T. espei rasboras need to school

[Elaine T]

Had the most interesting thing happen with my T. espei (lambchop)
rasboras. I had three, which I tried to put with the betta and then
rescued to the 5 gallon tank. They were pale, not eating, and staying
in exactly the same spot in the tank. All water params tested fine.
After three days of this behavior, I decided maybe they were insecure as
a trio. On a hunch, I decided to take a risk and bought the last three
fish from LFS to make a school of six.

As soon as I put the new fish in, the original trio swam over to check
them out. After a half hour or so, the six fish started exploring the
tank as a tight school. Two hours later, I fed the ram and to my
surprise the new fish ate. Even more surprising, the original trio
watched the new fish eating and ate too, for the first time in days.

Now, only two days later, all six fish are beautifully colored, eating
so eagerly that the ram has to fight for his share, and the trio that
survived the betta tank are growing their tails back. Apparantly, these
fish were simply not content kept in a small group. I wonder if these
are wild-caught fish accustomed to being in a large school. I've kept
the closely related harlequins before in groups of three and four and
never seen schooling this tight or any insecurity.

Anyway, I thought this was interesting enough to share.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Ozdude]

"Elaine T" > wrote in message
t...

> As soon as I put the new fish in, the original trio swam over to check
> them out. After a half hour or so, the six fish started exploring the
> tank as a tight school. Two hours later, I fed the ram and to my surprise
> the new fish ate. Even more surprising, the original trio watched the new
> fish eating and ate too, for the first time in days.

I had a similar experience last week with Neon Tetras. The LFS#1 lady gave
me a free single neon, which at the time I thought might be a problem, and
it looked under coloured, wouldn't eat and was hopelessly swimming around
trying to fit in with the other species of Tetra in the tank (Serpae,
Hockey, Black Neon and Black Phantom).

I felt so sorry for it and got quite worried about it, so the next day I
went back to the shop and bought 4 more. Almost instantly they shoaled,
coloured up to a bright blue and red and they feed as aggressively as the
Hockey Sticks, who will almost jump out of the water to eat sometimes.

They put their black cousins to shame, who, as far as feeding "etiquette"
go, are the pussies of the tank - they are very particular about the size
and position of the feed, like, they like to strike at small flakes on the
surface and will not under any circumstances go near the substrate or eat
mid water. The only things they will eat submerged are frozen blood worms
and that's a **** fight at the best times with my little charges ;)

The Neons will even tackle floating pellets several times their mouth size
and of late they look like they might be trying to spawn as well.

It's quite amazing what a school of a single fish will do over one lone one
which feels threatened or vulnerable.

I am getting another 5 Neons next Wednesday, so I'll have 10 in total - they
look so good under the lights, they are hard to resist.

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith

[Larry]

<snip>
>As soon as I put the new fish in, the original trio swam over to check
>them out. After a half hour or so, the six fish started exploring the
>tank as a tight school. Two hours later, I fed the ram and to my
>surprise the new fish ate. Even more surprising, the original trio
>watched the new fish eating and ate too, for the first time in days.
<snip>

Hi Elaine,

What type of ram do you have? I have one gold and would love to get
another one or two (blues preferably) but am scared away at the
description that they are quite sensitive to water quality.

Your thoughts? And secondly if I may pick your brain how many hours
of light should I use. I now have a timer and it goes on at 10am and
off at 11 pm. Should I have it turn off and on more than once
throughout the day?

