I have a ph tester, an ammonia tester, I can use some help with how much to feed these guys, how ofter to do 25% (or whatever suggested) water changes, what the ph level should be, if the food Im feeding them is ok, and any other tips would be great!
I have a ph tester, an ammonia tester, I can use some help with how much to feed these guys, how ofter to do 25% (or whatever suggested) water changes, what the ph level should be, if the food Im feeding them is ok, and any other tips would be great!
Welcome Brandon! You have some pretty hardy fish, so as far as ph, it's best to not try to adjust it, but go with whatever your ph is out of your tap. Get a good water conditioner, like Prime. If you tank is not cycled, you will likely getting ammonia soon, which is deadly for fish, so be prepared to do water changes very frequently, to save your fish. After that you'll see nitrites, which are even more harmful. You should get a test kit for nitrite, and nitrates also. When your tank is cycled, you'll start seeing nitrates, which are okay, as long as they don't get high. Weekly water changes of 50% will keep your fish healthy. Also, your tetra will do much better if you get another 4-5 of them, as they are schooling fish. Don't add them now though, until your tank is cycled, which can take about 4-6 weeks. Feed very sparingly as overfeeding will create ammonia spikes. Once a day is plenty. Get a high quality flake food, like Omega brand.
If you can get live plants, that will also help with your tank and speed up cycling, though that will take a number of plants. What kind of substrate are you using?
live barriers are'nt my thing but some response is better than none. i feed once a day for appx. 3 minuntes with flake food. heavier foods such as blood worm and brime shrimp about one thrid of that time. water changes start with 25% per week, it depending on how much waste your fish produce and how big your tank is. you will be able to tell when you vaccum. push the wand gently through the gravel down to the glass, if lots of debri is churned up increase frequency and amount of water change. adjust as you go with small changes. smaller tanks with lots of fish need more attention than bigger tanks with less fish and they are harder to take care of because you are dealing with such a small amount of water.
Just want to clarify something. When you feed for 3 minutes, you mean you give the fish enough that they can consume in 3 minutes, right? I never feed that much, but perhaps that does work for some. I have lots of plants, and I always want to keep my nitrates below 10ppm. I do have a larger bio-load that Brandon however. I've heard the rule of thumb is no more than your fish can consume in 2 minutes.
Like the asian theme tank set up Brandon. Looks very nice. Are you putting more fish in that tank, or just what you have now?
I have a ph tester, an ammonia tester, I can use some help with how much to feed these guys, how ofter to do 25% (or whatever suggested) water changes, what the ph level should be, if the food Im feeding them is ok, and any other tips would be great!
Welcome to Tropical Fsih Keeping forum Brandon, and to the hobby too.
We have profiles of many fish, under the second tab from the left in the blue bar across the top of the page. You will find information on the species you list.
I just performed about a 40% water change because I just found one of the guppies dead. I read somewhere that if a fish dies in the tank you should do a water change asap.
I have no idea what happened to him.
I wouldn't recommend getting any more red eye tetra. They should be in groups but your tank is not big enough to support a group of them. I would return the one you do have.
I'm afraid the ammonia should be at zero, a reading of one is harmful for the fish. They might look okay now, but you will have more losses soon if you don't get this sorted. Your tank is not cycled, and you should NOT add any more fish until the ammonia is zero, the nitrite is zero and the nitrate level is rising.
Your ammonia will continue to increase, and it is highly toxic to fish, then you will get a spike of nitrite when bacteria establish to convert the ammonia into nitrite - nitrite is also highly toxic to fish and should always be at zero. Then further bacteria will develop to convert the nitrite into nitrate, which is not nearly as toxic. At this point you will have ammonia - 0, nitrite - 0 and nitrate - above zero. Then you will know that your tank is cycled.
Rayemond is totally right. You have a couple weeks to go (possibly) till your tank is cycled. Don't add more fish, and feed as little as possible. Overfeeding can be a problem during this period. You need to keep an eye on nitrItes, and get a kit for that asap if you don't have one. Like Rayemond said, this is very toxic. You'll have to keep up with water changes and using Prime as your water conditioner until you get the readings already spoken about above. Be patient. It will happen.
Had to read back through this thread to see where we are. Previously it was suggested that you get an API liquid Master test kit. You need to make checks of nitrite.
I'm not overly worried about the ammonia since the pH is acidic, so this is actually ammonium which is basically harmless. Nitrite is what has to be watched for.
Are there live plants? Some simple floating plants would make this so much easier and safer.
No nitrates or trites in here yet. I take a water sample to the pet store every week, sometimes 2x a week.
Its been almost 5 weeks now since I set up the tank.
No live plants. Still trying to get the PH up. I have a kit to do that but I dont know how much to add, it says 4 drops per 10 US gallons but if I add 40 drops I dont know how much it will raise it lol.
All the fish are still doing awesome though. I have not added any more.
Still got my initial 7 fish.
Ammonia still at 1.
That's all i have for an update as of now.
Thanks guys!
I just want to point out that with acidic water (PH below 7) toxic ammonia is automatically changed to nearly harmless ammonium. If you do succeed in raising your PH above 7 that ammonia is going to be very toxic and will kill your fish quick.
I would suggest you leave the PH alone and instead search for fish suitable to acidic water from now on.
I would have killed off all my fish if I was to raise my PH level. Its currently at around 6.5, and I certainly would not want to replace my fish I have now, I love these guys :-D
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