first time tropical tank with dieing fish part two

[honey-lovin]

im starting tests on my second tant containing my axolotle and starting the 50% water change. on my comunity tank.

i have desided to keep the ph level that comes from the tap after reading dizzcats comments (thank you)

i couldnt make out how often i should test my comunity tanks water ( should i test every 3 days and do a normal 30% water change afterwards untill i no longer get amonia and nitrites showing)

also i think i posted a question about using filtered tap water and if its better to use or if it will cut out important water traits or even add harmfull ones...

haha i feel like im nearly over this first bump

 

[thominil]

If it's just your typical tap filter then it's just run through carbon. Since you are cycling with fish (if I remember correctly), you may want to test daily.

 

[honey-lovin]

argghhhh. heres an update on my comunity tank ( its going to be short because this is the third time my net has bummed out on me :s )

after the 50% water change my:

ph sits at about 7.4
amonia sits between 0 and 0.25 ( i would say closer to the 0 side)
nitrites easily sit on 0
nitrates sit between 10 and 20 ( i would say about 15)

so its worked nicely, thanks for the advice

HOW long should i wait before doing another PWC (its now been 24 hours) i shall keep checking once a day as advised.


also after seeing my comunity tank with high nitrates i read into them more and came up with a few more questions... is it possible that having nitrates (a reading of 40) would affect the fish and cause them to not breed? all of my females look so so pregnant but i only have 7 babys where as in theory i should have a few hundred

is it possible that they will feel like giving birth if my amonia hits zero and my nitrates hit below 10?


also thinking in the long run i would be interested to see how many plants my tank could sustain with 19 fish..... seeing as i have had 2 reed like plants and 2 clumps of java moss and my tanks nitrates were at 40 could i put 4 times the amount of plants and still have extra nitrates to sustain them?



lastly i have had a 30 liter tank setup for about 3 weeks now with a small heater and air pump ( im planning to have it as a breeding tank or fry tank) to assist the tank to cycle i put in a filter sponge from my comunity tank and also 1 rosey barb.... SO HERE is the question... with weekly PWC will just having an air pump sufice or will i need to get myself some sort of fry friendly filter...



im so full of questions

 

[thominil]

You should be fine adding more plants.

 

[DizzCat]

all of my females look so so pregnant but i only have 7 babys where as in theory i should have a few hundred

It is very possible that they had more than 7 and the rest you are not seeing got ate. Very likely case. Some fish can take a couple days to have all the fry too.

is it possible that they will feel like giving birth if my amonia hits zero and my nitrates hit below 10?

I think when its time, they give birth no matter what.

 

[honey-lovin]

hello people, just giving you an update on the community tank, the water properties have settled down now, amonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates below ten

also after settling the nitrates to below 10 i have had 1 lyre tail give birth to about 20 to 30 fry,


i have many question more questions on breeding bristlenoses and raising other live bearers

 

[meegosh]

Congrats! Sounds like you have made it through your cycling woes. I'm not sure on breeding BNs but I'm sure someone else can chime in.

 

[honey-lovin]

well its been a fair while now, no more deaths, but even more baby's... it would seem things are going very well... i tracked down a 3 inch male brislenose today and bought him (he looks very beasty) haha im going to have to pull apart my breeding tank and make the caves even bigger so he can get inside them i should be getting my second female from my partner house and then ill be installing an under gravel filter for the fry/breeding tank and then be putting the BN's in to see what happens

good times