1970s fishkid grown up

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

BlueAura

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 22, 2017
Messages
37
Hi everyone,

Nice to meet you! I had a 10 gallon freshwater tank when I was a kid from age 7-13. In it, I kept all kinds of freshwater fish, zebra danios, neon tetras, angelfish, algae eaters, and swordtails. I actually successfully bred the swordtails, only to have them all change to males later. :brows:

Then after I left home I set up a 30 long, which I had for another 4 years. That tank was beautiful!

Things have changed a lot in the intervening years. I never knew about the nitrogen cycle, never did a water change, and yet my fish thrived. Looking back now, I'm not sure how these fish survived (and thrived!) for years and years. When I took down my last tank my gouramis were 4 inches long and my algae eater was huge. I read now about all the things that could have gone wrong and I'm just flabbergasted.

What brings me back now is that I've now set up another tank, this time a 29 gallon. I have two boys, ages 7 and 11, and I am hoping they catch that aquarium bug like I did. We've had a hard time getting the tank to cycle properly so I need a little help. What I think I need most is patience. :angel:

I look forward to participating!

Christa
 
Welcome aboard. I too am a 70s fish kid. Anything that I could jam in it lol.
 
Blu...

A 29-30 gallon tank is about the right starting size. A 40 gallon breeder is better for fish and aquarium plants. You'll want to familiarize yourself and your kids with the easy to keep plants too. Fish are adaptable and it's not surprising they lived in poor water conditions. Just think how well they would have done in pure water.

Cycling a tank with some hardy fish species like Platies or Danios is very simple and if you check their water daily, no harm will be done to the fish. You just set up the tank and add some floating plants like Hornwort and let the tank run for a couple of days to settle the water. Add the fish and feed a little every day or two. The fish waste (ammonia) combines with oxygen from the outside air and begins to grow the bacteria colony. Test daily for traces of ammonia and nitrite. If you have a positive test, remove one-quarter of the tank water and replace it with tap water treated with a declorinator. Just feed a little and test the water. When several daily tests show no traces of these forms of nitrogen, the tank is cycled. Once cycled, in a month or so, you change out half or more of the tank water weekly to maintain a healthy water chemistry.

B
 
Thanks for the advice! I'm so green with this whole tank cycling thing. I remembered to let the tank run empty for a while, from when I was a kid. So it sat there for three days. On the fourth day we tested and the nitrite said zero so I thought (wrongly) that the cycle was over, and I made the mistake of introducing (probably) too many fish. Not all at once, but a few at a time. So now there are about 12 fish in there.

I also made another mistake in allowing my 12-year-old to be the primary fish feeder. :facepalm: He puts WAY too much food in the tank. Yesterday I tested the ammonia with the API test and the reading was a solid 1.0, if not 2.0. So I tried three things: 1) neutralizing the ammonia with "ammonia remover" and 2) got some gravel from the pet store fish tank and 3) vacuumed the gravel while doing a water change. You can imagine how much debris came out of the gravel.

Now the plan is to sit tight and not add anything, or change anything until we get a zero ammonia reading. I have Prime ammonia remover on hand just in case but I don't want to use it because I don't like the idea of interfering with the natural nitrogen cycle unless there is a huge unexpected spike and it's an absolute emergency. I told the boys that more fish might die so they are ready. The only problem I have is if they die while I'm at work, they will add ammonia to the tank.

Yes I hear you on the 40 breeder. I used to keep land hermit crabs as pets and I had a 30 breeder for them, which I gave away along with its stand 10 years ago. :( The 40 is what I'd call the "queen of tanks" you can actually create a little world for them with all that room. I've never been a fan of long, narrow tanks but the 29 seemed OK for starters. Besides, I also have 4 cats so I didn't want too large a surface area. As it is now they stare from below but they haven't been brave enough to take a jump yet.

One of my cats years ago freaked out when I startled her on top of my bookcase, and she did what can only be described as a swan dive into my fishtank. What a sight! :lol:

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

Christa
 
Prime will not effect the cycle!
it converts it to a non lethal form to fish for only 24-48 hours.
If the filter is not mature enough to remove it will still be in tank and become toxic again when used up.
You can safely use prime every two days to control ammonia...It is breeders trick for very small fry tanks!
The ammonia WILL still show on the test after prime so don't panic.
 
Back
Top Bottom