jdsunflower
Aquarium Advice Activist
I have an unexpected situation that needs maximum emergency planning...
I have been reflecting on my aquarium plans for months, and finally decided to purchase a 40 or 50 g tank, to cycle with plants, and in 2 months or so, I would add a minimum of small community fish.
Well, I saw an excellent bargain (40 g tank with fixin's) AND STAND advertised in a local internet site, placed a bid, and it was accepted!
(I'm certain that the more experienced among you can see where this is going.)
Now, in my naive ignorance, I assumed this was an old picture, and they would be selling an EMPTY tank and its parts! It turns out I have accidentally inherited 6 fish as part of the bargain (egads +++). Quite apart from their choice of fish (yikes, one each of 6 different fish types), I have no cycled tank available, and have no way of contacting these people until they deliver the goods saturday noon.
I'll spare you the self-recrimination, and say I've decided that the best I can do for now is prepare the best environment I can. Not knowing if they'll even bring any water (outside a small bag each?) I'm going to assume I have no filter materials or tank water available from the old setup. If I'm lucky the tank will arrive with dregs of water and a semi-used filter (something tells me they'll clean up the filter to be nice).
I have two 5 gallon tanks I've taken out of storage, and I have filters, filter floss, air hose, heater, etc. I also have water testing materials. I'd like your advice on any "emergency" conditions I can try to supply...I'm rather resigned to simply keeping the tanks very well aerated and mechanically filtered, making frequent partial water changes... and a silly question is, given the mix of fish, I'm assuming that a Ph around 6.8 would be okay to aim for? Any value to adding charcoal? The quickest I can, I'll be off to buy lots of real plants...and set up the larger tank similarly, trying to use any filter floss and substrate available to boost the bacteria... (crash course for me!)
ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I don't have the heart to refuse the fish. Who knows what would happen to them! (if I recall, they are 1 neon tetra, one gourami, one angel, one whip tail, a tiger barb, and a last one I can't recall just now...)
JD (unexpected new mother)
I have been reflecting on my aquarium plans for months, and finally decided to purchase a 40 or 50 g tank, to cycle with plants, and in 2 months or so, I would add a minimum of small community fish.
Well, I saw an excellent bargain (40 g tank with fixin's) AND STAND advertised in a local internet site, placed a bid, and it was accepted!
(I'm certain that the more experienced among you can see where this is going.)
Now, in my naive ignorance, I assumed this was an old picture, and they would be selling an EMPTY tank and its parts! It turns out I have accidentally inherited 6 fish as part of the bargain (egads +++). Quite apart from their choice of fish (yikes, one each of 6 different fish types), I have no cycled tank available, and have no way of contacting these people until they deliver the goods saturday noon.
I'll spare you the self-recrimination, and say I've decided that the best I can do for now is prepare the best environment I can. Not knowing if they'll even bring any water (outside a small bag each?) I'm going to assume I have no filter materials or tank water available from the old setup. If I'm lucky the tank will arrive with dregs of water and a semi-used filter (something tells me they'll clean up the filter to be nice).
I have two 5 gallon tanks I've taken out of storage, and I have filters, filter floss, air hose, heater, etc. I also have water testing materials. I'd like your advice on any "emergency" conditions I can try to supply...I'm rather resigned to simply keeping the tanks very well aerated and mechanically filtered, making frequent partial water changes... and a silly question is, given the mix of fish, I'm assuming that a Ph around 6.8 would be okay to aim for? Any value to adding charcoal? The quickest I can, I'll be off to buy lots of real plants...and set up the larger tank similarly, trying to use any filter floss and substrate available to boost the bacteria... (crash course for me!)
ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I don't have the heart to refuse the fish. Who knows what would happen to them! (if I recall, they are 1 neon tetra, one gourami, one angel, one whip tail, a tiger barb, and a last one I can't recall just now...)
JD (unexpected new mother)
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