"jazz" wrote in message
oups.com...

David Zopf wrote:

I guess what I'm trying is 5 flakes
of about 0.7cm square twice a day and every other day a small
additional snack of either brine shrimp or bloodworm (just enough so
that all traces are gone in 5 min). Do you think that sounds OK?

I think thats excellent. You might want to add some veggie matter into your
treat rotation of shrimp and bloodworms...

http://www.sfbb.com/product_popup.as...&prod=Emerald%

(Just like my 2 and 4 year old kids), they won't be as enthusiastic for it
as the meaty treats, but varying the diet of omnivores helps a lot with
keeping good health and color.

I've done some water testing and it's at Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm,
nitrate 20ppm (just above tap water here.) Oh BTW I have loads of
trumpet snails and they seem to clean EVERYTHING.

And from whats mentioned below, you have what sounds like a well-planted
tank, too. The cleaner crew will make water tests less of an indicator of
feeding, as you have some good scavengers in the snails and plants.

It was Panda Cory's that I originally asked for (I love their 2 little
black blobs) but the shop chaps said that the barbs would nip the
pandas because they had a black dorsal fin and I would be better off
with these. I felt sad at the time because I had been hoping for the
pandas for ages but now I've seen how lively and interesting these
little guys are I would probably go for these next time. They even
swim in and out of my plants cleaning them! One of them plays in the
bubbles sometimes, swimming in near the bottom and then shooting up to
the top. But most of the time they both flit around eating a bit of
something here and a bit there.

They sound great, and i love the size for smaller tanks. The fact that
they're doing some cleanup is great, too. I'm one of those guys who has a
poor track record with otocinclus... this breed looks like a reasonable
alternative for small bottom dwellers. Maybe they're not as good at algae
control, but if they're more robust witha dwider dietary habit, I think I
might try them out. I think like most, my otos were voracious algae eaters,
but had trouble finding adequate food once they've got the tank "tidied up"
a bit...

Assuming your cats will remain under 2 inches, you will still be looking
at
a total of 10 inches of adult fish, or more. Note, the "inches of fish"
is
just a general guide, and a poor one at that. Taking the fish's mass
("girthy" fish count for more... an inch of Pearl Gourami doesn't equal
an
inch of neon tetra) and dietary habits into account (carnivores and messy
eaters should have more water than others), as well as its behavior, like
the swimming preference you mentioned, is a much better indicator. I
think
your fish will eventually outgrow your current tank.

Funny, I write this poor summary above, and come home that same day to a
TFH in my mailbox, with an vastly better summary letter from the editor on
fish loads in aquariums. Its worth a read.

Ahh, the slippery slope of fishkeeping...

I've already been looking for another tank. I've really been bitten by
this fish keeping bug - it's so additictive! I though that 20 gallons
would be good, then I could transfer all these fish into it, add some
bright orange platies and then perhaps use the old little tank for a
betta and some corys.

Or, keep it as a quarantine tank.

What I don't understand is why I am so addicted to all this?

That's the real question, isn't it? There is _so much_ that goes into
aquarium-keeping; chemistry, fish behavior, visual impact, animal
husbandry/health, the 'foreign-ness' of the aquatic world, the gratification
when all is going well, learning about what's important in a closed
biological system, the "puzzle-solving" aspect of figuring out problems with
a setup... pick your reason(s), or add a dozen more.

About the "four minimum" rule, every group is different, but less
aggresive barbs like your five-bands can get by in a smaller group.
That's a relief. On their second day they seems slightly aggresive
with each other and one kept hiding in the weed from the other 2 but
they seem to have sorted out who's boss now and shoal quite happliy
with no more chasing or nipping.

Yeah, that just sounds like normal "New Neighborhood" barb jitters... You
might see this behavior crop up again if you move, add, or subtract tank
decorations or plants, move them to a new setup, and/or add other fish.
Nipping may re-start when a non-barb species is introduced, if the new
occupant normally inhabits the same mid-tank stratum as the barbs, and/or if
it has a body or coloration similiar to the barbs. This re-hash of the
hierarchy is just about guaranteed if you add more 5-band barbs in the
future, but it should pass just about as quickly. I woudn't add any tiger
or green barbs to a tank with your 5-bands. Not only do they grow a fair
bit larger, they'll try to include your 5-bands in their own hierarchy
'battles', and their higher level of aggression in this behavior will likely
be an undue stress on your chosen breed.

Good Luck!

DaveZ
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