A better way.....

[Mad Professor]

A better way to stock a 44 gallon tank. I want guppies and I want alot of them. Recently I've failed in that attempt from buying 6 fancy guppies from wal-mart and putting them in my QT 2.5 Gallon. Doing PWC daily or every other day and they still died. Yesterday my Bulb on my 44 gallon went crazy as in flickering which I pulled a replacement bulb from a 10 gallon hood that wasn't being used at the moment. Now I just noticed that 2 or 3 guppies from that tank disappeared and I'm wondering if the dying bulb cause them to die too.

I did a parameter test, which came back normal
Ammo: 0.25ppm
Nitrates: 10ppm


I have about a dozen guppies in the tank; mostly juveniles and males.
I have a few females in there but I can't seem to get them to breed. I think its because of the temp which hangs around 74-78.

The water does smell a bit funny which can only means I have a build up of anaerobic pockets. Which I plan on doing my OVERDUED Grav Vac.
I do one every 6 months.

SO after I do that and make sure the tank is stable again.
I want a better way to stock it.

I was thinking that I would try to find a breeder to buy from locally.
One it would reduce the stress of the fishes which would reduce the chances for dieases/infection from poping up. Two I know where they've been and where they came from. Three: I don't have to worry of it being diseased or infected from the store anymore.
What do ya think??
Also I hope to drop them in to my 44 gallon skipping the QT process.

But I can't seem to find a breeder in the florida area.
Google and Ask.com fails to help me.

~Mp

 

[SCFatz]

I'm stuck.
or to put it another way,I just don't understand.

I'll just type in what comes to mind and let others object:
1. .25 ammonia is not "normal" in an established tank...or it shouldn't be.

2. 6 gups in 2.5g?....imo you can change the water all you want..I would expect death if i tried it.In that small of an area the pwc will induce stress,not alieviate it.

3.VACUUM THE GRAVEL.

4.VACUUM THE GRAVEL.

5.VACUUM THE GRAVEL.

 

[Mad Professor]

About the 2.5 gal,
Oh yeah well they say different....
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=82195&highlight=


2: I've always had 0.25 for ammo from the beginning which was about a year ago. So unless my tank just sucks ass and is stuck in an infinite cycle or the test is off abit. It is a liquid test BTW

 

[MattAquaBio]

Lots of males and a few females? bad idea, should be about a 1 male to 3 female ratio to keep the males from fighting to much, especially for breeding.

 

[Mad Professor]

Lots of males and a few females? bad idea, should be about a 1 male to 3 female ratio to keep the males from fighting to much, especially for breeding.

Well at the begining I did have a trio of females to one male which did IT with the male. We had lots of fry but it was the survival of the fittest in my tank. So most of the fry were males and the rest that wasn't able to survive, died.

Sucks for me. I was trying to get more females into the tank hence the QT process, which they died. I can't help it. Its so hard to find guppies around here and when I find them I jump on it and buy as much as possible. So 6 now and whatever survives goes into the main tank. Well This time it failed and their goes 17$ down the drain. Now I got a member telling me it doesn't matter how much PWC I do, they will still die because of the tank sizes. It never ends for me. I asked and get conflicting info in return.
GODDAMN IT TO HELL!!

Definitions of quarantine tank:
1: A separate tank in which newly acquired fish are kept for some time to insure that they are not suffering from any disease before they are released into the main aquarium. Also used as a Hospital Tank.
2: holds fish temporarily apart from others for assessment.
3: A tank set up for newly acquired or sick fish to isolate them from the main aquarium until they can be safely introduced.

 

[SCFatz]

Yes I know its too small to hold that many fancy guppies

I think that was my point too.

The intent of that thread and this thread are not same...that was a rescue mission....good hearted imo too.

Does your source water test at .25 ammonia as well?It should if its the kit is failing and your new 0=.25.

 

[fish_4_all]

I had 45 guppy fry in a 2.5 gallon tank with a sponge filter and a load of anacharis and they did very well. Plain guppies mind you, not fancy ones. Fancy guppies are not as hardy as their smaller cousins. I have never gotten fancies to survive for long in even a 10 gallon tank with more than 5 of them. They were simply too aggressive toward each other.

As for water changes, put some floating plants in there and that will help a bunch. I used anacharis or elodea for mine and the guppies loved it.

 

[Ky'smommy]

how many times do you do water changes in the main tank.
I hope its more then once every six months.
i also beleive that changing the water does help but the whole point of water changes is that you clean up the garbage, left over food, poop and whatever else is built up in the gravel.
i would reccomend if you are doing water changes once a week to do gravel vaccums also.
It doesnt take much longer and it is better for the fish.

