cardinals. . ..loosing its red spark ??

[bra_van_drakh]

umh.. . i set up a new low planted tank 3 days ago n yesterday i added:
8 cardinal tetras
4 glowlight rasboras [mind if u could tell me its scientific name^^]
4 fire neon tetras
is it too crouded ???

they seemed very fine to me, i feed them twice a day, is it too much ??? since they aren eating like monsters i have next to their tank [with 8 senegal bichirs in it]

n this morning i woke up, seeing my cardinals' red parts dont really spark, seemed a bit dark. i turned off the lamp the night before, does it matter ??? but later on this night i saw them all well again. so, do i need to turn off the lamp or not ???

 

[WaterPond]

I'm a little confused..... if you could help me clear this up...

Are you saying that your cardinal tetras dont have much red on them... and you are asking if it is because of the lights?

Fish need time to rest... so you need to turn the light on during the day, and the light off at night. 12 hours on, and 12 hours off usually works. This gives you a good photoperiod for the plants too.

I think the glowlight rasboras may be glowlight tetras, which are Hemigrammus erythrozonus

And i cant tell you if your tank is too crowded because you never said the size of your tank.

 

[bra_van_drakh]

owhhh owkay, my bad. . .. .it's a 20 gal^^

so, my cardinals have enough red on them, but they just don't really 'spark', looks abit darker this morning rather than at night. am i stressing them up ??? because the lamp is on for about 15 hours. the pH is fine ~6.0, but the temperature is next in my problem line because it's a steady 28'C. is there any way of cooling the water without any too expensive gadgets ??? my lfs said something about some sort of gravel that can reduce the temperature. . ..

 

[Algenco]

my cardinals are pale in the mornings and around bedtime. 10-12 hrs per day on the light. Placing a fan to blow across the surface will lower the temps a few degrees

 

[WaterPond]

that temperature if perfectly acceptable for cardinals, but sure, it is a little high. A fan will work wonders.

And if that is all you have in the tank i'd say you are fine. you can probably add one larger fish as a centerpeice fish like a dwarf gourami, or a pair of apistos or rams or something like that.

 

[bra_van_drakh]

umh.. ..i think this little stress made another problem. . .
they're not really interested in eating, it seemed that their tummies got thinner.
they dont eat too much do they ???
my rasboras n fire neons r just fine, they eat as usual. .. .
i fed them twice, for about 5 to 8 pieces as wide as a thumb nail [tetraMin], is it too much ???

 

[black hills tj]

You said you set the tank up 3 days ago...is it cycled???

 

[bra_van_drakh]

i dont think its cycled.. .since i put 4 mystery shrimps to eat all of the waste in it, i thought that i wouldnt need to really pay too much attention in cycling. .. and also, my lfs never mention anything about cycling. . .they dont sell any biospira or other sort of type.
if it's needed, how should i do it ???

now it's filled with:
8 cardinal tetras
4 glowlight rasboras
4 fire neon tetras
4 pristella tetras
4 rummy nose tetras
4 glass bloodfin tetras
& 2 angel fish

it is very crouded right now for a 20 gal, but in another 8 days, half of them will be moved to another 20 gall, and just waiting for any other advices before i do so. [addicted to number 4 and its applications T _ T']

since my molly tank isnt really cycled[i think] yet they spawn so often. .. now i got 12 silver balloon molly fries from only 4 adults and 27 black ones from 8 adults

 

[black hills tj]

Is this a 20g tall or 20g long? Just because the shrimp are cleaning up waste doesn't mean its safe for fish. Cycling just means building up enough good bacteria to turn the ammonia to nitrites. and nitrites to nitrates. You will need to keep up on waterchanges, you may need a massive waterchange every day for a bioload like that. Eventually it will cycle but you may lose some fish along the way until the bacteria build up to keep the poisonous chemicals(ammonia and nitrite) down to 0.

 

[bra_van_drakh]

it's 20 gall wide, 75 cms wide, 50 cms tall, 40 cms long... .how am i suppose to do a cycle right now ??? umh. . i'll move half of them tmorrow to another 20 gal, should it be big enough for them ???

FYI, all of them r eating quite properly right now. . ..but their colours r a bit darker, especially my rummy noses, i think it's because its too crouded plus it's a new place fr them to adapt ... they're getting better though. . .

 

[bra_van_drakh]

new info. . .i've managed to drop the temperature to 26.4'C at noon n 24.8'C at night. ...is it better or worse than a steady 28'C ??? and also i've put a timer on the lamp so they'll turn on only at 9 am till 9 pm. .. .all of them r still eating well since i make the flakes into tiny crumbs so it could be easier to be eaten. ..