Question about my 30 and 40 Gallon Tanks

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mikeybabs

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Messages
250
Ok so I am just getting into the fish hobby, I am 3.5 weeks into the cycling of my 30 gallon tank. my 40 gallon is already cycled as i got the aquarium used and i brought the original established water with it...

i have 15 fish in my 30 gallon, and i know it's probably overstocked but i want some other opinions,

it has about 5 tiger barbs, 5 albino tetras, and 2 red tetras (im not sure if the tetra names are correct), 1 skinny tetra that im unsure of the name, and 2 sharks (redtail and rainbow)... they are all medium sized, the sharks are only about 2-2.5 inches long, i totalled all the inches of fish and it equals about 26 inches worth of fish... and i know that for every gallon of water you can put 1 inch of fish, so i guess my question is can i leave the fish like that for now? i know once they all reach full grown it will go over the 30 inches rule...

also i tested that water and found 1 ppm of ammonia in the tank after 3.5 weeks into the cycle, on the second week of the cycle i added some of the water from the established tank to help speed up the cycle

should i be worried about 1ppm of ammonia? there's 0 nitrites and about 20-40 nitrates, im wondering why the nitrates are showing up already? could it be because i added some of the established water? i know the tanks not cycled if it shows 1ppm of ammonia...

in my 40 gallon i just added 4 cichlids today, whats a good type of cleaner fish to go with cichlids? would a pleco be good or should i just stick with cichlids alone? the 40 gallon water is testing good with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, and about 20-40 nitrates...

do tiger barbs get along with cichlids?
should i do a water change for the 1ppm of ammonia? when can i start seeing the ammonia go down to 0? does adding some established cycled water to the 30 gallon speed up the cycle by a lot? if so how long would it take if i added it during the second week?

and last question

is breeding cichlids hard? what would i need and how would i get started?

thanks to anyone who has the patience to answer any or all of these questions :)

-mike

ps. im using a liquid api master freshwater kit so i know the results are accurate, and ive been trying to research as much as possible and finally caved in and signed up for the forum... thx again

edit: also i should add that i did not add all those 15 fish at once, i started with the 2 sharks (redtail and rainbow) for the first 2 weeks and then i added about half of the 13 fish that were in the 40 gallon and finally added all 13 to total 15 fish in the 30 gallon... so im just concerned what i should do about the 1ppm of ammonia, i have been doing about a 33% water change (10 gallons of the 30 gallons) every other day and it seems to stay in the .5-1.0 range

are water changes during cycling bad?
thx very much

mike
 
Ok. The two sharks aren't going to work. They'll get too big and aggressive for that size tank. For the cichlids... Don't put them in anything other then a cichlid only tank, as they bring new meaning to the word aggressive. As for the cycle, your getting there. Your ammonia will soon drop and your nitrites will spike. Then a 50% water change a day will keep the levels from stalling your cycle.
 
thx for the info, after putting my cichlids in my tank i noticed a long stringy thing hanging from them and i googled it and it appears its cichlid bloat... do you recommend me returning the fish and getting healthy ones? and will this disease infect my tank for the next fish I get... kind of pissed they gave me unhealthy fish

do you think the bloat could go away on its own? thx

mike
 
If they're in the tank with fish other then cichlids, you should return them and NOT get more cichlids, but if you want a just cichlid tank, bloat is easily fixable... That doesn't sound like bloat though... Just overfeeding.
 
Thank you for the reply... On a few of my cichlids the poop is a long white stringy thing... Should I skip feeding them for a day? I fed them pellets right when I got them then they had white stringy poop. They didn't have much appetites when I fed them. I'm hoping they were just overfed because I'd like to keep them but if they have bloat I'll return them. Thx
 
Stop feeding for 3 days. I still need an answer though... Are they in the tank with fish other then cichlids?
 
What kind of cichlids are we talking about? Not all cichlids need a 'cichlid only' tank. Angels, rams, apistos, and several others do fine in community tanks.
 
Ok guys the problem seems resolved. I think it was caused by overfeeding and stress on the new water conditions. Today they have been actively eating with good appetites and when they poop now it's brown tiny dots. They are in a tank consisting of only cichlids (tiger barbs and tetras use to be in the tank... It's a 40 gallon long 48" wide tank)... I have 4 African Malawi cichlids in it. How many based on the size of my tank can I put in? Btw I think the long white poopy string was caused by me overfeeding them too many pellets. They must of ate at the store before I put them in the tank. All seems fine now. I switched to feeding them flakes. Thx for all the replies guys. Also in the 30 gallon nitrites are starting to show for the first time.

Thx
 
Your tank is too small for most africans. With the exception of a very few of the smaller guys... but even then its a bit small. You need a 4' tank for most mbuna and peacocks, a 6' tank for haps and certain mbuna like acei.
 
My tank is 4 feet wide... It's a 40 gallon 48" long tank. It's just not as tall as a 55 gallon... That's ok right?
 
Hmmm... ok. I was thinking they were all 3' or shorter. Ok. I'd still stick with some of the smaller guys like rustys, maybe some yellow labs. I definitely wouldn't get any of the more aggressive fish like bumblebees, auratus, and kenyi. Also, don't get acei or any haps. They all need 6' tanks.
 
Although your tank isn't ideal it will probably work for the cichlids like has already been said just stay away from the larger more aggressive species. As far as breeding if you have the right conditions they will breed. 1 male to at least 3 females is preferred to keep aggression down against females. It takes a lot out of the females though because they are mouth brooders and they don't eat for a month while she has the babies so I would suggest having a separate tank that you can move her to once she is holding. I could go on and on but basically they are fairly easy to breed you just need to do your research on it if you want the babies and the females to make it through the process. I have kept a pleco with cichlids before but if your going to you need a pleco that is at least as big as your cichlids so that it can hold it's own against them. If it's smaller than them they will tear it apart.
 
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