 

[Guest]

Your amonia level is coming from your gravel. If your only vacuming your gravel one every 6m. Then the boiload in the tank has got to be high do to the waste in the gravel. That' going to cause a hugh bioload and cause amonia levels to either sky rocket or stay at lest at 0.25 to 1.0 ppm at all times. When you do your water changes you should always remove the water from the bottom of the tank not the top. The top of the waters going to be clean compaired to the bottom where all the fish waste is.
This is going to be a lot of menbers thoughts to. Not just mine I beleave.All water changes sould alwys be from the gravel level not surface. IMO your frist mistake was buying the guppys from wal-mart. I've never been to wal-mart that the tanks where taking care of and the fish wheren't sick. The guppys they gat are so line breed that the blood line it's self is a disaster in it's self. Don't get me wrong I have bought a few fish from there but only Betta's and that was just to save there lives.
But you need to pull the water from the gravel, I can't state that enought.

 

[Mad Professor]

Well I do PWC every 2 weeks I barely have any bioload for grav vac, which as you can see 0.25 is reached after 6 months *OverDued by 2 months due to family death* and 10ppm is as high as the bioload got since this is the second week for another PWC.

I also have alot of deco in the tank. I hate to move around to do the grav vac every week, which is pointless. So as you can see I can only do it every 6 months.

For the last time I bought guppies from wal-mart as a rescue mission which failed, and they are the only store in the Orlando FLORIDA area that carry guppies. SO Unless You think a 2.5 Gal QT tank just not going to do, I need a better way to stock the tank.

EDIT:
All right I just finished my grav vac on the main tank. About an hour later I decided to do another ammo test and instead of going down it went up 0.50.
I know its not accurate after a PWC, but its some slight idea.

Now I just did a test on my tap which turns out I have the same results. 0.50 Which is weird because several months ago it was pure YELLOW.
What I'm doing is looking through the vials' either at a light or a window.
Now if I set them on my desk or have them in the palm of my hand; They show pure yellow. The instructions don't tell you how to determine the test results. It just said to match the color with the cards.

What do you guys do in terms of defining a test result?

 

[SCFatz]

Now I got a member telling me it doesn't matter how much PWC I do, they will still die because of the tank sizes.

I'll assume you mean me.

All I'm trying to say is that if I put full grown fancy guppies in a 2.5 gallon tank for two weeks I would expect death.
Its just my opinion.
Pehaps a "recue mission", where death seems inevitable either way,its worth a shot..but should be avoided as routine.

FWIW guppies breed like rabbits (yes I know you know that) so there is no need to buy all you can when you can...just get a few you like and before long you will have more then you know what to do with.

Edit:Saw you edit on water source.
I try to use daylight and hold the vial against the card.
If your tap and the tank are the same (and yellow) I would assume you are at 0.Unless of coarse you have ammonia coming out of the tap,which is a whole other issue.Sounds to me like its ok.

 

[Mad Professor]

I did what you said and went outside and let the sun hit the vials which hit the card which came back yellow which is 0ppm. If I hold them in my hand there yellow. But if I hold it up to a light, its light greenish. If I hold them in front of my computer screen there light greenish.
I wish they had a multi color test not this yellow to dark green BS.

EDIT:

I got to put this little comment in.
MY FISH ARE PISSED!!! I've violated and destroyed their environment.
Theres only 2 or 3 guppies plus the cats down on the bottom everyone else is on the top. They are very unhappy.

 

[SCFatz]

If you added declorinater and matched the temp closely there should be no issue....all you have done is what we all do all the time.

On the off chance you forgot the declorinater you can add it now.

 

[Mad Professor]

I don't have or as much chlorine in my water supply. OUC is our water/electric provider and they ozonated their water supply.
You can find out more from
http://www.ouc.com/home/water.htm
MY fish don't seem to be affected by it. I've been using it for years without any declorinater.

Anyways the temp..... well it is 80-82 Degrees in the tank now because the water that came out was from outside in the middle of the hot sun, Which was 90 or around there.
Which is why most of them went to the back corner of the tank and are at the surface. I have no way to cool it down.

 

[joannde]

float some ice in a baggie on the top of the water and/or blow a fan over the top in the future. Also, if you run the hose for awhile you'll be able to get most of the water out that was sitting in it - the later water should be cooler and would most probably match your tank temp (I'm in Clearwater, so I know what you're talking about)

 

[Mad Professor]

Well I redid the landscape and now that I think of it I'm pretty sure I didn't have any ammo after all. I think I was either reading the color wrong or what.

SO I'm going to the store either tonight or tomorrow to get some new plants since my old one were deteriorate to bits.
Anyways I want to know if its ok to buy some guppies if I can find them and maybe get 8? *3 females to a male x 2 I want alot of guppies!!!!*

I'm just going to skip the QT process and drop them in my tank and just do the main tank if it gets into trouble.

What do you guys think?

 

[Mosaic]

If there's one thing this hobby has taught me, it's patience. My new motto is: If you don't do it right, be prepared to do it again.
I therefore wouldn't skip the QT, especially if you're getting the fish from Wal Mart. If you're looking for a private breeder, check with a local fish club or IFGA. You can also find them easily online, but I don't think I'd have them shipped in this heat.

 

[Mad Professor]

No not from wal-mart too risky. I'm going to get them from petco/petsupermarket. There are no LFS in downtown orlando, This is what I've got to work with. Better but some what risky.