First Major Mistake

Okay. So I have to admit to my first major mistake. I guess in the long run it isn't that large of a mistake since I have two filters.

Anyways here is the mistake. I have not had filters in one of my filters from day one of this tank. You see I went to change it yesterday only to find it empty. Maybe that's why I have so much algae in the tank.

I was going to change the water in the tank today, but I have decided to wait at least a couple days to allow beneficial bacteria to establish in the new filters. I don't think it is necessary, but I might as well.

New Fish Boesemani Rainbowfish

So I bought 2 Boesemani Rainbowfish. Today. This should wrap up the buying of new fish for this tank.

They are fairly small right now so they lack much of the color that caused me to pick them in the first place, but that's part of the fun - Watching the fish grow up. They seem fine right now but I can't really tell since we are having a electrical issue in my house where the first flow has no power (Until it gets fixed I am running a extension cord for a hour each day to make sure the filter can at least mostly keep things in check).

New Fish - Rainbow Shark

So on Thursday I got a new fish. It is a Rainbow Shark.

So quick story about the purchase. I went and without looking around asked the sales guy if he had any rainbow sharks. He said he only had one left so I decided to buy it. Honestly I wasn't very keen on this, and looking back it was a silly knee jerk reaction, but I took the fish. I asked if they tend to keep them in stock, and she said yes and that they put new fish out on Thursdays.

Now I didn't have any issues with the fish, beyond the fact I like (and should) only buy fish that are in the tank with other fishes. The idea being that if one fish is sick but not showing symptoms there is a high chance another one is that does show symptoms.

So as always I started looking around. That's when I spotted a tank full of brand new rainbow fish. Now two things struck me from the get go.

A. These fish were about 1/2 a inch longer
B. They had much better color

Now I don't want to say there was anything wrong with the first fish, at least from a health standpoint but with so many reasons to prefer the other fish I asked if he would mind me switching it (he already had it bagged and with newspaper on it). He said that would be fine, but I felt bad, because I had wasted his time, but more importantly stressed the fish. He quite nice about it though while I apologized many times.

So I got home and put the fish in the aquarium. While he was still in the bag he was freaking out swimming back and forth in the bag, but seemed *very* happy (very dark color I have yet to see again).

So I took him out and he quickly faded in color (but same color he was when I bought him) and hid behind a plant. Up until today I have yet to see him leave the safety of the plant. Honestly despite reading that these guys will do this hiding thing for long periods of time he was starting to scare me (I doubt he was getting any food). My worries were kind of put to rest because I did see him eating algae off the side of the tank though.

I started staring at him a few days ago, and while he didn't come out from behind the plant he was poking his head out. He clearly was still scared, but also at the same time curious.

Today though when I turned on the light I saw him run from the other side of the tank back to his plant's hiding spot, so at least at night he was getting out.

Later today when I came home I saw him swimming about the tank! When he saw me though... You guessed it... Right back to the plant...

I then went downstairs, and when I came back he was out again! But when he saw me he... Got nervous and *slowly* made his way back to the plant.

I then went downstairs and then back up, and he was out again. This time though he isn't running away!

All the while my cory fish, and one of my swordtails (pregnant female) would hang out with him in the plant. I think they convinced him it was safe to come out. So what did he do it return? It seems he taught the swordtails that the algae on the tank walls was tasty. He even seems to have taught the cory fish that they are not limited to the substrate, and plants for algae. After seeing the cory fish only swim parallel it is kind of funny watching them swim up and down the glass. Now all the fish in the world won't solve my algae problem, but its nice to see them eating it anyways. He went from a very nervous fish to the least nervous fish in half a week. He right now is even playing with my angelfish (which BTW in a very peaceful tank are the least aggressive in the tank).

And the rainbow has the most strange swimming pattern. The best way I can describe it is saying that he looks sick, but he isn't (it mostly looks like a sick swim because he is eating algae all the time swimming up and down and sideways).

Honestly this fish surprised me the most. All my fish have turned out better then I had hoped in their behavior. And with a tank full of so many "semi-aggressive" fish the most aggressive fish I have seen is the male swordtail chasing the females sometimes. Well that and the frogs which are now both in the downstairs tank.

Aggressive Frog

So one of my albino clawed frogs seems to be quite aggressive. For the most part he is pretty laid back and doesn't bother anything, but do not get in his way because he will show you no mercy.

Really I have had issues with him quite a bit in the past. He is very nasty when it comes to feeding time. He will chase any of the fish (including the larger ones) and bat at them with his hands. He kind of scares me because I'm worried he would accidentaly (or perhaps inferentially) kill one or more of my cory catfish. So I have thought about moving him sooner rather then later, but I didn't see the need.

Well just now I saw him attacking one of my swordtails. Let me tell you something. He chases off the other fish, but I have never seen him catch anything (or even come close) other then my cory.

I was quite upset. Even more upset when I realized he wasn't attacking the swordtail but rather had already killed it, and was eating him. I became quite furious to be frank, and I think the only thing that saved him from me not killing him was the fact the swordtail wasn't one of the pregnet ones.

Honestly I'm not in a good mood to start off with. I have a cold (in the middle of August for crying out loud), and am on medication. This frog really was very close to being killed.

Instead I caught him, and toss him into my tank downstairs. I may move the other one downstairs too - Not because he is also causing issues, and not because I care the one now downstairs has no frog company, but instead because the one upstairs now has no frog company.

New Fish: Anglefish

New Fish - Anglefish

So I got Angelfish about a week ago. They seem pretty happy in the tank. They are very interested in what is going on outside the tank.

1 was white/tannish with back strips and the other is black with with/tannish stripes. Their very cool.

The black one though is kind of afraid of the other fish during feeding time. Especially around one of the frogs - But I'll talk more about that frog in my next post.

New Fish: Albino Cory

I got 3 new fish. They are Albino Cory. Poor things had a hard time just at the fish store. The guy nearly caught one of them when he was tying the knot in the bag. Needless to say they were not very excited to be in the bag.

When I got home I had them in the tank acclimating for about 20 minutes. This is actually a bit longer then I typical acclimate (typically 15 minutes), but I figure as long as they are not in any longer then 25 minutes it's a mute point.

Now that they are in the tank though they seem quite content. They fly all over the tank, and in general just have fun. They also seem to have made the Trillneatus Cory much more comfortable in the tank! Beyond that they also seem to have made the frogs more comfortable! Ya... The frogs that are the bosses in the tank... Which is crazy because they are by far the smallest creatures in the tank.

I knew that I wanted this fish. I just had no idea how much.

More Fish

I got 3 Corydoras Trilineatus fish today. I wanted to get the Albino Cory, but the LFS keeps not having them. I guess it doesn't matter because when the tank is done being stocked I want to have 6 cory - I guess I'll just get 3 Albino later.

They are pretty active fish. I always thought cory spend all their time on the bottom of the tank, but I already so one checking out to top of one of my plants.

They also seem to hand out pretty far from each other in the tank. However when I went to try and get the pregnant fish out of the tank all 3 grouped up very quickly until they realized they were not the target of the net.