After 15 years of dreaming of having a fish tank, finally I ordered my 65G tank with a nice stand in Denver CO.
Shortly after it arrived, I was excited to set it up, so I got a mix of sea chem flourite, medium and small size gravel and mixed it all up for a good substrate. I got an Eheim 4+ 350 and the outlets are like a fire hose. In short I'm broke now.
I planted several bunches of jungle val, anubias, and one other type which I can't remember the name (but a hardy plant which doesn't require CO2 injection)..... and then.... boss asked me to travel to Australia for 3 months for work. How do I take care of my new passion and satisfy my lust to discover new countries?
I talked to my LFS, and they suggested, I either dry up the tank and leave it empty and come back, or get some fish and start an ecosystem which would be self sustaining. As a result, I added 6 red velvet swordtails which have been very happy for the past 4 days. 2 males and 4 females. Unfortunately, 1 of the males is chasing the other male away so much that the weaker one is sitting in the corner by the filter intake
. I guess that's nature. I just didn't know swordtails would fight hard to get to whole harem to themselves.
Now that the tank is happy and mostly everybody is getting along, I'm heading for Australia for 3 months and the girlfriend will be feeding the fish. I tried to automate the tank as much as possible. The light (Finnex Plant +) automatically comes on and off for 12 hrs a day. Also, since it's still cycling, I was advised not to do any water changes for at least the first 2 months. Speaking of cycling, the API test so far is not showing much increase in the levels of ammonia. For a 65G tank with 6 fish, when should I anticipate the ammonia levels to go up? or will it be so small, that I won't detect it? Should I check after 1 or 2 weeks?
When I come back, eventually, I'd like to have a schooling fish like zebras or tetras, and several angel fish as the main focus.
Any comments or suggestions from the gurus before I let this tank on its course? I guess I didn't want to have an empty tank collect dust. Plus, my girlfriend is very much liking it and I'm sure she'll take care of it.
Shortly after it arrived, I was excited to set it up, so I got a mix of sea chem flourite, medium and small size gravel and mixed it all up for a good substrate. I got an Eheim 4+ 350 and the outlets are like a fire hose. In short I'm broke now.
I planted several bunches of jungle val, anubias, and one other type which I can't remember the name (but a hardy plant which doesn't require CO2 injection)..... and then.... boss asked me to travel to Australia for 3 months for work. How do I take care of my new passion and satisfy my lust to discover new countries?
I talked to my LFS, and they suggested, I either dry up the tank and leave it empty and come back, or get some fish and start an ecosystem which would be self sustaining. As a result, I added 6 red velvet swordtails which have been very happy for the past 4 days. 2 males and 4 females. Unfortunately, 1 of the males is chasing the other male away so much that the weaker one is sitting in the corner by the filter intake
. I guess that's nature. I just didn't know swordtails would fight hard to get to whole harem to themselves. Now that the tank is happy and mostly everybody is getting along, I'm heading for Australia for 3 months and the girlfriend will be feeding the fish. I tried to automate the tank as much as possible. The light (Finnex Plant +) automatically comes on and off for 12 hrs a day. Also, since it's still cycling, I was advised not to do any water changes for at least the first 2 months. Speaking of cycling, the API test so far is not showing much increase in the levels of ammonia. For a 65G tank with 6 fish, when should I anticipate the ammonia levels to go up? or will it be so small, that I won't detect it? Should I check after 1 or 2 weeks?
When I come back, eventually, I'd like to have a schooling fish like zebras or tetras, and several angel fish as the main focus.
Any comments or suggestions from the gurus before I let this tank on its course? I guess I didn't want to have an empty tank collect dust. Plus, my girlfriend is very much liking it and I'm sure she'll take care of it.
