Newbie seeking advice on 55gal

[The_Desacrator]

I'd be more selective with your plant choices. When you buy them it should say either terrestrial or aquatic. Also a better lighting system will go a long way for the plants.

I don't know if getting more livestock is a good idea when you are mid cycle.

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[Ladeia3]

I promise no more stock. I don't plan to add anymore even when the tank is stable.

The only plants I added were ones mentioned earlier like the sword and Java. I'll work on the lighting but that may have to wait until I have the money to spare.

The ammonia is down to .25. The ph has remained at 7.8 and the rest is still zero. Should I do another 30% water change or leave for a couple of days?

 

[Exigenn]

water changes until ammonia is at 0 and you start seeing nitrates.

Also noticed that there is another filter on it, maybe i missed it but which one did you go with?

 

[Ladeia3]

water changes until ammonia is at 0 and you start seeing nitrates.

Also noticed that there is another filter on it, maybe i missed it but which one did you go with?

Yesterday I went to petco and bought an aqueon 55/75 quietflow band added to the tank last night.

 

[ImACoolguy]

water changes until ammonia is at 0 and you start seeing nitrates.

Also noticed that there is another filter on it, maybe i missed it but which one did you go with?

I'd actually keep the ammonia about 0.25-0.50ppm..

We are trying to feed bacteria to grow here need to leave it a little food. Ammonia will try to get higher as the cycle progresses.

you still have a good road ahead of you with the cycle, but once you are past it you will feel successful and your fish will thank you for it.

I agree with what's been said. Aquatic plants range from very easy to very challenging. Knowing what you have will help you out greatly at keeping them alive.

I didn't see it mentioned but pictus catfish will eat fish that can fit in their mouth(most fish follow this practice). I worry a juvenile zebra danio may be a cat snack..

Hope this input helped


Caleb

 

[sinibotia]

If I recall, the plant I see in there with the white outline around the leaves is terrestrial?

 

[Exigenn]

I'd actually keep the ammonia about 0.25-0.50ppm..

We are trying to feed bacteria to grow here need to leave it a little food. Ammonia will try to get higher as the cycle progresses.

you still have a good road ahead of you with the cycle, but once you are past it you will feel successful and your fish will thank you for it.

I agree with what's been said. Aquatic plants range from very easy to very challenging. Knowing what you have will help you out greatly at keeping them alive.

I didn't see it mentioned but pictus catfish will eat fish that can fit in their mouth(most fish follow this practice). I worry a juvenile zebra danio may be a cat snack..

Hope this input helped


Caleb

True, true any amount of ammonia in tanks scares me but mine are cycled lol.

 

[Ladeia3]

The plants were mostly from inside an aquarium at Petco. I didn't actually pay attention to the names when I got them because I honestly did not even think of doing research on them first. I regret that now.






There is also one bamboo in there and a sword plant. The bamboo and the plants in pic 2 and 4 came as a set. The rest were individually sold.

Everything is still stable in the aquarium. The ph is holding at 7.8 and the ammonia varies between .25 and 1.0 (it spiked that high because I accidentally overfed). I've been doing partial water changes when it is higher than .25. Also, thanks for recommending another filter. The water has been crystal clear since adding the second filter and it is so much quieter than the marineland one. I plan to add another aqueon as soon as budget allows and remove the marineland one.

Thanks

 

[sinibotia]

Bamboo will rot if grown underwater. That's what I mean by Petco selling terrestrial plants as aquatic I'm fairly certain that the white-trimed plant is also terrestrial but someone who knows plants better may correct me.

 

[ImACoolguy]

First one looks like Ludwigia Repens, not a hard plant to grow it may do well in your tank.

Second is what's called "white ribbon" it is a semi aquatic plant and will rot underwater. I keep this plant in a semi aquatic frog tank. It's really easy to grow but only the roots and lower stem may be underwater.

Third is a Java Fern species. Believe they call it "windelov" or something like that. It's like the rest of the Java ferns, just tie it down to something like decor, driftwood, or rocks and it will establish itself there and become attached on its own.

The last picture I'm not really sure about but I'm thinking it's semi aquatic as well, if you see the tips of the leaves browning it likely is.

And of course like Sinibotia said the bamboo is semi aquatic. Like white ribbon, only the roots and lower stem should be submerged. I kept mine in a Mason Jar for a while with weekly water changes and sunlight it grew awesome.


Caleb

 

[Caliban07]

The last one looks like some variety of Anubias to me?


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[The_Desacrator]

Again the ribbon one is terrestrial. See if you can take the bamboo back. I got three and they all died bc they didn't say they weren't fully aquatic.

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[Ladeia3]

Just an update...

Fish are all still alive and seem to be thriving. The ammonia levels keep spiking but I've been doing daily water changes of at least 25% but as much as 50% if needed. So far I haven't seen any nitrite or nitrate levels but it is still early yet, right? Anything I should watch out for or need to do?

I do have a question about the temp. Until yesterday, my tank has stayed at a consistent 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday, the temp went up to 80/82 but came back down when I added some cooler water when I was doing the water change. Do I need to be concerned with this or turn the heater off for awhile? Or is this okay and I should just leave it be?

The pleco will be going to the LFS this weekend so he will be out of the tank soon. I haven't done anything about the plants yet. I will remove them as soon as they start showing signs of decay but for right now, I don't have the budget to replace so I'm going to leave them be until they become a problem.

And my favorite fish so far is the zebra danio. I really didn't think much of them when I got them. They were just a cheap, starter fish. Now they are my most entertaining fish in the tank. They are also brave little things. Whenever I'm messing around with the tank, (ie water changes, tests, etc) those little things are checking out what I'm doing. The other fish scatter away from whatever area I'm working on.

Thanks

 

[Coursair]

If you add any Crypts or Swords buy some cheap DIY Osmocote Plus root tabs here or on EBay ( I got 100 for $8). Bury them deep next to Crypts, Swords or any heavy root feeder.

Java Fern "windelov" are great.
The Anubias looks good. Both can be tied or glued to rocks or wood or you can "plant" them. Just don't bury the Rhizome, the thick horizontal root.

Enjoy your tank [emoji1360] while resting between water changes.

If someone has a healthy established tank you can ask for some used filter media ( filter floss ) , keep it wet in used tank water, till you can add it to your filter. If it won't fit, you can also squeeze it over the top of your filter.


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[Ladeia3]

I did add my friends old filter media to the tank but she has a much smaller tank so it probably only helped a little. I did discover what was causing the ammonia spikes. My city water has apparently been treated with something because it was showing high ammonia in it. It has started to come down. Yesterday it was at only 1ppm (It was at 5ppm last week). Hopefully it will come down further. In the mean time, I'm only doing water changes every few days instead but dosing with Prime every day to keep the ammonia non-toxic. My tank has pretty much cycled at this point. The ammonia isn't quite at zero but I think that has more to do with me and my eyesight and the poor lighting around the tank when I'm trying to read the results and also caused by the water changes. The test was almost completely yellow when I did the test before the water change but then after it went up to .25ppm. I'll see what the results are this evening. The nitrites are consistently at zero now and Nitrates had gotten up to 20ppm but I did the water change and they are around 5ppm now.

I've ordered a few more plants online since my local petco/petsmart doesn't have anything but swords that I recognize as being aquatic plants. They have some other plants but they are in those tubes on a shelf and I don't want to risk buying more terrestrial plants. They should get here today.

Changing out the gravel for sand has also seemed to really help the tank out as well. I thought I had been vacuuming the gravel but apparently I was just dreaming that part because it was super nasty when I started taking it out. I am so not a fan of gravel anymore. I will happily use sand from now on.

 

[Coursair]

Sounds good. Post updated pics when you can [emoji1360]


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[Ladeia3]

I'll take some updated pics once I get all the plants in.

I have finally rehomed the pleco and the pictus catfish. Currently the tank holds:

4 dwarf gouramis
8 zebra danios
2 platys
1 molly
4 green corys
3 tiger barbs
1 horned nerite snail

Tank appears to be cycled. Have had consistent readings the last few days. My question is should I get some more tiger barbs or just leave them as is? I do plan to get some more corys but should I get anymore of the others so they have company?

 

[Coursair]

Tiger Barbs definitely need large groups or they will be VERY nippy.

The Gouramis may kill each other off. They aren't social.

Yes more Cories.


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[Ladeia3]

Tiger Barbs definitely need large groups or they will be VERY nippy.

The Gouramis may kill each other off. They aren't social.

Yes more Cories.


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That's what I've been seeing on the barbs. I've just been waiting for the tank to be stable before adding to it.

I didn't realize the gouramis would get violent with each other. I've noticed they haven't been sociable. They usually hang out in different sections of the tank but I just assumed that was because they had space to spread out unlike the tank they were in at the store. I'll keep an eye on them and I don't plan to add anymore of them so hopefully they'll stay okay with each other.

Can I mix cory types or should I stick with the type I already have in there? They were bought at Petsmart and were labeled as "Green Cory".

Should I add to the molly or platy population or can I just leave the ones in there as is?

 

[Coursair]

That's what I've been seeing on the barbs. I've just been waiting for the tank to be stable before adding to it.

I didn't realize the gouramis would get violent with each other. I've noticed they haven't been sociable. They usually hang out in different sections of the tank but I just assumed that was because they had space to spread out unlike the tank they were in at the store. I'll keep an eye on them and I don't plan to add anymore of them so hopefully they'll stay okay with each other.

Can I mix cory types or should I stick with the type I already have in there? They were bought at Petsmart and were labeled as "Green Cory".

Should I add to the molly or platy population or can I just leave the ones in there as is?

Add fish as you can, it's important to keep things stable. Think of Gouramis as Betta cousins...territorial and not a schooling fish. I would return 2 of them. Otherwise you may see some bullied to death.

I prefer same species of Cory. A big group will play great together. Greens, Corydoras aeneus, color up great. They get pretty chunky too.
Were they labeled Green or Emerald Green ?

Green aka Bronze are typically C aeneus.
Emeralds are a Cory cousin Brochis splendens. They get bigger.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=51

Are your Platies and Mollies males ? Or mixed ? If you have females they'll add more themselves.



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