ready to just give up and do a species tank so I don't have to worry about any of this stuff. If you could help me with correct information and maybe some suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. And as always, thanks for all you do. James Hall
<Hope this helps, Neale.>

Re: Various Questions (Community tanks; cichlid selection) 12/01/08
Thank you Neale, I appreciate your time.
<No problems.>
Please bare with me on a couple more questions, please. I know you said that bullying with angels could occur with less than 6. Do you think I could get by with less, and if so does it matter whether all male or female?
<In theory females might be fine as a group -- but sexing Angels is impossible.>
And is it OK to put large ones in the tank or does that indeed stress them out more than buying and moving them when they are younger and smaller?
<It's usually best to get small Angels and rear them together. Mated pairs are the other ideal -- but often expensive.>
Do you recommend a particular species that is hardier than others that swims in the upper level of the water column?
<Many options here. Would investigate oddball livebearers such as Limia nigrofasciata or Poecilia salvatoris if you're interested in algae control. Halfbeaks are great. Danios are good, but sensitive to very high temperatures above 75 F/24 C. Rainbowfish are an ideal all-around choice.
Do also consider Splashing Tetras, even Congo Tetras.>
And as far as pearl gouramis do you think I could go with more than 2 in a 75 gallon tank and is it OK to buy all males or should they be paired up?
<Best in pairs; easy to sex, and the males and females are both pretty.>
Thank you again for all your help?
James
<Cheers, Neale.>

Big fish community (selection), FW     11/20/2008
Hi there,
My name is Gail and I am from South Africa. I have been an avid reader of your website for some time and have finally gotten the courage to ask for corroboration of what I have read and possibly some advice.
The tank: I have a large freshwater tank with an 'mixed odd ball community'. The dimensions: 3200cm x 100cm x 70cm. It holds 2500 liters (555 gallons) of water. The sump is 100 (22 gallon) liters with 5 compartments with a 2400 liter (533 gallon) per hour pump. Temp = 25C (77F) and Ph = 6.8-7. The lights are UV, broad spectrum and LED for moonlight. No live plant, only synthetic. Ammonia = 0, Nitrite =0, Nitrate = 50 - 75ppm.
My current stock list is as follows:
3 Bala sharks (15cm)
2 royal knife fish (18cm)
1 Black Ghost Knife fish (21cm)
3 golden gouramis (10cm)
4 blue Botias (13cm)
2 black & white stripy Botias (10cm)
2 Albino fire eel (25cm)
3 upside down catfish (14cm)
1 albino tinfoil barb (15cm)
2 rainbow sharks (10cm)
3 tiger barbs (7cm)
1 ropefish (21cm)
1 bichir (14cm)
1 tiger shovel nose catfish (I think, but his whiskers are as long as his body and he is white, silver and grey)
4 rainbow fish (2 boesemanni, 2 red) 9cm
These guys have been tank mates for about eight months and everything seems stable. However any new fish immediately get chased by everybody and anything under 4 cm.s gets swallowed immediately by the fire eels and the 2 knife fish. The fire eels usually eats shrimp pieces, bloodworm and have recently taken to snapping up pellets floating on the surface. I also feed algae tablets, veg flakes, wafers, occasionally bits of ox heart and Tubifex. Most of the chaps are happy to take food from tweezers now and even come to fetch it. Once a week I do a 20% water change by vacuuming the sand.
I have considered adding some peaceful cichlids but would rather not upset the balance or endanger the new chaps. I have been researching mild mannered cichlids that may be suitable and would appreciate any advice.
There are so many conflicting opinions and advice there regarding who may be suitable to add.
I would love to get Archers, Scats, Mono Angels, and puffers, but I worry that they may need brackish water. Some say that Scats and Mono Angels can be acclimatized. Some say they can't. I am keen for a freshwater moray, but not if he will need some salt in the water or suffer without it. The majority of opinions are that it will shorten his life. The same for puffers. I have read about their fin nipping but on the other hand I have also read that if they are well fed (not overfed), they settle down.
