Hi all,
I really enjoy reading this board - learning a lot!!
We started a 10 gallon tank for our daughter a couple of months ago - got 3 platies, added a 4th, needless to say complete destruction ensued. (one guy at Big Al's said we could add fish, 5 year old dd got excited, manager said no fish - dd cried - we listened to dd instead of the fish guy and we ended up adding too many fish too fast, ick, ammonia spike, ph spike, no cycling.....)
Waited 2 weeks, read a lot on the net, tank cycled - added live plants, chemicals fine, some salt added - added 3 platies (2 female, 1 male) - all well, 2 weeks later added 2 more platies (both females) - a month later - Baby platies - 2 weeks later more baby platies. (lots of cannibalism, caught 7 of first batch - 6 still alive, and 4 of second batch) We have the babies in a separate small 2 gallon acrylic tank with mini filter (carbon & fluff only, no bio filter) & 7.5 watt heater which I've put on a timer & bubbler, all is fine. No chemical problems in either tank. Weekly to week and a half vacumming and water changes in big tank. Every 2-3 days water changes in the acrylic mini tank. Lots of snails in both tanks. Big tank has some brown and green algae on the fake plants, but glass seems ok - no big buildup on glass.
Fish seem to behave ok - come to front of tank to see us when we come and watch them. All eat well. We feed usually only in the morning - whatever they can eat fast - within a half minute or minute, sometimes a small evening snack but thats it. The eat standard flaked food, or spirulina flakes, or occasionaly dried blood worms. One of the original females often likes to hide in the back under and behind the plants - call her Goldie. She seems to have decided that this area - well planted with wisteria - is her territory and she spends a lot of time in the forested area.
Problem: For the past few weeks, Goldie (female) and the male are both chasing the other original female - call her Red. Really chasing her. They zip around the tank super fast, Red's top fin is slightly ragged - not sure if its from ducking around stuff or if she is being nipped - may be a bit of both. Goldie sometimes chases one of the other 2 females and the last female is never chased. Goldie chases the other fish out of the forested area and as well all over the tank - nipping too. Male nips at Red too.
Red was for sure the mommy of the second batch of fry. We have no clue who mommy of first batch was. Red often sits with fins flat down. She comes around stuff warily looking for the other fish and backs up if she sees them. She will often try to hide somewhere where the others are, but often Goldie will follow her to chase and nip at her. Red now spends a good part of her day hiding in our pirate shipwreck ornament, way down in the base in the dark. She sleeps there too. Eats well. Comes out to see me normally when I peek at her in the ship - I peek for awhile and she eventually notices me and comes out. Comes out to eat, but otherwise hides. She otherwise seems to be ok - no ick, no other obvious symptoms.
Any ideas on how to reduce the chasing and stress?
Is is possible we are underfeeding?
Would a bigger tank help or would they just chase her around a bigger space? We are considering a 12" x 30", I think its 29 gallon, Marineland Eclipse for Christmas present for dd, as that is pretty much the biggest we have space for - and if we keep having babies we are totally out of room in the 10 gallon now!!! (5 adults, 10 babies....)
Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance for any advice. *BOUNCINGS
I really enjoy reading this board - learning a lot!!
We started a 10 gallon tank for our daughter a couple of months ago - got 3 platies, added a 4th, needless to say complete destruction ensued. (one guy at Big Al's said we could add fish, 5 year old dd got excited, manager said no fish - dd cried - we listened to dd instead of the fish guy and we ended up adding too many fish too fast, ick, ammonia spike, ph spike, no cycling.....)
Waited 2 weeks, read a lot on the net, tank cycled - added live plants, chemicals fine, some salt added - added 3 platies (2 female, 1 male) - all well, 2 weeks later added 2 more platies (both females) - a month later - Baby platies - 2 weeks later more baby platies. (lots of cannibalism, caught 7 of first batch - 6 still alive, and 4 of second batch) We have the babies in a separate small 2 gallon acrylic tank with mini filter (carbon & fluff only, no bio filter) & 7.5 watt heater which I've put on a timer & bubbler, all is fine. No chemical problems in either tank. Weekly to week and a half vacumming and water changes in big tank. Every 2-3 days water changes in the acrylic mini tank. Lots of snails in both tanks. Big tank has some brown and green algae on the fake plants, but glass seems ok - no big buildup on glass.
Fish seem to behave ok - come to front of tank to see us when we come and watch them. All eat well. We feed usually only in the morning - whatever they can eat fast - within a half minute or minute, sometimes a small evening snack but thats it. The eat standard flaked food, or spirulina flakes, or occasionaly dried blood worms. One of the original females often likes to hide in the back under and behind the plants - call her Goldie. She seems to have decided that this area - well planted with wisteria - is her territory and she spends a lot of time in the forested area.
Problem: For the past few weeks, Goldie (female) and the male are both chasing the other original female - call her Red. Really chasing her. They zip around the tank super fast, Red's top fin is slightly ragged - not sure if its from ducking around stuff or if she is being nipped - may be a bit of both. Goldie sometimes chases one of the other 2 females and the last female is never chased. Goldie chases the other fish out of the forested area and as well all over the tank - nipping too. Male nips at Red too.
Red was for sure the mommy of the second batch of fry. We have no clue who mommy of first batch was. Red often sits with fins flat down. She comes around stuff warily looking for the other fish and backs up if she sees them. She will often try to hide somewhere where the others are, but often Goldie will follow her to chase and nip at her. Red now spends a good part of her day hiding in our pirate shipwreck ornament, way down in the base in the dark. She sleeps there too. Eats well. Comes out to see me normally when I peek at her in the ship - I peek for awhile and she eventually notices me and comes out. Comes out to eat, but otherwise hides. She otherwise seems to be ok - no ick, no other obvious symptoms.
Any ideas on how to reduce the chasing and stress?
Is is possible we are underfeeding?
Would a bigger tank help or would they just chase her around a bigger space? We are considering a 12" x 30", I think its 29 gallon, Marineland Eclipse for Christmas present for dd, as that is pretty much the biggest we have space for - and if we keep having babies we are totally out of room in the 10 gallon now!!! (5 adults, 10 babies....)
Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance for any advice. *BOUNCINGS
