Alittle help

[drudnick]

My elizas came in yesterday, and its been 24 hours and they are pretty grey. I can see they have the potential to be nice with alot of blues and reds, however, the grey is overpowering everything. Just wondering if its stress still from shipping, or if its my water etc. Anyone have any suggestions as to the most likely cause or at least point me in right direction.

 

[Zack Wilson]

Well, I would be inclined to say don't overreact and start fiddling too much if it's only been 24 hours. It can sometimes take a few days for some fish to get comfortable in the tank. How are they acting otherwise? Are they swimming normally? Fins in relaxed posture (not clamped,etc)? Eating?

If they are the only fish in the tank this may sometimes cause them to feel uncomfortable in their new surroundings and they may show this with muted colors. As long as the water parameters are in range and you don't see any signs of an actual disease I would recommend against messing with things. I normally leave the lights off on the tank when new fish come in, especially wild-caughts. Other than looking them over for disease or signs of a serious health issue, I try not to bother them too much. I know it can be hard not to sit and stare at your prized new fish, but that's the last thing they are gonna want when they're trying to figure out their new environment.

If they continue to have stress coloration and/or if they display other signs of declining health (or a failure to improve) after a couple days, I might check back and try to provide more information so others might be able to suggest something.

BTW, congrats on the new fish. Hope they do well for ya. They're great little fish. One of my pairs just spawned yesterday after a week or two of courting.

 

[drudnick]

They seem ok otherwise. The female hangs out under driftwood, male in a pot. every so often the male tries to go under the driftwood with female and she shishes yer tail at him, and he runs, then turns and comes back. I put a school of 6 hatchetfish in with them also. They neat fish to watch, their fins look like wings and they seem to wanna take off...lol

 

[beleg]

When i brought my agassizi from HK it took 3 days for them to settle in. I hurried and medicated one female and lost it to medication (overdose). Its better to be calm and careful.

 

[Zack Wilson]

Sounds to me like things might be coming along normally in there. I would try to leave the alone for the first couple days as much as you can bear. Try offering them some yummy treat like live bbs. This is probably the least intimidating thing and is likely to be well received. As long as they are eating and swimming normally with no definable signs of disease, I think that time will get you what you want. Just wait and they'll be out and prancing for you soon enough.