questions about red tail x shovel nose hybrid.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
A

arata

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 18, 2015
10
0
0
New York
Hello,

I recently purchased a 4inch rtc x shovel nose hybrid. It is housed in a 40 breeder for now bit i will move it to my 3,000 gallon pond when it starts to show significant growth.

its diet consists of brine shrimp, blood worms and and sometimes the hikari sinking carnivore pellets.

The temp is at 80, pH at 7.0 and ammonia,nitrate and nitrite levels at 0. The tank is also well aerated.

I've never really seen it eat, but i know they're known to be nocturnal hunters.
When i put in the food it does not show interest at all but somehow there is always a bulge in its stomach.

It does not seem to be really active either, it just stays in the same spot for most of the day.
It sometimes does this weird things in the day where it will swim around the intake of my canister filter in a continuous pattern.

any suggestions?
 
How long have you had it in that tank? It could be the newcomer stress, is all. It should start showing an active interest in food, lights or not, within a month for sure. Otherwise, something's wrong. If not water, then tank mate bullying, too much lighting, no hiding spot, too much current, too much food, and so on.

Swimming in a pattern around the glass is typical for many fish in an aquarium (wall transparency). They don't do it in a pond.
 
thebiggerthebetter said:
How long have you had it in that tank? It could be the newcomer stress, is all. It should start showing an active interest in food, lights or not, within a month for sure. Otherwise, something's wrong. If not water, then tank mate bullying, too much lighting, no hiding spot, too much current, too much food, and so on.

Swimming in a pattern around the glass is typical for many fish in an aquarium (wall transparency). They don't do it in a pond.
Click to expand...

I've had it in the tank for about 2 weeks now. It only seems to show interest in food at night. its housed with a khuli loach, pleco, upside down cat, and an id shark. I do natural lighting during the day and darkness at night. I have a light but rarely use it. It has a few spots like under driftwood, a fake open log, fake plants, and a large cave. It only seems to like hiding behind the intake of the filter. I drop in one thawed cube of blood worms or brine shrimp per day. If hikari, only about 3 or 4 pellets.
 
I agree with Joe. Sometimes fish don't start feeding for 2 first weeks. Yours is feeding already so this is a good sign. If a fish eats, it can't be that unhappy. When things go seriously wrong, the appetite is the first to go immediately out of window.

Also, it is a matter of size. Confidence grows with size and age and time spent in a tank.

In general (just food for thought is all).

I think your kuhli loach will be eaten pretty soon if not already. IDS may be too depending on its size. Your hybrid should be housed with fish that would most clearly not fit in its mouth. Otherwise, sooner or later they will be food.

Good test kits are liquid, e.g., API master kit.

Nitrate at zero is a red flag. It cannot be.

"Well-aerated" is a subjective call.

The sources of stress I listed above were just several. There are a good couple of dozen of common ones and another couple of dozen of uncommon ones. E.g., in no particular order:
-- illness,
-- toxins NH3, NO2, NO3,
-- light and/or too light-colored environment or substrate, etc.,
-- bullying or predation attempts,
-- lack of a hiding, safe place,
-- inadequate dissolved oxygen (too little agitation, too warm water, too much algae and plants would rob water of oxygen badly at night time),
-- contaminants like heavy metals, lubricants, detergents, cosmetics/perfumes, oils, grease, cleaners, sprays,
-- wrong water hardness, salinity, pH, temp,
-- large daily / frequent swings in water parameters,
-- left-over tap water disinfectants,
-- not enough space,
-- wrong substrate,
-- inadequate current,
-- more useful info for diagnostics can be found here: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...ish-Health-Diagnostics-(Read-before-posting-)
 
thank you. I hope it adjusts well in another 2 weeks or so. I also do have the api master test kit. I test my water every other week and so far everything has been at 0 except for ammonia at .25 ppm before I got the hybrid.
 
Sounds good except the zero result for NO3 is worrisome. NO3 (nitrate) is tricky but w/o going into detail, it never reads zero in any fish tank AFAIK. ****** (Anyone correct me if I am wrong please?) ******** Even in heavily planted tanks (where the plants feed on nitrate), it reads usually around 5 ppm on the API liquid master kit IIRC (I don't do planted tanks).

I'd use a vial with your tap water or whatever water source you use for your water changes as a reference for measuring all three - NH3, NO2, and NO3 and not the color chart. That may make a difference.
 
thebiggerthebetter said:
Sounds good except the zero result for NO3 is worrisome. NO3 (nitrate) is tricky but w/o going into detail, it never reads zero in any fish tank AFAIK. ****** (Anyone correct me if I am wrong please?) ******** Even in heavily planted tanks (where the plants feed on nitrate), it reads usually around 5 ppm on the API liquid master kit IIRC (I don't do planted tanks).

I'd use a vial with your tap water or whatever water source you use for your water changes as a reference for measuring all three - NH3, NO2, and NO3 and not the color chart. That may make a difference.
Click to expand...

I have done this test with other tanks and I get the same results. The only time I see nitrate/nitrite in the past is when there is a small amount of ammonia in the tank.
 
I got one back around christmas that was also around 4". Didn't eat maybe the first 3-4 days, so likely its just stress related, then he started pounding massivore pellets and tilapia filets. Mine hardly moves as well usually just hangs out in the corner til food goes in. I'm sure you already know but just warning you it will get big fast, in the past 2 months I've had it it's almost a foot long. It took out a fat 4" peacock bass when at 6-7" so you'll want to separate him soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom