TheNewKids' Tank Journey

[TheNewKids]

Heya guys,

I thought as opposed to asking my questions in separate threads and clogging up the forum with a bunch of questions; I'd make my own thread to document my fish tank journey. Thus far we (my girlfriend and I) have both a 40g and 20g tank up and running - both undergoing a fish-in cycle (don't worry, we have the fishes health at an utmost importance).

Whilst the first tank we began with was a 20g tank, our first tank to home fish was the 10g (considering the 20g had a rather high ammonia reading - perhaps due to some poor LFS advice of adding food to a brand new aquarium without beneficial bacteria ). We immediately conducted a 95% (possibly higher) water change on the 20g and had left it running without fish until tonight (as explained below).

Since then, we've added four platys which seem relatively happy to our 20g tank (our second mistake being adding too many fish too soon, however, it's just made our journey a little more time consuming!)

Our final mistake being a 2m and 2f platy ratio, which we were completely oblivious to considering we didn't realise we had this ratio until we arrived home (we asked the LFS for 3f and 1m).

One platy became quite aggressive to the female platies today (strangely enough ignoring the other male), and we had to relocate him to a 20g tank on his own; the other platies seem far more alive since the move.

And so marks our second full day of owning fish, a very exciting experience thus far in which we've learnt (and are continuing to do so) so much information and have definitely taken this challenge head on with no intention of slowing down!

We hope you follow our journey and hang around - pictures will be uploaded within a day or so!

[TheNewKids]

Today's Update
As I speak I've been desperately trying to remove the three fish from the the 10g to place them in the 20g considering the sunset pregnant platy had fry whilst I was at school today. I came home to the orange platy being rather aggressive to sunset and my little peppermint platy; I was able to catch the sunset platy and place her in the 20g, but still trying to catch the orange platy to seperate it and catch the peppermint platy for the 20g.

I've since turned off the filter (so fry don't get sucked into it) and it appears a few fry have survived - for now!

Wish me luck!!

I've found 4 fry thus far, still no luck with catching the adult platy!

Managed to get both the sunset and orange platy out, the peppermint is proving difficult!

[Lynx99]

Sounds like you guys are gonna be busy!!!!

Did you buy a test kit for your tanks yet? If so, I'm sure people are gonna be wondering what your readings are. If you haven't I would recommend getting one. Most people here use the API master test kit. My friend gave me a gift of another test kit which I'm using at the moment, but when that runs out, I might just switch to the API.

[TheNewKids]

Originally Posted by Lynx99

Sounds like you guys are gonna be busy!!!!

Did you buy a test kit for your tanks yet? If so, I'm sure people are gonna be wondering what your readings are. If you haven't I would recommend getting one. Most people here use the API master test kit. My friend gave me a gift of another test kit which I'm using at the moment, but when that runs out, I might just switch to the API.

Yup, picked one up the other day - API master kit.

PH yesterday was 6.8-7 and the day before 7.2
Ammonia the first day of testing was 0-0.25, yesterday was 0.

And nitrate and nitrite have both read 0.

[TheNewKids]

We've tested ammonia on both tanks, API master kit is reading around 0-0.25; just a little green; so we'll perform a water change tonight.

Everything seems to be going along nicely; the current build is:
20g tank = 7 platies, 2m, 5f (two mickey mouse, two sunset, two orange, one peppermint)
10g tank = 5 fry (they survived, woohooo!!! )

A quick question, how do we go about doing a water change in the fry tank? I'd imagine we don't use the gravel cleaner?

We've fed our fry some finely crushed flakes, not entirely sure whether they've eaten it - but I imagine they'll become a little more active soon enough. We've turned the filter back on with some stocking wrapped around it; and the thermometer has been adjusted to 26 degrees celcius in the fry tank (24 in the adult tank).

We also picked up some blood worms today!

[Lynx99]

The general rule is if the ammonia or nitrites go to .5 to do a water change. On a fully cycled tank these should read 0.

A lot of people use either a siphon with stocking on the end so fry don't get sucked up or tubing again with stocking on end so the fry don't get sucked up. The gravel vac would probably be too wide a mouth to put into fry tank. I know on my gravel vac the air tube comes off, and that can be handy to do a pwc as the mouth is small and you aren't sucking up a wide volume of water.

[TheNewKids]

Oh yeah, great idea! I guess we'll try that for the water change on the fry tank, although, would it be too restricted in that it won't be able to clean any left over food or waste?

Also, I understand we have another issue - neither tanks are cycled yet, and I understand fry need perfect water conditions? How are we going to keep these little guys alive? I iunderstand keeping ammonia as low as possible is ideal, but what more can we do to help them get through this?

Argh, everything seems to be making this more tough!

[Lynx99]

You can net out any remaining food and then just feed a little less next time to avoid food waste. Also you can vac the substrate with the hose, just take it slow so no fry are sucked up. Once a week for a vac is prob enough.

Pwc will keep the water good for the fry. In their tank, you might wanna test nh4, no2 and no3 twice a day just to be safe.

[TheNewKids]

Originally Posted by Lynx99

You can net out any remaining food and then just feed a little less next time to avoid food waste. Also you can vac the substrate with the hose, just take it slow so no fry are sucked up. Once a week for a vac is prob enough.

Pwc will keep the water good for the fry. In their tank, you might wanna test nh4, no2 and no3 twice a day just to be safe.

Will do, thankyou!

Just woke up this morning and everything seems well, all the adult platies seem happy in their 20g - although, we can only find 2 fry.. hopefully they're just hiding!

[TheNewKids]

We're about to do a water change on the 20g tank, and will probably do a small one on the 10g tank. We've fed the main tank some blood worms today, and they seem especially aggressive which is frustrating to say the least - the two orange ones in particular! Hopefully it all settles, we don't have another tank to move any aggressive ones into so I just hope they all survive.

We've once again fed the 10g fry tank some crushed up flakes, we're still not sure if they're eating but they definitely are more active which is a good sign, we counted four today.

Here are some pics!

[Mebbid]

I bought a small gravel vac for my 10g fry tanks and it worked well. Just make sure to get 1 with the bulb pump.

[TheNewKids]

Originally Posted by Mebbid

I bought a small gravel vac for my 10g fry tanks and it worked well. Just make sure to get 1 with the bulb pump.

What's the reason for the bulb pump?
The gravel vac we have is just the standard tube

[Mebbid]

You can start the siphon easily and if you see a fry starting to get sucked up you can squeeze the bulb and that will usually push it out of the tube.

[TheNewKids]

Originally Posted by Mebbid

You can start the siphon easily and if you see a fry starting to get sucked up you can squeeze the bulb and that will usually push it out of the tube.

Oh right, I'll check them out at the fish store!

Today's Update:
20g - As mentioned the adult platies were getting very aggressive, particularly after feeding, which I also think was the result of an elevated ammonia level. We conducted a 50% WC today, and since they seem to all be very happy besides one orange platy which seems particularly aggressive. All 7 seem happy, they enjoyed their blood worms today, and tomorrow will either be fed cucumber, flakes, or blood worms.

Kit Results (After WC):
Ammonia - 0 - 0.25
PH - 6.4 - How do I bring this back up??
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0

10g - Most fry have developed their side fins and are a lot more active, swimming around in open water not just hiding away. We've fed them just once, about to feed again, and have noticed one or two eating. Thus far just a diet of finely crushed flakes, we may pick up some Hikari First Bites or even some baby brine shrimp. We conducted a 35% WC today with a piece of stocking covering the water vacuum which went well, all five are swimming well.

Kit Results (After WC):
Ammonia - 0 - 0.25
PH - 6.8
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0

Will they be fine raised on a diet of finely crushed flakes, or should we alter their diet? They don't have any real plants either, just fake.

[Mebbid]

It's difficult to safely change your pH. For the most part fish are just fine at any normal pH level you will find in tap water; it is the fluctuating pH levels that you need to worry about. However a bag of crushed coral in your filter should help raise it a little bit.

Before I got a live culture of micro worms and vinegar eels I fed my fry freeze dried brine shrimp. It powders into tiny little bits when you pinch it so it is just about perfect for fry

[Lynx99]

How are the fry doing now?

[TheNewKids]

Originally Posted by Mebbid

It's difficult to safely change your pH. For the most part fish are just fine at any normal pH level you will find in tap water; it is the fluctuating pH levels that you need to worry about. However a bag of crushed coral in your filter should help raise it a little bit.

Before I got a live culture of micro worms and vinegar eels I fed my fry freeze dried brine shrimp. It powders into tiny little bits when you pinch it so it is just about perfect for fry

I've read about the coral thing elsewhere, I guess I'll look into that if it drops too low.

Just picked up some frozen brine shrimp today, I'll try that out!

Originally Posted by Lynx99

How are the fry doing now?

Just got home today, they're doing very well - happily swimming around, and they look to have grown! - We'll be feeding them shortly since I imagine they'd be quite hungry!

We also picked up some Stability today, any idea how to use for two tanks that have been running for roughly a week now?

All adult fish are doing well

[TheNewKids]

Today's Test (10g Fry Tank - Before WC)
Ammonia - 0 - 0.25
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0

Conducted a 25% water change on the 20g, and a 30% water change on the 10g. Tried feeding the adult platy some zucchini but they showed no interested, so they got flakes. Fry were fed some finely crushed flakes again, possibly some brine shrimp later today as well.

Oh, and we counted at least 7 fry in the fry tank today - more than we thought! They just seem to keep popping up!

[Mebbid]

hehe yeah, they tend to be good at hiding

[Lynx99]

Originally Posted by TheNewKids

I've read about the coral thing elsewhere, I guess I'll look into that if it drops too low.

Just picked up some frozen brine shrimp today, I'll try that out!

Just got home today, they're doing very well - happily swimming around, and they look to have grown! - We'll be feeding them shortly since I imagine they'd be quite hungry!

We also picked up some Stability today, any idea how to use for two tanks that have been running for roughly a week now?

All adult fish are doing well

Great stuff! Sounds as if all going well. Yes lots of people swear by Stability and of course I'm sure you've read there are lots here who don't put any faith in bottled bacteria. That said, now you have it you may as well use it up. Id dose the tanks for the 7 days as per the instructions.