Tropical Fish Forum

Think Fish Tropical Fish Forum => Introductions and hello's => Topic started by: Taklejtakle on February 27, 2019, 07:58:53 PM

Title: It's a hello from me, Jason
Post by: Taklejtakle on February 27, 2019, 07:58:53 PM
Hello All  :wave:
I have been keeping Tropical fish for about 10 years with varying degrees of success. I have a Venezia 180 corner unit (177litres).
 The long story short, I have been left with 2 huge Clown Loaches, 2 huge Pictus Cat fish & a nice sized (fairly huge) Plec. I have had these for many years and they seem to thrive in the tank. I seem have problems keeping normal fish!! I have been left with 1 x Tiger Barb, 3 Zebra Danios, 1 x Dwarf Rainbow only.
Today I put 5 Swordtails in the tank and within minutes the Barb was chasing them down and nipping away......so he came out!! gone into a bio-orb on his own using all the water from the original tank. New media unfortunately, airstone but no heater as yet......do you think he will survive the move?
Title: Re: It's a hello from me, Jason
Post by: Sue on February 28, 2019, 08:49:39 AM
Hi Jason  :wave:

Depending on how big the biorb is, he may be OK, though you do need a heater in there, or at the very least keep the tank on a warm room. One fish in one of the larger biorbs won't push ammonia then nitrite up too quickly, though you'd need to do lots of water changes in a small biorb.
Lots of plants in the biorb will help too, even something like elodea just left floating, as plants take up ammonia and don't turn it into nitrite.



Re your corner tank, can I ask what the hardness of your tap water is? The reason I ask is because swordtails need hard water and the rest of the fish need soft water.
Title: Re: It's a hello from me, Jason
Post by: Littlefish on February 28, 2019, 08:54:49 AM
Hi Jason, and welcome to the forum.  :wave:

How is your tiger barb this morning?
Could you take small amount of media from the filter on the main tank and put it in the filter on the Bio-orb, so that there is some bacteria in the filter?
I have tiger barbs, and they can be quite hardy. I should imagine that he will survive the move, though if you could get some mature media into the filter, and get a heater soon, that would be good.
How long has that fish been on his own? I mean, the only tiger barb? Keeping them in big groups keeps the chasing and nipping within the group, which would make it safer for the rest of your fish.
I'll admit to being quite fond of slightly odd fish, and would love to see some pictures of your big fish. As a general rule we always nag a new forum user for pictures of their tank, just because we love seeing what people have got.  :)
As for your problems keeping normal fish, large numbers of each species work well, if you have the space. I'll admit to having 24 tiger barbs in a species only Roma 200L tank.
I also have zebra danios in a temperate tank. Well, I only have 1 now, one of the very first fish I ever bought, and she swims with a group of leopard danios.
Title: Re: It's a hello from me, Jason
Post by: Taklejtakle on February 28, 2019, 05:14:10 PM
Hi Sue, Hi Littlefish

Thank you for you replies.

According to the water Authority's website my drinking water is classed as very hard and the supply comes from a groundwater (borehole)sources. The Total Hardness is 322 mg/l CaCO3 (assume this means something to you) and pH level is 7.26

The Tiger Barb survived the night and appears content in there at the moment. I have now purchased a heater for it and will be popping that in later. He is in a Biorb30 so I assume this is going to require regular water changes. I will see whether it is possible to use some of the established media from the corner tank. The Biorb has one of those integrated media packs that sit in the bottom of the tank.

I've not had a lot of luck with Tiger Barbs in general. I started out with a school of 10 originally but they just seemed to take each other out one at a time until I only had 2 left. After a month or two I restocked to about 10 again and low & behold one of the first ones to be terrorised was one of the original 2...probably because he was a bit chunkier & slower than the rest. After that I was loathe to waste my time with them further and eventually I was left with this lost soul. My gut feeling was that he has been slowly decimating the tank single handedly over time and my suspicions were confirmed yesterday when he must have thought I was providing him some live food to munch on!!

I will endeavour to take some pics and upload them for you. My IT/Comp skills not great but I am sure I will find a way.
Title: Re: It's a hello from me, Jason
Post by: Sue on February 28, 2019, 06:38:58 PM
Your hardness of 322 mg/l calcium carbonate (also called ppm calcium carbonate) is indeed very hard. This is one of the two units you'll see in fish profiles, the other is dH, and your hardness converts to 18 dH. This is perfect for swordtails and right at the top end of tiger barbs' range. It should not have killed the barbs but it would have made them more susceptible to diseases.

Tiger barbs are aggressive fish, if there are a large group of them this is usually kept within the group. But there are rogue individuals in every species and your barb could well be such a fish.


Click on Attachments & other options below the reply box. Under Attach, click browse and search for the photo on your computer. If it is too big, you'll need to resize it.
Title: Re: It's a hello from me, Jason
Post by: Taklejtakle on March 03, 2019, 04:38:18 PM

  photo's as requested
Title: Re: It's a hello from me, Jason
Post by: Taklejtakle on March 03, 2019, 04:40:16 PM
Update.
My corner unit has become a much quieter place since I removed the Tiger Barb and I am now going to consider carefully what fish are going to be put in there. The Tiger Barb has survived despite a few teething problems with the Biorb, namely on day 2 the water went very cloudy and I wondered whether this would harm him. However a partial water change & 24 hrs later the water was crystal clear again.
Title: Re: It's a hello from me, Jason
Post by: Sue on March 03, 2019, 05:01:04 PM
The cloudiness was just a bacterial bloom which is common in newly set up tanks. These are not the bacteria we want to grow, and as you have found, once they have eaten all their food they die off. Bacterial blooms look a mess but they are not harmful to fish.
Title: Re: It's a hello from me, Jason
Post by: Littlefish on March 03, 2019, 06:47:47 PM
Thanks for posting pics. Great markings on your loaches.  :cheers:

Glad to hear that the tank is quieter without the tiger barb, and that he is managing in the smaller tank.