# Rusty Hanging In Vertical Position Behind Filter....Nose Dow



## syoung22 (Jun 15, 2012)

A little background...this is a standard 55 gallon that just went through some changes. It was overstocked, and although it looked beautiful with all of the colors, I knew it was time to take some fish out. So, right now the 55 gallon has 8 yellow labs (four are about 3.5"and 4 are about 2.5"), 8 acei (they are only 1.5" and I know as they get bigger I will have to thin them out) and 4 Rusty (about 2"). I took out cobalt zebras, maingano, and kenyi fry. At first everyone seemed to enjoy all the extra room they had, although there was never any aggression to begin with. On the second day after the change I noticed a rusty was holding. That was two days ago. Now, everyone seems skiddish all of a sudden. Any sudden movement I make in front of the tank makes them take off hiding. They come right back out...but they just seem so jumpy. And the female rusty who is holding is hanging out behind the filter at the top, and she's doing a headstand. She is hanging vertical with her nose down. At first I thought she was dead but when she saw me she swam off suddenly. All of the fish look healthy. I have always kept my tank very clean and did routine water changes. I have been battling a nitrate issue in the few days before taking the extra fish out. I was doing water changes everyday and not seeing a lot of change. I noticed when i removed all the rocks to take the extra fish out, there were only 6 kenyi fry...I started with 8. And I saw a piece of a kenyi being eaten by..guess who...another baby kenyi. I vacuumed the sand, sifted through it with my hands looking for the remains, and I cleaned out my filter media in tank water but didn't find anything. My nitrates are still high (look to be around 80, possibly higher) and I'm beginning to battle some green algae on glass of tank. Ammonia=0 Nitrite=0. Temp=79

Is this normal behavior for a holding female? Is she sick? The only other odd thing is the male Rusty looks to have some torn pectoral fins. None of the labs would have done this to him. Could it have happened during spawning?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The female should go to the maternity tank, she is being harassed. The rusty is injured and this does not happen during spawning. Do you have 2 male rusties? Sounds like you need to remove the extra male and add some females.

Normally a holding female will hide in a cave or beside a rock near the bottom. The positions higher in the tank are not desirable for the fish and someone is harassing them to keep them there. Do you have room to add rocks?

You may need to do daily water changes until your nitrates are down...that is contributing to your algae problem as well.


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## syoung22 (Jun 15, 2012)

There are plenty of rocks, but my rusty's never use them. I'm not sure if there is another male. These guys are small!! I will try to get a picture.


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## syoung22 (Jun 15, 2012)

Here is my tank. There is plenty of hiding spots isn't there? Acei and rusty rarely use them.








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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The recommendation is to fill the tank to the waterline with rocks...I'd try to get at least up to the 1/3 mark.

If you have a fish hiding and another with fin damage, you will want to take SOME kind of action to prevent stress induced illnesses that can become an epidemic.


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