stillnzcookie Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 Hi, we have a 60L planted tank, which currently contains 3 panda cories and 5 harlequin rasboras. The tank has been set up for about 18 months. As we were novices, we did quite a bit of research before choosing fish, and deliberately went for small, peaceful species. WELL, we have already lost a bristlenose, which was bullied by the cories and stopped eating, and now the harlequins are beating each other up - we have lost two already, and have another two with significant wounds. It looks like we may lose these too. I can't identify a single aggressor - they used to have a definite heirarchy, but not anymore. What can we do to restore peace to our tank? If we get more harlequins, will this "spread the love", so to speak, or make the problem worse? I would love to get a couple more cories and/or another bristlenose (as we have quite a bit of algae), but the three seem pretty happy now, so perhaps I should just leave the bottom of the tank to them? Also, is there anything we can do to save our sick fish? One of them has quite a big hole in its side (and possibly dropsy - its scales are not tight, if that makes sense, but it has been like that for ages. We lost another fish to dropsy and it blew up very quickly), and I think they both have fungal growth - patches of white on their bodies and fins. We have tried to treat other fish for fungus, but never successfully - they always seem to die eventually. Occasionally we have just left fish with fungus, and upped the water changes and they have survived and recovered, so I'm not sure what the best course of action is? We do weekly water changes, have never had problems with ammonia, nitrite or nitrate levels, but we do struggle to keep our Ph consistent. We have added coral rock to our filter, but still need to use Ph 7.0 buffer on a regular basis. We have VERY soft tap water, so the Ph coming out of the tap can be anything from 6.0 - 7.6. Thanks for any advice you can give us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 Maybe a good idea to change the Tank around, then they will all be on equal ground if you know what I mean. Do you have a heater in the Tank?? I would up the Temp to round 28, add some Rock Salt and some Wunder Tonic, just to make sure these wounds some of the Fishys have don't turned Fugused. What are the Parameters of your Tank?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 How big are the Harlequins? Ours didn't last very long, and they were quite big when we got them, and half of them spent most of the time hiding from the others who would bully them, and they got whitespot at the drop of a hat, and got weird lumpy bits or fungussy looking stuff on them from fighting.... Consequently we don't have them anymore, gave the last two away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 I've got 10 Harlequins, they all seem to get on fine. Haven't had any problems with them at all. I find Neons are Horrendous for getting White Spot, haven't had any of my Harlequins with White Spot yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 nzcookie, sorry to hear about your troubles. It can be very discouraging to have a tank that just doesn't seem to be going smoothly. I have never kept either harlequins or panda cories so I can't comment on those specific fish, but it sounds to me like you might have something 'systemic' wrong with your tank - in other words there's a general problem of which one of the symptoms is stressed/aggressive/sick fish. A 60 litre tank is quite small, which makes it hard to keep everything nice and stable. The plants will help - are they thriving? Also what kind of filter are you using? A filter with a large biological filtration area can make a big difference to a small tank and help make it a lot more stable. Do your fish have places to go where they can get out of each other's sight lines? Decor on the bottom of the tank (rocks, wood, bushy plants) may help the cories, and tall or floating plants for the raspboras. It sounds like you have done everything right so far. The fact that you don't have a large number of fish in there and have obviously been testing your water regularly are both very good factors in your favour. Also the weekly water changes are good, and your tank has been set up for 18 months so it isn't the usual non-cycled tank issue. Keep your chin up. I'm sure you will get past these challenges and have a lovely peaceful tank again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 I keep Pandas and Harlequins together no worries at all. I do agree with the having plants and little Hidey Holes for the Fish to hide in, if the feel the need to escape. I'm sure in time it will settle down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillnzcookie Posted July 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Thanks for all the advice. Our tank is a standard Elite setup (60 x 30 x 30) with an Elite Hush 20 filter, to which we have added coral rock to try to stabilise Ph. We have dark gravel and one largeish and several smaller pieces of driftwood. The Java fern we have is thriving, but gets covered in algae - we prune it often and just leave the healthy leaves and it just keeps growing. We initially had something that was sold to us as cabomba, but wasn't (can't remember what - I did find out), which grew like a weed - we had to remove 50-75% weekly. Unfortunately it all got eaten by a snail (which was sold to us as an algae eater only - went back to the shop a week later, having stripped the tank bare!) and we haven't been able to get it again. We have a bit of proper cabomba and a grass, but neither is growing very fast. After my initial post, I realised there is nothing tall in the tank at the moment, so we will find a tall plant or two to give the Harlequins somewhere to hide (should have noticed this ages ago - oops). Maybe this will help calm things down. Our Harlequins are about 2cm long, I think, so nowhere near fully grown. They have been in the tank for about 10 months, and the cories were there about 6 months before that. As I said in my first post, we never have problems with ammonia, nitrite or nitrate, but we do have problems with fluctuating Ph, so I'm sure this does stress the fish. I just wish we could stabilise it without having to use Ph buffer all the time, but what else can you do when the tap water is so variable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 Hi Nzcookie I have a perfect solution to stop the squabling in your tank. I have a spare male Jaguar cichlid that would put all your fishes in their place.... .... inside Jaggy's stomach... :lol: :lol: You will never have any more fish fighting! :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 Tsk tsk, Wok - I don't think that is the sort of thing they want to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillnzcookie Posted July 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 Thanks for the suggestion Wok, but my fish are friends, not food... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 Hi Nzcookie I have a perfect solution to stop the squabling in your tank. I have a spare male Jaguar cichlid that would put all your fishes in their place.... .... inside Jaggy's stomach... :lol: :lol: You will never have any more fish fighting! :roll: This is why we should vote wok off the mod team and vote me on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkfur Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 I find it helps when stocking a smaller tank to think of the fish as inhabiting different "levels" and to only have one type of fish for each level. Thus, your pandas are your bottom-dwellers and its best to not have any other type of bottom-dweller. Your harlequins will stick around the middle and when the tank settles down you may be able to get something else that favours the upper level of the tank. For example I have a 60L tank with GBAs lurking in the depths, pearl danios in the middle and gold gouramis that like the top. I suspect the harlequins might be calmer in a school of 6 or more but I'd wait until any water quality/health issues are under control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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