Which fish are the best "Canaries in a Coal Mine"

[Greggy]

Hi People!

I'm slowly building up fish stocks in my new (4 week old) 6x2x2 but the Discus are a while away yet. Currently I have 9 Black Neon Tetras, 23 Cardinal Tetras, 3 Corys and 3 SAE's and they are all getting along very well so far.

I was wondering if any of you have ever employed the use of a certain fish to act as a 'canary in a coal mine'?

For those of you who don't understand this concept, it comes from the old undergound mining days before air testing equipment could detect potential problems with the air in an underground mine and alert the miners. They would keep canaries (birds) in small cages at various parts of the mine, and if they fell off the perch (and died) chances are the air was poisonous and it was time to get out of the mine fast!

I was thinking perhaps there is a very delicate fish that can be kept in a Discus tank that would perhaps show signs of weakness/stress before the Discus would so that early action could be taken to correct a problem. Of course, since Discus are relatively delicate perhaps they are the best 'Canaries in a Coal Mine' ? :)

I'm not suggesting this practice take over from regular maintenance etc, however it would be good to get an early warning in the event of a problem. I have read that Rummy Nose Tetras will lose some of their colour when they are stressed, but I assume this to be true of all aquarium fish.

Anyone ever done this?

Regards,

Greggy

[DiscusEden]

Hey Greggy,

I think you've already got the answer in your tank - those cardinals will drop like expensive lemmings at the first sign of trouble - or they always have in my tanks. Might just be me. Others might have other opinions....

Oh, and despite their reputation, I've done awful things to discus in the past (which I have no intention of repeating), and they've thrived. They might go a little dark or spotty, but they've kept growing.

HTH

[benjohnson]

Greggy,


Ram's are good for that kinda thing, they are quite sensitive to changes in the tank , so if something going wrong they will normally be one of the first to show the signs :-)

Cheers,
Ben :D

[Robdog]

The Elephant Nose is the Canary of the fish world and has been used in the past in some city's water supply stations as a water tester.
I'm not sure how clear the water reports were. The Elephant Noses kept smudging the ink on the report pages. :? :wink:

[mistakes r crucial]

Rummynose will give you excellent indications as to your water qualty.
MAC

[fish_r]

agree with rummy nose, was sold them as a warning fish :) and they look great...

[nicholas76]

Rummy nose are the go.

if there noses are bright red your doing fine, anything else and its watch out!