Posted by Purrsian  on April 18, 2004 at 19:54:

Ok, well we put in the fish yesterday. There is a bristlenose catfish who has been living in a smaller, non-heated tank for a few days, an angelfish and 10 neon tetras. Well there were 10.
Now there are 9. Woke up this morning to one dead. It was stuck on the filter sucker bit, so I thought maybe he either got stuck there and died or touched the heater, which is next to it. Could that be right, and if so, how can I stop them doing that?
My other question is about feeding. I have catfish pellets but I'm unsure if he's actually eating them because he's only active when the lights are out. Also, the angelfish doesn't seem to be eating. I don't know if he's on a hunger strike or too stupid to realise there's food or that he just doesn't want to move. He sits in one place all day except at nighttime, when he swims around a bit. The neons get all the food because they're crazy.
Is it just that the catfish and angelfish aren't used to their surroundings, or is there a problem that I need to deal with?
The water temperature is right, we don't have a ph tester thingi but it's filtered tap water, so it should be fairly neutral anyhow.
Should the neons be fed flakes that are really small, or doesn't it matter?
And one last question, one of my neons has a deformed looking bump on it's tummy, like worse then the other females that are slightly fatter. It's not like deformed or diseased or something, is it??? Hoping it's either just fat or pregnant, but are there any diseases that do that? Just worried, don't want any more dying on me!
Thank you for any help and sorry for the many many questions!

Posted by Stacey  on April 30, 2004 at 19:46:

In Reply to: Help! New aquarium, lotsa questions... posted by Purrsian on April 18, 2004 at 19:54:

I hope you put chlorine out in your tank to remove that. Also, it takes a few days for fish to adjust to their new environment so, they prolly wont eat, move, or anything much. Neons though, they are hard to keep alive anyways. Make sure your water temp is about 72 degrees and the ph is good. By now though your tank should be destressing, and activity beginning to pick up. Angelfish are agressive sometimes, so you'll prolly see some action between him and the neons before long. Sort of a cat-and-mouse thing. The angel loves warmer water though and if you keep your temp/ph at a good level you should have a beautiful tank with lots of activity. Watch your neons closely, if any of them start exibiting signs of swimming oddly, upside down, things like that... you need to put a treatment in there for dropsy. Anywho, if you have anymore questions, specifics please. I'll be more than happy to help. I am an avid aquariumist

Thanks!

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