General Aquarium Talk

[MUTMAN]

What does it mean if one of my blue rams has lost most of its colour?

What does it mean if another of my blue rams typically rests on things, but otherwise behaves normally?

is the fading one otherwise seem healthy/eating/stressed chased by other fish? how's your water quality?
no real help here with the second one, but , some of my loaches have logs they sit up on top of, they seem to just chill and watch whats going on
hey maybe they likes it as a spawning spot

[$qwuzzy]

Originally Posted by Oblong Cheese

What does it mean if one of my blue rams has lost most of its colour?

What does it mean if another of my blue rams typically rests on things, but otherwise behaves normally?

My Blue Rams only lose their colour when they're stressed. Like switching tanks, or large tank clean out.Maybe some sort of specific stress?

Don't know about your second problem?
Getting old?

[0M39A_1337]

Originally Posted by MUTMAN

is the fading one otherwise seem healthy/eating/stressed chased by other fish? how's your water quality?
no real help here with the second one, but , some of my loaches have logs they sit up on top of, they seem to just chill and watch whats going on
hey maybe they likes it as a spawning spot

That's pretty typical loach behaviour. My pakistani loach often will be swimming around actively then suddenly stop and lay on his side and chill for the bit, kind of like he is playing dead.

[Vassili]

Originally Posted by pboi

anyone know where to get white sand for a freshwater tank. Have seen a few places locally but they all seem to have shells in the sand.

Calgrit from agricultural supply places is a great alternative.

Oops, for some reason I thought you said saltwater. Nevermind..

[Oblong Cheese]

Originally Posted by MUTMAN

is the fading one otherwise seem healthy/eating/stressed chased by other fish? how's your water quality?
no real help here with the second one, but , some of my loaches have logs they sit up on top of, they seem to just chill and watch whats going on
hey maybe they likes it as a spawning spot

Originally Posted by $qwuzzy

My Blue Rams only lose their colour when they're stressed. Like switching tanks, or large tank clean out.Maybe some sort of specific stress?

Don't know about your second problem?
Getting old?

OK, it turns out the two behaviours are being exhibited by the same fish. I bought six blue rams, all juveniles (3.5cm long), three male and three female. Two of the males at the moment are larger, one much larger (maybe 4.5cm), but this guy is still about the same size as when I bought him.

His colours are weird. One on his left side his black markings are deeper and darker than all the others, but on his ride side they appear faded like fabric left in the sun too long. I have seen him fighting (or courting? they would swim toward each other rapidly, then bite/touch each other, then sort of hang out side by side) with one of the females, and while he was doing that his coloured side was really really dark. He is also missing a pelvic fin, maybe one of my black ghost knives ninja'd him. The other males seem to chase him around a bit, but only when he goes near their territory. My tank is 5 foot long and each pair took to the end, middle, end when I first put them in.

I doubt it's a water quality issue, I try to keep my nitrates at <5ppm and the filtration capacity is 150%. As in, my two filters could safely handle an additional 50% volume.

So is anyone with experience with blue rams able to give me an idea of what's going on? I will monitor the situation of course and I have another tank to put him in if he seems in worse shape.

I know it's the order of nature blah blah blah but I don't like seeing my fish get a bad deal!

[$qwuzzy]

Wow mate - I can't really help you.
Interesting to hear that the colouring is uneven.....sounds like something is wrong with the fish and he can only control the colour on one side of his body. How long has it taken for the problem to develop?

I've only got a pair of blue rams, and only in a smaller tank (about to be rescaped - pics will come).

[MotoJohnno]

This is typical behavior I see in all my Blue Rams. If they are breeding and on their own they will generally display full colours. In another tank I have two males and a female, the smaller male will lose his colour in what I believe is submission behavior. If I'm to take him out they come back almost immediately, and like I've noticed with most fish it may be a stress related response from either bullying by a dominant male or another larger fish.

This is just observations from keeping them myself and opinions of local fish shops.

[Oblong Cheese]

Originally Posted by $qwuzzy

How long has it taken for the problem to develop?

