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About the different fish in my tank

23 15:11:01

Question
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Followup To
Question - (follow up is at the bottom)
Hello,
I have had my tank set up for almost a year now. I am not sure on the filter system or the water chemistry, but we do clean the tank originally every 2 weeks but now do it once a week as we found out that was best. And use aquarium salt, stress coat, aquasafe, etc.
In the beginning we had mollies, neon tetras, and a few others that I cant remember what they were, we would completely break down the tank but realized that wasnt right. Unfortunately they all eventually died.
Now many months later we have 2 Albino Corydoras, 1 standard Corydora, 2 Catfish, 3 Platys, 4 Guppies, 1 Placetomous, 2 Algae Eaters, and 1 Neon Tetra that since yesterday we cannot find anywhere in the tank. We are not sure if he was eaten or died and we cant find the corpse anywhere.
The Guppies are 2 female and 2 male. This morning when we turned on the tank one of the males tail fins has been split like he got into a fight, I read that we will have to get two more females to balance out the guppies because the males are picking at each other. The two females have the black spot on their rear that tell me they are going to give birth any day now.
My questions are 1. Will the fry be ok in the tank with all the other fish? Or do I need to move them? 2. are all these different kind of fish ok to live together in the same tank? and 3. what couldve happened to my neon tetra? We originally had 5 but the one that I had left killed the other 4 off a couple of months ago, and now I cant find him anywhere. This is only a 10 gallon tank so he couldnt have many places to hide. :) One last thing, I also have a Betta in a tank by hisself. A 2.5 gallon tank. Is it ok to put other fish in with him? Say goldfish? Any info you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Shawna Taylor
Answer -
Hi Shawna;

All the fish, including the parents, will eat the babies before you even see them. The guppies should be moved to their own tank with lots of plants. When the babies are born they will hide in the plants and nibble on the organisms they find there too. A 5 or 10 gallon tank would be good.

That's a lot of fish for a 10 gallon. Someone is picking on the guppy and it may be one of the catfish. Corys are pretty sweet, so I wouldn't suspect one of them. Do you know what kind of catfish the other 2 (besides the corys) are? They may be a type that needs more room, or they get big and are being aggressive at night when the lights are out. Let me know what they look like and maybe we can figure it out.

I wouldn't put goldfish in with your betta for two reasons; They might pick on each other and the tank is too small for goldfish. You could put one of those cory cats in with him, but that's about it really.

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Hi Chris,
On the Catfish, I really do not know what kind they are. They are probably 2 inches long, one is a speckled black and silver color, the other pretty much the same but instead of spotted he is striped. Both very pretty. The weird thing is how the striped one just lays in a cave all the time, moves around little. The spotted one just swims and swims all day and night, like hes hyper. Now, on the guppies, I bought 2 new females the other day, to where I had 4 females to 2 males, well one of the females is gone. This is the second fish that has just "disappeared" the other was a neon tetra. I cannot figure out where these two fish went. I looked all over the tank and couldnt find them. Any advice on that?
Also, the tank stays kinda cloudy with a yellow tint. We clean it, and 2 days later its like that again. I bought some stuff called Clear Water that is supposed to help clear the water, but it hasnt done it yet. I also read on a website about getting a dark cave with marbles and plants around it for babies to hide in which I did since I cant afford to buy a new tank right now. Will that maybe help some of the babies survive? Since all 3 of my remaining females are pregnant 2 look like they could pop anyday. Eventually I do want to get a new tank just for the Guppies.
One of the bigger females has been hanging around the new cave like she is checking it out, could that be a possibility shes getting ready? Or is it something new and shes just checking it out? Thank you for your answers. I hope you can help me out with this too. Thanks! Shawna

Answer
Hi Shawna;

Sometimes fish jump out. Guppies are good at it. Look around on the floor around the tank. If you have dogs or cats, they will eat them. (yuck, but true) Also, if a fish dies the other fish will consume the body. Their bones are rather soft so you may not have seen any evidence of them once this happens.

It is possible the catfish that hides is one that eats other fish. Does he have long whiskers? Does he come out at night? How big is his mouth compared to the other fish?

Chronic cloudiness with a yellowish tint is often due to overfeeding. How much food do you feed? How often? When you clean the tank, how much water do you remove?

Yellowish tint can also be from driftwood or dead plants. Do you have either in the tank?

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins