Hello, I recently purchased a 1.5 gallon neon tetra tank and three neon tetras. Shortly after my purchase as I was researching how to take care of my fish I realized my tank was much too small for my fish to live happily. I am going to purchase a 20 gallon and introduce at least 3 more neon tetras and maybe two dwarf guorami would that be too much for a tank of that size? Also if that is proper stocking could a pleco or chinese algae eater be added?
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Research after purchase seems to be a common thing... and. Not just in fish. Good for stepping up and changing what needs to be changed though.
The pleco will just get too big for the tank and the algae eaters I hear are aggressive and cause problems. You might do better with oto catfish or a whiptail or three. I know nothing about gourami.
What are your water parameters like?
Consider a couple of nerite snails. They don't get huge and don't reproduce.
Jeff.
The pleco will just get too big for the tank and the algae eaters I hear are aggressive and cause problems. You might do better with oto catfish or a whiptail or three. I know nothing about gourami.
What are your water parameters like?
Consider a couple of nerite snails. They don't get huge and don't reproduce.
Jeff.
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If you're going with snails another popular one is the mystery snail, they get about 2 in. in diameter(if I'm remembering correctly) and need a male and female to reproduce.
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Excellent fish keeping recognizing the need to upgrade the tank size...
I would try to get the neon group to 8-9, six is minimum.
If you decide on Dwarf Gourami's I'd do one, not two. They are hit and miss in terms of aggression, sometimes they can be aggressive. I would not let this "potential" stop you from stocking the fish, just keep in eye on the situation and confirm with the seller that if problems arise you can return the fish - most often chain stores will allow you to return incompatible fish.
Tank size would be fine with the Neon's and Gourami.
I concur with JDM on the plec and CAE.
Excellent fish keeping recognizing the need to upgrade the tank size...
I would try to get the neon group to 8-9, six is minimum.
If you decide on Dwarf Gourami's I'd do one, not two. They are hit and miss in terms of aggression, sometimes they can be aggressive. I would not let this "potential" stop you from stocking the fish, just keep in eye on the situation and confirm with the seller that if problems arise you can return the fish - most often chain stores will allow you to return incompatible fish.
Tank size would be fine with the Neon's and Gourami.
I concur with JDM on the plec and CAE.
Well my girlfriend broke the 20 gallon tank they were going to give me... So the next day I bought a 45 gallon on Craigslist with a stand, gravel, filter for $75. I ended up buying new gravel because I had a hard time removing all of the bleach from the gravel sold to me after I cleaned it. Also I bought a new filter as the one he gave me wasn't ideal for this size tank. But I am beginning to cycle the tank now with my 3 glofish tetra( the label at local pet store said neon tetra no surprise they didn't seem to know much). But I was wondering if I should purchase 3-5 more to make it a school before I finish cycling the tank or should I wait? And I know fishless cycling is the more efficient way but in my case I would of had to keep them in a 1.5 gallon that wasnt properly cycled so I chose to add them to this tank.
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I really wish pet stores would stop selling glow tetra as "Cycling fish". They are terrible at it, are sickness prone and spaz in small tanks (yes your tank is too small for they hyper fish) and in such small groups they become neurotic.
When you do an in fish cycle you want just enough to keep it going but not enough to overload the system. What you will want to do is not add any more fish to the 45. Go out and get some live plants such as Water Sprite, Water Wisteria, Riccia, Java Moss, or assorted floaters. Find a few, and put them in the tank, they are not picky about light. This will help your fish ride out the cycle and do wonders to promote a healthy cycle.
Also what are the dimensions of your tank? When the cycle is finished...and if you absolutely must have a pleco your tank may be able to accommodate a single Bristlenose.
These guys don't get as big as many of the other species.
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Well I tested the water today and didn't have any nitrites, ammonia, nitrates but my Ph was far too high should i buy something to lower it or will the cycle do that? And yes I wanted live plants I didn't know if I should wait for the cycle to be over so thank you very much for that info. Any other advice on fish I should get when my cycle is complete? The dimensions are weird its a taller tank which I know isn't recommended but the owner didn't have the dimensions on craigslist so I sort of bought it blindly.
The Ph is 7.8 which from what I read 8 is the max for these fish but not ideal. And I'm not sure how to find water hardness is there a kit I can purchase? Also I got a LED that seems to light it up quite well
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With that pH the water is probably fairly hard, likely over 10dGH. API make a hardness test that includes GH and KH for arond $10. You wont use it much (unless you're me) but it is worth knowing these numbers.
Don't mess with the ph, its better to be stable than within range, although the range is important, often with high pH and high hardness the fish that work will be good with both, if they a low pH fish then they probably need softer water as well. The thing with pH adjusting chemicals is they can, or do, cause swings which is worse for the fish.
Jeff.
My 3 fish are constantly swimming against the glass is that from the ph? Or is it a new tank thing?
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