Fishless Cycling Problem

Added 2 more fish today but slightly worried about one of the others who is hiding today, same as Billy no mates did last week. Fingers crossed.

Had a look at pets at home and wondering what peoples view is on following fish.

Black Phantom
Golden Barb
Red Honey Gourami

The barb seems to like a low temperature (16-24) so might not be right but interested what everyone else thinks?

Was the 'iffy' fish from the same batch as the first one to die? If yes, it could be a less than perfect batch of fish.


Black phantoms would be OK with the harlequins, but I would be wary of keeping them with gouramis as they might nip their 'feelers' (ie modified pectoral fins). Seriously fish recommends 8 to 10 minimum.
Gold barbs need it a bit cooler that the other fish you've been thinking about.
Red honey gourami - fine. But they are very hard to sex and you'd need 1 male, and at least one female, preferably two. With the red colour you have to go by fin shape alone, which is not a guaranteed method. Looking at the the fin along the back and the one along the underside, those will have more pointed ends in males and more rounded ends in females. The problem is that if the fish in the shop are very young, the males won't yet have grown the pointiness.

The chasing and nudging is normal. It could be males vying for potition or males trying to get females to spawn.

Neon tetras have 2 problems.
They do not do well in new tanks. It has been suggested that this is due to the lack of some micro-organism other than the filter bacetria and that these mirco-organisms perform some function, or remove or make something that is necessary for neons to do well. They are also farmed in vast numbers, and conditions at a lot of farms leave a lot to be desired, eg the continual use of antibiotics to keep the fish disease free - then when they are moved on, the anitobiotics stop and the fish come down with everything they are exposed to.
Then there's neon tetra disease, which is incurable. I know neons can get this but I'm not sure if other sepcies can. The closley related cardinal and green neon tetras probably do - all three are in the genus Paracheirodon.

Rummies do have a reputation for needing mature tanks but as I've never kept them I can't say from personal experience. But I don't think they get neon tetra disease.

Red eyes will be OK as they shouldn't get ntd, but they are a fast swimming nippy species so tank mates have to be chosen with care.

All seems ok with remaining 6. One didn't feed this morning but is lively so hopefully is ok. Ammonia and Nitrite both zero, makes me wonder if I might get more fish a little sooner than 7 days. I know it's ideally not the right thing but having lost two I feel I am a week behind. But will have a think.

Do you think if I added 3 more harlequins on Thursday or Friday, then check every 12 hours for a few days I would be ok. Would switch back to 7 days after this, thinking was with results always zero I was missing opportunity to add fish?

Slightly worried about 1 of the new fish, he hasn't eaten today that i can tell. I read somewhere sometimes new fish don't eat for the first day or so, is that correct?

I don't want to give false reassurance but, if this helps:
* when I first got my x-ray tetras, one had a tendency to be on his own and spend most of the time staring at his own reflection, being a loner and not eating - at some stage down the line, this all changed
* when I first got my harlequin rasboras, one started spending a lot of its time away from the shoal and never ate much; this situation is still the same, with two harlequins being significantly smaller than the other four, but they're still fine 22 months down the line

I got rid of all "cave-like" decor, so that no-one had an excuse to stay completely hidden away from the others for any prolonged length of time - I think this has probably helped the situation.

Sadly it seems I might be loosing another rasbora. He seemed dead at bottom of tank but did move very slightly but don't think he will last. Am I missing something? Would something like Seachem stability help? Or is it just due to where they come from? So now back to 5. Water tests still all ok. I suppose I could get more fish but just want to make sure there is no underlying problem I am missing.

Have you been getting the harlequins from the same shop? If you have, I suggest you try somewhere else. It might not be the shop itself but the wholesaler who sent them a batch of sickly fish. A different shop (not just a different branch of the same chain) will most likely have a different wholesaler.

Or try getting a different species.

I seem to have lost two from one shop and one from the other shop. I know Cory's are in my list, could get 3 of them and see how we go. or 3 more harlequins.

Ok that's a shame, Cory's and Harlequins were on my most wanted list. Black Phantoms a possible but will go to other shop tomorrow and see what they have, research and then buy some more fish tomorrow as loosing 2 in 2 days has taken me back to 5. Fingers crossed for no more losses.