REinstated tank.

After my mishap with the ich outbreak..and losing all my fish except the algae eater, 3 days? ago i decided to get some more fish.

After about 10 minutes of talking to the lady at Petco, she pointed me in the direction of 4 or more neon tetras or other fish like that

They looked pretty boring to me so i bought a rainbow shark also.

The shark looked pretty active in the tank at the store, but for the past 2 days hes been sitting under a rock i have in there.
edit: nocturnal =/

Is there anyway to try and lure him out to possibly make him more active like he was in the store?

Also, the tetras dont seem to be schooling very much, i know 4 isnt alot but im sure the tank hasnt fully cycled yet, even tho the live nh3 meter i have in there is saying 0.00, but i would rather not put too big a biological load than the tank can handle yet

Maybe in the store, the shark (a species of catfish) was agitated with too many tank mates and no hiding places. You can check Google to find out for sure about the catfish thing and to see if it's a nocturnal species. Sinking algae wafers could lure the fish out from under the rock. An article i just read in one of the aquarium magazines said you need at least six neons to school.

It's your decision, but putting fish in an aquarium before it's cycled often results in dead fish. In addition, neons require some special conditions. All of the fish could be acting lethargic, because they don't feel good. Please keep us updated.

well in the tank there looking pretty lively, i meant in the store looking at them schooling they didnt look like much of a interesting fish.

they seem to be territorial at times which is pretty interesting to watch, but they still group up at times too. maybe in a few days ill take a trip to the store and add 2 more. i want to take things slowly this time though so i dont lose all of them again

Schooling fish, I've read, become terrritorial when there are only a few of them. Please be careful to not over crowd that ten gallon tank. Did you know they have 15 gallon tanks with the same base dimensions as a ten?

If the dimensions are the same not much would change besides the height i presume?

Correct!

A 15 would give you a little more room... a 20 tall also has the same footprint.

You use the same light, might get a brighter bulb if you were going to go planted... You'll probably need a bigger heater and filter if you were to go 20... but 15 you might get away with what you already have.

So it could be a minimal investment... Ususally the tank is the cheap item... LOL!!!

If you only have 4 neons they're prone to pick on the weakest... they'll probaby eventually aggravate it till it dies. I would recommend getting a couple more neons for the school to decrease the territoriality... But please cycle first!! Get some live bacteria if need be...

Tank has been doing fine since I last posted, been feeding them once a day and the ammonia meter I have in there is still reading 0, however yesterday the water smelled like ammonia so I did about a 25% water change and it's fine now.

All 4 tetras are still alive, the shark and algae water are too

And now and then a snail is on the live plant and crawling around


Question about the plant: I'm not sure what it's called but it's getting pretty big in there.. What should I do about that

Let it grow. Plants help water chemistry. If it gets tooooo big, you can always trim it, or maybe you could divide it and use the plant in your next aquarium. If you can post a picture, somebody may be able to help you identify it. If you can't post a picture, a physical description may be enough. For example: is it bushy or flat leaved; does it have roots; what are its colors; does it look like a house plant?

Also... Does it have babies? A lot of the sword varieties will multiple with babies, like a common house "spider" plant will do...

here are some pics:

My guess is water sprite. It looks similar to my wisteria but the stem structure is different and your leaves don't appear to be sprouting roots. Nice tank. I like your black neon tetras.

My water sprite didn't ever look like that... At any point before it died... LOL!

I've seen this plant before, but never this big... I'll look next time I go to the LFS. He got a big shipment of plants last week.

when i bought it was obviously alot smaller, didnt take up nearly as much space as it is now

it seems that every few days theres a new sprout at the bottom and overnight its almost with the rest of the plant.

Does it have roots and leaves, or is it just bushy? It could be cabomba. In any case, it will help keep the water clean and use up nutrients that would otherwise feed algae.