I am aware of the potential size of the Royal knife fish, Rope Fish and the Bichir and that they may start to eye the other less fast growing fish at some stage. I do realize that I will need to separate them, and I am planning another tank.
I have also researched freshwater invertebrates and possibly some frogs, but I don't yet understand enough about them. Once I do, I may ask for some help if I may.
Any input and or advice you may have for me regarding stocking will be highly appreciated.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Kind regards,
Gail
<Hi Gail. That sounds like a great aquarium! At some point you will need to do some "pruning" though. The rainbowfish are going to end up being eaten by any of the big predators. So they need to go. Same for the tiger barbs and the gouramis. Ropefish are gregarious and a bit shy, and I'd be surprised if a singleton did well in a community as "rough and tumble" as this one. Tiger Shovelnose cats may get big enough to consume things like medium-sized Botia species and Rainbow sharks, so again, there are potential problems there. Morays, monos, scats and other brackish water fish are not suitable for this tank. End of story. They cannot be acclimated to freshwater conditions permanently. The puffers in the trade split between (most commonly) the brackish water species such as Tetraodon nigroviridis and Tetraodon fluviatilis, and the (less common) true freshwater species like Tetraodon lineatus and Tetraodon Mbu. With a very few exceptions, puffers do not make good community fish, and I would not add any to this system. The freshwater species big enough to be safe from predation are all pretty aggressive. Tetraodon lineatus is a species that gets to about 40 cm in length, but it is legendarily aggressive, the degree it WILL bite your arm given the chance, let alone other fish! The two aquatic frogs in the trade are in the genera Xenopus and Hymenochirus. The "dwarf" species are Hymenochirus, and these would simply be live food in this tank! Xenopus is bigger, around 15-20 cm, but it is a subtropical frog from South Africa and not at all suited to tropical conditions. So no, neither aquatic frog would work. Hope this helps, Neale.>

Re: help! (Community tank stocking; environment) 11/21/08
Hello Wet Web friends:
I have a new problem/issue. I took your advice and advanced my tank to 7.8 pH...that's as high as I've been able to keep it. The temp is down to 77, nitrite, nitrates and ammonia all 0 and hardness about 15-20. Everything has been wonderful for about seven weeks, when all of the sudden I had a Dwarf Gourami die over the course of two days to clamped fin. I had four of these beauties. Everyone else in the tank (guppies, tetras...blood fin, Pristella, golden and neon, platys, cherry shrimp) are doing great, but now two weeks later, a second Dwarf Gourami is not looking very good. His color is still great, but his dorsals are clamped, and so is his tail a bit. He's just sitting near the bottom, and no one is bothering him. I realize this is a trial and error hobby, but what could I be doing wrong?
I hate the idea of my fish suffering! I'm starting to think maybe this is not the right thing for me. Boo Hoo! I need to start taking an antidepressant!
What do you think?
Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my email.
<Greetings. Now, when you say you changed the pH, did you do that by changing the carbonate hardness? (This is the correct answer.) Or did you simply add "pH up" type products and hope for the best? (The wrong answer.)
I'm assuming your hardness is 15-20 degrees dH? While that's a fine range, you don't want to be varying between those two values. That would stress some fish excessively, and a stressed fish is a fish prone to disease. The aim of any water chemistry manipulation is keep water chemistry stable from week to week. As for the Dwarf Gouramis, they're rubbish. They are seriously plagued with a virus that leads through a succession of very recognizable symptoms. If these match yours, then Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus is what's happening here, and all your Dwarf Gouramis will have it by now, and will eventually die. Anyway, the symptoms are these: Loss of appetite, loss of colour. A tendency to hide a lot. Appearance of white patches on the body; these turn into bloody sores. Emaciation, swelling, death.
There's not cure, and no treatment. It's 100% fatal, usually within days of the appearance of the bloody sores. I cannot stress this point too strongly: unless you can obtain locally-bred, virus-free stock (which you probably can't unless you're in a fish club) then avoid Colisa lalia in all its forms LIKE THE PLAGUE! Of course Dwarf Gouramis can get other stuff:
Finrot, Fungus, etc, so not all sick Dwarf Gouramis are "goners", but certainly cross-check the symptoms you see now against the ones outlined above, as well as against Finrot and Fungus symptoms. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: help! (Community tank stocking; environment) 11/21/08
I obtained my increased pH by adding natural coral to my gravel. Is that an acceptable method?
<It's absolutely perfect! The coral dissolves, raising the carbonate hardness, and the pH rises -- and stays there. Over time, the coral sand will get dirty, and the covering of algae and bacteria will reduce this effect. So you will need to replace some of the gravel/coral sand mixture periodically. Put some new mixture in, and then deep clean the old stuff.
When the time to clean the gravel comes around, you can cycle the cleaned old stuff back in, and take the new dirty stuff out. And so on. This is a once a year job, so don't worry about it too much. Personally, I prefer to stick the coral sand in a media bag (the foot from an old pair of tights/pantyhose will do) and dump the bag into the filter. It's then easy to take out and clean the coral sand or crushed coral as required.>
Yes, these are the standard Dwarf Gourami's, although I don't know their Latin name. Purchased from a "high end" fish store, that is supposed to be the best in Dallas. Of course, anyone that puts a fancy name on their building and marks their prices up can be called "high end".......alas, these are probably the plagued Colisa lalia you have mentioned. They have been beautiful and healthy for more then two months, which makes me sad to know that they have been probably destined to die from day one.
<It's not the shop's fault, but the breeders. Some 22% of the Colisa lalia exported from Singapore were found to carry the virus. The whole thing is very depressing. I recommend other Colisa species instead, Colisa fasciata and Colisa labiosus in particular. They're hardy and easy to keep, if a little bigger and a touch less colourful (though the females are more colourful than female Colisa lalia, so you come out even Stevens, I guess).>
My hardness is truly about 16. I take it to the aquarium shop to be tested every time I go in to look at their stock. Usually, this is about once a week. I go in there when I'm waiting for my husband to finish at work, usually just to pass the time. I have not bought any new fish in a couple of months, so I can't think of anything that could have stressed the fish to cause these problems.
<Wasn't debating the score of "16", merely asking about the units. If 16 degrees dH ("general hardness") this is an acceptable level for freshwater fish generally. It's moderately hard, but that's very useful if you're keeping livebearers alongside tetras, barbs or whatever.>
Today, the fish is looking better. I honestly expected him to be dead, but he's swimming with the two sunset gourami's and looking a wee bit better....finger crossed.
