New help!

[Jhilkyanks]

Hey guys, did this a lot when I was a kid and getting back into it! I have a 10 gallon with an air stone and filter and heater. Tropical fish are the party here keeping temp at 78, I have 3 Cory's, 3 flame tetras, and 3 rosboras. They seem good but do they have enough room? Do I need more for schools? Anything else I need for this tank? Thanks a lot guys looking forward to responses, I also want to liven them up a bit! They won't even eat of the surface the are so shy! Thanks again!

 

[lamby]

I always say bigger is better if you like schooling fish try maby a 40 or 55 g tanks gives a more natural look and i probaly wouldnt chuck anything eles in their

 

[tamtam]

Hey guys, did this a lot when I was a kid and getting back into it! I have a 10 gallon with an air stone and filter and heater. Tropical fish are the party here keeping temp at 78, I have 3 Cory's, 3 flame tetras, and 3 rosboras. They seem good but do they have enough room? Do I need more for schools? Anything else I need for this tank? Thanks a lot guys looking forward to responses, I also want to liven them up a bit! They won't even eat of the surface the are so shy! Thanks again!

I would def go larger and increase your numbers on all of them. While smaller the tetras and rasboras are pretty active fish and will def benefit from the extra room. 3 isn't really a big enough school but you don't have room in there to add more. Same for the Corys. They should really be in a 20 at least, though this depends on the type, some are bigger and would of course need larger.

I would upgrade to a 20 at least but bigger is always better. In the 20 you could up double everything and still have some room left over if you wanted to add another school or a center piece fish.. or just build further on the 2 schools you have. The more you have in a school usually the nicer the display in your tank.

Provided you have a good enough filter it sounds like you are pretty well fine with equipment. Filter, heater, air stones usually aren't even needed if you have a HOB(hang on back) filter.

Have you cycled your tank yet? If you don't have one a good liquid test kit like an API master test kit will be essential. I would suggest you check out some of the articles that are stickied at the top on this forum. They will help you out if you aren't aware of what the cycle is.

 

[Jhilkyanks]

Thanks!

Thank you so much for the help! The air stone is just to keep things more oxygenated since I know im pushing it with room... and yeah I can't update tanks just yet so I guess just keep where im at?

 

[eduguy]

More rasboras though I don't know if your tank can support more fish if it isn't cycled. They are schooling.

 

[Jhilkyanks]

Im a rookie...

not to be the rookie...but what is "cycling your tank?"

 

[lamby]

its when you tank is creating good bios it usualy takes a month befor these bios grow they also help keep your tank clean an easy way of saying when ur filter is full of gunk is usualy a sign its cycled always good to check your parameter befor adding fish and correct aquamation always gives the fish a better chance

 

[Jhilkyanks]

Cycling

Ok great thank you! I really love the hobby, these guys compared to all other fish i've had are just hiding in corners and really lazy... I don't know if they are uncomfortable but even when I feed them they get a little crazy but not much which concerns me. It looks like one flame tetra guards one corner so I don't know if its a territory thing or if its a female wanting to lay eggs. (I know flame tetras are known to be the easiest to breed and do so pretty fast) I read they are supposed to be very active but really haven't, the rasboras are beautiful and move a great deal and occassionally get a quick chase by the flame tetras. Of course corys are always slouching around haha temp is at 78 so I thought activity would pick up among the flame tetras and rasboras a little more also. Rasboras school almost all the time and the flame tetras are all spread out and if they school its only 2, one is like a cast out...

 

[lamby]

do you have a master test kit for ph ammonia nitritre nitrate could be that ur tank isnt cycled how long has it been set up for

I would start their as that might be a cause

if not that whats the set up like is their enought hiddy holes is the tank to over stocked start with a water test if you dont have a test kit yet dont stress ur LFS (local fish shop) should test it for you for nothing

 

[Jhilkyanks]

I know nothing about ph or levels yet... Still learning unfortunately.... Please friend me haha I heard they will test for free I will do that. Are kits too expensive?

 

[Jhilkyanks]

And also it's a very new tank only about 5 days old

 

[lamby]

ok probaly a lil too soon for fish but a fish in cycle is ok still for the kind of fish you have i would probaly say about 7.0 as their just tropical cichlids like it at 8.4 their what i have in my tanks but their so agressive that only other cichlids can be put in.
and im an aussie so prices will differ but mine cost me $45 so not realy i spent the same on my hydrometer and that only test salt levels
ok when you have you master kit try aim for these parameter
ph:7.0
ammonia:0ppm ammonia is toxic to fish and people
nitrite:0ppm also toxic
nitrate:20-40ppm can be toxic in high doses
ok for about a month things will rise and fall dont stress they will level out give it time
and a good tip to depolute diloute
means if ur parameter are all over the place a water change will help even it out a bit

 

[Jhilkyanks]

Ok great thank you! I gotta say every Aussie I've met is really nice!!! Not if ammonia rises or thing get out if control, do you add things in to fix it or level it out? And does a master kit have those? Again thank you so much for the time, on my profile I have a picture of my tank, the driftwood has a filter and heater inside of it.

