Poor Pet Shop Advice?

[Parker]

My wife recenlty bought me a 20gal tank for my b-day. With out knowing anything about keeping fish we relied on the knowledge of the store staff. We informed them that this was a new set-up as per the signs they have located all over the store, and that we needed some help. They mentioned we need to declorinate and treat the water and once that was done we could place 6 fish in the tank. As I have read here this seems to be far to many to cycle a tank (which I never heard of before reading about it here)

We bought:
3 - Zebra Danios
3 - The name has slipped my memory at the moment. ( See attached picture )

My question is, what is my best course of action to keep them alive and healthy through the cycling process? Is it possible?

Regards

 

[aquanoob]

I'm finishing up my cycle with 5 (started with 6) small fish in a 10 gallon tank, so IMO all is not lost.

first, you need an ammonia and nitrite test kit.
Test daily for ammonia, and every few days until nitrites appear.
Then test daily for ammonia and nitrites, until your ammonia starts to go down.
Once your ammonia has peaked you shouldn't need to test for ammonia every day.
Then to a PWC whenever one of your parameters gets near the danger level.

There is also a product called Bio-Spira which will rapidly cycle your tank, after 2 months of cycling I wish I had bought this as soon as I figured out I was in the same position you are now.

 

[talloulou]

Well danios are very hardy and quite adept at surviving a cycle. The other fish I can't really make out from the picture. (I have an awful monitor.) My guess would be it is some kind of tetra.

If you know someone with an established tank you can use some of their gravel or filter media to greatly speed up your tanks cycle. And, as aquanoob has stated the Bio-Spira receives great reviews, although I can never find it around here.

Do lots of pwc. However don't vacumn the gravel until the cycle is complete.

The water will cloud once the bacteria blooms begin and then it will clear up again as the cycle finishes. Don't add any more fish till the cycle has completed.

 

[mr86mister]

i chime on from talloulou, lots of pwc will help keep the ammonia levels down

 

[Bhunsucker]

Your Tetra and Zebra's should be fine as long as you test the water and keep up with the PWC. I just finished a cycle with 8 zebra's in a 55gal tank and it took about 7 weeks to complete and alot of PWC.

Welcome to AA

Good Luck with the aquarium.

 

[Jchillin]

You will also need a nitrate test and a ph test. You will know your cycle is completed when you have the following readings:

NH3 = 0
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 20-30ppm

You should also get a ph test. This knowledge is extremely valuable as sudden drops or spikes in your ph could also lead to fish loss.

My guess would be it is some kind of tetra.

Yep, probably a skirted (black or painted) tetra.

Welcome to AA!

 

[Parker]

Thanks for the information it's greatly appriciated. When you talk of frequent pwc how frequent?

Regards

 

[Jchillin]

Test the levels daily. If you get a reading of 2ppm or above, a PWC will be needed to bring the level down. Sometimes this can occur two or three times a week.

 

[talloulou]

During a cycle I'd go with 20-30% every other day, perhaps even daily if you are dedicated. If you do pwc this much you don't have to worry about testing the water everyday. I'd test every third-fourth day to see where you are at. You may be able to get away with doing less pwc than I have suggested but if you do the recommended amount you won't lose any fish. I'd bet money on it.

 

[aquanoob]

Test the levels daily. If you get a reading of 2ppm or above, a PWC will be needed to bring the level down. Sometimes this can occur two or three times a week.

This may sound a bit silly, but you should also watch your fish... When your levels are getting high your fish will behave differently (e.g. more lethargic, swimming closer to the top).

 

[talloulou]

This may sound a bit silly, but you should also watch your fish... When your levels are getting high your fish will behave differently (e.g. more lethargic, swimming closer to the top).

That's not silly, it's perfectly true. However if you do pwc frequently enough your fish will never experience these toxicity symptoms.

 

[Parker]

This may be a stupid question, but.

What is the best way to do a pwc? I used a syphon that I had lying around (brand new never used) to remove five gallons from the tank. What is the best way to add water back to the tank? I filled a five gallon bucket with fresh water and tried to pour it as gingerly as possible. Is this a problem?

BTW: all fish seem to be behaving normally so far..

 

[talloulou]

This may be a stupid question, but.

What is the best way to do a pwc? I used a syphon that I had lying around (brand new never used) to remove five gallons from the tank. What is the best way to add water back to the tank? I filled a five gallon buck with fresh water and tried to pour it as gingerly as possible. Is this a problem?

BTW: all fish seem to be behaving normally so far..

The best way is to buy a python that allows you to take water out and put water back without ever touching a bucket. That being said... I did the bucket method for years and it works fine too, especially on smaller tanks. Just don't forget the water conditioner.

 

[Jchillin]

Timing is an amazing thing. I just happened to take some pics of the python in action:

The python has saved me some serious time in water changes.

HTH.

 

[talloulou]

Plus you can sit on your bum watching tv while the python does the job

 

[Puriti]

That tetra looks like a black-skirt tetra, I have a couple

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I cycled my 26G tank with 8 fish, and all's ok. I did a 20% PWC every other day, and did my tests every other PWC, and all levels were fine.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Took just over 6 weeks to completely cycle.

 

[rhymeswithbear]

So thats what that is! Someone gave me a bag full of aquarium stuff and I had no idea what the python was until now.... how do you set it up?

 

[Parker]

Day #4 and all fish are doing very well, thanks for all the advice all.

Regards