Hannahbell

I am beginning to think that I dont need an algae eater. The tank was bought second hand. My first two fish were a male and female BN who spawned several times. No live fry were able to be raised apart from one. Then all of a sudden (perhaps 9 months after I got the tank and original fish) my female BN died, followed by the male Bn, and then the only surviving baby BN. Its just that I really LOVE these fish, and would love to be able to keep them. The only major change I have made to the tank is by not using the original in built filter and purchasing a aqua one CF1000 and using that. I had a really bad algae problem, and was loosing a lot of fish (not the BN). Once I hooked the new filter up, my fish were ok, but not the BN.

Well, Suba Sam kindly gave me 5 cute baby BN. I put 3 in my community tank (the one with issues) and two in my daughters 28 ltr tank with her siamese fighters. Daughters ones are still alive (day 3 now) but the morning after I put the 3 in my community tank they were belly up *SCREAMS* what am I doing wrong?????? Soooo, today I took out all of my pebbles and ornaments. Left a few pebbles in the corner with an upturned little pot for my Cooo Cooo Loaches (as my daughters affectionatly call them). So I have a very bare tank. I will buy new pebbles, and see if that works. My friend suggested Cory Dorys?? (hope thats the correct name). I just feel really un easy about buying algae eaters. I got 2 flying foxes last week, and they too, died within a few days.

This is going to sound silly, but where do I get 'green water' from?? Thanks for all your advice also. I have removed the female as he was just attacking her all the time. I do not have a sponge filter, but if I put a bit of that white filter sponge in the filter where it takes the water in, will that be ok?? He's a fantastic father guarding the eggs so well.

Yeah. We know when they have babies. My girls can see them. But its like been in a candy shop for them, they are so intrigued by all these little fish. I wonder if thats why they did not survive last time? Maybe the daddy felt so threatened by the little faces up at the tank he perhaps ate them?? Thanks for your input. I will defanatly try and keep the girls away from the tank

Probably best not to threaten the rams. Its the only tank I have for them as the other is a community tank and my 8 year old daughter has another smallish tank with siamese fighters in it. So best just to leave them be? Just feed them. What about water changes??? I have been wary about doing them incase I get some of the fry. Thank you for your advice. I will tell my girls not to go near the tank for a while. Its hard because they are so curious.

Last time they spawned (abut 3-4 weeks ago) I managed to get a good lot of free swimming fry (about 50 give or take out of about 150). Within a couple of days I slowly ended up with none. The male was showing a lot of agression towards the female, so I put her in a little holding tank within the same fish tank. But alas, they still all died. What can I possibly to to keep some of the fry alive?? It is the furtherest I have got them. The first time they spawned was in my community tank, eggs were eaten. They spawned a couple of times after that with no results. I moved them to their own little 28 ltr tank. The first time they spawned, I got a few wrigglers out of it, but that was it. I seem to be getting further each time, but wonder if there is anything else I can do to help the survival rate. I have decapsulated brine shrimp eggs and liquid fry food.

Well, the male "Sam" has calmed down. Let him out of his little cage and he is too busy building bubble nests to worry too much about bugging the two females, "Sasha and Sarah" (gotta love the names kids come up with, especially when you know the reason behind them LOL). The bubble nests never seem to stay very big, so not sure whats going on there. But at least he is leaving the females alone.

No they are not fighting back. Just trying to swim away from him as quick as they can. Perhaps if I put some more plants in the tank for them to hide? It seems pretty full of plants at the moment though. Or maybe an ornament where they can hide in?

Hi all. Ok, heres my new problem (seems I have a few lately). Bought my daughter a tropical fish tank for her room. She wanted my Siamese fighter (flashy red boy). I set up her tank and transfered him, was a good idea as he was flaring up and attacking my dwarf Gourami in my tank. Anywho, she asked if he could have some girl friends, so yesterday I bought two females. (Surprise for her as she stayed away last night so has no idea of the new additions). He just will NOT leave them alone. Constantly chases them, nipping them. The tank is well planted but they just can not get away from him. I have put him in one of those little floating plastic holding containers this morning, and he appears to be building a bubble nest. When ever the ladies come up for a nosey, he flares up and gets all agro again. Should I move them all into my larger tank in the lounge? Or is this normal behavour and should I let them get used to each other? Thanks heaps.

Hey Sam. Thanks for that offer. I might take you up on it if thats ok. Im going to get some test sticks this next week so will do a water test and try and get things sorted with the water. Its just not fair as they are cool little fish and my kids love watching them on the side of the tank LOL.

Thanks for that. I just hope the pocket can keep on persisting LOL. My first two BN were male and female and spawned twice. Only had 1 little survivor out of them. Then all of a sudden the male died, closely followed by the female, and then maybe 2 months later the baby. Do you think I just buy one at a time instead of getting 2 or 3??

Algae is brown, slimy-ish. Just done a water change and gravel vac, and the kuiloe (sp) loaches are feisty and well. I have 5 neon tetras, one siamese fighter, one dwarf gourami, 3 harlequin raspi(cant spell it sorry), and 4 lemon tetras. Oh and 4 loaches. Water test levels came back all good. (threw the stick away tho sorry so cant post results on here until I get some more). Its a very frustrating problem as I LOVE the sucker fish, and my husband is getting sick of me wasting money on fish that die days after we get them.