Thank you
<As I said before, there are other reasons Gouramis get sick, and so it's always worth treating them. If the problem isn't viral, then you certainly can turn things around. Good luck, Neale.>

COMPATIBLE FISH RECOMMENDATIONS, FW comm.   7/20/08 Hello crew, <Hello,> I am hoping you could advise on some compatible colourful companions for my tropical 125 gallon community tank containing 1 female swordtail, 2 pearl Gouramis (male and female), 1 queen arabesque Pleco (sex unknown) and 1 male Betta. I also have 6 Dalmatian mollies (2 male 4 female) and 3 gold ring butterfly loaches (sex unknown) waiting in quarantine. <Butterfly loaches are Beaufortia and Sinogastromyzon spp.; subtropical aufwuchs-grazers; tend to be short lived in tropical community tanks. Need lots of water current, middling temperature around 22C. Likely to starve to death in this system -- to much competition for algae (Mollies, plec).> My water parameters are PH 7.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5-10, Water - Hard (I live in London), Temp 25 Celsius. 1550 lph filtration. Good circulation via vertical spraybar. Air curtain fitted for oxygenation. <Sounds fine, except for the Beaufortia/Sinogastromyzon. Staggered your nitrate level is so low... my experience of "London tap water" was the nitrates were anything up to 50 mg/l.> I know livebearers appreciate salt in the water but would this adversely affect the other fish?? <Yes, salt is a bad idea in this system. Comes down to this: Mollies need one set of conditions; tropical community fish another. Your options are to have two tanks, or else place the Mollies in the community tank and hope for the best. Because you have hard water, if your nitrates stay low, you may be fine. Mollies do like warmth though, which will hammer the Beaufortia/Sinogastromyzon.> All the fish I currently have are pretty hardy but salt might cause more problems than it fixes. <The Beaufortia/Sinogastromyzon aren't even remotely hardy. Most specimens die within months of import. Easy enough in a hillstream tank wit other subtropicals, such as Danios and Minnows though. Just not suitable for tropical aquaria. As always: read about a fish *prior* to purchase to avoid these unpleasant realities.> I would like to get rid of the Betta at the LFS but it has been in a fight and lost a lot of its dorsal fin so would probably not be accepted even for free. <Will grow back. I'd leave it in the tank for now, and see how it does. Obviously it cannot swim well being a fancy Betta (I assume) with those great long fins. So keeping it in a hillstream system is out of the question. There are hillstream Bettas, but Betta splendens isn't one of them.> I like Normans Lamp Eye (Aplocheilichthys normani) for shoaling fish. <Nice fish. You'd need a BIG school to have much effect in 125 gallon system though!> Would Bleeding Heart Tetras (Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma) be a good choice?? <Lovely fish, but prefer soft to moderately hard water, and I'd not recommend them for anything else. Hardy in soft water; not so in hard water. But by all means give it a whirl. Would tend to look at the Barbs and Rainbowfish though for London; these fish are generally not bothered by hard water, and provide good colour, size for these big tanks.> I've read they can be a bit nippy so the Betta would have to go and the lamp eyes may get freaked out. <My specimens are not at all nippy, but then I keep them with fast-moving tankmates in a pufferfish set-up. I wouldn't risk mixing Bettas with any kind of tetra, even Neons.> Any advice/recommendations you may have would be gratefully received! Many thanks Brian <Hope this helps, Neale.> Re: COMPATIBLE FISH RECOMMENDATIONS  7/20/08 Thanks for your advice Neale, <You're welcome.> Looks like I'll have to take back the Beaufortia. Gutted. They're the most interesting fish I've seen in years! Shooting about everywhere and floating on the current on my quarantine tank. <Ah, that's the clue: they like current.> They've been feeding OK for now as I crush the flake food into tiny pieces so some of it falls past the mollies and the loaches get it. <Sounds nice. Why not set up a tank just for them? Needn't be anything fancy, provided you observe their environmental needs. A 60-cm aquarium would be ample.> Also when the mollies are ripping apart the algae wafers I've been putting in, the loaches pick up the debris. <Cool.> In the main tank the QE plec feeds mainly on meaty stuff so they might be OK if they're managing in the quarantine tank. The temp is the main problem. Nothing I can do about that. I Googled them before purchase and it said that they liked cooler water but I thought 24-25 degrees would be OK. Will get an exact temperature requirement in future. <Unfortunately small temperature differences make all the difference in the world! Average sea temperature at Brighton on the South Coast of England is about 16 degrees C; average sea temperature of the Red Sea is 22 degrees C. A mere 6 degrees, and yet one is pretty nippy, and the other filled with coral reefs. So when aquarium books say a fish needs slightly cooler or warmer temperatures than standard tropicals, IT MATTERS! Common mistake in the hobby, and the result is many fish that die soon after purchase.> The Nitrate test is quite old. Maybe I should get a new one to be sure. The tank is very new though with a handful of fish in so with water changes nitrates should be OK till I can get a test kit. <Fair enough.> I'm hoping to get 30 Lamp Eyes. Hopefully that will make a nice school. <Agreed. But this species is easily bullied, eaten by bigger fish so choose tankmates with care. Angelfish for example will view them as food, as will medium sized tetras and barbs.> I love Barbs (especially tiger barbs) but with the Betta (and possibly the Gouramis) in the tank most of them are out of the question as they'll nip. <Correct.> Which barbs would you recommend? They all seem to be nippers or like soft water from what I can find!! Hard water tropical aquarists don't have a huge choice when it comes to selection!! ;o) <Hard water aquarists are actually very fortunate: many soft water fish will acclimate to hard water fish, but few hard water fish tolerate soft water. Among the barbs, I'd tend to go with small species like Puntius pentazona or Puntius oligolepis as being species unlikely to nip and very pretty in large groups. Puntius gelius is lovely, though it needs quite cool conditions to thrive. Otherwise look at the livebearers and rainbowfish especially as yielding many superb species for hard water tanks. You could even go with Sardine Cichlids from Malawi (Cyprichromis spp.) as these offer lots of colour and would thrive in "London Tap" -- though they might well eat the very small Lampeyes. Glassfish are another good group for hard water tanks, as are halfbeaks. Do see here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwhardness.htm Research species, choose carefully.> Thanks again Brian <Cheers, Neale

Fish compatibility, Freshwater 6/4/08
I'd love to hear your thoughts on setting up a large community tank. I just got myself a 55 gallon tank. I'd like to ask your opinion on fish compatibility. My minnows are doing great in the new tank, and I'm hoping to start adding more fish. Do you think Siamese algae eaters, freshwater angelfish, dwarf Gouramis, and a rope fish would get along?
<I would skip the Dwarf Gouramis, they have a terrible survival record due to Dwarf Gouramis Disease. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/dwfgdis.htm . Be aware that the Angels will eat any fish that can fit into it's mouth. SAEs can be tricky, mainly due to mistaken identity, http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebindex/saes.htm .>
I have no clue where to find the rope fish, though. Live aquaria doesn't have them. Do you know where to buy rope fish?
<May need to be special ordered through a local live fish shop, not terrible common, at least in may little part of the world.>
Arlene T. Perricone
<Chris>

Nearing stocking limit, somewhat urgent...  4/16/08
Hello everybody, my name is Jeremy. I want to first and foremost compliment your site as one of the best fishkeeping websites I have found, even after extensive searching. I have a bit of a problem. My tank, (29 gallon with AquaClear 30 gal hang on box filter, separate sponge, carbon and biomedia with old net attached to intake to protect fry.) currently has 4 Otos, 3 cories, 4 ghost shrimp, 6 espei Rasbora, 2 adult guppies, three 6-week-old guppies, and about a dozen week-old babies. I currently am following a schedule of changing 50% of the water every Saturday. (They seem to enjoy it.) I know that I won't be able to keep all the guppies , but I am unsure at exactly what point to start giving them away. So the essence of my question is: How many adult guppies can this system support with the current water change schedule?
A thousand thanks in advance!
<Hello Jeremy; thanks for the kind words. A good basic rule to start with is that small fish (like Guppies) can be housed at about one inch of fish per gallon of water. In practise though filtration and especially water changes can substantially alter this. Another factor is the buffering capacity of the water: in very hard, alkaline water the inevitable pH drop that happens in heavily-stocked tanks is slowed down. So really your task is to check that nitrite stays zero, pH stays steady, and nitrate stays relatively low (ideally less than 50 mg/l). Provided you are seeing these results, your tank is safe, even if it isn't "optimal" in terms of stocking. Now if you're asking for a ballpark figure, you can probably keep about 30 up to 1-inch long Guppies alongside your other fish without having major water quality problems *assuming* the filtration is good (check nitrite!) and you are doing at least 50% water changes weekly (ideally more!). Once the fish are above an inch in length, it's time to move them out. Adult Guppies pose two problems: males are aggressive, and females are quite big, up to two inches in length. So the females especially will pull down water quality, while the males may start nipping the fins of one another. Cheers, Neale.>

Community stocking scheme: not urgent 10/1/07
My new tank is 41W X 18D X 23H inch, which I make ~70 US gallons. It has a dark, pea-sized gravel substrate, plastic plants, rocks and a log to make hiding places.
<Sounds nice. 41 x 18 x 23 inches = 16974 cubic inches = 9.2 cubic feet = 73.3 US gallons.>
The first residents will be 4 blood parrots (I know some would not start here, but I already have these guys from the days before I knew anything
about fishkeeping and have got attached to them).
<Assuming you move across a mature filter (or at least mature filter media) you can start off with cichlids. But placing cichlids in an immature aquarium will kill them.>
I plan to add 4 angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare), and a school of Corydoras catfish (would 6 be too many?) suggestions for species greatly appreciated)
<Nope. Angels and Corydoras should not be mixed with blood parrots. Blood parrots are hybrids of some selection of Central American cichlids, perhaps with some Severum cichlid thrown in. Because they are hybrids, their behaviour is completely unpredictable. At worst, they can be very aggressive towards other fish. They are also very large, easily 8" and often 10" in length. Domesticated angels (also hybrids) rarely exceed 4". Even a mildly aggressive blood parrot will hammer a small angelfish. Corydoras simply cannot be mixed with territorial cichlids. Corydoras evolved to live in open streams and rivers away from the shady slow-moving riverbanks where cichlids live. They have no ability to "learn" about territories, and repeatedly blunder into them as they swim about looking for food. Even Apistogramma and Kribensis have been known to pluck out the eyes from these little catfish. If you want catfish for blood parrots, get something robust and/or semi-aggressive itself. Plecs are ideal, but medium sized Doradidae (such as Platydoras costatus) and the bigger Callichthyidae (like Hoplosternum littorale) would be ideal.>
From what I have read up, I don't think there will be incompatibility issues with these tankmates.
<Not sure what you've been reading...>
To complete the community, I my first pick is lemon tetras (Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis), but I am also drawn to dwarf gouramis, swordtails
(Xiphophorus hellerii) or rainbowfish. Any potential problems here, particular species, or suggestions for better alternatives?
<Scratch Dwarf gouramis from your list. The quality of the commercial stock at the moment is incredibly low. The people who ignore this are the people who end up with dead Dwarf gouramis. Rainbows should work acceptably well with blood parrots, and potentially swordtails too. These are both fairly large, fast moving fish. In a spacious tank, they should avoid the worst of the trouble. Lemon tetras would not be my first choice though. I'd be thinking more along the lines of Silver Dollars or Tetragonopterus argenteus; something fairly big, schooling, and robust enough to be able to thrive in a fairly busy aquarium.>
I am wondering which of these might be best to complement the depth and behaviour habits of the other residents. Also would tetras plus a few of one of the other choices be overstocking a tank of this size?
<No, the tank you have is a fair size and you have plenty of space to work with. Four blood parrots, a school of half a dozen silver dollars, a medium-sized Plec, and a novelty day-active catfish like Hoplosternum would make quite a nice, reliable community.>
Finally, which if any of the above would be the most suitable fish for cycling the tank?
<None of the fish you suggest is really hardy enough for this job and suitable for long-term inclusion. Hardy Corydoras, such as peppered and bronze Corydoras typically do very well during the cycling stage assuming the whole process is handled delicately (i.e., no overstocking, lots of water changes). But if you already have a tank, then just move 50% of the filter media from the old tank to the new one. This will effectively "instantly" mature the tank so you can add fish immediately with little risk. Keep an eye on nitrites, and don't overfeed, and things should go fine. This is called "cloning a filter". A filter can lose 50% of its media and not substantially lose filtration capacity, because healthy bacteria grow back incredibly quickly.>
Thanks in advance, and please don't treat as priority, I'm still waiting to sort out a problem with my filter setup, so won't actually be going to buy
fish for a few weeks yet.
