Opinions on setup

[mortikahn]

I have been reading the forums as a guest for about a month, and have used the information I have found within to set up my own tank. I would now like to see your opinions on how bad or how well I have learned from the combined wisdom found here.

Here is my tank setup
20 Gal Long (water is about 3-4 inches from the top...crab space)
Sand Substrate about 1-2 inches deep
Filtration is a fluval 205
8 inch ceramic airstone w/ pump
Water is tested with a test kit weekly, just prior to a 10-25% water change
Temps are kept between 77.9 and 78.3 measured with an electronic temp doohicky

The wildlife:
1 Pleco I'm not sure the type(I know the tank is small for him, for now it will work, as he is just a tiny little guy maybe 3 inches)
1.5 swordtails (New sword tail gave birth the day after we bought her fry is still in an isolation tank for another couple of weeks)
2 ghost catfish
4 Neon Tetras
2 Redtail Black sharks
4 red claw crabs
2 "mini" crabs very small and have tiny little claws
1 buffet table (some fern plant that the crabs REALLY enjoy)

The water level is kept below the top of the tank, and the 2 "trees" I have in the tank are well above the surface of the water, leaving the crabs with access to the air. I also have a little branch like ornament and a rock cave for hiding/climbing. The tank has a full top, to help prevent escapes.

I can provide pictures later tonight. I just wanted to see what people thought of my setup. I know its a slightly aggressive community (crabs and sharks) but everyone seems to be getting along/avoiding each other. The only injury so far seems to be the smaller red tail shark has had its tail fin nipped by the larger.

I do have a feeding question along with this.
How much should I be feeding?
I am currently feeding once a day
5-6 sinking shrimp pellets
1 sinking algae wafer (the small variety, smaller than a dime)
5-10 bloodworms (how the heck do you make them sink)
1-2 dried shrimp
and a pinch of tetracolor granule food (smallish pinch)

am I feeding to much, or to little?

Thank you for your opinions and help.

 

[Purrbox]

I've got two big concerns right off the bat. Your aquarium sounds rather overstocked, it also sounds like you added all the inhabitants at once, and it doesn't sound like you've cycled it first. If this is the case I would highly recommend taking back most or all of the fish and learning about cycling first, otherwise you are likely to end up with many of your inhabitants dying or sick as a result of the high Ammonia and Nitrite levels that will soon result.

 

[mortikahn]

I am pretty sure the tank has been cycled.
I set up a 5 gallon back in October with a goldfish from the local walmart.
Then started doing reading. I ended up having to do almost daily water changes in the 5 gallon to keep everything under control until it cycled completely.
After finding a new home for the goldfish after a couple of months, I used all the ornaments, substrate and water to pre-populate my 20gallon with the beneficial bacteria.
I guess I have actually been on the forums for about 3 months...not 1. Wow time flies.

so to recap October to January, goldfish and Pleco in a 5 gallon from walmart.
Learned that walmart had done me wrong, and started investing in a larger home. Found the goldfish a new home (koi pond) and moved everything from the 5 gallon into the 20 gallon, including the water. The 20 gallon has been up and running a for a couple of weeks now, and the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels are within acceptable levels according to my master test kit.

Am I really overstocked? It doesn't seem to be, fairly active, both day and night, but doesn't seem very crowded.

 

[pitt420dude]

Welcome to AA Mortikahn!

Some thoughts of mine:

While transfering all the substrate, plants, and decor to your new tank will help establish some biological filtration (and water, but less so w/ water) the bioload has been drastically increased. Your bacteria can only increase it's population to match your bioload, so adding so many fish at once (assuming you did since you didn't include when you got which fish) MAY cause a mini cycle. Having a goldfish previously is actually pretty fortunate b/c they are dirty and create a big bioload for just one fish.

Just be vigilant and watch those params and keep up with water changes and after about 2 weeks your nitrifying bacteria should be up to the task.

How do you like your fluval (I've always wanted one)? IMO your not too overstocked (just slightly); at least using the 1" per gallon rule. I sort of use a 1-1.5" per gallon since my 55 gal is heavily over filtered. So long as the fish are happy, healthy, and hungry you should be fine.

I've never had crabs so have NO insight to offer about them. They might eat the fry so make sure the fry are big enough before you put em in (though it would make you overstocked). You may want to sell em.

Temp looks good.

I personally don't care for leaving the water level so far below what the tank can handle for 3 reasons: (1) Asthetics, I just think it makes the tank look evaporated/neglected. It also creates a film. (2) Less water means less water to work with to buffer problems (temp swings, ph changes, etc.) It has been said that larget tanks are easier for beginners b/c they're more forgiving. (3) Less water = less swimming space and therefore a smaller bioload, at least using an inch per gallon measurement.

Like I said though, I don't have any experience w/ crabs so it may be necessary for you to leave it low.

I THINK, you're over feeding. Maybe not though. Is all the food getting eaten rather quickly? Just keep an eye on your params. If you see lots of ammonia you may be overfeeding.

EDIT: One last thought: Alarm bells rang when I read you had only two redtail sharks b/c I've been told to avoid this by my LFS. He said to either get just one or get several, not just two. It seems your one shark fighting your other may add some credence to this maxim. Hopefully one will establish dominance and things will settle down between the two. Keep me posted as I'm interested.

 

[Purrbox]

Sice you were able to seed your biological filter with all of that decor from the old aquairum, that will help emensely. You'll still probably see a shortened cycle while everything gets established. What do you mean by the Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate being in acceptible levels? Unless the Ammonia and Nitrite are 0 with Nitrates rising between water changes, the aquarium is not cycled.

