Jmedic25
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Which testing kit do you have? I dont see how its possible you have 0 nitrates. If you have good bacteria eating ammonia you will have nitrates. Im worried about your test kit. Do they eat well?
Identify Fish and Is behavior normal?
- Thread starter doberman15
- Start date
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doberman15
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Its just a dipping strips one. It wasnt REALLY a 0, there was a slight hint of color to the pad, but darn close to perfect white.
doberman15
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Sorry, they do eat well I believe. I feed in the morning before work, and in the evening after work (7am and 6 or 7pm). They dont rush to the food, but they scoop up anything that drifts to their area.
doberman15 said:
They should be running to the food, unless they're new to the tank. New guys may take a day or two but the older guys should always act hungry. I would skip a day on the feeding.
Some people black out their tanks and not feed for a few days after adding a new fish...just my thoughts.
Jmedic25
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Strips are notorious for being off by a lot. You may concider the API master test kit. It really saves you money in the long run. Always remember to shake the #2 nitrate solution a bunch. Ive found that lethargy is almost always a nitrate spike
doberman15
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I religiously do a water change every sunday afternoon when I get up after my weekend of festivities. Regardless of test results. I figure thats my way of keeping nitrates and ammonia where it should be, nice and low. I filter the gravel section by section each week that I filter the water. I pay attention to the strips more if theres an anomaly considering in the past 10 months or so nothing has changed.
Fready
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2011
- Messages
- 89
No matter how much water you change you will have some nitrates. It should already be in your tap water or you have amaizing tap water.
Relatively low ph but if its steady it should be ok.
The main thing ive noticed from your pictures is that you dont have hiding spots. They always see eachother
So maybe they are kinda stressed by that.
I hink they need more decoration especially rocks and they will go higher also because now they think there at the surface.
There natural habitat are mainly rocks at the bottom
More fish will also help unless you buy a bully. But if its something else, more fish will not help.
Relatively low ph but if its steady it should be ok.
The main thing ive noticed from your pictures is that you dont have hiding spots. They always see eachother
So maybe they are kinda stressed by that.
I hink they need more decoration especially rocks and they will go higher also because now they think there at the surface.
There natural habitat are mainly rocks at the bottom
More fish will also help unless you buy a bully. But if its something else, more fish will not help.
doberman15
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Everyone great news! Everyone has sprung to life (except my lazy rainbow shark). I got the new peacock... covered the tank with the lights off for a full 24 hours. When I uncovered it they were all full of life. I gave them a treat of a dozen ghost shrimp which they happily hunted and enjoyed (2 or 3 left now). They're swimming to the top of the tank and just overall seem more alert. Who knows what funk they were in, maybe the extra tank mate was enough? But they seem to have snapped out of it.
doberman15
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I'm building a couple of caves out of large PVC piping. One small on is already in. I'm going to get rid of some of the roman themed decor in exchange for a more natural decor. These caves take many many hours to make... especially with how small my substrate is that I'm putting on them.
