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Fat, or ill? Chili rasboras

megwattscreative

megwattscreative

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Joined
1 Aug 2023
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65
Location
GB
Hi all,

A bit of a strange question from a newbie! I've got a 100L paludarium with 8 x green neons, 8 x rasbora axelrodi & 8 x chili rasbora... I think.
The tank has been cycling for 6 months and the plants are all well established. I've got a journal if you want to check it out.

I added the fish on 31 may. Since then, the neons and axelrodi have coloured up fantastically and are eating well. In contrast, I've gone from seeing 8 chilis, to 4, to 3. I've checked in the mattenfilter (to the best of my ability) and haven't been able to find the other 5, however I've been reassured by @dw1305 that they're probably in the tank, just hiding.

When I got the chili's in my LFS they were very small and pale, but I knew they would perk up with growth/live food.

Since then, 2 of the visible ones have coloured up really well. The 3rd looks very slender and is slower to develop colour. However, due to the disappearance of the others, I am a bit worried about their overall health. Does this colouring/paunch look right to you for a happy (albeit fat) chili? Or could this be a concern re fungi or bacteria?

This is the smallest, palest one for reference
PXL_20240608_120017978.MP.jpg


And here is the chubbiest one!
PXL_20240608_120145808_exported_659_1717848451464.jpg
PXL_20240608_120148701.MP.jpg

I'm going away at the end of the month for 5 days and think I will not arrange feeding during this time. I'm feeding 6 out of 7 days a week, a combo of crushed bug bites and micro worms. I'm definitely overfeeding when I do, as I haven't worked out the proportions just yet. I think I'll add another day without food to help with the paunch.

I know I'm probably overreacting, but this is the first time I've kept my own fish and I really want them to thrive! As I said, everyone else is doing fantastically. It's just the disappearing chili's that have me worried.
 
Is that just difference between dominant male/female colouring? They always use the fanciest looking males in photos. If you've not seen more after your holiday I'd be inclined to add a few more.
 
@Tim Harrison They're behaving normally, just haven't seen most of them! They're voracious little hunters.

@tam I'm planning on adding some more anyway as I think a larger shoal will make them a little more confident and perhaps convince the others to come out of hiding. You could definitely be right about the colouring! I think it's either a female or a younger male playing it safe.

Glad to hear from you all, thank you for helping with my worries!

"Fishkeeping: the world's most relaxing hobby... until it isn't" 😂
 
They definitely do better in larger numbers, and you'll perhaps see more of them as well. I had well over 20 micro rasbora in this tank. I gave them plenty of hiding places which also helped. They were still fairly elusive but that was okay since I got to see them on their own terms.

1717923501851.png
 
In my experience, different kinds of Rasbora go really well together as well.
I wanted to get some new Chillis this week and found some at MHA Merton- Surrey, but walked away. It basically looks like they have given up by the state of the tanks or are understaffed? Probably both.
When you buy Rasbora they look so dull. Give them some time and they are fabulous fish.

Si
 
si walker said:
In my experience, different kinds of Rasbora go really well together as well.
I wanted to get some new Chillis this week and found some at MHA Merton- Surrey, but walked away. It basically looks like they have given up by the state of the tanks or are understaffed? Probably both.
When you buy Rasbora they look so dull. Give them some time and they are fabulous fish.

Si
Click to expand...
Merton one is quite bad I don't go there anymore, Morden one slightly better, still see dead fish floating about sometimes.
 
Scaperinc said:
Merton one is quite bad I don't go there anymore, Morden one slightly better, still see dead fish floating about sometimes.
Click to expand...
Oh i'm glad its not just me then!
Im quite tempted to complain but don't want to get anyone into trouble.
The Ashtead one is always pretty good but the guy said he didn't keep Rasbora as the filter was wrong for their size.
Shame.
 
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