Thinking of doing something potentially stupid

[aakaakaak]

So I swung by the big store and picked up 3xLeopard Danios and 1xGold Zebra Danio. All four fish were under $5 total. It looks like their common fish are just as cheap, if not cheaper than other places.

So I was chatting with the fish catcher girl and she says pretty much anything of similar size, whether danios or tetras will school like normal. Is she right in this or, as I suspect, full of crap?

 

[bassbonediva]

I believe she is partially correct. Fish with similar body shapes and activity levels with generally school together. For example, the gold barbs, white cloud mountain minnows and leopard danios in my 46gal bowfront all hang out together (they don't feel threatened enough to actually school). Then you get oddballs like one of my harlequin rasbora who apparently thinks he's a glowlight tetra, because he schools with the glowlights, but ignores the other harlies (they have COMPLETELY different body shapes).

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

Full of crap.....Mostly....some will some won't.

 

[riseabovethesun]

I kind of have a silly rasbora (kubotai) like Paige, he has schooled with my cardinals, my rummies, moved to schooling with the black neons and what not. He's an oddball. I definitely think its better to try and keep similar species, but it is possible to condition other behaviors.

 

[aakaakaak]

Well, they're all acclimated and psychotically danio-level happy together. The new longfin gold is about twice the size of the others (about as long as my dwarf gourami) but doesn't seem to care about being too big. The two mollies have definitely split off from the danio pack. Thanks Paige and everyone else.

Blue Ram next week...

 

[aakaakaak]

So, to just keep on the same thread, I noticed the big LFS would only sell the GBR's in pairs. Is this just for mating purposes, or does something happen if there's not two of them?

 

[bassbonediva]

That's odd. My male is fine by himself.

Maybe they think that if they sell a male singly or whatever, that there will be more aggression from the singleton? IDK.

 

[aakaakaak]

I'll ask em next week if I don't get one from the fish bubbas. I'm guessing it has something to do with breeding pairs.

 

[bassbonediva]

What do you mean by "something to do with breeding pairs"? Like if you split up the breeding pair, they won't be as happy. Not the case with rams. My boy lost his mate and he didn't even care. lol

 

[aakaakaak]

ROFL, your GBR is gangsta. He don't need no hoes.

 

[Thyra]

I wish my neons and tetras would school. I do a head count every morning and night and they make it very difficult. Its doubly hard because I have a mirror background. Which BTW has worked out very well - the fish don't mind it at all. It is plexiglass and fits up tight against the glass. It didn't work on the betta tank, tho - I tried it and that was the only time I ever saw him flare!

 

[bassbonediva]

Nah, he *thinks* he's a gangsta, but no one is really afraid of him. ROFL! He tried charging down my huge female albino cory because I had the cories from the 55gal in there for a while after my 55gal lost most of its water and I was trying to figure out why (still haven't figured out why! It's back up and running and holding water just fine). She just sat there like "Whatever, dude." Of course, she is about twice his size, but still! ROFL!

 

[aakaakaak]

Yeah, I completely hear you on the wannabe gangsta fish. When I brought the danios home today my dwarf-g was flaring at the bags. Five minutes after I let all four of them out he was hiding in the corner like a chump. (It didn't help that I ended up with a mutant-sized zebra.)

Oh, and those leopard danios look totally amazing! Do yours have those little white tips at the end of their fins?

 

[bassbonediva]

No, but my white cloud mountain minnows do. lol

 

[aakaakaak]

If I can find the time (and slow them little buggers down somehow, lol.) I'll take a few shots of em.

Edit: Here's an example of what I'm talking about. On the top fin and tail you can see white at the end.
http://matildasaquarium.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/leopard-danio.jpg?w=200&h=126

 

[bassbonediva]

Huh. Nope, never seen anything like that on my leopards. I need to do a WC so I can get some pics. My water looks like tea because of the DW I put in the tank.

 

[aakaakaak]

I expected mine to get very tea-like with the huge DW that takes up 2/3 the tank, but I'm not really getting it that bad. It's got a little of it, but I think it looks cool.

Your DW looks cool BTW. I saw the pics on FL.

Finally caught my super timid clown pleco eating the english cucumber I've been leaving for him this morning. Finally, he/she eats something besides the DW.

 

[aakaakaak]

So not to add more threads than needed, one of my glofish has become emaciated over the past few days. It's not eating and is sluggish. Now this morning I noticed a second one (both males) doing this. The second one isn't emaciated yet, but he's moving slower and doesn't seem to be eating much.

Have they picked up internal parasites or something?

 

[ryanoh]

You know, I've seen this thread for days and I just new realized it was the thread about community rams I've been looking for.
I want to add a pair of rams to my tank also once it gets put back together. I've read they get aggressive after they breed, and I was just wondering if my other bottom dwellers (4 corys and a whiptail) would be okay if the rams got a little defensive.

 

[bassbonediva]

@ryanoh-My male ram, when he had a mate, would "protect" her from the neons and cory (only had one at the time), but it was never anything serious. Now he thinks he's king of the tank (he's not...everyone ignores him) since his mate died.

@aakaakaak-Thanks! That piece of DW is really cool 'cuz it has rocks lodged in it.