Comets and Tetras... A Taboo Tale

[Miracle Midas]

I wanted to ask someone''s opinion about how I have my tank set up. One of my husband's students had brought a fish to school and left it there before Christmas break. I felt horrible for the poor thing because it was a small comet in a really small unfiltered plastic betta tank. We have a 40 Gallon tank that has been running for over a month now with 11 Neons and 3 Endler's. I used to work in a pet store and dealt a lot with aquariums... I know that you aren't supposed to mix goldfish with warmer aquarium fish, but we had nowhere else to put him. We placed the comet in the tank with our tetras and livebearers and he's doing fantastic! He's even grown since we put him in there. He's very active and I've been watching him closely since our tank is at 24 degrees C and I wouldn't want him to get sick.

It seems like the perfect situation, except for one thing... comets are VERY messy! I'm having a problem now with cloudy water. I'm thinking I will do a 20% water change (as I suspect algea blooms) but now I'm also looking into a cleaner fish. I wanted an Otto cat but our tank has not been set up long enough.

Any suggestions for a great cleaner fish for wastes at the bottom of the tank? It would be nice to have a little help along with the suctioning of rocks.

 

[derekp]

He ill be fine in the tank. The only thing is that he is going to need to eat a little more than normal because his metabolism is going to be way sped up from the higher temperature. This will of course cause him to poop more. So tank maintenance will have to be upped a little. Also beware that comets have the potential to reach 18 or 20 inches so he will need a bigger tank in the future.

As for the cloudy water, what is your tank maintenance schedule like? How long exactly has the tank been setup and when did you add fish? I suggest a test kit to test your parameters. The liquid master test kits work best.

For cleaners I would go with a bristlenose place. Fantastic cleaners and only get 6 inches. But make sure your water is good before you add one.

 

[Laticauda]

There are no fish that eat poop at the bottom of the tank. I recommend doing a 50% water change weekly at minimum for a comet.
You will need to vacuum the gravel as well, half one week, the other half the next week.

I keep my goldfish on bare-bottom tanks, and this helps a lot with keeping the nitrAtes low.

What you are seeing is not an algae bloom, but a bacterial bloom (I suspect.) Do you have a liquid dropper test kit for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte? You really should be testing all of these things daily until you are sure you are no longer cycling your tank.

Please do not add any more fish to this tank, it will only compound the problem of waste in the tank, and that's the last thing you want.

After you are getting ammonia - 0 and nitrIte - 0, you will want to monitor very closely your nitrAtes. Once they get to ~20, you will want to do a 50% water change. At some point you may need to do back to back (one water change, two days in a row) to keep them below 40 (Ideally, they would never reach this high, and extended periods of 40 or higher nitrAtes lead to a whole slew of problems for goldfish.)

You can keep the goldfish at ~76F (don't know Centigrade, sorry) and that should keep both the tropicals and the goldfish happy without stressing either of them too much. A happy medium.

Eventually, those small fish WILL become dinner, just be ready for it when it happens.

EDIT:: When you get the numbers (test results) let me know, and I can help instruct from there. There are different protocol for managing ammonia or nitrItes in the water. Both are very toxic, and if you don't take action, can cause illness/death.

 

[Burto]

Do a 20% or larger (preferably larger) water change without hesitation, then do another one every day until your water is clear and/or your ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0 and your nitrate level is below 20ppm.

What waste is it you want cleaned from the bottom of the tank? If it's food, then just feed less. Feeding less may solve your cloudy water issues too. If it's poop on the bottom of the tank you want cleaned up, there aren't any coprophagic fish. Siphon whatever waste it is out of the tank when you do water changes.

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[knifegill]

While there are, in fact, coprophagic fish, none are dedicated to such a diet and they eat poo as a sort of compromise if there isn't much else around. Raphael cats, for one, do it. I've read that Giraffe cats also do their fair share of eating turds, but none of these use poo as a staple. It is the fishkeeper's job to remove poo.

 

[Burto]

Wouldn't it be both fantastic and terrifying if there were a coprophagic fish you could keep in its own little closed ecosystem, in one end, out the other, in one end, out the other, happily eating its own brand of food pellets like a little perpetual motion machine.

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[Juxtaroberto]

Goldfish can live in warmer temperatures, they often do in the wild (although there is some speculation that it could perhaps shorten their lifespan). That comet will outgrow all the fish in the tank and end up eating them, though.

Wouldn't it be both fantastic and terrifying if there were a coprophagic fish you could keep in its own little closed ecosystem, in one end, out the other, in one end, out the other, happily eating its own brand of food pellets like a little perpetual motion machine.

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com

What a cool concept. Damn you laws of thermodynamics!

 

[knifegill]

Wouldn't it be both fantastic and terrifying if there were a coprophagic fish you could keep in its own little closed ecosystem, in one end, out the other, in one end, out the other, happily eating its own brand of food pellets like a little perpetual motion machine.

Makes me imagine weeblstuff videos...

 

[Miracle Midas]

haha!! That sounds like the perfect tank!

 

[Miracle Midas]

Wow! Thank you so much Laticauda! We're actually going to the Aquarium shop today to pick up a few things for the aquarium. I'm thinking now, that the Nitrate kit should be at the top of our list. We were thinking about getting a bottom feeder but now I think we'll wait until our water clears. I'll also do a water change also and see if that helps.