New 10g tank stocked. Few questions.

[MRT555]

Ok. So KlcoKN and I picked up 12 Guppies 3m/9f, 5 Ghost Shrimp, and 2 Burmese Loaches!!! We have them in our 10g right now, and about to set up our 55g and get it cycling.

Few questions. Should we feed them? Lights on or off for right now? Should we dose with salt, or raise temp higher (82 right now)? We got the fish from 3 diff stores, and drip acclimated them for about an hour or so. They all look fine, but want to know if we need to take any preventative measures.

Oh and we also got some Duckweed and Java Moss!

Thanks!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi and welcome!
The sooner you can get them
In the 55g the better. A 10g is a bit small. The loaches will enjoy some buddies too.
No need for salt in FW tanks. Loaches are salt sensitive. The temp is a bit high. Most tropical fish do fine at 76-78F.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium-186089.html

 

[MRT555]

Thanks Mumma. Yeah we know it is overstocked, we are keeping daily tabs on water conditions, and changing water out before it is needed. I do want more loaches, but they were $11 each and we only have the 10g cycled so far, so I didn't want to go too far overboard yet.

Salt and higher temp are actually used alot in order to treat sick freshwater fish. While all the fish look fine, we just wanted to know if it should be used as a precaution since we got fish from 3 diff stores. Thought it might help prevent anything from showing up since all the fish would be stressed out.

Anyways, Fish look great today. Loaches even seemed to have picked up some nice color! They are all eating fine.

1 question. I am going to pick up some algae wafers today. how often should they be put in? I was thinking a half wafer twice a week. The two Loaches are only about 1.5", and I'm sure the 5 Ghost Shrimp will get in on some of the algae action too! Or do yall think the algae wafers are overkill?

 

[HeatherW]

i just read a good thread on salt in FW tanks in the "general discussion" section. short story is that by adding salt to your tank you are temporarilly stressing the fish so I would say don't add the salt - they are already stressed enough. now if they get sick... that is another story.

I am getting 6 loaches tomorrow for my 90 gallon so I would like to know what people think about the feeding of them too

 

[MRT555]

Thanks Heather!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Thanks Mumma. Yeah we know it is overstocked, we are keeping daily tabs on water conditions, and changing water out before it is needed. I do want more loaches, but they were $11 each and we only have the 10g cycled so far, so I didn't want to go too far overboard yet.

Salt and higher temp are actually used alot in order to treat sick freshwater fish. While all the fish look fine, we just wanted to know if it should be used as a precaution since we got fish from 3 diff stores. Thought it might help prevent anything from showing up since all the fish would be stressed out.

Anyways, Fish look great today. Loaches even seemed to have picked up some nice color! They are all eating fine.

1 question. I am going to pick up some algae wafers today. how often should they be put in? I was thinking a half wafer twice a week. The two Loaches are only about 1.5", and I'm sure the 5 Ghost Shrimp will get in on some of the algae action too! Or do yall think the algae wafers are overkill?

All good with the loaches. I meant after the upgrade I forgot to mention they will most likely eat your shrimp.

Don't treat unless there is a problem. Quite a lot of the time a fish wont get sick if it's not stressed and has good water.

You can get the wafers. All the fish/shrimp will enjoy them. Basically feed what gets eaten. If you feed a whole wafer and half is still there, remove it and only feed half next time. the loaches and shrimp will also eat other fish foods.

When upgrading you don't have to precycle the tank. If your 10g is cycled just move all filter media over to the new tanks filter and your good to go.

 

[MRT555]

Thanks Mummy! Yeah we have the 55g heavily seeded with media from the 10g, an established foam filter from lfs, and a decently established Aquaclear 110. Would could probably move the fish safely, but I really want to atleast give the tank a few days to build up it's own bacteria, and make sure the water is stable over the course of those few days. Dosed the 55g to 3ppm ammonia last night, and it is around 1 or less ppm right now. Going to dose it back up to 4ppm, and see how long it takes to drop it. I figure in 1 or 2 more days i will be ok with moving all the fishes up to the 55

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If it is chewing through 2ppm of ammonia in less then 24 hours and your getting nitrAtes IMO you fine to add your fish. All those fish you have wouldn't produce that much ammonia in a day. Large PWC to remove remaining ammonia, nitrite and nitrate an your good to add them.

 

[MRT555]

Ok ok you win Mumma we will move them , but will have to be tomorrow cause it has already been dosed to 4ppm ammonia today. 0 Nitrites, and Nitrates are sitting somewhere between 20-40ppm. So we will knockout the water change and move them sometime tomorrow!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Ok ok you win Mumma we will move them , but will have to be tomorrow cause it has already been dosed to 4ppm ammonia today. 0 Nitrites, and Nitrates are sitting somewhere between 20-40ppm. So we will knockout the water change and move them sometime tomorrow!

lol! All good! Let me know how the move goes.

 

[MRT555]

It went really well! Ammonia and Nitrites 0, and Nitrates < 5ppm after water changes. We did an 80-90% change on the 55g (Nitrates were well over 100). Let it sit to clear up the water, and then moved the fish. All looks great now, but going to monitor really close for the next few days...

My Loaches look even more lonely now What is a good # of Loaches I should have? Right now they are in a 55g, but I will be moving them into a 90g once I get it setup and cycling. We are also gonna get another 5 shrimp

Sorry the tank is messy, we just got new plants and haven't finished scaping. See Pic

 

[HeatherW]

i like your tank! I have to polka - dot loaches too! I ordered 6 for my 90 gallon, but they only sent me 2. now I need more. I was thinking 6-8 for my tank.

just curious... do yours act crazy like?? mine are going up and down, up and down... over and over. I thought they were going to kinda chill on the bottom of the tank but not these two - I think I have named them Thing 1 and Thing 2. I think they might chill a little more with friends

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I like the wood! Very nice.
Glad the move went well loaches need a school so you'll want a minimum of 3 more to make 5.

 

[MRT555]

My are supposed to be Burmese Loaches, but one of them has white spots in the stripes so really not sure what they are.

Yeah mine are crazy, up, down, left, right, they are all over the place!

 

[MRT555]

Thanks Mumma! I like the wood too, it's fake, but has alot of holes to out plants in.

 

[HeatherW]

Yep mine are the same thing - they have lots of names. Burmese border botia, polka dot, angelicus botia... Learning all the names has helped me out. I posted some pics on a different thread (yoyo or polka dots). I found 4 more so now I have 6 total