I have had them all for about 3 weeks now I think? Maybe a month.

[Agg]

Loss of colour is usually general stress etc. As you said he is being bullied and is maybe even injured at the moment so not too surprising he's unhappy. Water conditions ok? You said nitrates are ok, but is pH?

[Smegger]

Originally Posted by pboi

anyone know where to get white sand for a freshwater tank. Have seen a few places locally but they all seem to have shells in the sand.

I found the bags of play sand at Bunnings to be cheap and relatively clean. They still need to be rinsed well but it doesn't take long.
Certainly wouldn't buy sand for freshwater from anywhere else now. Dodgy phone camera pic for reference -

[SuiCid3]

I use sand from Bunnings as well.
It's not exactly white, but it's bright enough.

OB, it's odd how your GBR only changes colour on one side.
Are you able to quarantine him to see if there's any change?

[Oblong Cheese]

Originally Posted by SuiCid3

OB, it's odd how your GBR only changes colour on one side.
Are you able to quarantine him to see if there's any change?

Yeah I can put him into my little Edge, I will see how he's going this afternoon when I get home from work.

Edit:

Yeah, still the same. He looks faded and maybe his tail fin is a bit bent? Like his spine is slightly U-shaped when looking side-on. I am not sure about that but he always tends to swim/hover with his head pointed up, whereas all the others are nearly horizontal or slightly downward-facing.

Originally Posted by Agg

Loss of colour is usually general stress etc. As you said he is being bullied and is maybe even injured at the moment so not too surprising he's unhappy. Water conditions ok? You said nitrates are ok, but is pH?

PH is pretty much bang on 7.

I am looking to upgrade my lighting, any recommendations? I don't want to buy cheap and nasty but I also don't want to pay over-inflated retail prices. My tank is also 5 feet long which makes things a bit more difficult also. I have seen plenty of fittings, ie this, which I could buy two or three I suppose, or maybe this, or maybe even this - any advice?

[0M39A_1337]

just a little update, tank is still going great. my Protomelas taeniolatus (red empress) pair spawned yesterday, the female is now holding a mouthful. her first batch, is funny watching her go after food then remembering that she cant open her mouth. The male has been trying to get the females attention for a few weeks now, usually after water changes. has only been the last couple days that he has started to get a bit aggro at other fish getting to close to the pit he dug, in particular the synodontis ocellifer who likes to chill under little rock "bridge" that is right next to where he dug his pit.

psudotropheus sp. zebra long pelvic fry are growing along nicely as well. all are around 1.5-2 cm now. i can count at least 14, though its hard at times with them all zipping around.

[afcca]

Hey all. I'm after some thoughts from other fish lovers, if you're willing

I've been looking at a tank at LFS for ages as I love the design and it's a good size. It's the AquaOne Aquience Cube, which is 65cm cubed. It's 10mm glass and has a pretty awesome base on it too. Now, there's a few things I'm uncertain about. They have $799 on it including Tank, stand, heater, gravel and a canister filter(which I'd be adding to as it's not enough). Or $690 for just the tank/stand.

Firstly, are these tanks known for having a bad track record, like will it just fall apart? Both of my current tanks were custom made, never bought a premade one. I'm yet to go and talk to the place I got them from, but they're a tank wholesaler so it might be cheaper, but I'm not overly sure.

The fish I want to put in it are decent size growning ones, I knew I'd be getting a tank about now to move them into. Namely an Oscar and a Berny's catfish (not a salmon tail, they're a different species.). Would it be worth getting a bigger sort of thing instead and getting it custom built? Probably cost more overall.

Thoughts?

[japes]

2' cubed is nowhere near large enough for an Oscar alone. Going to want to go for at least a 5x2 footprint for an adult. A 5x2x2 with stand from a tank builder should set you back around $500-600 or more depending on what kind of quality you're after (ie. closed cabinet instead of open pine) - from there, lighting, heating and filtration will be a few hundred more pending how far you take it.

Still not -too- much more.