Rainbowfish

[JBL]

I just picked up six dwarf neon rainbows (Melanotaenia praecox). Any other rainbowfish enthusiats? They barely seem interested in Tetra Pro flake food. Any suggestions?

 

[elgecko]

Joe,
When I had my tank set up I had several of them. I really need a bigger house so I can have some fish again.
Mine ate flake food no problem. Give them a day or so to get used to the new surroundings and they will be eating.

Here is a page I made on them:
http://www.geocities.com/elgecko1989/rainbow.html

 

[JBL]

Thanks Steve. I'll be patient with the feeding. Your page was helpful.

 

[JBL]

One of the rainbows died.  I realized that the filter was clogged and since today's Turkey day, LFS is closed.  So, I did a small water change and made a makeshift filter.  I used the housing from the Whisper filter and removed the old filter and charcoal.  I realized I had a small mesh bag of charcoal in my car.  I found some Web electrostatic vent filters and clipped it onto the old frame with the charcoal in between.  Fingers crossed till I can replace it.

 

[Clint]

Why are you using charcoal?

Swiffers make great filterpads, too

 

[JBL]

Why not use activated charcoal. Isn't it commonly used in filters? I know they won't trap nitrates but they do absorb some impurities, right?

 

[Clint]

If you grow plants, they absorb the micro (and maybe even macro) elements and that's baaad. After 2 weeks it's basically used up and becomes bio media. If you leave it in there for a long time, IIRC, it can leach back all the crap it absorbed initially.

A better choice would be Purigen. It's what I use. I LOVE this stuff! It doesn't absorb inorganic stuff, and only absorbs dissolved organic compounds. AND it's re-chargeable.  It absorbs DOC's before they break down and create ammonia. It absorbes any oils and crap in your water (even your skin gives off oils) and makes your water super crystal clear.

Carbon is only good for removing medications and tannins.

I did a quick search and you might be interested in these:



Do you guys use carbon in your fishtanks?

Discovered a very cool product for water polishing.

Purigen

Purigen Opinions

Good reads.

 

[JBL]

Thanks so much Clint! I guess I could just add this to the filter bags that come with the whisper filter rather than the charcoal.

 

[Clint]

It's made of of TINY little spheres. It might fall out, but it might not.

100 ml's of the stuff already inside a reusable plastic bag (enough for 100 gallons) is 8 bucks I think.

Glad I could help. I love the stuff.

 

[JBL]

Two of the rainbows died within 24 hours. But the other four have done fine over the past week. I just added a female today and a beautiful clump of java moss.

 

[Clint]

Sorry man

Did you get replacements?

 

[JBL]

Quote[/b] (JustLikeAPill @ Dec. 01 2006,9:25)]Sorry man

Did you get replacements?

Not for the two males.  I wanted to add three or four females to avoid the boys from gang raping her, but females are scarce out there.  So far she seems fine.  One of the three males is dominant and has made it clear to the others that she's for him.  They can amuse themselves.