New setup.... I think i already messed up.

mmitchell57

Hi, I think I've already gone down the wrong alley after reading a lot of the starter links. Here is my basic setup.

1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 23
2. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or saltwater? Freshwater.
3. How long the aquarium has been setup? 2 weeks
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) 1 plecostums, 1 fiddler crab.
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? I have one but I don't know what is.
6. What make/model filter are you using? Whisper 20 gallon
7. Are you using a CO2 unit? no
8. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? It's in the middle of my living room that gets a good amount of sunlight.
9. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? This saturday. We did 50% of the tank.
10.How often and what foods do you feed your fish? Bloodworms 2x a day.
11.Is your aquarium light incandescent or fluorescent and how often is it kept on? Bottom lit from a fluorescent bulb 24/7.

23 Gallon Coffee Table Fish Tank (plexi glass octagon)
20 Gallon Air Pump (Whisper, i think)
5" Air stone doughnut
20 Gallon Whisper Filter
1 live plant (can't remember the name right now)
1 Plastic plant
glass rock for the gravel
Underlit by fluorecent

I honestly don't feel comfortable with this being tank as I did before I read the starter topics. Everything seems to say the tank should be off the floor, not in direct sunlight, and lit from the top. So, is a tank that's lit from underneath bad? Also, I didn't realize that you had to "cycle" a tank before you put fish in it. I kinda feel bad cause I've manage to kill 3 fish because i didn't know this. Third, I did no research on what fish play well together. I had a beta, Dwarf Puffer, a silver looking catfish, Placostumus, and a crab.

I still have the placostomus fish and crab in the 23 gallon tank, and we moved the catfish to a 1.5 gallon tank since he looked like he was eating at the other fish. He ate all the fins off another placo and our betta. The puffer died for unknown reasons, but i believe it's due to a badly setup tank.

Anyhow, Should i keep the left over animals in the 23 gallon coffee table tank, or should I move them to a 10 or 20 gallon tank square tank? I put blood worms in the tanks for the catfish and crab, but they don't sink at all? Would that be ok w/ them. The crab, catfish, and placo are still alive so I would assume so. Let me know. I don't want to kill anything else.

squiggles1

your tank has been up for 2 weeks? i'ld say your cycle is about half done, Maybe more, i'm not sure how much catfish like bloodworms, you could try some pellets more designed for them. has your other tank been up for awhile? if so you should move them over to it, if not then you might as well leave them in your new one.

mmitchell57

Well, both tanks are fairly new. The 23 gallon being the older of the 2. We put the 1.5 together just to seperate the fish since they were not doing to well together. Could I consider this the "Cycle w/ Fish?" If so, I'll read that more indepth to get a better understanding. Thank you for the reply. :)

leifthebunny

I would say the crab is more suited for the 1.5g tank. Unless the silver catfish (pictus?) is significantly larger, I wouldn't worry too much about it against the pleco. Do you know what kind of pleco that you got? Most plecos will outgrow a 23g.

If you do not already have an API Master testkit, I would strongly recommend one. This will help test the water params. Keep a close eye on Ammonia and Nitrites. Both will build up in the system of the fish and can lead to their death, even on a mini cycle if they got too much exposure. Most catfish are pretty hearty from that perspective, but you need to keep an eye as it does impact their health.

With it being a new tank, you are likely using algae wafers to feed the pleco, which can cause them to produce extra ammonia as they tend to only handle pure vegetables (so I've been told) well. If you have zucchinis, this would probably be the best for the pleco until there is enough algae in the tank. Just rubber band it to a rock for a day and then remove. Careful about reusing rubber bands as being submerged, they will deteriorate and fall apart.

mmitchell57

Thank you, Leifthebunny, for the info. I will get some zucchini tonight when I run up to the grocery. I didn't think about tying it to a rock, that's brilliant! :D lol Anyhow, i put in some little caves made of terricota pots. Only 2 for now.

I remember my brother having a Pleco and it got HUGE. When Sabrina and I decided to do the tank thing, we were going to use the 23 gallon as a test of our abilites. If we managed to maintain it, we were going to go bigger in the future. She's already eyeing the 75 gallon tanks and talking about salt water.

The crab is doing really well in the 23 gallon along w/ the pleco. The cat fish was eating at the other fish. He ended up killing the other pleco and our beta by eating their fins off. That's why we separated him from the rest of the fish. I'm gong to pickup some testing supplies soon as well. Thanks for all the help so far.

leifthebunny

Larger plecos tend to get lazy as they get larger and tend not to eat algae from teh sides of the tank. Smaller sized plecos such as clown, bristlenose, ... tend to make better algae control.

Pots are a good idea for the fish to hide in.

As for the cat fish, do you know what kind it is? Also, how big is it?

Firebelly girrl

Also im pretty sure fiddler crabs need brakish water..so im not sure how long he will last in pure freshwater.