Dave
<Good luck, Neale>

Re: Community stocking scheme: food for thought 10/2/07
Hi Neale,
<Hello Dave,>
Thanks for the very helpful advice to nudge me a step up the learning curve.
<Glad to help.>
I did not think the blood parrots would be such an issue, or grow quite so big.
<A common mistake!>
Presently they are only 3" and quite placid, apart from skirmishing amongst themselves.
<They are juveniles. Aggression becomes more serious as they mature, and it is the males that are most aggressive.>
I do not think I have seen their true colours as they have been sharing a 25 gallon tank with the 8" Arowana and two angelfish that I inherited from my brother-in-law, and were probably too scared of the Arowana to bother the other fish.
<Hmm... the colours are more genetic than mood-related. But it is important to make sure their diet is balanced. In general, fish develop their best colours when their diet contains lots of crustaceans (shrimp, krill, daphnia, etc.) AND algae (algae flakes, Sushi Nori, etc.). It's these too food sources that seem most closely related to bright colours. Most cichlids feed to some extent on algae and soft plants, so putting some Sushi Nori in the tank for them to graze on would be quite useful.>
The irony is I got the blood parrots on the advice of the LFS for fish that could hold their own against the Arowana, but now have fish that are too aggressive for gentler species, not to mention the constant gravel rearrangement.
<Blood parrots might well be okay with Arowana. As a rule, South American Arowana do well with non-aggressive cichlids, such as Oscars. The Asian Arowanas are usually too aggressive to be kept with anything. To a degree this depends on the depth of the tank, since Arowanas are most aggressive towards things that swim at the top of the tank.>
I'm beginning to think that perhaps I may be better off starting my new tank from scratch with a larger number of smaller fish, including some of the
ones you mentioned, perhaps cycled with hardy Corydoras.
<Mixing Blood Parrots isn't too difficult, but you want to pick things that can hold their own without actually being aggressive. The problem is that while Blood Parrots can be aggressive, they're also too "mutated" to follow through, so if they pick a fight with another aggressive cichlid, they'll get creamed.>
However, if I do decide to keep the blood parrots I will follow your suggestions re: rainbows, swordtails, silver dollars and a Plec and see how that goes.
<These would be sorts of fish that should work well.>
I now have my canister filter working, so will clone my filter from the 20 gallon tank to get that up and running.
<Sounds a good plan. Long term, a 20 gallon isn't suitable for a group of Blood Parrots though, especially if one or more fish turns out to be a territorial male.>
Thanks once again,
Dave
<Cheers, Neale>

Platys, Mollies, and Plants - Oh my! FW lvstk. sel.   4/13/07
Greetings Crew!
<Jen>
I currently have a 20 gallon tank, freshwater with some salt added.
<Mmm, why the salt?>
The aquarium contains 4-6 plastic plants, a hollow ornament that the algae eater
<What type, species?>
and the clown loach share, and both an air stone and a "bubble" ornament.  
Currently living in it are:  4 platys (I think 2 males and 2 females, but I'm not sure),
<Easy to sex>
5 black sailfin mollies (4 males and 1 female), an algae eater of unknown type (brownish green with grey spots, about 3.5 inches long)
<Do see the Net, WWM re Gyrinocheilus...>
and a clown loach (gender unknown).  After doing a bit of research, I've realized that I've been very lucky so far.  I have had both platy and molly fry, some of which have survived to adulthood.  In fact, most of my current fish were born in my tank.
However, I have had several mollies die for mysterious reasons over the past few months.  After doing some reading, I am pretty sure these were females that were harassed to death by the males.  My mollies also suffer regularly with what I think is Ich (white spots on their sides), which usually clears up fine after some fizzy fungicide is added to the tank.  I know I need more females in order to save my final female from harassment, but I can't see how to fit in the 7 or so females needed, and the local pet store is not interested in taking any of my mollies.  
