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ok i posted about the neons being sick. turns out they have hemoragic septecemia. so i got furan 2 the medication for my neons as recomended by the lfs employee and several of you on here. everyone that i asked said it would be safe with my bgk. so i was wondering what would be some signs that he is not taking well to the meds?

the reason why i ask is when i went over to take a look he was down by the gravel partially out of his cave but didnt move much. as soon as i got close to the glass he went back into his cave

*click *flash *click "whered he go???"

ok i know i paniced earlier but i did a bit more looking around and reading about the bgk and several websites said they will lay down on the gravel if they are comfortable with their home. im guessing he is comfortable becuase he is actually coming out and cruising around the bottom of the tank, even with the light on)

*click *flash *click "whered he go???"

BGK's are as I probably said before are e to problems and difficulties with meds, and while furan is one of the better medications for them, it will still have at least some impact. It might make him a little off his food, and maybe him not show his best colour and a little dishevelled, but as long as you follow the instructions exactly, and dont overdose or treat the problem too long, he has a good chance of pulling through with no problems. Should he looking extremely stressed try changing out about 30% if the water and give him a day off.

Personally id just hang in there and keep doing what youre already doing.

well i freaked when i noticed him lying on the floor motionless. but several websites say this is a sign of comfort. i called a few lfs's and they confirmed what i read. i guess the reason i freaked out was becuase this was the first time i have seen him do that.

*click *flash *click "whered he go???"

Keep a close eye on the BGKs lower fin; if it becomes tattered or looks like it has frayed edges, then thats a pretty good general indicator that something has or is upsetting it and has caused it some stress, be it the meds or that the water quality parameters have been changed too quickly.
Laying on the gravel is normal behaviour, but it too can be a sign of stress, check it's breathing rate, if its breathing is much faster or slower than usual then it is probably a little stressed, also if it is laying on the gravel in the same location or out in the open for long periods of time and only moving when you approach the tank or when another fish pokes at it, it is probably stressed.

If you think the BGK is getting too stressed and decide to do a water change, make sure to do it slowly, at least half the normal pace as the added stress of a normal water change may just push an already stressed BGK fish beyond the point of no return.

It sounds as though your BGK is fairly comfortable at the moment and that you have observed one of its sleeping locations at the enterance to its cave.

I agree with LHGs comment, and you should hang in there and continue what you are already doing,
you may want to add the meds in two half doses an hour or so apart to give the BGK time to acclimatise to the change in environment if you think the meds are knocking it about a bit.
What I mean by this is: if the instructions says to dose 10mL in one dose per day, then dose 5mL and an hour or two later dose the other 5ml.

Here are some other experiences we have had with BGKs.

The fact that it is coming out in the light is not unusual,
Our BGK will cruise around the tank regardless of the apparent time of day, We have also seen it lying in amongst the plants under the lights having a little sleep many a time.
Our BGKs have all actively fed with the lights on and will even hand feed if given the opportunity, but I like my fingers intact so I don't do it,
BGKs have surprisingly larger mouths than they appear to, I have seen one(our first BGK) drop its bottom jaw open 90 degrees and take on a blue acara in defence of a then ongoing territorial dispute, locking of mouths, headshaking and consistantly pushing backwards the blue acara to win, the BGK was much larger than the acara at about double its length, and the blue acara soon learned it was not allowed inside the BGKs home or it would be instantly chased out,
(BGKs and blue acaras don't make good tankmates even if the LFS says different, it's a mix thats asking for trouble.)
Since then I wont let a BGK anywhere near my fingers their mouth is too scary.

Our first BGK was lost due to inexperience and a large 50% water change, at which I refilled the tank quicker than usual as I had to get ready and go out somewhere, and other BGKs since then have shown signs of stress at large water changes when the water being added has parameters that are different to the tank and sufficent time for acclimatisation has not been allowed.
In all the cases we have had where a BGK has shown signs of stress the other fish in the tank have been completely unaffected and shown no recognisable signs of stress at all,
We have found it is better to do smaller 10% water changes and add larger 30%-50% water change quantities in smaller amounts or very slowly over the course of a few hours, when doing large water changes I now add the water so slowly it seems excessively slow. My last 30% in our 180G I took over 3 hours to add 60G of water.

Of the BGKs we have had over the years none have ever been seen by us to pose any threat to smaller peaceful fish unless they happen to get between the BGK and bloodworm, and then its usually just a case of the BGK sucking something it didn't expect into its mouth like a fishys fins or tail, and accidentially chomping on it, which leaves a nasty looking deep rectangular bite out of the tail or fin of the poor fishy that got in the way.

I'd imagine that if a 6 inch BGK felt that it wasn't getting enough food, it could quite easily swallow a neon tetra or three every day.

As for them being slow growing, they arent that slow growing, a 1 to 2 inch BGK can grow to 6 or even 8 inches in the first year, and be closer to exceeding 12 inches by the end of the second year, although they do seem to slow down as they get larger and older.

As you probably allready know these fish can live for 10 years in a good sized well maintained aquarium and reach a size well over 12 inches and I'd suspect that 18 inches is quite possibly an attainable size for a much older fish nearing 10 years of age.

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

hey thanks gone for the info. i do know about the size and them being able to eat neons. im taking the concerns one step at a time. first is the sick fish then i will deal with getting a new home for the bgk.

*click *flash *click "whered he go???"