Today was another big day. It started with my family going to the fish street. I bought much-needed water conditioner, fish flakes, and a nitrate liquid test kit (the clerk insisted I didn't need ammonia testing. I knew she was pretty much wrong, but boy scout training kicked in and I just accepted it) My family also bought some more gravel for our main tank, two beautiful fish, and some food for them. Unfortunately, the fish we had bought turned out to be a blue and red peacock Cichlid and a pink one. Once I got home and researched them, I broke the terrible news that A. Cichlids need more than our 20 gallon tank, and B. Two male Cichlids together in a tiny tank = awful idea.
After much consternation, it was eventually decided (largely by my dad's lack of desire to drive back to the fish store, and rather uncaring views about the lives of fish) that we would return the pink one to the store tomorrow. As I watched, both tended to hide in corners, occasionally coming out and fighting. The pink one seems to be dominant, which is sad because I much prefer the beautiful blue and red one. Hopefully everything will go well, the store will take back the pink one, and the blue and red one will do OK in our smallish tank.
In the complicated pre-release ritual (before my research), we had to evacuate the 2 Danios as well as the 2 Glowlight tetras from the main tank. The Glowlights had been in there for months, and a group of three had even survived a mostly unsupervised summer with the catfish, though one was presumably eaten a day after we returned from vacation. The Danios had been in the tank since Monday, with no further casualties after one was eaten the first night. After using a plastic bag to hold them and bringing them up to my room, my dad and I did a water change on the main tank and then put in the Cichlids. As the light on the tank had burned out and we found out none of the fish stores had 12 in t4 fluorescent lamps, I had taken the top off a lamp and balanced it sideways to give the fish at least some light, and after half an hour, I turned it on. The glass and Pictus catfish weren't too affected by the new arrivals to their tank, though the blue and red Cichlid tends to use the glass catfish's hiding spot behind the filter, and the pink Cichlid sometimes bothers the Pictus when he ventures out of his cave.
Over the past few days, I have been quite distraught because my Danios have had red gills, a sign of Ammonia poisoning, and with our dechlorinator all used up, I couldn't do water changes. Now that I could finally give them some clean water, I replaced a third of their water while the refugees from the main tank were sitting in their bag acclimating. After due process, I released the fish, and was happy to see the 2 Danios dart around their home. The Glowlights went back to doing what they have been doing for the past few months, with no sing of illness or issues: they slowly swam along the bottom. Sadly, the male Danio I had in my tank didn't make it. After releasing the others, I was surprised not to see him. How could the Pictus take victims in another tank? I soon found him, weakly lying on the bottom at the back, and although he swam weakly when I netted him, I could tell it was too late. The Ammonia had taken its toll. Without a separate hospital tank, I did't want to leave him in with the others. As I made my tank's first flush, I decided that I will change the water in the tank twice this week, and at least once a week after that.
On a much happier note, after I turned on the lights and re-potted a plant that had been knocked loose while I was retrieving the body, my Danios have been having the time of their lives. Darting around, chasing each other, annoying the Glowlights, they just don't stop. I spent an hour tonight taking pictures on my hand-me-down Iphone and figuring out who's who, and another hour going through all the pictures deleting all the ones that were hopelessly blurry. I have some descriptions of the fish with pictures, but before that here's my favorite blur:
This is one of my Glowlight Tetras. Although I have made a rule that there is to be no fish naming until the fish has lived for a week, this one has been with us for months, so I felt free to name them. Because my Glowlights tend to sit around and look grumpy, I have given them names that reflect that.
Lurker, as he/she will from now be known, is an interesting fish.
Lurker can be distinguished from my other Glowlight only by the
Lurker's companion is equally moody, either because that's just how Glowlights are, or maybe as a result of having to watch all their friends get slowly picked off by the ever-present nighttime horror that is my family's Pictus catfish. Either way, Grouch is a sullen little fish. It tends to stick near to the ground, floating usually on the right side of the tank. Grouch is lucky because, without it's tiny white speck, I wouldn't be able to tell which Glowlight is which. Other than that one speck, they are completely identical. That's OK
As my Danios still haven't been with me a week, I am not going to name them yet. This one is the dominant female, and she is one of the ones I rescued from the Pictus. You'll notice that each of my fish has a distinguishing feature on their right side. With Grouch, it's the white spot. With Lurker, it's the lack of a white spot. With this Danio, it's the 5 ripples in one of her blue lines, which you can kind of see in these photos. Like I said, this one is the dominant female, even though she doesn't usually bother the others. This fish
This one is the surviving female from the pair that I put in my tank.
This Danio's distinguishing marking is her unique circle-and-wave pattern, which you can see in the top photo. After watching these fish interact for over an hour as I took pictures of them, I can usually tell who's who as long as they are turned to the right, and not moving like lightning. Unfortunately, even though it seems that they are facing the right direction, they tend to move incredibly fast. Out of the 300+ pics i took, only 60 were any good. I can also
And finally, the lowest of the pack. He is noticeably smaller than the other Danios, and spends his days getting chased around by the original female, but otherwise he seems to be doing well. His mark is less noticeable than the other Danios'. On his right side, his line just gets a bit wavy, while on his left he has a small circle which you could see in the second photo if it were bigger. He shares his territory with my original female, but only because there isn't really anywhere else to go. However, he still gets occasional moments of
Well, those are the fish in my tank, and their current habits. Over the hour I watched them. what I have written seemed to stay pretty constant, with Lurker occasionally chased out of his home to spend time with Grouch, the alpha defending the top, and my original Danio causing mischief. Interestingly, right after I turned off the light all the Danios gathered at the top of the water and didn't bother each other. Maybe at the fish store they were fed after lights out?
Although my original plan was to use Danios to cycle the tank and then put a school of tetras and a Betta fish in once the tank is ready, I am growing kind of attached to the fish I have now, and Rick, whose blog is pretty much the definitive source for info on my type of tank, thinks that might be too many fish. Maybe if my sister buys a tank, I can give her these fish, or...
Anyway, that is not a problem for today. I just hope the Cichlids do alright tonight and my fish stay happy. School starts Monday the 24th, though, so I won't have as much time for fish.
-Sawyer
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