Sexing Tiger Barbs/Mysterious Platy Death

[Mrs.K]

interesting topic... and great advice...but I have a question, how can you tell if one is a male or female?... this all new to me as well... I have a 55 gallon and began to cycle it with 2 tiger barbs and 2 red platties... one of the platties must have been sick because it didn't last a day...however I cannot tell their sexes...help.... thank you.

[mod note]This post was originally in another thread about tiger barbs, to avoid hijacking that thread, I've split it into its own[/mod note]

 

[punkrockfish]

mrs. k, not sure on the sexing of tiger barbs, but i can tell you that the platy probably died from lack of a cycled tank. there is a sticky on fishless cycling in the freshwater beginner forum, and missfishy has info on her website as well. i highly suggest you check that out before you do anything else with your tank.

 

[JWright]

Id' be surprised if the platy died due to the uncycled tank. While I certainly don't reccomend cycling a tank with fish (since there are much better methods out there), 4 small fish are not going to produce any kind of bioload in a 55, and you wouldn't even be seeing detectable levels of ammonia after a day. More than likely it was sick already and the stress from being moved from the store to the tank did it in. What process did you use to acclimate the new fish before you added them to the tank?

As far as sexing barbs... Male tiger barbs generally have red "trim" on the nose and the tip of the dorsal, where females are generally yellowish in those areas.

~JW

 

[Mrs.K]

why thank you for the info... I'm pretty sure it was sick when I bought it, I couldn't tell til I was home (the platty)... I know ppl don't recommend cycling with fish, but since the process has already began, how many more should I add to properly cycle a 55 gal. tank?

 

[Mrs.K]

as for the cycling process I slow dripped acclimated them over the course of an hour... and I ensured proper ph and proper temp. (I learned this from my husband who is a salt water enthusiast with our 180 gallon tank)... and I filled the tank with 0 tds water from his purifier.

 

[Fuzz16]

dont add anymore fish
keep up on water changes
dont feed the fish in there very much

 

[Mrs.K]

ok... good... now what about snails... there's already 2 in there... should I add more?... I have 2 tiger barbs, one red platty, a couple of ribbon and wisteria plants... is that sufficient enough to cycle?

 

[JWright]

You're not going to see much of a cycle with that low a bio-load, but watch your ammonia and nitrite levels to see when they spike and then drop off to 0. Once that happens, you're safe to add a few more fish. Again, you'll see a small ammonia and nitrite spike, which will go away, and a few more fish can be added. Lather, rinse, repeat until you're fully stocked.

~JW

 

[Mrs.K]

great....thanks for the information.

 

[MissFishy]

I agree, the stress of moving probably killed off the platy. Make sure you treated your water. Don't mess around with the PH, leave that be. As for cycling, it will take you a long time to cycle with the current stocking in there. Please take the time to read up on either the stickies or the website link in my signature for some more easy cycling information and basic tank set up and maintainance information.