Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Diz1 on July 31, 2014, 05:04:48 PM
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Afternoon/evening everyone
My new Cherry Barbs seem to have settled in now. They were very shy when first introduced to the tank yesterday, but appear more settled and bold now.
They didn't feed this morning (which I thought was normal with them being new), but I've just noticed that they appear to be feeding off the algae on the side of the tank. Is this normal?
I have 4 nerite snails coming to take up residence tomorrow, will the Cherries switch to normal food later, or will I have to start putting some algae wafers in the tank. There's quite a lot of algae, but I don't know if it will be enough for 4 snails and 3 Cherries.
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My Cherry Barbs eat anything I drop in the tank, so I expect yours will, too.
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Thanks Colin,
Oh well, that's good to know. I've currently got 1 male and 2 females and I plan to have 6 or 7 in total. How many males/ females do you think I should get?
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They might also be eating micro-organisms living in the algae. A lot of my fish look as though they are eating the algae but it never gets any less.
The profile on here says 1m 2 f for a trio and any ratio for a bigger group. You will see more natural behaviour with 2 or 3 males and the rest females.
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Great, thanks Sue.
I had to get the snails by post after all- they don't seem to make it up here. Just hope there's something left for them to snack on by tomorrow! ;D
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I've got 2m and 4f and it seems like a good mix.
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Great. That's easy enough then. If I get double zeros in my water tests over the coming week I can just pick up another 3. I had thought of adding some gold barbs for colour a bit later, but my LFS had checker barbs. What do you think of them? Are they as brightly coloured as the golds and are they as peaceful?
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They're both peaceful. The golden barb is bigger and requires a bigger tank, and as a shoaling species you should be looking at at least 6 of either species. This way the males will display more, just like with the cherries.
The golden barbs are definitely more colourful..... in my opinion.
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They'll be going in the 180 litre with the cherries, so the size should be OK. The main idea was to get colourful but 'easy' fish to keep since I'm a beginner at all of this. I think that if I added some gold barbs and possibly some fish for the bottom of the tank, then that would probably be it. Not sure about which fish for the bottom of the tank. I like the cories, but they seem to be quite delicate. I also like the idea of a bigger (more robust ?) fish for the bottom but have been warned away from plecos because they're very poopy and I don't want to have to change my filter system. Any ideas? :)
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Loaches, but check how big they grow before buying. Clown loaches, for example, look adorable in the shop tank but they grow to over a foot long.
I have dwarf chain loaches, they have proved quite robust, except for the one that got very skinny and died within a couple of months. I've had the rest for 7 years (bought 30 June 2007). The downside is the price, as you need a shoal. Though they aren't very colourful but they are striking with their black and white patterning.
Most other loaches need a minimum of 120cm long tanks, I'm not sure how long yours is ???
There is a loach that is fairly new to the trade, I've seen some in my local Maidenhead Aquatics. These are very small, maybe too small for you. Rosy loaches (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/yunnanilus-sp-rosy/)
If you had sand, kuhli loaches would have been fine but they do like to bury themselves in the substrate.
If you see any loaches in a shop that catch your eye, check with seriously fish before buying. But as the majority of loaches have changed their latin names in the last few years, search by common name.
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Thanks Sue,
My tank is 101cm long, so you're right – a lot of the other loaches would be too big. Will investigate the chain loaches when I'm next in. I want to build up my barb shoals first anyway, so this is way ahead planning. :)
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Be warned that dwarf chain loaches are expensive!
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It's OK, I'll just beak into the kids piggy banks – all in a good cause!! :))
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My chain loaches are great, they are so different in behaviour to any other fish. So busy in the evenings poking their noses into gravel looking for food. One of them started swimming up to about half the height of the tank to snap up flakes that drift down during feeding. They like to disappear under the filter housing in my Juwel Rio :) but are out and about a lot too!
I got three loaches (to add to my sole one) at good price in Maidenhead Aquatics in Farnham, when they were reopening the store a few weeks back, about half the price of my local MA, so I guess prices can vary from shop to shop. There is also a guy on ebay who sells them for a good price but I'm weary of ordering fish by post!
The Rose Loaches look very interesting, looking at their profile. I'll take a look when I'm next in the shop to see if they've got them. They look similar in colour and markings to cherry barbs.