Maintainance issue on a plant tank

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vega

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Messages
607
Location
Malaysia
Dear friends,

As you could see, my tank are quit heavily plant. Currently the most dreaded thing i want to avoid is a sick fish.

Even though i decorate and planted my tank quit properly where i could see all area in my tank clearly from different angle, i still have problem where my sick fish die because of late in getting treatment.

Normally sick fish would lay quitely behind the tank to rest. But this also make me difficult to spot them early. This problem have cause me few sleptless nite.
Few of my sad losses for last 6 month inc:-

1 German ram to fungus
1 treadfin tetra to fungus
1 panda cory to unknown reason but i suspect ick
3 rummy nose to fungus
6 neon (this is due to neon crappiness when moving to another tank) :D

These loses could easily prevented as i have Qtank, whole closet of medicines and exp in handling sic fish :(

Its quit difficult fo me to track 6 rummy nose in my tank let alone 2 panda cory which swim at bottom.....(u get the idea..)

How do you guys kept track ur tank?
 
I personally use things that give the fish cover, but allow full visibility.

Like a stump I got from petsmart, it has a space under it for fish to hide, and make them feel safe, but you can clearly see them.

also, a rock with holes in it, they can get in the holes and feel safe.. but you can still clearly see them.
 
Observe and count at feeding time, every day. Luckily, my fish all come out to eat, so it is relatively easy. For my one "hider" the upside down catfish, he has on favorite place to hide, I check on hime 3-4 times a week. He only comes out after lights out so no way to keep tabs on him.
 
Fyi, my above tank have:-
8 neon
3 upside down cat
3 rummy
1 golden ram
1 german ram
4 rosy bard
6 black neon
2 dwaft neon rainbow
5 treadfin rainbow
1 panda cory
6 gho shrimp

Counting them daily IS a chalenge.... :lol:
 
Nice looking tank indeed (esp. if you could get a piece of black or blue cardboard to cover the back and obscure the filter etc.).

One problem you might be having is that you're tank is overstocked--no doubt somebody has mentioned this before... It seems that you have between 50 and 60 inches of fish in a tank that should hold no more than ~26 inches of fish. You've overcrowded by a factor of 2, so consider (well actually, do it...) moving half of the guys. If you had even more fish originally, they might have been suffering from ammonia poisoning or stress.

On the issue of counting--I used to count every one of my fish until the tank settled down. Now I'm secure enough that I watch, but don't count. If your fish are in equilibrium with the tank, and if you haven't added fish recently, or done any major changes, you shouldn't have to worry about deaths.
 
I know :D
FYI, the tank is a 100L but my tank actual water capacity is 200L :) another ~100L is in the filter. I have a HUGE external filter/slump nex to the tank. :wink:

Btw i already brought black mounting board many months ago but i i never really put effort to mount the board cause everytime when was with my tank iwas busy watching the fish, check the water parameter, watching the fish, change the water, watching my fish, trim the plant, watching the fis.... u get the idea :D
 
I've heard it said not to count corys and ottos, or any cats that contribute to tank cleanliness in tank capacity parameters.

BTW, anyone want to comment on why most people suggest a planted tank should have only 50 to 75% of fish capacity compared to a non planted tank at 100%. It seems to me other than the space lost to the plants that a well maintained planted tank could really support a larger number of fish, given the extra output of O2 by the plants :?: Betowess
 
main reason is at nite plant take O2 and give out co2 into the tank.

2nd, thou live plant dont poop, but time to time they do shed their leaves (n root) into the tank. the dead leave is will compose into N and take up the o2. Its impossible to clean 100% dead leaves in a heavy planted tank unless u are nuking the tank..

but imho proper maintain tank can have 100% capacity. And you can optimise the tank by adding external filter/slump to add the water capacity as its the total water capacity of the tank that matter rather the tank size.

Tank size only control the sizes/species of fish u gonna have in the tank. Eg. 20 x neon (which 20 x 2cm = approx 40 cm ) is still ok in a 2 feet tank but a 25 cm arowana will have tough time in 2 feet tank let alone 40cm one.
 
