Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: dbaggie on July 27, 2014, 10:51:41 AM
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Hi all
I'm on the lookout for some prospective new fish (not for immediate addition though as we've got a guppy health issue at the moment - see my other recent thread!) and would be interested in any suggestions.
My general requirements are that they are colourful, not too large, generally peaceful, suitable for slightly acidic water and obviously compatible with my existing fish. My current stock includes; Cardinal Tetras, Dwarf Neon Rainbows, Dwarf Gourami (1 - male), Celestial Pearl Danios, Peppered Corys, Platies, Mollies & Guppies (for the moment at least....) along with a couple of Amano Shrimp and Long Nose 'Rabbit' Snails.
Based on compatible fish as per the Community Creator, I have the following possibilities so far; Fiveband Barb, Checkered Barb, Ember Tetra, Blue Tetra (one of my LFS have Blue Emperor Tetra - as these the same?), Golden Pencilfish, possibly Checkerboard Cichlid (although my water my be too hard for these), possibly Sparkling Gourami.
Thanks
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The fish you name, with the exception of checkerboard cichlids, should all be fine.
Re the blue tetras:
Both this site and fishbase give the blue tetra as Boehlkea fredcochui but I can't find it on Seriously Fish. Both sites it is on say pH up to 8 and hardness up to 12 deg/215ppm.
Blue emperor appears to be one of the common names of this (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/inpaichthys-kerri/) fish. Slightly smaller than the blue tetra, hardness the same but does not like alkaline pH.
Since checkerboard cichlids do like very soft water, have you thought about apistogrammas? Both A cacatuoides and A borellii would be fine in your water.
Have you tested the pH of a glass of water that has stood overnight? Mostly pH goes up on standing, but you never know, you might have strange water that goes down ;D
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I do like the look of A borelli in particular - will keep an eye out for these in my local fish shops. I may have come across them before but I generally discount Cichlids straight away on the basis of few being suitable for my tank/community!
The 'Emperor Blue Tetra' in my LFS actually resemble the Boehlkea frecochui more closely than the Impaichthys kerri - but don't seem to have as vivid a colour, although it could obviously be the lfs display factor washing out their colours and/or the photo's being taken in ideal conditions.
Will give the pH test a try & update tomorrow, thanks :)
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Have a look at Nannacara anomala too. I saw some in a shop last week and was very undecided about them. I was looking to replace the apisto opals I got last month which died within a couple of weeks. Talking with the chap in the shop (one of the very few I trust ;D ) he said their requirements and behaviour are very similar to apistos. I ended up with borelli apistos though.
I was talking to the chap in the shop while I was on top of the stepladder looking at the borellis, he has worked at a couple of other shops and I was quite surprised to see him there. We got on to the subject of fishless cycles and he asked if I'd ever done one. I left the shop after giving him the address of this forum ;D
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I left the shop after giving him the address of this forum ;D
Was that wise?
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With this chap, yes ;D He has never done a fishless cycle himself and was interested to know how, and how long it takes. We'd started off by talking water; hardness, pH etc and I mentioned my low KH and the fact I'd had a pH crash during a fishless cycle. That's when he asked me about it. Like me until I had to sterilise my betta's tank last year he has always cloned his filters. He is one of those rare shop workers who actually has fish at home.
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Have you tested the pH of a glass of water that has stood overnight? Mostly pH goes up on standing, but you never know, you might have strange water that goes down ;D
Yes, the pH did increase on standing - straight out of the tap readings were on the borderline of the two API pH tests with the 'low' test reading 7.6 and the high test reading 7.4, so this would seem to tie-in with the Water Company's data saying 7.55 average. However, on testing the water which had been stood, the reading was nearer 8. So it does seem that something is causing the pH to drop in my tank, although I don't think it's crashing as I've never had a reading lower than 6.4?
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Just looking at your list of tank inhabitants dbaggie, and I see you keep rabbit snails. My son loves these, we watch videos of them on you tube and he giggles away. Was thinking of some for my 55l, but I see their temperature requirements are on the high side, and my tank is 23C, any thoughts?
I was initially keeping the temperature low so I can get a small Cory species like hasbrous, but I wonder if they are a bit tricky for a newbie.
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To be fair I'm not actually sure they're 'rabbit' snails - they were sold just as long nose snails but do have the long conical shell and move around by hauling themselves bit by bit. My tank runs at 23C or thereabouts and they're absolutely fine.
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Ah right, the ones I saw looked a bit like huge mts, but bright yellow bodies, and very dark shells. I asked a couple of questions in the shop, but not temperature, when I got home I looked online and it reckoned 26degrees minimum.
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They sound like what are sometimes referred to as yellow or golden rabbit snails. Mine are similar but with grey bodies (see pic):
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Are they perhaps Sulawesi snails (http://www.planetinverts.com/sulawesi_snails.html)?
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Hi Colin. They could be, although they don't have the textured shells shown in most of those pics - they're really quite smooth. I'm now wondering whether they're a large variety of the Malaysian Trumpet Snail (can they get quite large?).
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The MTS I've had haven't been smooth like that pic. The bands were more rounded in profile giving the shell a lumpy appearance. Though I don't know every single snail species in the world :yikes:
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They don't really look like any of those do they? Rabbit snails are from Sulawesi anyway aren't they?
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There's little chance of being absolutely sure of any species of snail, there are thousands of tropical species and undoubtedly many more yet to be described. Consider this, slugs are just snails without shells and the British species have been very well studied, far better than any tropical mollusc group. Yet from 1986 until now, the number of species we have has risen from 28 to 43, not because new species have been arriving, but in several cases what was previously considered to be one species has subsequently been found to include two or three separate species, essentially identical on the outside, but different on the inside, only discovered by dissection. A similar situation exists for most molluscs so that two which appear to be the same from photos could be completely different species, maybe even from different parts of the world. In addition, individuals of the same species can look quite different depending on the conditions in which they have grown.
The same situation applies to other invertebrates such as shrimps, just because something is labelled as "Amano" shrimp doesn't mean it is the same species that Amano originally used, there are many that look superficially similar, but may come from, and therefore require, quite different conditions.
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I'll stick with just calling them long nose snails then! :)