Not So Hardy

Yesterday I noticed that my sole remaining Zebra Danio was missing a small part of its tail and that it was not looking too well. This morning more of its tail had been eaten and it was swimming at the bottom of the tank. I thought I might have a nipper in the tank, but when I got home tonight I found him dead on the gravel, half eaten. Guess he was not well. It appears fish have a strange way of looking after their own.

I had better keep my eye on one of the Leopard Danios, as it is not looking so happy either. The others appear to be fine and are swimming around happily.

Cardinal Tetra Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Cardinal Tetra

Scientific Name	Paracheirodon axelrodi
Family	Characidae
Common Names	Cardinal Tetra
Origin	Northern South America, Venezuela, through Brazil Into Eastern Colombia
Adult Size	5cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	3 - 4 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	4.5 - 7.0
Hardness	2.0 - 8.0 dH
Temperature	24 - 29 C

Baby Is Back

Guess who I found today? One baby Molly hiding under the bogwood, trying to avoid the Siamese Fighter who is keeping an eye out for a quick snack. I happened to notice that the Siamese was hanging around the bogwood with a very keen interest in what was there. He reminded me a bit of how a cat stalks its prey. He was just floating very still by the bogwood, staring at one location. Then suddenly I saw the baby Molly swim out and the Siamese darted forward trying to catch it, but luckily for the baby Molly the Siamese was too slow, this time.

I thought about catching the baby and placing it in the filter box until it is a bit bigger, but because it is hiding in the crevices of the bogwood, it might be difficult to get to it, so I have decided to let nature take its course.

More Cardinal Tetras

We went and bought six more Cardinal Tetras today. The original plan was to buy four and get two more female Mollies, as the male Molly is constantly harassing the speckled female Molly and ignoring the other two females. I thought this was a bit strange until I discovered that there are two aquarium species of Molly, the Black Molly and the Sailfin Molly. Males are easy to tell apart, one has a small dorsal fin and the other has a long one, but the females all look the same (to me at least). I guess I bought one Back Molly female and two Sailfin Molly females. Once again not doing my research has led to this predicament. As I was perusing the pet shop tank for new females that look similar to the one we currently have, I noticed a dead Molly in the tank. One thing I have learnt from all my research is that never to buy fish from a tank that has a dead fish in, as you do not know what the cause of death was. So we ended up just getting the six Cardinals instead.

Can you spot the new ones?

Kids Club

Over the last few days I have noticed a large weight gain on one of the Danios and a large weight loss from the speckled Molly. This morning I discovered why. I noticed a baby Molly swimming amongst the Vallis. So we have officially opened a kids club at the hotel.

I thought the mommy Molly looked a bit on the plump side when we got her and hoped she was pregnant, turns out that she was. I guess the rest of the young became a fast food snack for the rest of the fish as the last remaining one was not there tonight. This would explain why the Danio's stomach is so swollen. Eating food on the swim. If I had more foliage in the tank for the babies to hide in, it might have increased their survival chances. Pity I did not have a small tank to transfer the babies to, might be something I will get in the future.

Took some photos, but because of the Mollie's size it was very difficult to get a decent shot.

Can you see the baby?

Look at the red circle

Death By Exhaustion

Last night I noticed our last male Guppy resting on the gravel, panting away. Did not look happy at all. Because he had done this before and then bounced back to health, I was not too concerned, but unfortunately I discovered him dead this morning. Either he died from poor health or he exhausted himself entertaining the two female Guppies.

He will be missed by all.

Uprooted

I have been away for a few days and came back to a tank that has had most of the Cabomba uprooted. My current suspects are the Mollies as they have a habit of nibbling on plants and if those plants are not rooted down strongly, they slowly get pulled free of the substrate and end up floating.

I took some awful photos to show the effects of the uprooted plants in the tank.

The sparse location where the plants used to be.

Caught on the Java fern and Vallis

Caught on the bogwood

Replanted

Cleaning Crew

I have noticed an increase in algae growth on the bogwood over the last two weeks and decided I had better do something about it. After a bit of research I discovered that Mollies (Poecilia sphenops) like to eat algae as part of their diet, so I bought four today to help keep the algae growth down in the tank. Of course doing regular water changes helps reduce the amount of algae growth, but having a cleaning crew helps as well.

We bought four different coloured ones, total black male, white and with black spots female, total white female and a total orange female. The white and orange ones are settling in and have already started eating some of the algae. The other two are currently a bit skittish and are hiding below the filter or amongst the plants.

I also decided to get two female guppies to keep the remaining male happy. He appears to be happy and is already chasing them around the tank.

Fish Update

It appears that the last remaining Guppy is back to his old self. He is once again swimming around with the other fish. I suspect that the heat wave we had caused the tank temperature to rise, which might have affected him. He was swimming at the bottom of the tank where the water was cooler and not swimming around too much. I am just glad that so far he has survived.

My solution that I used in the "And They Call Him Houdini" blog to keep the Siamese Fighter out of the filter appears to be working. He often snoops around the pipe and plant container to see if he can find a way in, but so far I am winning.

Bloodworms

Today we went to the local fish shop to get some frozen bloodworms for the guests. I thought it would be a good idea to vary their diet. The bloodworms come in a pack of 30 portions. I popped one portion out and dropped the frozen cube into the tank. It took a while to thaw out and then sank to the bottom of the tank as one big lump of knotted worms. The fish loved them, especially the Danios, Cories and the Cardinals. One Danio ate so much that it's stomach is now exceptionally swollen. Hope this will not cause it any harm.

I think the amount of worms in one portion is too much for the number of fish I have in the tank at the moment. Next time I treat them I will only give them half the amount and also thaw it out before hand so that it can spread around the tank in the current, giving the fish more of a chance to get some, instead of them all fighting over it at one location and the strongest hogging it all to themselves.

I am a bit worried about the last Guppy at the moment. He was not interested at all in the worms and is very lethargic at the moment. I suspect he is not well and might be checking out soon as well.

More Snails

I have now counted 7 snails in the tank, consisting of 2 different species. One species is from the Physidae Family and I think they are Physa spec, otherwise known as pond snails. I have not been able to identify the other species yet as the snails are currently too small and their shells are white without any identifying features.

The Physa spec were the first snails I spotted when starting the tank and they have more than doubled in size and number. I often see them on the bogwood, glass and on some of the plants, especially the Java fern, eating the algae growing on them. I was lucky to see two either mating or fighting tonight. There is not much information out there on the Internet to suggest one or the other, but if there are a bunch of new baby snails in two to three weeks time, I will know which one it was.

Messy Tank

The tank is currently looking very messy. I have just removed some Cabomba that was not looking too great and suddenly the whole tank is full of Cabomba pieces. Generally there are always a few pieces of Cabomba floating around or stuck on the filter grid, but now it is everywhere. I have been thinking of removing the plant for a few weeks now as it has been looking very sparse and unhealthy compared to the others. Little did I know that when I did remove it, it would get revenge and shed a load of leaves into the tank Not wanting to throw it away, I have put it into the fish pond outside to see what will happen. Maybe it will recover and I might put it back into the tank again.