I will get the kids off to school and so some water tests today. In the meantime, is there any way to control algae with out these fish?? Cheers.

I can NOT for the life of me get any BN and keep them alive for more than a few days!! I do everything correct when it comes to introducing them to my tank, but within a couple of days, they are dead and covered in a jelly/white moldish stuff. I have also tried algae eaters and they die also. I have boiled my stones, everything in my tank, do regular water changes and stone vacs. I have driftwood in their which my 4 loaches hide under (they are fine). So what is going on?? When I first started out with tropical fish, I had a male and female who spawned twice (then unfortunatly they died). Should I just give up on any sort of algae eater? How do I keep the algae down in my tank if I dont have any BN or algae eaters? Cheers.

I counted about 7 Fry last night (pretty hard to because they are all over the place now), but have only seen about 3 today. In saying that, I have seen them hiding amongst the little stones, so there may be even more. I moved one of the algae eaters to my bigger tank as he was pestering the smaller algae eater, but sadly he died .

Not sure exactly how long they will last, but I have bought some liquid fry food for them. I bought (by mistake) a breeding pair of Dwarf Rams?? Beautiful blue 'glow' dots, yellow and black markings also. (Pet shop told me they were 3 spot gouramis LOL). Anyway, these little guys started breeding in my community tank. I set up a wee 22 litre tank for them along with two golden algae eaters. They spawned about 100 eggs, and then they all disappeared. I had a look this morning and saw some fry free swimming!! The mum and dad keep picking them up in their mouths and spitting them out (still alive). So I guess time will tell if they survive. If anybody has any tips for me, they would be greatly appreciated.

My BN has really sunken in eyes. She's in a community tank with lemon tetras, Plattys, male and female siamese fighter and dwarf gourami. Is there any chance for her?? Ive just treated my tank for white spot, and used the Tonic (one that turns the water blue). It all cleared up, and now tank back to usual apart from the BN. Any help would be appreciated. Cheers.

Far out, what a mission. I was having loads of trouble with my tank, fish dropping dead on a daily basis just about. My friend took my wee little tank and some stones I had left over to set up for her breeding Platy Babies. She calls in the morning, everything dead!! Reckons it was the stones. (I had bought from mitre 10, boiled them and everything and thought they would be ok). So I took EVERYTHING out of my 90ltr tank. Boiled all the pebbles, threw away all the stones I had from mitre 10. New plants, new wood. Sweet as!!! I have even successfully added new fish, and had no deaths (apart from my king killi eating one of my smaller Killi's whole). I have two blue Rams (lady at pet shop told me they were 3 spot gouramis, and I had no idea what they were exactly). After research on the net I found out what they were. They laid eggs the first night, so obviously I have a male and female LOL. My Tetras were eating them last night, so I took the pot out that the eggs are on, and put it in a breeding net. The eggs have gone from clear/whitish over night to brown with little blackish lines in them. I dont know if I have done the right thing by taking them away, but the parents had seemed to loose interest in protecting them.

I will try and get some pics over the weekend. I would love to have a tank that big. Maybe I will put it on my christmas list

Oh really? Angel fish look beautiful. Is there a rule of thumb, like not having two males together? How fast do they grow, because I have seen some whoppers in the fish shops LOL.

Sorry, should have added that the largest fish are two Killi's. Both are about4 1/2 cm long, the other killi's are 3 to 4 cm long. All Platies are 3 to 4 cm long, Harlequin ones 2cm and Lemon Tetras 3cm. My Baby BN is about 3cm long.

Thanks for that. It is an established tank now. I have all my testing stuff for the ph, nitrates and all the other things. I have small fish in there at the moment. 5 platies, 5 Killifish, 4 Lemon Tetras, 3 tiny Harlequin somethings (I think thats the name), and a baby BN. I purchased these fish becasue I liked the look of the little ones. If I would be able to have a slightly bigger fish in there (If I have not already overcrowded it :-? ) what would you suggest? A nice friendly tank mate. I do weekly water changes. Due to problems with the little internal filter unit the tank came with, I now run a Aqua One CF-1000. My tank has never been clearer or more healthy looking.

WOW, what amazing photos. And what a brilliant idea for a breeding cave. Your BN is certanily a handsome boy. (my friends call me weird becasue I think they are the most amazing looking fish).

Im having issues with the PH level at the moment. I have read that it may be because of the wood, but my BN love it, the wood that is (well the remaining one does). My PH level is low, slowly but surely coming up, but yeah, it was low. My killi fish are soooo happy, very colourful. My Platies are very happy as are my other fish. I wonder if my remaining BN has maybe gotten used to the water conditions and thats why he is the only one I have been able to keep? Its quite happy just sucking around the tank, rasping on the wood and keeping to himself.

I had no idea you even had fish LOL. Carole introduced me to the wonderful world of Tropical fish, but I stumbled upon this site a wee while ago when I was (and still are) having problems with my bristlenose. Just had another one die this afternoon. Its wierd, no other fish are dying, only the BN that I buy from the shops. I have one baby BN from my first lot of eggs, but the mum and Dad have since died too. Carole has helped me heaps with my tank, but its time to let go of the apron strings and stop ringing her every time I have a problem :oops: