MY 100TH POST!!!!

[cichlid savage]

As this is my 100th post (so what I'm still a newbie) I thought I should say something profound and prophetic. Instead I thought i would ask and tell what do you think your biggest mistake was in fish keeping, and what you learned from it.

Me first. I over staocked a 55 gal with an array of ill matched fish. The tank came down with ich and only 6 fish survived although a few got eaten b4 the ich took over. I learned to research fish before purchasing them Never, Ever overstock, over filtration is better than under, and make sure the fish are compatible.

 

[Lil_Stinker]

So why not; this is my 100th post too.

My biggest oops, was doing a rescue of a tank at the local elementary school. I pulled this bunch of fish out of a 1/3 full 55g tank that had no filtration for like 2 months.. the sides were blak & red algea. you couldnt see a thing, the water was litteral pond scum.

after drip aclimation & release in my 46g bow front, there were 4 fish I could not identify. I am still not sure I want to. They made short work of my community as well as their current tank-mates. They are the only ones that made it out alive. (this all happpened while I was cleaning & scraping the 55g in the garage about 3 hours work.)

There are now only 3 of them & they are in a 10g tank. I still have no idea what they are, I dont care to know. they just wont die..

I dare not feed them to my oscars, I think they (at only 3in total length each) may actually kill my 8to10 inch oscars.

 

[guppy]

I want to know what they are, lol. Post pics!

 

[Lil_Stinker]

I want to know what they are, lol. Post pics!

The best pic I coud get.. they are fast buggers..

they seem to like to eat fins

 

[guppy]

They are albino danios (Devario spp?), probably giant danios (Devario aequipinnatus) 6", possibly malabar danios (Devario malabaricus) 4 3/4", although they can reach the sizes listed above they average 3 1/2-"4" as adults. Very fast, active fish that can become fin nippers, not expensive and very easy to breed, these and zebra danios were the first egg layers I bred. They prefer water near neutral pH but tolerate 6-8pH. They also prefer current and temps around mid 70s but can survive almost stagnant water at temps from mid 50s-mid 90s (2 out of 6 malabars and some zebra danios survived an afternoon in a tank at 106 F after a heater malfunction, everything else cooked), tough little fish.
They are micro-predators eating small inverts and tiny fish, fry and eggs (including their own). I like them as expendable dithers and have even kept them with rpbs, they last awhile before getting caught and eaten. It doesn't suprise me they survived the "death tank" but they could be fed to your oscars, or get 5-6 more, throw them in a shallow, planted 55g, and breed them. They are good fish for cycling up a tank.

 

[Lil_Stinker]

They are albino danios (Devario spp?), .... They are good fish for cycling up a tank.

I guess I know where they are about to go... Wet run on the 55g is complete & its time to cycle... Then they may end up as lunch.. I am certainly not interested in breeding them..

Thanks for the heads up on the ID...

I have to go do partials on the 55 & 46 then finish the setup of the new 55 ...

The new 55 will get 10 (5/5) from the other two to start the cycle.

Now to decide what will go in the new (used) 55 hmmm

 

[guppy]

See the idea for stocking a 55g with African fish in the general discussion forum.
Or the list for the "75g options" thread and just leave out the butterflyfish

 

[blacklabel_1988]

argh just posted that live barrers are my most hated fish, just reminded me of how much hatetred i have for dainos... i wouldent feed them to my oscars, they deserve better. and the dainos deserve to die a much more tragic death.

and probly my biggest mistake was semi overstocking a tank (wasent my fault) was my first tank (65g) had about 55-60 in of fish in there when i started, 2 weeks latter water got cloudy, and would not clear up... so i sat down and did some simple math, and i had 90 some odd in of fish in it (they grew... LOTS) split them up, most of the fish i didnt like went in a 40 gal, then got eaten by my channel cat that i just put in there 2 weeks ago, then most of the fish in my 65 gal are gone, something is eating them at night. dont like the community fish anymore so i dont realy care.

 

[guppy]

That's it, blame the fish, lol.

 

[johno27]

Silly fish always growing Giant danios made excellent dithers for my peacocks but they are disappearing at the rate of about 1 every two days I am down to 9 from 12 But they did their job already my bass accept frozen food and are not shy