Moving Fish- Silver Dollars

[LBDave]

I had SDs for ~14 years, in a group of 5, with a sailfin Pleco. They never bred, so I assumed they were all males. (all large)

I tried to move them to a bigger tank and they perished one by one. I never knew why, except that they were very old, and the stress weakened them. I did an instant cycle transfer of everything to the new tank over a course of days, and I had no major water quality issues.

But at that age a minor one might be enough.

I had 2 old ones die when I started tank in September. It was my fault. Before that these guys and gal lived in 40gal hex with almost zero maintenance. I'm not afraid to admit it. At the time (before I got back in hobby), I didn't care. Now I do and I read up.
BTW - SD's are back to normal for now. Apparently they got the breeding out of their system with for now.
I think this was all pent up as they stopped breeding about a month ago. Just think the oscars and pbass got too big. No room to "do their thing".

 

[moe214]

They were probably intimidated by the Oscars being that there's only three, I experienced this as I've tried them with larger fish, when I added more I noticed a pecking order get established and they were much calmer.

We are not saying to do anything or look out for anything, just letting you know what you experienced with the skittishness is normal for that number of SD. If you wanna get more go for it, they're alone so I'm sure they'll be fine, just might not get used to you as fast or possibly ever. You could get other species of SD that may interest you, they find comfort in eachother still ime.

 

[LBDave]

They were probably intimidated by the Oscars being that there's only three, I experienced this as I've tried them with larger fish, when I added more I noticed a pecking order get established and they were much calmer.

We are not saying to do anything or look out for anything, just letting you know what you experienced with the skittishness is normal for that number of SD. If you wanna get more go for it, they're alone so I'm sure they'll be fine, just might not get used to you as fast or possibly ever. You could get other species of SD that may interest you, they find comfort in eachother still ime.

Well the SD's are back to normal. I don't think it was the oscars that stopped the breeding. These SD's bred plenty of times with the oscars and bass. Lately the bass have been growing at an incredible rate and the oscars are also growing. As far as chasing the SDs impacting them it was more the bass. Oscars were basically indifferent.
Basically what I am seeing I think is the "dither" effect. With a low populated tank I can see the effect and also lack thereof. I think it is similar with other animals. When there are other non-aggresive animals nearby it has a calming effect. In nature it can signal that there are no predators near. And if a predator arrives the nearby animals signal this to their "herd" and others nearby. I am noticing this more with the one geo. He seems to gravitate to the SDs at times. Seems reassuring to him.

 

[Ulu]

I might consider a large silver dollar as a friend to my oscar because I think I could put one fish in with him if I could convince them to get along.

With some fish what I will do is set up a temporary tank close to the other, so the fish can see each other. I will let them watch each other for a month or more before I try to put them together.

Sometimes this works out but I've only used this method with bettas and cichlids, who are notoriously aggressive.

 

[LBDave]

Ok. So I did a water change today and again the silver dollars went a bit frantic when I put water back in. Couple hit sides of the tank pretty hard. After the change one (male)sat on its side at the bottom corner. Gills panting. The other 2 were fine. Then the other male layed down beside this one (few minutes later). The female just set steady nearby. I was cleaning the other tank in the other room. When I checked again they were all swimming together. After I finished cleaning the other tank I checked again. They were breeding. And the most aggressive one with the darkest black tipped fins and body spots? The one that initially was laying down at he bottom of the tank.

 

[Ulu]

Hah! Sounds like an Oscar.

 

[moe214]

Ok. So I did a water change today and again the silver dollars went a bit frantic when I put water back in. Couple hit sides of the tank pretty hard. After the change one (male)sat on its side at the bottom corner. Gills panting. The other 2 were fine. Then the other male layed down beside this one (few minutes later). The female just set steady nearby. I was cleaning the other tank in the other room. When I checked again they were all swimming together. After I finished cleaning the other tank I checked again. They were breeding. And the most aggressive one with the darkest black tipped fins and body spots? The one that initially was laying down at he bottom of the tank.

Well you have three fish and the wrong ratio most would suggest 2 female and one male but I get if you didn't know how to sex theme until you kept them that's how I was able to see the hook everyone talked about lol, they're gonna compete and fight more than normal though most likely. You'll probably find wc will make it more likely for them to breed as if it had just rained.

As to the other post, I just said Oscar cause they're taller bodied than a bass of equal length so can be more intimidating. Wasn't focused on aggression as I don't consider them to be very territorial.

 

[LBDave]

I have 2 males and one female. They breed all they time. Yes water changes can cause it be they don't always need that to breed. Had for about 7 years so the "you will find" misses the point and isn't relevant.. They don't fight and I'm not looking for advice.

 

[Ulu]

I have 3 modest male mollies and one huge fat female. They are constantly after her, but she can take it. This one can squirt out the babies. The males are happy enough that they don't fight, but there are guppies above to distract them, and big mono sebae below to keep them busy looking down. So far the aggression is manageable.