Meant to post this too: If you suspect that a fish you just bought has ick, take it back. Getting rid of ick in my experience can require large water changes, which is something you do not want to do with a new tank. I have a small 29 gallon tank I've had for years and have had ick on numerous occasions with different fish, as well a nasty fungus that one of my angel fish had for about 2 1/2 years(I couldn't cure it with anything) before dying. Don't worry too much about getting it right the first time. Before you know it everything will be running smoothly. HEY SMEG, I'd like to see your tank. Can you forward me a pic?
got it Smeg. looks nice! you don't keep a hood on top? I have a question too. I can't seem to keep live plants too well. I have been able to keep a few in the past, but most recently they died. It may have been because there was too much sunlight, but I'm not sure. The plants would always get mushy after a few months. Any advice?
you should leave it on for roughly the same amount of hours as a natural light cycle..from 9am till 10pm is what I use, and I dont have problems with algae. Pimp....check your Ph against what the plants should be kept at. If they are turning to mush...your water may be too acidic.
no hood, have the pendent mercurt vapour lights from the ceiling, hood would block the lights having trouble with the wiring for one of them, hopefully get that fixed this week, also need to raise them a tad as they are heating the water a bit too much. light is the key for plants, my tank is stocked with them and most all are growing great, we don't get them here much but i think you should be able to get some super strong compact fluros which would be great form plant growth. for me lights are the key, i also use substrate fertilizers in gravel and also lquid fertilizers, both promote growth but lights are the key, others swear by CO2 but i haven't used it yet and before this tank i just had normal fluros and again my plant growth was great. mayn try CO2 later but don't need it yet. wanna get a few more large swords, had one large sword that was half the height of the tank after a few months it is pushing against the top of the tank. If i raise the lights then i might actually go with an open top, but then i won't be able to get that african butterfly fish i want as they jump out.
I would raise the temperature up way high for about a week... then put in a chemical that gets rid of Ich (probably turns the water blue for awhile).... then, start the cycle all over again of putting in a de-chlorinator, and a bacteria starter. This only needs to be done for about 7-10 days... then, get some CHEAP fish and test out the tank. If they're fine, get some EXPENSIVE ones... and they'll eat the cheap ones and be real happy.
nick, have a friend who has had his tank for few years now and is still waiting for the crappy cheap fish to die
If you leave the light on all the time, the fish will drop dead. lol. You try sleeping in 24 hrs of light. Get a timer from home depot or somewhere and hook the light through that. I have one that turns the light on and off automatically - gives about 8-10 hrs of light per day. I never have to worry about it.
Yes... contrary to popular opinion, FISH DO SLEEP! Try turning the lights off for a few hours (in both the tank and the room the aquarium is in), and then all of a sudden, turn everything on again... If you have colorful fish, they will be a pail white, most of them will be near the bottom of the tank, and they'll be very angry that you just woke them up....
Man, I really need to get back into fish. I kept a 135 gal. tank for many years with about 3 dozen Congo Tetras, 2 dozen Clown Loaches and a variety of dwarf cichlids... along with some other things from time to time. My clowns got to be over 6 inches long. I had a couple that were over 8 inches. Lots of plants and no snail problems. Mature clown loaches take care of those. A soft water tank with powerheads on the undergravel and an Ehiem canister filter. The Congos at 3 inches or more were spectacular! Most of my dwarf cichlids were Apistogrammas. Then we had kids. They're old enough not to dump half a pint of food in the tanks now, so I should get back into it. Good luck, countingcrow. You have a nice sized tank, and there is no reason you shouldn't have success. But personally, I'd look up some fish shops in the phone book and visit. The people who work there probably know their stuff and can steer you to some more interesting fish. I just bought a new computer (YES!!) and have ordered a good scanner. When it gets here, I'll post some pictures of some of my old tanks.
ahh... I used to keep what was known as Cockatoo Apistos..they are cool little cichlids.. that sounds like a heluva setup. Clown loaches are another of my favorites...I have only had one tank that didnt have at least 2 of those.
In my opinion, cichlids are the only freshwater fish anyone should have. Especially the African variety. They're cool to watch defending their young, defending their territory, and rearranging rocks to build forts (which drives me crazy). I live in an apartment, so I only have a 29g tank, but maybe within the next couple of years I'm going to get a 100-125 gallon tank and just make an African cichlid or specifically an mbuna community tank.
I added the Kordon "Prevent Ich" yesterday and now my tank is cloudy as hell. The liquid itself is dark brown. I have to add 6 teaspoons of this stuff to my tank daily for a week. I thought my filter was supposed to keep the water clear???
dark brown doesn't sound good, is your filter on/running properly???? the cloudyness is from the ich treatment but again if your filter is running properly it should clear soon. don't really get into cichlids R2K - have 6 loaches in my tank, one got freaked a while back when i was doing a water change, think he rammed the glass and now just lazes around, even more the the usual loach, they about 3-4 inch long and yeah you are right loaches are great, lovely their personalities, the way they just lie on plants and also that weird clicking noise they make, mine do it when they want food on the Cockatoo Apistos what size are they and are they friendly, they sure look nice probably gonna go out this weekend and get that butterfly fish plus wanna get a small school of these, which are close to my favourite fish
The ich treatment is "dark brown". The water itself is just cloudy. I guess I just have to be more patient.
ok, don't worry about the dark brown then you can get some liquid solution stuff to remove cloudiness, i don't really know what that is never had the problem
crow, considering that the treatment itself is dark brown...and you want it to stay in the water long enough to have an effect...remember to take the charcoal out of your filter. Dont worry about how it looks....it will be screwed up while the treatments are ongoing... Smeggie.. That's a rainbow isnt it? That one in particular looks way cool. What is the common name, or even better the scientific name...I want to see if I can get some over here. Apistos...are actually very mild and easily bullied unless protecting their young. Most experts recommend their own tank...since the are dwarf cichlids, they dont get very big...and so dont require a lot of space...I used to keep 4-6 of them in a 25G tank with some dwarfs called Rams( see picture below). Great fish for smaller environs...and very beautiful. also...here is a link to a page with the pertinant info about them. http://www.mongabay.com/fish/apistogramma.htm
The bottle didn't say to take the charcoal out of the filter and I have already treated the tank once with the treatment... Should I still take the charcoal filters out?
R2K here is what seems to be the best site on rainbows on the web http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Contents.htm the neon rainbowfish is beautiful, scientific name is Melanotaenia praecox the site has em all my other favourite are the Bosemani, the Salmon Red (also known as New Guinea red) and the Lacustris, the wannamensis and multisquamata are also great looking fish but very rare to find in store here in aus
