ADF 1 gal per inch & plants?

[binnie]

so i am brand new here and brand new to aquariums and was looking for some insight.

my understanding is that the general rule of 1" of fish per gallon is to avoid depleting the oxygen in the water. having said that... if i were sitting at 10" of fish in my 10gal tank, would adding 1" of frog do any harm since they breath at the surface?

also, how necessary are silk plants for the safety of their soft skin? is it an advisory, or a requirement for the little guy to be happy?

thanks a load,
binnie

 

[siva]

The inch per gallon rule allows for serious error in stocking. I would not rely on it one bit. To determine if you have room for the frog, please tell us what is already in the tank. Also ADF's are social and should be kept in groups of atleast 2.

I only use live plants in my ADF tank. Plastic can work, but you need to examine it thoroughly to be sure there is no sharp edges that could harm them. Do the same with decor and file any sharp edges with a metal nail file. If you have plastic plants they likely won't care much about them and they are awfully cute sitting up in the live or silk plants. I keep ADF's in a species only tank because they are nearly blind and can have a hard time competing for food in a community tank.

 

[allaboutfish]

1. the inch per gallon rule is totally off but we will help you stock.

1. 1 ADF per gallon of water so theoretically you could have 10 but id keep it at 5.

3. id avoid plants other then live with these guys but that's me.

4. aqadvisor is a good place to help stock.

 

[siva]

I would not encourage the use of aqadvisor, especially if you are new to stocking.

 

[binnie]

well the tank is brand new sitting with 2 black skirt tetras and 2 red minor tetras.

my original goal was to shoot for

3 black skirts
2 red minors
1 ADF
1 ghost shrimp
and a algea eating fish


its up for change especially if i am stocking horribly wrong

 

[allaboutfish]

it gives a good rough sketch although i do advise to come back onto here and post the list first bc of course aqadvisor cant put every little detail in it.

 

[allaboutfish]

the black skirts need atleast 29 gallons. and the red minors can be very nippy and need 20 gallons. IMO plus the ADF needs a friend.

 

[allaboutfish]

oh and have you cycled? if not look up fish in cycling. it'll take a while unless you can take everything back and do a fishless cycling.

 

[binnie]

no i have not cycled. i had done hours of research prior to setting up my tank and thought i was doing well. after i set it up though i found this site and have come to find that everything i was going by up till now has pretty much been wrong. the tag by the black skirts at the store said 10 gal. the one inch rule is apparently off. no where did i see anything about cycling on the net.

goes to show how much false information is out there....

so give it to me straight. ha. am i doomed or can i be righted and put on the course to success?

 

[allaboutfish]

well can you take the fish back? i have a link of a good thread about fishless cyclin in my signature.

 

[mfdrookie516]

read the link in my signature on cycling with fish... you can make the determination to continue through with fish, or return them and start fresh (my suggestion). I really think that those black skirts are a bad idea in that tank... I have some in my 125 and they get big, active, and nippy.

 

[binnie]

i might be able to take them back. not positive. i will look in to cycling with fish.... what is the main reason it is undesirable?

 

[allaboutfish]

bc it's very demanding with constant water changes testing and possible dead fish. oh and if you cant see if they can give you some gravel or filter material to speed up the cycle.

 

[binnie]

thankfully i only have a 10 gal tank then. darn misinformation.....

 

[binnie]

basically what i had read was to get 3 or 4 cheap fish. let them live in the tank for 2 weeks and that it would go through a "new tank syndrome" (murky smelly water would occur) and if they made it past two weeks to clean the tank up a bit and it would be ready for new fish.

 

[allaboutfish]

did the petstore tell you that? never ever listen to them.

 

[binnie]

no. i read it somewhere online. i forget the site as i was hopping all around soaking up what apparently was false. after reading drookies link i was wondering how affective bio balls are? say i go back, get a scummy old filter and some bio balls and try and salvage this?

 

[allaboutfish]

i have never heard of bio balls but the filter will definently speed the cycle up but then the skirts and red minors arent right for the tank unless you plan on upgrading to a 30 gallon aquarium.

 

[binnie]

i heard the skirts were not right. but the red minors are not either?

both were labeled for 10 gallons. well darn. and i cannot accommodate a bigger tank.

 

[BeavisMom62]

I wouldn't put ADFs in that tank. And if you do decide to cycle with fish, you definitely can't cycle with ADF's. Much too fragile. They need a well cycled, seasoned tank.

Don'cha just love the misinformation out there? As if cheap fish are less alive than expensive fish! LOL.