[missusmcmattern29]

Hi! My name is Hope I'm 26 and my husband Travis. We are serious pet lovers. We have 2 dogs, and to extremely large cats and just bought ourselves a 125 gallon fish tank for an early christmas present. I personally have actually worked at a fish store, so I should be one handing out advice. Since I've pretty much been around fish (fresh and salt water) for a very long time. Just haven't gotten the chance to have a fish tank this size. With that much volume. Never owned a canister filter in my life. I'm good with tanks about 50 gallons and under. So to me this is a new experience.
Yet I am pregnant again. And seem to be brain dead when it comes to our fish and our new tank. So any advice and help would be greatly appreciated. I won't take any offense to advice offered to me. But I am pretty aware of what I need to do and so forth with adding fish to the tank, and the levels and the balance of the tank. And the water changes, all that fun stuff. Adding aquarium salt when needed and all that.
We have quite a little collection of fish so far. The tank has been up and running for a couple weeks most of the fish are doing great. Done all the water testings and so on and so forth.
I feel kind of stupid asking this question but. How do I know if I feeding them too much?
We have about 4 or 5 gourami's, a raphael catfish. He's awesome and a Pictus Catfish. We have a school of Tiger Barbs probably about (7). We had 3 tiger barbs till I heard they do alot better in a bigger school of them. So I got 4 more. It's kind of weird, they actually fight amongst each other. Now they don't since we added a few more., and a school Of some kind of decent sized tetras about 4 of them. Last but not least 3 Bala sharks and a Dinasour Bichir.
The tank is doing awesome. But the fish seem to be constantly hungry all the time. I feed them flake food twice a day, frozen blood worms every 3 days. Shrimp pellets once a day for the cats, and then at the the algae waffers. None of the food ever seems to hit the bottom of the tank. It's mostly gone by the time it hits the water. Is that enough to feed them? I just don't want to over feed and really throw my tank off. Thanks.
Hope.

P.S. Are silver tip sharks fine in a freshwater tank or is all that true about them being brackish.? And how about silver dollars. I just love those fish. How hardy are they? Thanks again.

[caferacermike]

Hi and welcome.

About your feeding questions. For the first few weeks if possible watch the fish when you feed. Add small amounts of food and watch how much they actually eat. It's always better to err under than over. Keep tabs on the water params. If they begin to come up then you either need to do a water change or cut back on feedings. If the water changes quickly after water changes then you are probably feeding to much. Fish will always eat what you put in the tank. In the outside world they are programmed to eat whenever they have the chance, which isn't often. This transfers to the aquarium where you feed in one go. So everytime you add food they will generally eat it. That's not good for them or the tank. So keep tabs on how much is going in versus what is being consumed in a timely manner.


Tetras tend to fight other fish in small numbers. When you have a school of 5 or more they tend to pick on themselves until a hierarchy is established. Once there is a pecking order they tend to calm down. You've done yourself well it sounds in regards to the tetras.

The pictus cat will get huge and will also consume small fish. So will the silver tip. Both are generally thought of as brackish but sold as fresh. the rapheal is an intersting addition and a good one. Synodontis cats are more manageable than the 2 you listed. Plecos are even better (my opinion
:D ) Some very interesting ones are available, about 300 in fact.

[Amphitrite]

Welcome to the forum Hope. Nice to have you with us

[rev]

Welcome aboard Hope !!

[SKAustin]

A good general rule of thumb is, all food you place in the tank should be consumed within 30 seconds. though with some foods, ie algae wafers, this rule is not practical as it takes time for the wafer to soften up a bit so that the fish can eat it. If you are feeding flake food, no flakes should reach the bottom, if flakes are in the tank long enough to reach the bottom, youve over fed.

[Tracy]

Welcome to the forum! I'm not sure how hardy the silver dollars are in a 'new' setup, but I have four of them and I love them also! They are non-aggressive, lovely shoaling fish and growing like crazy! I've only had mine for about 5 weeks and they have doubled in size (I have them in a 46 gallon bow-front community tank with angels, gouramis, platys and various bottom fish). The silver dollars are comical -- after feeding them I often see the four of them shoaling together, each with a small algae chip in their mouth. They are going to be big in no time :) I saw someone refer to them once as 'stomachs with fins'. It's so true! Good luck with your big aquarium.

[girlofgod]

Hi. welcome to the forum! you will learn everything you need to know about fish and the upkeep of your tank here! make sure you post any questions you have, even if you feel they are poor, cuz there are surely others who have the same questions and need answers too. It's a learning experience for all of us! Love your tank!

Bri

[The Shadow]