Hello! I'm new here, obviously. I just set up a 10-gallon tank in my dorm room that I'm growing quite fond of. I haven't put in all the fish I intend to, but I figure it's best to add them gradually.
The tank itself:
- 10 Gallon 'Marineland' with hinged lid and 2 (25w?) incandescent bulbs
- Tetra Filter, labelled something like OT-45, it's the 'regular' variety that hangs off the back of the tank and has no BIO-wheel.
- Small air pump the size of the palm of my hand, and one hose into the corner of the tank. Need to get an air stone, it just spits out some big bubbles really, the flexible air 'wand' I got didn't work correctly so I removed it.
- 50w Heater with a 26C thermostat
Here is a little video tour of my tank/fish at feeding time. The shrimp are being less excitable than usual here.
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/newtank1.mov
And some photos from when I first set up the tank the day before yesterday:
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/fish1.jpg
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/fish2.jpg
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/shrimp1.jpg
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/shrimp2.jpg
The water's from tap, treated with 'Aquasafe' a bit of aquarium salt too. The heater does its job nicely and holds the water to almost exactly 26C (which is about 79F, mercury thermometer indicates 78F.) One end of the tank has some plastic rocks in an archway formation, and the other end has a large fake hollow 'mountain' with a lot of places for fish/shrimp to hide.
The fish are 4 Bala Sharks and 4 guppies (2 male, 2 female), much like a tank I had set up a year ago, although that was more like 6 gallons, not 10. I read, after I bought them, that Bala Sharks get extremely large, though my old Balas never grew at all from the day I bought them-- they seem pretty cheerful in there at any rate. All 4 of them cluster together for the majority of the time, and occasionally one or two will get distracted and wander off.
Some odd behaviors however: They like to cluster at one end of the tank, away from the 'mountain' near the top of the tank, where there's basically nothing but the thermometer. They'll stare at the side and put their faces up to the glass, and swim up and down over and over again. Are they mistaking their reflection for other Balas and trying to school with them? They'll keep this up for over 15 minutes at times 'kissing' the glass. From where I'm sitting, they have a reflection that is pretty much like a mirror. They also seem to drift to a nearly vertical position when they 'sleep' (it's more like they go into power-saving mode than sleep.. heh) then suddenly snap back to horizontal as if they realize how silly they look.
They will also occasionally dash around the tank without provocation-- one of the Balas will, for no discernable reason at all, launch at approximately 900 meters per second in nearly a complete loop around the tank, sometimes kicking up gravel in his frenzy. Then as quickly as the hurry started, he's done, and goes to rejoin the school. (?!!)
The Guppies behave about as expected, schooling mostly around the top of the tank. It seems they never stop being hungry, and if they're fed, the guppies are always the first ones on the scene, even if they've eaten four times that day. The Balas seem oblivious to chow-time and just find the food later on the gravel, or as it's falling. (The food is TetraColor tropcial fish flakes, and I put in a bit of Betta food on occasion that I just have lying around, since I know the Balas are omnivorous-- and this stuff probably consists predominantly of bloodworms.)
The Ghost Shrimp display behavior I would expect from .. well, shrimp. They seem to act communal in a lot of ways. They all cluster at the top of the 'mountain'. If less than 2-3 shrimp are up there, it's guaranteed the rest are scaling the walls or inside the mountain. I've never heard of schooling behavior among Shrimp. I call the mountain 'Mt. Doom' sometimes because it extends a good 3 inches out of the water-- they chill right under the water's surface. When fed, they will launch themselves off the top of the mountain, grab food and land. It's like they know that's where the food is going to be and want first dibs-- unexpectedly intelligent behavior. If a shrimp is ever spotted away from the mountain, he's grabbing food and climbing back up right away, or doggy-paddling his way up. (The guppies always appear deeply confused when the shrimp paddle by.)
Another couple questions I had partain to planting, and general water maintenance. The tank's only been set up for a couple days but the water's already quite cloudy. This is a fairly powerful filter, made for tanks considerably larger than mine, and the filter's not really showing signs of being dirty. But, the water's gone rather cloudy. Is this normal behavior after the introduction of new fish and should it settle down on its own, or should I be doing a half-water change with some more water (treated with aquasafe and heated to 26C/79F), or look for a additive to help? Should I be concerned about my pH level at this point?
I'd like to add some plants, as #1, I hate the look of plastic plants, #2, they don't offer any real places for guppy fry to hide if the guppies do reproduce (my previous ones did, they had an ungodly mess of babies in 1 month, most if not all of which survived), #3 I'm sure they are good for the CO2 levels and pH of the water. But I am unsure what size and shape, and how many, to be opting for. A local shop sells small potted plants and bulbs that have already grown appreciable.. leafery, for lack of a better term. There's tall leafy ones, big wide ones with extremely fine branches, and tiny little 'shrubs'. Are there special considerations or is it about as simple as burying planting them in the gravel? Are the incandescent bulbs OK for their growth/photosynthesis? The bulbs are on about 12 hours a day.
One last question. I'm looking to add a few more fish, but I'm not positive which variety is ideal. This room's temperature can be erratic and in summer, there is no AC, so it will be in the mid 80s in this room, maybe high 80s. I considered Neon Tetras but their maximum temperature tolerance is around the high 70s. Cardinal Tetras prefer high 70s to Mid 80s apparently, but Bala Sharks are prone to eat tetras apparently, and the Cardinals are a third the size of the Neons! I am also considering Zebra Danios, as they seem to be able to handle pretty warm water. I know the Bala Sharks will tolerate large changes in temperature/pH and this is part of why I chose them.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for any tips!
The tank itself:
- 10 Gallon 'Marineland' with hinged lid and 2 (25w?) incandescent bulbs
- Tetra Filter, labelled something like OT-45, it's the 'regular' variety that hangs off the back of the tank and has no BIO-wheel.
- Small air pump the size of the palm of my hand, and one hose into the corner of the tank. Need to get an air stone, it just spits out some big bubbles really, the flexible air 'wand' I got didn't work correctly so I removed it.
- 50w Heater with a 26C thermostat
Here is a little video tour of my tank/fish at feeding time. The shrimp are being less excitable than usual here.
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/newtank1.mov
And some photos from when I first set up the tank the day before yesterday:
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/fish1.jpg
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/fish2.jpg
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/shrimp1.jpg
http://www.epicgaming.us/fysh/shrimp2.jpg
The water's from tap, treated with 'Aquasafe' a bit of aquarium salt too. The heater does its job nicely and holds the water to almost exactly 26C (which is about 79F, mercury thermometer indicates 78F.) One end of the tank has some plastic rocks in an archway formation, and the other end has a large fake hollow 'mountain' with a lot of places for fish/shrimp to hide.
The fish are 4 Bala Sharks and 4 guppies (2 male, 2 female), much like a tank I had set up a year ago, although that was more like 6 gallons, not 10. I read, after I bought them, that Bala Sharks get extremely large, though my old Balas never grew at all from the day I bought them-- they seem pretty cheerful in there at any rate. All 4 of them cluster together for the majority of the time, and occasionally one or two will get distracted and wander off.
Some odd behaviors however: They like to cluster at one end of the tank, away from the 'mountain' near the top of the tank, where there's basically nothing but the thermometer. They'll stare at the side and put their faces up to the glass, and swim up and down over and over again. Are they mistaking their reflection for other Balas and trying to school with them? They'll keep this up for over 15 minutes at times 'kissing' the glass. From where I'm sitting, they have a reflection that is pretty much like a mirror. They also seem to drift to a nearly vertical position when they 'sleep' (it's more like they go into power-saving mode than sleep.. heh) then suddenly snap back to horizontal as if they realize how silly they look.
They will also occasionally dash around the tank without provocation-- one of the Balas will, for no discernable reason at all, launch at approximately 900 meters per second in nearly a complete loop around the tank, sometimes kicking up gravel in his frenzy. Then as quickly as the hurry started, he's done, and goes to rejoin the school. (?!!)
The Guppies behave about as expected, schooling mostly around the top of the tank. It seems they never stop being hungry, and if they're fed, the guppies are always the first ones on the scene, even if they've eaten four times that day. The Balas seem oblivious to chow-time and just find the food later on the gravel, or as it's falling. (The food is TetraColor tropcial fish flakes, and I put in a bit of Betta food on occasion that I just have lying around, since I know the Balas are omnivorous-- and this stuff probably consists predominantly of bloodworms.)
The Ghost Shrimp display behavior I would expect from .. well, shrimp. They seem to act communal in a lot of ways. They all cluster at the top of the 'mountain'. If less than 2-3 shrimp are up there, it's guaranteed the rest are scaling the walls or inside the mountain. I've never heard of schooling behavior among Shrimp. I call the mountain 'Mt. Doom' sometimes because it extends a good 3 inches out of the water-- they chill right under the water's surface. When fed, they will launch themselves off the top of the mountain, grab food and land. It's like they know that's where the food is going to be and want first dibs-- unexpectedly intelligent behavior. If a shrimp is ever spotted away from the mountain, he's grabbing food and climbing back up right away, or doggy-paddling his way up. (The guppies always appear deeply confused when the shrimp paddle by.)
Another couple questions I had partain to planting, and general water maintenance. The tank's only been set up for a couple days but the water's already quite cloudy. This is a fairly powerful filter, made for tanks considerably larger than mine, and the filter's not really showing signs of being dirty. But, the water's gone rather cloudy. Is this normal behavior after the introduction of new fish and should it settle down on its own, or should I be doing a half-water change with some more water (treated with aquasafe and heated to 26C/79F), or look for a additive to help? Should I be concerned about my pH level at this point?
I'd like to add some plants, as #1, I hate the look of plastic plants, #2, they don't offer any real places for guppy fry to hide if the guppies do reproduce (my previous ones did, they had an ungodly mess of babies in 1 month, most if not all of which survived), #3 I'm sure they are good for the CO2 levels and pH of the water. But I am unsure what size and shape, and how many, to be opting for. A local shop sells small potted plants and bulbs that have already grown appreciable.. leafery, for lack of a better term. There's tall leafy ones, big wide ones with extremely fine branches, and tiny little 'shrubs'. Are there special considerations or is it about as simple as burying planting them in the gravel? Are the incandescent bulbs OK for their growth/photosynthesis? The bulbs are on about 12 hours a day.
One last question. I'm looking to add a few more fish, but I'm not positive which variety is ideal. This room's temperature can be erratic and in summer, there is no AC, so it will be in the mid 80s in this room, maybe high 80s. I considered Neon Tetras but their maximum temperature tolerance is around the high 70s. Cardinal Tetras prefer high 70s to Mid 80s apparently, but Bala Sharks are prone to eat tetras apparently, and the Cardinals are a third the size of the Neons! I am also considering Zebra Danios, as they seem to be able to handle pretty warm water. I know the Bala Sharks will tolerate large changes in temperature/pH and this is part of why I chose them.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for any tips!