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Is it safe to put a small whiptail in my community tank?


js

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Hi Guys

Think I have possibly been a bit silly, but I guess you learn by your mistakes. I bought a black whiptail 6.5cm and had him freighted to me only to find he is so small and skinny, I am too scared to put him in my tank. I have 3 fully grown bristlenoses, so thought he would be about that size, but didn't realise they are so thin (he looks like a little stick). My tank is community with neons, guppies, gouramis, red tailed shark (really peaceful thankfully), clown loach and 2 largish angels. Do you think he will be safe to put in there. I have lots of big bits of drift wood (4ft tank). At the moment I have put him in a breeding net in the tank. Does he have much more growing to do? The angels are my main worry, and the other bristlenose?

Any advice would be appreciated.

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he should be fine. the only thing i would worry about would be the shark but if hes nice to the bristlenoses that it should be sweet. nothing in your tank could eat him, he is heavily armoured and very camoflaged. let us know how he goes.

I will warn you though, I had one recently that jumped out at night. apparently some do it sometimes for no obvious reason. make sure you lid has no gaps where he can sucker his way out of.

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Thanks for that. I will put him in when I get home from work tonight. Am worried about him in the net, as I know they like to hide and he is probably feeling very exposed. My tank does have lids, but the back corners are cut off to allow for the pipes and cords etc, so better look at covering them up (thanks for the warning).

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I put two small black whiptails in my community tank which houses female betta, dwarf gourami, guppies, kuhli loaches, otos and choc zebra.

They were only 3.5cm and 5cm so very small and skinny!

The smaller one disappeared after a day or so and I'm pretty sure the other whiptail killed it and then all the fish then ate it.

The other fish have not bothered the 5cm one at all and they all get along just fine, which is why I think the 5cm killed the 3.5cm one. When I bought them, the seller bagged them up separately for me in case they turned on each other in the bag .. so that was my first warning! He said they shoudl be fine together in a community tank with lots of hidey places .. but I think I wouldn't buy two together again unless they were both the same size.

I have an almost full sized black whiptail in another tank. he was put in as a baby as well, with a male betta and two platy - no problems there either.

here are the two babies, the one on the glass was the tinier one.

BikBok-may10newwhiptails-efu.jpg

BikBok-may10newwhiptailssb1eb-0qv.jpg

here is my adult whiptail who interestingly has become a creamy brown colour.

BikBok-whiptailmay10-wab.jpg

BikBok-whiptailhammocksb2eb-q4r.jpg

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Thank you so much for your reply and the gorgeous photos! This forum is great! Yes my wee guy looks like your pics, but I am glad to get a good indication of what size he should be when all grown up. Thankfully I only got one, but did also get 2x 3.5cm albino kribs with him, which I think are possibly smaller than advertised, so they are another problem as I think they would get eaten in my big tank. I have one little spare tank, but last Sunday (first time ever), managed to catch my female guppy in time to put her in there and she had about 20 - 30 babies, so they are all in there, and if I put the kribs in that one, they will probably eat my babies. (What dilemas). So I have them in the net with the whiptail. They were all okay this morning, but now you have me a bit worried, so can't wait till the end of the day to at least get him out and into the big tank. Kribs will have to stay in the net until they get a bit bigger I think.

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wow i have never heard of them killing each other, they are teritorial but they hardly have the tools to kill! It seems unlikly that the other fish ate all of him, they are mostly boney plates. maybe he jumped out and a cat or something eat him?

my tank was the same with the back corners cut out for cables, he got out, so beware!

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well I'm mystified as to what happened to him then .. I looked everywhere and even in the filter.

There is a very small opening at the back for the cables but it would be quite a high jump for him and to also be able to get past the cables.

They can kill each other.. the breeder Phil did mention that. Though I'm not sure how.

JS I don't think you need to worry about the whiptail and the Kribs.

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I got them off TM - the guy Collis. Went in with my friend who got some cichlids too. She also got a whiptail but hers is about 3.5cm, so you really need to look twice before you can even see it. I am hoping that once my one goes in the big tank, I will be able to see him from time to time. Fingers crossed that he grows quickly - anything special I should feed him up on?

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I put two small black whiptails in my community tank which houses female betta, dwarf gourami, guppies, kuhli loaches, otos and choc zebra.

They were only 3.5cm and 5cm so very small and skinny!

The smaller one disappeared after a day or so and I'm pretty sure the other whiptail killed it and then all the fish then ate it.

The other fish have not bothered the 5cm one at all and they all get along just fine, which is why I think the 5cm killed the 3.5cm one. When I bought them, the seller bagged them up separately for me in case they turned on each other in the bag .. so that was my first warning! He said they shoudl be fine together in a community tank with lots of hidey places .. but I think I wouldn't buy two together again unless they were both the same size.

I have an almost full sized black whiptail in another tank. he was put in as a baby as well, with a male betta and two platy - no problems there either.

here are the two babies, the one on the glass was the tinier one.

BikBok-may10newwhiptails-efu.jpg

Sorry to hijack, just want to know if the plant in the tank is a Water Sprite? Cheers! :)

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I got them off TM - the guy Collis. Went in with my friend who got some cichlids too. She also got a whiptail but hers is about 3.5cm, so you really need to look twice before you can even see it. I am hoping that once my one goes in the big tank, I will be able to see him from time to time. Fingers crossed that he grows quickly - anything special I should feed him up on?

they grow slowly , taking about 18 months to reach adult size. Mine loves feeding on decaps brine shrimp eggs.. it floats all over the tank before settling on surfaces but he always finds it. Mine have never touched any sort of veges, they will happily eat blood worms, sinking tablets and flakes.

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Sorry to hijack, just want to know if the plant in the tank is a Water Sprite? Cheers! :)

it's just Inidan fern.. grows quickly in most conditons and is easy to transplant. It can be planted in substrate or left free floating.

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I put him in tonight, and so far so good. He just went down to the bottom and sat there. Didn't try to hide or anything. My bigger Kribs were very interested and started poking at him, so I quickly fed everyone to take the attention away and now they seem to have forgotten all about him. He has started moving over the driftwood and is fantastically camouflaged.

My fingers are crossed that everything stays okay with him, as I would love to see him grow up to be like yours BikBok. Thanks for everyone's advice, its much appreciated.

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I couldn't see him anywhere, and then had to leave for work, so am just hoping he is hiding somewhere. He could be behind the driftwood where I can't see. He is nearly the same colourings as my gravel and quite often I lost sight of him last night, but then found him sitting in the gravel right in front of me! It will be a long day until I get home to check on him tonight.

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well i once lost my baby whip in the java fern.. right there in front of me but couldn't see him. I thought he was a dead leaf.

I have also once trimmed up the Indian fern and found him hanging off.. so be careful while he's small!

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So far so good. He's very hard to find, but mostly seems to be hanging out stuck to the glass at the back of the tank and in behind the filter hoses and heater. Haven't seen him eating, but hopefully he will get more comfortable and eventually come out into the tank a bit more.

I am just so relieve that he is still alive.

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He was actually sitting out in full view on my driftwood this morning when I turned their lights on, so at least I know he is moving about. I was looking everywhere (in behind heaters and filter pipes etc) because that's where he usually is, and just as I gave up, there he was right in front of me all along! Usually feed courgette for the bristlenoses (although it seems that everyone loves them), but they are really dear at the moment and not always in the supermarket. What other veges could I put in for them?

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