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Lotsa new fish!!

Care Tips
By Reza
from the Whooooooooo-boy_they_better_play_nice... department, Section Ask Guppylog
Posted on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 12:26:03 PM PST
Tags: (all tags)
Well, Scott and I just came home from a fishing expedition at the LFS and spent about $40 on a variety of fish to put in *my* 75 gallon tank that lives here in the living room.  I think we got a few of each- mollies, platys and swordtails.  (I picked what was cute.)

BUT--The neon and cardinal tetras and the zebra danios are entirely new to our household.  What, if any, nutritional requirements do they have that are different from guppies, swords and platys?

[editor's note, by Scott Lockwood]: Plus, there is a new main site poll for you to vote in.



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Lotsa new fish!! | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Lotsa new fish!! (none / 0) (#17)
by bluebubblysoda on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 10:13:38 AM PST

I have had neons and zebras.  They just need regular flake food.  The neons well, they didn't live too long for some reason.  But zebras are GREAT fish to start with I LOVE THEM!!
And why Reza did you decide to dump what I wrote?



An observation...or a few (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by Reza on Wed Sep 10, 2003 at 06:28:33 PM PST

Yes, I actually had time to observe the tank today (baby decided to nap for a bit) and have a few observations, that may or may not be accurate.  (I know I don't have the correct terminology- I am not the ichthyologist in the house.)

1.  The swordtails like to *sit* in the bubble stream at the top and...well...defacate.  All three of them at once.  I almost felt like offering them newspapers and some privacy.

2.  The dalmations are pigs!  They suck food in that is floating like more than 2 inches away from themselves...and then blow it back out after *chewing* a bit.  I've seen them pull food away from other fish who were closer and jusssssssst about had it, when SLURP! it was in the dalmation.

3.  When it comes to eating, the tetras are all for none and all for me.  They don't school when eating...at least these didn't.

Stay tuned for another exciting episode of "Do they play nice together?"

;-)



tetras (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by parttimer on Wed Sep 10, 2003 at 02:22:12 PM PST

will just about eat anything, you can feed them the same as your guppies. they will go nuts for brine shrimp. if you do add to your tank look at the true rummy nose tetra.



Could have, they had them (none / 0) (#3)
by Scott Lockwood on Wed Sep 10, 2003 at 03:35:24 PM PST

But, I opted for neon's and cardinals. Interestingly enough, they stayed seperate for about 1/2 an hour, then I would notice they would come together, and one Cardinal would swim off with two Neon's.  Sometimes they'd all swim together, sometimes not. I see very little difference between them, and wonder if they'd cross breed in ideal conditions...

"I love to visit PetSmart's Tropical Fish Dept. to see what new diseases are around today." -- inkmaker
[ Parent ]



Neon/ cardinal crosses (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by unclescott on Thu Sep 11, 2003 at 09:37:00 AM PST

would be a real long shot. :( Their native waters may seem similar to us, but evidentally not to the fish.

There is another "similar" tetra. See Paracheirodon simulans. Maybe more await discovery?

Also, after spending $1000s doing that cross you could find them to be mules. Or the fry would maybe die of cancer as embryos. (I know. What a grinch!)

The aquarist who has tank bred cardinals (and some have) has an accomplishment to really be proud of.

Neons are routinely bred in S.E. Asia and exported to the U.S. (sometimes along with that neon tetra disease).

Nobody is commercially raising cardinals - that I know of. Because so many have been harvested in Brazil, they are quite rare in some places where they were common. Collectors are traveling further and further from Manaus to find them.

Someone who were to breed them commercially, if they could do it cost effectively, would really be on to something.

The first American to discover and import cardinals was Herbert Axlerod of TFH fame in the 1950s. Rumor has it that those importations did a lot to get his business off on a firm financial footing.

All the best in a cautionary sense,
Your pessimistic uncle

[ Parent ]



Play nice, or else!!! (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by guppygirl on Wed Sep 10, 2003 at 11:05:25 AM PST

Yeah Reza!!!!! You go girl!!! :-)

I think they will all get along, I'm not really up on my different tetras or zebras anymore.

I have a couple neons, and they seem to like the Ken's spirulina flake mix, and blood worms.

I always just used a good all around flake food when I kept them in my youth, and they seemed to do just fine.

Unclescott will probably give you his disertation,
so I'd look for his advice.

Pices Moon raises swordtails, she put me on to the blood worms, and is helping me with my next adventure. (Breeding swordtails)

Now, the trick Reza, will be to find time to SIT, watch, and ENJOY your new fishies.

With a nine month old, I wish you luck.

I sometimes bring my little one in and curl up on the couch with him (with only the tank lights on) to TRY to get him to nap. Sometimes this works, for me anyway, I go out like a light!!!
;-)

 



Play nice or else... (none / 0) (#4)
by unclescott on Wed Sep 10, 2003 at 04:09:43 PM PST

Congratulations on the new members of the community tank. Sounds like a neat tank.

Not much I can add to the above. :) The mollies can and should pig out on veggies, as you probably know. If they get woozy, a little salt doesn't hurt. They also sometimes don't do well with the crowding we get away with while keeping other livebearers. Doesn't sound like an issue in your aquarium.

Neons and cardinals are mostly carnivores. They will eat most standard offerings so you don't have to start raising fruitflies. ;)

Neons do come from about a 1000 miles upstream from the cardinals. Their waters tend to be "whitewaters" which have a little mineral and fairly neutral chemistry (in case you want to breed them.) They prefer water in the low 70s and may need more food at higher temps.

Cardinals (when they can be found anymore) come from much warmer (80 ish) waters which tend to be those notorious black waters of the Rio Negro system. They actually make pretty good companions for discus (so long as they aren't bite sized.)

We adopted a cardinal which was 6 + years old when we got it (and the 55 that came along with it). It lived a couple more years after that!

I probably should have gotten it a half dozen cardinal companions. At the time cardinals were coming in with really nasty diseases. I didn't want to set up a quarantine tank for them.

Your tank temp, like all community tanks, will be a compromise. You probably already are doing this. As you inch down from 80 degrees F. to the middle 70s watch the cardinals and mollies. Black mollies are about the touchiest of commercial livebearers.

Even when I raised enough mollies to swap for fishfood at a local shop, if the mollies' temperature dropped too low, they got pretty little white spots all over their previously spotless bodies. :(

All the best,
Scott the laconic

[ Parent ]



Scott the "laconic"? (none / 0) (#9)
by guppygirl on Thu Sep 11, 2003 at 12:44:15 PM PST

NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But you do love getting me to look up them words,
don't cha?
That's OK, I love to ameliorate my lexicon!!!
;-)


[ Parent ]


Lessee .... ameliorate... (none / 0) (#11)
by unclescott on Thu Sep 11, 2003 at 04:22:16 PM PST

wasn't that a popular French movie from a year or so ago. ;)

[ Parent ]


i need a dictionary (lexicon?) (none / 0) (#10)
by parttimer on Thu Sep 11, 2003 at 04:14:56 PM PST

scott i'm getting rid of emperor and lemon tetras, if you want them you can have them. this offer comes with free shipping. or anyone else in chi. area.

[ Parent ]


Which Scott? (none / 0) (#12)
by Scott Lockwood on Thu Sep 11, 2003 at 05:49:50 PM PST

I'll take them!  Aren't you local?  :-)

"I love to visit PetSmart's Tropical Fish Dept. to see what new diseases are around today." -- inkmaker
[ Parent ]



yes you (none / 0) (#13)
by parttimer on Thu Sep 11, 2003 at 08:35:19 PM PST

yes local

[ Parent ]


What are you doing Saturday (none / 0) (#14)
by Scott Lockwood on Fri Sep 12, 2003 at 04:47:40 AM PST

after say 3pm? I get out of Cisco class at 2:30pm.

"I love to visit PetSmart's Tropical Fish Dept. to see what new diseases are around today." -- inkmaker
[ Parent ]



sounds good. (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by parttimer on Fri Sep 12, 2003 at 03:39:05 PM PST

let me know.

[ Parent ]


Cool. (none / 0) (#16)
by Scott Lockwood on Fri Sep 12, 2003 at 04:59:24 PM PST

Email me your phone number?  email me at scott@guppylog.com

"I love to visit PetSmart's Tropical Fish Dept. to see what new diseases are around today." -- inkmaker
[ Parent ]



Temp (none / 0) (#6)
by Scott Lockwood on Wed Sep 10, 2003 at 06:34:23 PM PST

Yeah, we're hanging around 78 or so... Seemed like a fairly good compromise. :-)

Will Neon's and Cardinal's cross?

"I love to visit PetSmart's Tropical Fish Dept. to see what new diseases are around today." -- inkmaker
[ Parent ]



neons (none / 0) (#7)
by parttimer on Wed Sep 10, 2003 at 07:42:39 PM PST

i don't think so, but neons like slightly acidic water to breed.

[ Parent ]


Lotsa new fish!! | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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