TIA


Larry

[sophie]

In message >, Elaine T
> writes
>Had the most interesting thing happen with my T. espei (lambchop)
>rasboras. I had three, which I tried to put with the betta and then
>rescued to the 5 gallon tank. They were pale, not eating, and staying
>in exactly the same spot in the tank. All water params tested fine.
>After three days of this behavior, I decided maybe they were insecure
>as a trio. On a hunch, I decided to take a risk and bought the last
>three fish from LFS to make a school of six.
>
>As soon as I put the new fish in, the original trio swam over to check
>them out. After a half hour or so, the six fish started exploring the
>tank as a tight school. Two hours later, I fed the ram and to my
>surprise the new fish ate. Even more surprising, the original trio
>watched the new fish eating and ate too, for the first time in days.
>
>Now, only two days later, all six fish are beautifully colored, eating
>so eagerly that the ram has to fight for his share, and the trio that
>survived the betta tank are growing their tails back. Apparantly,
>these fish were simply not content kept in a small group. I wonder if
>these are wild-caught fish accustomed to being in a large school. I've
>kept the closely related harlequins before in groups of three and four
>and never seen schooling this tight or any insecurity.
>
>Anyway, I thought this was interesting enough to share.

It is! The single lambchop I have schools very happily with the
harlequins - and it also seemed perfectly happy on its own in a tank
full of dwarf gourami in the aquatics shop, for what it's worth.
--
sophie

[Elaine T]

Larry wrote:
> <snip>
>
>>As soon as I put the new fish in, the original trio swam over to check
>>them out. After a half hour or so, the six fish started exploring the
>>tank as a tight school. Two hours later, I fed the ram and to my
>>surprise the new fish ate. Even more surprising, the original trio
>>watched the new fish eating and ate too, for the first time in days.
>
> <snip>
>
> Hi Elaine,
>
> What type of ram do you have? I have one gold and would love to get
> another one or two (blues preferably) but am scared away at the
> description that they are quite sensitive to water quality.
>
> Your thoughts? And secondly if I may pick your brain how many hours
> of light should I use. I now have a timer and it goes on at 10am and
> off at 11 pm. Should I have it turn off and on more than once
> throughout the day?
>

Hi, Larry
I have a German blue ram. I have no real preference for which sort of
blue ram to keep. I bought this one because every single fish in the
tank of rams looked healthy. As for water, if you have a thriving gold
ram already then your water is fine! Long term, you need to plan to
keep up on your water changes and not overstock.

The hardest part with rams is finding healthy ones in the first place,
because of that notorious sensitivity.

If you have a spare small tank and heater, quarantine your new rams
before adding them. Sometimes (often?) you can buy a ram and have them
die because they have parasites or a silent disease. If you put a
sponge filter or box filter full of floss in your tank for a week or two
and use that for the quarantine, your quarantine tank will have great
filtration. I'd also consider quarantining in water change water from
the main tank so the fish only acclimate once.

If you can't quarantine, watch a shipment of rams at your LFS for at
least a week before buying for any signs of illness. Healthy rams
should have open fins and good color, be displaying and chasing each
other around the tank, and eat when you ask LFS to put a few flakes in
the tank.

When you add the new rams, acclimate them very slowly and carefully to
the tank or quarantine water (that sensitivity thing again). Expect
some chasing and posturing since they're cichlids and if the less
dominant fish seems stressed add more plants, rock caves, or other
hiding places so that s/he can stake out a territory.

As for lighting, tropical parts of the world are mostly equatorial and
get around 12 hours of daylight so that's what I use. Your 13 hours is
quite reasonable if it suits your schedule better. At 14 hours and
longer I've heard tales of more problem algae growing in tanks.

I have also read of people using a mid-day blackout to enjoy their 12
hours of lighting before and after work, or to let the tank cool for a
couple of hours if their lighting raises water temps. Since storms
create periods of lower lighting during the day in nature, this is
reasonable for fish and plants. I've never tried it myself since my
fish jump a bit when lights go on and off.

Gads. I've rambled on forever again. Hope this helps,
Elane

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Larry]

>
>Gads. I've rambled on forever again. Hope this helps,
>Elane

Thanks Elaine,

New to the group and have only asked advice from you and Netmax so
far.
You both have provided me with the "newbie" guidance required.

All the best,

Larry
Southern Ontario