I don't know if you are overstocked or not, it just sounds that way from the amount of stock that you listed many of which I believe get to be fairly large fish. Overfiltering can help with this as do frequent water changes. There's nothing to say that you can't have a sucessful aquarium that is overstocked (as long as it isn't grossly overstocked), just that it takes more work to keep it healthy and things can go wrong a lot quicker if it's overstocked (especially in the case of power outages, etc). Also keep in mind that most of the pictures you see of aquariums by the manufactures would be overstocked and probably created artificially or only setup long enough for a picture.

 

[mortikahn]

To respond to a few questions;

Fish were added in the following order, with estimated times between stocking
Pleco/Goldfish October
4 Mystery snails about 2 weeks later
mystery snails eaten by goldfish (koi variety) sometime in December/January timeframe.
Goldfish given to a Koi pond, beginning of February
4 Neon Tetras and a Sword tail added middle of February
2 crabs added about 1 week later (way over stocked at this point)
moved to 20 Gallon tank beginning of March
added more red tails and ghost cats about 2-3 days later
added more crab about 4-5 days ago.

So all the fish have been introduced in a staggered pattern.
I purposely went with the 205 filter from fluval as it is designed for a 40 gallon tank, and hoping that the extra filtration will counter any slight overstock situation.


Now as far as my chemicals being within acceptable parameters, here are the amounts from the tests performed using an API Freshwater Master Test kit.
PH 7.4-7.6
NH3/NH4 0ppm - .25ppm (really hard to tell which)
No2 0ppm - .25ppm (again hard to tell)
No3 between 20 and 40 ppm before a water change

Both the Ammonia and the Nitrite seem to be right in between the 2 colors on the card. Both of these might be slightly elevated due to a possible over feeding situation, which I am trying to figure out the right amount.


edit
Oh and there is only 1 fry. so only a total of 2 swordtails, I guess my first post wasn't to specific on the number of baby(ies)

 

[mortikahn]

I think I am overfeeding, I just fed them and watched the amount of food consumed.

I think tomorrow I will try feeding about 1/2 what I am feeding now and go from there.

 

[Purrbox]

It sounds like you are aware of the issues with overstocking and have taken measures to help counteract this. From your later posts, it's also clear that you have taken things much slower that it sounded from your first post. The slightly elevated levels of Ammonia and Nitrite could be the result of your recent crab addition and a mini cycle, overfeeding, or both. Either way cutting back on feeding is worth a try.

An easy way to cut back on what you're feeding is to alternate the days that you feed certain foods. You can still get plenty of variety that way but it's easier to feed less. So for example one day feed the sinking pellets and flakes, the next day the algae wafer and some frozen bloodworms.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

I dont know if anyone else said this before (I just skimmed over the responses) but I thought crabs needed access to the air, and also they might kill your fish. I had a fiddler crab who killed two guppies before I moved him to a crayfish tank (woops....he was eaten). I dont know much about red-claw crabs or the other little ones you have, but just keep in mind that they're at least partially carnivorous.

 

[mortikahn]

Thanks for the comments.
Yes I am aware that crabs need access to the air, which is why I have the tank filled to about 3-4 inches from the top, and decor that pokes out above the water allowing the crabs a place to "sunbathe"


I don't know why I hadn't thought of alternating types of food with the day. For some reason I just thought I needed to do all foods all the time. I think alternating the food types will be a great way to continue to provide variety, and try to prevent overfeeding.


Oh and I seem to have missed the question from pitt420dude about my opinions on the fluval, so let me answer that now.
How do i like it?
Having never used/set-up a canister filter before I was a bit intimidated by the manual, and the dvd that came with it. I watched the dvd twice (second time to write down the measurements).
Installation was really easy. The hardest part was cutting a hole in my desk to allow the tubes to run up the back side of my tank.
This thing is quiet...really really quiet. The bubbles from my air stone make more noise breaking the surface of the water than the whole fluval system makes filtering the water.
I like the separate filter areas inside the canister, the 205 comes with a 4 piece foam filter on one side and 4 seperate containers on the other. The 4 separate foam filters allows you to change them in a cycle, always leaving 2-3 populated with bacteria. The seperate containers on the other side come from the factory with 2 containers of activated carbon, and 2 containers of biological medium. I can change out container contents based on what I need to do (remove medication, ammonia, nitrate, or normal filtration) The biological medium, is a very porous surface with lots of little tiny holes for bacteria to live in. This provides your beneficial bacteria with plenty of condo space to inhabit, thus ensuring you maintain bacteria levels after a filter change. Is it a bit of overkill, yes, but Aren't your fish worth it?
The fact that I can turn off the water flow, and then remove the complete canister assembly and take it over to the sink for cleaning is fantastic. This will make filter changes much cleaner, and easier.

I have my intake set up at the far left and my output at the far right of my 20gal Long tank. There is a visible current that is created, and its fun to watch the fish play in the current. Dirt particles (fish waste etc) are not given enough time to settle on the bottom, and are instead kept afloat in the current until they are pulled in by the intake siphon. There is enough of a current created, that in my 20Long with a sand substrate, I can create sand dunes, and ripples in the sand.

The flow on the output can be adjusted (to no more than half flow) by using the shut-off lever on the top of the canister. the manual cautions not going more than half though as it may harm the impeller.

In short, I don't think I will ever use another filtration method again. it costs a little more, but the benfits are well worth it. Hopefully I answered your question well enough to make up for missing it on the first go around.