So far so good...

[tarajo]

Well, all 3 fish and my 2 banana plants seem to be thriving, i have never had fish so eager to eat, i am sure if i let them they would eat nonstop... i bought them some freeze dried bloodworms, they go nuts for those things.
My husband in his own optimistic way has named my fish for me, they are *ahem* dead fish 1-3 he is so supportive of my new hobby i have caught him in the office watching them a time or 2 when he didn't think i would see him.... i may be able to con him into a tank for the bedroom
Anyway, just wanted to thank everyone for the help so far and let you know that things are going well

 

[Zagz]

Glad to hear things are going well! I see a case of MTS coming on, .

 

[tarajo]

LOL i had that before i got the 10 gallon, I just have to pass it on to hubby now

 

[Guest]

ha ha my husband claims to dislike my hobby and always complains about all the $ spent but then i catch him watching the tank and asking questions.. lol.

 

[Tiffi]

No problems with my husband. He said himself that we might need a new tank for the cichlid fry. The only thing is that we don't have much space left in our house. Oh well, it's time to get a bigger house, so we can have more fishtanks.

I've already infected him and he wants to have a paludarium someday .

 

[tarajo]

i have my eye on a SW tank at some point in the future, probably not until we own rather rent so i know when i set it up, it will stay put. i could easily fill my apartment wiht 10s and 20s though

 

[tarajo]

Well, for those who are interested, I got an AP FW test kit and tossed the strips and by the middle of last week, i was reading 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites WOOO!! i had added 2 more danios and an Oto... Octo... i can't remember, but he eats algae and isn't a pleco so when the readings hit 0 ( and there was some fluctuations when i added the new fish) last week and remained 0s this morning, I celebrated by picking up my 'final' fish for this aquarium setup. I got 2 Black Tetras. So my tank is now complete, although i may add more plants in the future. So the total count
2 Zebra danios one long fin, one reg.
3 leopard danios, all long fin
2 Black Tetras and the little Otocinclus ( i looked it up )
and 2 banana plants.

THanks to everyone who answered my questions directly and posted before so i could reap the seeds of your experience and wisdom

 

[Zagz]

Mts is striking my husband finally! Everyone comments on my tanks all the time and he has gotten quite interested, even asking how can I help. So hold out faith it can happen!

 

[7Enigma]

Congrats tarajo!

Your cycle appears to be completed. How much light do you have? I thought those banana plants needed a good bit. Also I'd really pursuade you to get another 1 or 2 Oto's. They are social fish that like to be in large groups, but having at least 2 or 3 would be fine. I had 3 in my new tank, 1 died from unknown causes, but the other 2 can normally be found together roaming the tank for algae. Also they are very small, and won't add much to your bioload.

They really like vegetables, so stick a slice of peeled cucumber against the glass (use a vegi clip, or a magfloat) and watch them latch on for hours slowly eating the food. This is a great way to suppliment their diet since (like me) your tank is still pretty new, and you probably don't have a large amount of algae/diatoms for the Oto's to eat.

I'm not sure of your tank size, but a couple cory catfish (I'd get at least 2) are also amazingly good for your tank. They are bottom feeders, and will eat just about anything on the bottom (except fish poop!), and help to keep the nitrAtes in the tank down by not letting this stuff rot. They are also social fish and need to be kept in more than one (I had 3, but like the Oto's 1 died, but this was from fin nipping by my barbs). They are one of the most peaceful and interesting fish to watch as well.

Oh, and the bloodworms.....I have a bunch of different foods for the fish (algae wafers, shrimp sinking pellets, flake food, and freeze dried bloodworms). The bloodworms are like crack for my fish, they seem to eat them first, and as quickly as possible during feeding. I've even seen them spit out flake food, to persue the bloodworms, and then only after no bloodworms are left, they will grudgingly go back to the flake food.

 

[tarajo]

my tank is only 10g but i think i could squeeze in another Oto to keep the first one company. and i will definitely try the cucumber thing. Thanks not sure on the wattage of the bulbs, it is whatever a 10 gallon tank kit from walmart comes with, but it seems to be enough both banana plants are still growing like crazy

 

[7Enigma]

Yeah, I think with your current tank size another you could maybe get 1. That 1, while not as happy as in a group, should still do fine in the tank happily. And I think the amount of cleaning of the bottom he does will outweigh the increased bioload in the tank. Just make sure if you decide to get one that they are compatible with your fish (they do have a large back fin which seems to entice one of my barbs).

You can easily get 1 or 2 more Oto's, as they add so little bioload to a tank, and really are great algae and diatom cleaners. Plus they are really cool to watch roam around the tank together.

 

[tarajo]

Well, I lost an Oto

I went out Sunday and got an new Oto to keep the first one company. Tuesday about noon i noticed that the original one wasn't his usual self. he was kind of 'laying' on the plants instead the way he usually 'stood' on them with his fins if that makes any sense at all. and he was swimming like he was drunk when he moved around the tank. i tested the water and all was fine, all the other fish are fine, so i have no idea what happened, between my noticing that he was ailing and taking him out of the tank it was only about 3-4 hours he went down hill really fast. he had no outward appearances of illness, no ich, nothing.. so i am stumped and am now keeping a close eye on the rest of the tank, but so far so good.

 

[7Enigma]

I was the same as you. I had 3 Oto's, they all looked great, one day I came home from work (about 4 days after getting them), and one was dead on the bottom with no sign of trauma. Chalk it up to the Oto's lack of hardiness, they apparentely have a very high death rate from stores. I'd still get another one or 2, but be prepared for the high mortality rate.

 

[tarajo]

what bothered me most is it wasn't the new oto that died, he seems fine, ate a huge slice of cucumber it was the one that has been in the tank for almost a month.. ahh well, i guess i just need to realize that i am going to lose some fish no matter how hard i try

 

[7Enigma]

Hmm...That is depressing. I've heard that Oto's (and any other filter/bottom feeder) has a high likelyhood of parasitic diseases and should be treated in a QT tank prior to adding to the main tank. It's possible that the Oto had recently been infected with a parasite and it took that long to kill it.