I have a 36 gallon bowfront that has been cycled. It currently has 1 blue gourami, 5 corydoras, and 4 red minor tetras. Im going to be getting 2 bolivian rams this weekend and i was curious as to if id have room for any more fish after that.
Havent tested the water yet, im gonna pick up a kit over the weekend. Everything seems to be good so far, the fish are swimming happily and have a healthy appetite. I used the tetra safe start during the cycling process. The tetras nip at the corys fins from time to time but i heard that was normal for tetras. They said they swam in the middle at petsmart but they seem to stay at the bottom.
Unfortunately i wont have money for the water testing kit until the weekend so i dont have any way to determine nitrate levels.
Ive had the fish in there for over a week without issue so i was under the impression that the levels were stable. Ill hold off on other fish untill i test it i suppose.
No need for hostility, i never said your advice was bad, so the "help the thought process" dig was alittle unnecessary, i just wasnt aware of the possibility of the nitrate levels climbing without me noticing. Im new to this so cut me alittle slack.
I know you didn't I didn't mean for it to sound that way. I was just wanting to know if you understood all of the testing and what I said. Sorry
Welcome to AA! I seen that you was new here. No attacks meant to happen
I guess the better question is how did you know the tank cycled without testing the water for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate?
Ive had it up and running without fish for around a month so i figured that was the alotted amout of time for things to level out. I heard the tetra safe start worked wonders so i figured between that and the fishless running time it would be ok. Im aware now that i should have tested it before adding the fish so hopefully i havent put them at a risk of health issues. Once i get the test kit this weekend ill keep a very close eye on the levels and put off adding any new fish like andrew suggested untill im certain everything is correct. Im assuming i should do an immediate 25-50% water change?
If the water is testing bad or nitrate is above 20ppm then yes do the water change. What's your maintenance schedule like now?
From what ive read online for the tank size i do about 25% weekly. I have a gravel vac but i havent used it yet.
Eventually you may need to bump that up to two 25% changes a week. We will see when you get a test kit on how it reads. Does this tank have live plants? I don't remember you saying anything about it. They will help keep water quality under control if you have them.