You should always count the bottom feeders. They contribute to the cleaning of algae and some detrius but release toxins like everything else.
 
I have to admit, my planted tank is overstocked fish wise, at least IMHO. 10g tank with 3 Dwarf gouramis (don't ask, but they all are getting along atm), 6 neons, 2 otos, 2-3 cherry shrimp (more to come!) and a bamboo shrimp. I wouldn't overstock a non planted tank, but personally and from things I have read during research on planted tanks, a well planted tank is better able to deal with waste levels then a non planted. Yes, they add CO2 at night, but also add a lot of O2 during the day. So far its been very successful and all the fish are happy and healthy.
 
Alli, I like your logic. And though some might include bottom feeders in tank capacity, I've heard experts say the cumulative net effect of bottom fish is so positive, that you don't need to count them unless you have more than needed.

IMO, the most important thing is filter maintenance and of course water changes.
 
Allivymar said:
I have to admit, my planted tank is overstocked fish wise, at least IMHO. 10g tank with 3 Dwarf gouramis (don't ask, but they all are getting along atm), 6 neons, 2 otos, 2-3 cherry shrimp (more to come!) and a bamboo shrimp. I wouldn't overstock a non planted tank, but personally and from things I have read during research on planted tanks, a well planted tank is better able to deal with waste levels then a non planted. Yes, they add CO2 at night, but also add a lot of O2 during the day. So far its been very successful and all the fish are happy and healthy.

Dwarf gouramis. Are these a problem in a community tank? My lfs said they would be ok with my existing fish. Is there something he ani't telling me? :?
 
*starts laughing* You asked!

Yeah, I haven't followed my own rules *slaps self* They can be a problem but pretty much only within themselves; male gouramis are territorial towards each other and can be pretty damn aggressive. There are 2 unexcuseable reasons why I have 3 LOL:

I started with 2 thinking if there were probs I would return one. There wasn't (they claimed diff areas of the tank), but I decided I wanted a female instead. Prob is, females are next to impossible to find here. I got another gourami thinking it MIGHT be female and figured I'd move one of the males into the QT after her (?) QT was done.

Then I found a couple of unusual loaches...and I only have one QT atm LOL I decided it was better to take a chance on having 3 dwarf gouramis in the main tank then one getting ill if the loaches were carrying something, so I moved the possible female in and the other 2 stayed in the 10g planted tank.

Actually, all 3 get along pretty well...it apparently changed the territorial lines, and while previously if one male crossed the other's there would be a big chase; now they all seem to wander anywhere they want to go with a minimum of aggression. That being said, I DO have a home for one of the males; just waiting for a teacher at work to finish setting up his tropical tank in the classroom.

I do think, because the tank is so well planted, it helps keep the aggression down; lines of sight are limited so they all aren't visible to each other at all times. So the issue isn't so much dwarf gouramis in a community tank as it is the dwarf gouramis themselves. And I think I just got lucky.
 
Ok so they are only "agressive" towards other gouramis? That's good to know cause I lost 2 female betta's the first part of the week and wanted to make sure it was not them. Now I am pretty sure it was the nitrate level.
 
It MAY have been the gouramis, although I doubt it. I've heard they are not the best tankmates for bettas (something about competition as both are up at the surface for air and both build bubblenests) but I have yet to see a post about it here. Quite possible, if the nitrates were over 40ppm, that that was the issue.
 
It was :( . I think they were attacked after they were weakened, for the most part the gouramis will swim right by the female betta's and not even pay them any mind. The only "nipping" I have going on is my dalamtion mollies, they want to nip all my plants off. :lol: Gotta find something for them to do to save my plants.
 
I've read that if you put enough Gourami's in a tank together, they simply can't find a big enough territoy without another Gourami in it and they just give up.

I've never heard of anyone actually trying this, but it seems to work at the LFS.
 
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