 

[tamtam]

ok, your tank is def not cycled. I would suggest you go out and get a liquid test kit as soon as possible. Pet stores will do it for free but often they use cheap strips which are not accurate or tell you things are fine when they are not. Having your own kit is a life saver when owning any tank.

Until then I would suggest you start doing water changes daily. The process of cycling your tank is building the bacteria that are needed that will convert waste in your tank into a less toxic form. Fish food and waste creates ammonia. These good bacteria will convert ammonia to nitrite and then another from nitrite to nitrate. Nitrate is less toxic but still needs to be removed with regular water changes. The problem is though that those bacteria take a few weeks to grow and until they do all those toxins just build up in your tank and will kill them. I would guess that the behavioral you are seeing is related to poor water quality.

I would suggest you do 30-40% water changes every day until you get a test kit to be on the safe side. If you haven't done a water change in a few days I would suggest 2 large 40% ones today spaced a few hours apart to make sure you get your levels down to a safe zone.

Then get your test kit and start testing daily. Anytime ammo or nitrite rises above .25 then do a water change of about 30%, if it goes over .5ppm you are going to want to go larger than that. Test your tap water right from the tap and then allow it to gas out for 24 hours(fill a container and give it a few stirs) and test it again. Some tap water has ammo,nitrite or nitrate in it and allowing it to gas out will give you your true PH. PH isn't overly important unless keeping certain fish. The ones you have will certainly adjust to what ever you have but you want to keep it consistent so don't try upping or lowering it with chemicals. Stable is best.

Next I'll suggest these 2 articles. They will really help you understand what we are all talking about here. lol.

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice

 

[tamtam]

Ok great thank you! I gotta say every Aussie I've met is really nice!!! Not if ammonia rises or thing get out if control, do you add things in to fix it or level it out? And does a master kit have those? Again thank you so much for the time, on my profile I have a picture of my tank, the driftwood has a filter and heater inside of it.

Water changes are the best way to maintain good water quality. There are lots of products out there that claim to get rid of these toxins but at best they are a bandaid fix. They are short term and cause fluctuations that can often cause more harm than good. Good old free water and lots of water changes are the best. lol

 

[Jhilkyanks]

What's the safest way to cycle water? Take fish out? Use the suction hose thing? Want to do it right! Thank you guys

 

[lamby]

ok this is what I do.

1. set-up ur tank how you want it to stay.
2. add food every day you need to feed you good bios when they are growing .
3. test water daily or every other day.
4. ur ammonia and nitrite will spike then fall.
5. when ur tanks parameters are good and stable add fish.

A cycled tank should read 0ppm ammonia 0ppm nitrite and below 40ppm nitrate once its stable of a day or 2 add fish do can do a fish in cycle but you could lose a fish or 2.

I do fish in cycles but my fish are realy hardy and thrive in most conditions.

 

[Jhilkyanks]

Ok will do, I think I meant for my question to be how do I change water? Like how would I go about making a 50% change or so? Tips or little tricks on getting water the right temp as the tank? Take fish out or keep them in? Stuff like that, thanks!

 

[BettaGal]

With mine, when I would change the water, I would take a bowl (like a butter bowl size) and scoop out water as I went. With my 1-gal I started with stupidly, I would take the fish out and change the whole thing. It was my first fish and he was an a@#h*&$. With my 1.5-gal guppy tank, I used a turkey baster since I also had the 1-gal full of 13 fry. And two of them came mentally challenged and were hilarious till they died. With my 3-gal betta tank I got now, when I need to change the water, I use the butter bowl for just water and I use the turkey baster to clean up the leftover algae wafer and snail feces on top of my cave. Make sure you treat the water before you add it in. With taking only about 30% out, I would say you can leave the fish in depending on how crowded it is already. If it's crowded pretty bad, I'd take at least some of them out just to be safe.

 

[lamby]

buy a big bucket and a thermometer im good at matching my temp straight out the tap once uv declorinated and matched temps use a small jug an replace what you took of its realy but to you on how big of a change you do my 40g i do a 50% every second week and 25% each week some people do it ever 3 days