<Gift some of the males to a school... to interested youth whose parents/guardians will allow this>
I'm pretty sure that my tank is at or near capacity already.
<Likely so>
I would really like to upgrade to a larger tank (40 - 50 gallons), and I want to be sure to get things right this time.   I would like to add some live plants, as it seems these help keep the aquarium healthy.
<Yes>
  I was also thinking of adding another type of fish (I'd love some colorful schoolers - tetras look nice, but I'm not sure how they would get along with all my current fish).
<Don't like salt... Compatibility for all is posted on WWM>
  Another algae eater is also needed; I had planned on getting Otos, but luckily did some reading first and learned that they will not be happy in my slightly salty tank.
<Correct>
I really need advice on both fish and live plants that could be added to my current set-up once I upgrade to a larger tank.  
<... Read>
I've read that livebearers get along best with other livebearers, so I know mollies, platys, and swordtails will do well together, but I was hoping for something a little more different, and I don't want to take the chance of my livebearers interbreeding and getting lots of platy/ swordtail "mutts."  I am also concerned that my mollies will get too big and eat my platys. (It turns out my "Black Mollies" with a max size of 2-3 inches are actually "Black Sailfin Mollies" with a max size of 6.5 inches.)  Please help me figure out what to do.
Thank you very much,
Jennifer
<Consider the types of water quality all this life "likes", will tolerate... not much overlap with the Mollies and Tetras... A bit of reading is in order... Bob Fenner>

Need suggestions for new fish, FW    3/4/07
<<Hi, Mandy. Tom with you.>>
Right now in a twenty gallon tank I have 3 tiger barbs and 3 Cory catfish. I am getting rid of all my tiger barbs because they have killed 4 of my other fish. I don’t know who the culprit is so I'm getting rid of all of them.
<<Going to a nice home, I hope. When someone says that he/she is “getting rid” of fish, it makes me a little nervous. ;) >>
I would like to get some more catfish and an algae eater and some top and middle swimmers but I don't know what kind or how many.  Please help me.
<<Getting more Corys won’t present a problem in a 20-gallon tank. Three or four more would be fine. As to the “algae eaters”, there are only two varieties that I would recommend for this size tank. You could go with two or three Otocinclus (Otos) catfish or a couple of SIAMESE algae eaters. Please note the emphasis on ‘Siamese’. “Chinese” algae eaters (you may see these listed as “Golden” algae eaters) should not just be avoided, they should be shunned! You may have to do some hunting to find either of the two species I’ve mentioned since they’re not always readily available at even high-end fish shops but they’re well-worth the effort. Middle/top dwellers are going to be pretty easy to find, depending on your tastes. Most any of the Tetra varieties would do well as would livebearers such as Platys and Swordtails. Should you decide to go with Platys or Swordtails (avoid Mollies as these require salt that your catfish won’t really appreciate) make sure you stick with one male per two to three females. This will keep the stress the male places on the females spread out. Whatever types of fish you have your eye on, research before you buy. If you go to the store armed with knowledge about what type of fish you’d be interested in, you’re far less likely to get “misdirected” by an employee who doesn’t care about anything but a “sale”. Stick with fish whose adult sizes are around two-three inches in length and don’t add more than a few fish at a time (not sooner than every two weeks, or so). You don’t want to compromise your water quality by overloading the tank with more fish than your beneficial bacteria can deal with all at once.>>
Signed,
Confused
Mandy Leach
<<I don’t think you’re confused, Mandy, just a little overwhelmed at the number of choices you have available to you. Be patient and don’t purchase a fish that you know nothing about. One tip on researching fish is to seek out several, or more, sources of information on them. Once you’re comfortable that three or four different sources have provided similar information about a fish, you can be confident that you’re not going to make an ill-advised purchase. Best of luck to you. Tom>>