And tank readings are......

Sorry you lost the fish. Need to rule out the above, to avoid any other potential deaths though.

Raised scales would be indicative of Dropsy, which is a 'symptom' of many issues not a disease in itself.

Can you post tank water readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH (GH too if you have a kit) just to rule any of these out and be sure.

TBH, usually related to renal failure and can just be old age as organs fail. Feed as normal if you can but be prepared with Clove Oil and Vodka if you need to do the best thing for the fish.

'Pineconing' as it's known is usually in the late final stages

So sorry

We caught this the other day in the office and it went a bit viral. Fab aren't they?

Did you all see the 11 stone halibut too (yes, you read that right, 11 stone!) caught off the Shetland Isles

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic ... old-restaurant-1-000.html

Happy Birthday Jon

Hope you are all having a lovely evening (i.e. no water changes/tank maintenance due tonight).

V xxx

Small powerheads (usually associated with marine tanks) can be used to add more flow/surface disturbance and are quite cheap.

If you are looking for filter back up too though (i.e. some form of media too, I always run 2 filters per tank) you can't go far wrong with the Eheim Aquaball. Uber quiet and has an outlet nozzle which you can aim wherever you want

Hi there and welcome to FK

We have some very good care sheets here, check out the left hand menu.

Just a couple of quick questions first though:

1. Are you adding an ammonia source (usually household liquid ammonia or a handful of fish food in the end of the stocking) to fishless cycle?

Cycling a tank takes 4-6 weeks to get the filter seeded with bacteria (ammonia is the pretend fish/shrimp etc) before it is safe to add any real creatures.

Link here:
http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... hless-cycling-article.htm

2. Can you post tap water pH (after leaving it standing for 24 hours) and GH? This will dictate stock as not all fish/critters have the same requirements in water readings.

Most of us here use these two kits:

API Freshwater Master Kit:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trk ... st+kit&_sacat=0&_from=R40

API GH & KH Kit:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odk ... kw=api+gh+%26+kh&_sacat=0

3. 23 litres is too small for fish but keepers here have used those tanks for shrimp and snails successfully. A small group of Neon Tetra as you mention required a min or 60 litres and then if the water is soft and quite acidic.

Welcome to the wonderful world of fish keeping though where you will get a crash course in chemistry along the way lol.

Providing you can house the fish correctly in the right sized tank, then yes, there is no reason why he cant stay inside of course. These are very sociable creatures though (often mourning the loss of tank mates) and do better with a chum or two, which obviously increases the tank size required.

Excellent care sheet here with min tank volumes and sizes but to house just him and say 1 chum you would be looking at a 235 litre 4 foot set up.

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... -size-life-expectancy.htm

Most folk don't seem to want to take on such a large tank though - the larger the volume of water the easier keeping quality is though - and the weekly water changes get big too. Buckets get replaced by plastic dustbins and the like!

I think this is why many choose to move single tails to ponds (where they do belong really) as they get bigger.

Nice looking fish though

You can do but you will run the risk of the tap water affecting some of the filter bacteria if not mixed before it makes it way into the filter.

If it were me, I'd be using something like this - only £15 - to do the mixing in first.

Black dustbin (80 l): http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/ ... ber=942081&rel_cmp=855146

Or they do a green wheelie bin at 140 litres for about £39.

I think it's worth the investment if you have a pond.

Lovely colour fish

That certainly looks like a single tail to me so should be fine in an outside pond and hardy enough to survive the winter (unlike fancies).

Now is a good time to move them too given the weather has warmed up.