Recent content by .josh.

So I asked this question in my thread chronicling my venture into keeping a 55 gallon tank, but it doesn't seem to be too popular at this point, so I thought I'd post this as a separate topic. I figure I won't be the only one looking for an answer to this at some point. Currently, I have a...

Seconded. I primarily feed my fish Omega One flakes, along with shrimp pellets, tubifex worms, and frozen bloodworms on occasion. I provide algae wafers each night for my pleco (cories eat some of it as well), and hand-feed my dwarf frogs frog/tadpole bites, and occasionally frozen bloodworms.

I'VE GOT FISH! Tank has been fully cycled for the past week (with a 25% water change during that time, and ammonia and nitrates currently at 0), and I've been adding some residents throughout - to be honest, I was going to wait a little longer before fully stocking, but my local LFS had a great...

A few days of double-shifts, but I'm back. Been redosing ammonia for a few days with it going down to 0 within 24 hours, and nitrites are also down to 0. No nitrates as well at this point, so just waiting on those to start appearing! Should I wait on the nitrates before doing a water change...

Not quite there yet - ammonia was at 0.5 ppm this morning, nitrites at 3-4 ppm, and nitrates at 5 ppm. Dosed the ammonia back up, and hopefully it'll hit zero tomorrow!

Yeah, got a little ahead of myself there... but still close! :)

Thanks jlk - I think I'll grab a bottle of Flourish next time I stop by the LFS. So I had a busy couple days (worked 26 hours over two days), and was consequently a bit neglectful of the tank during that period. When I finally checked my ammonia this morning, it was at 0 ppm - I know that...

So there are a number of bottom dwellers/feeders that intrigue me, and I was just curious as to what a good number would be for a 55 gallon, and whether there are any pairs I should avoid putting together. In particular, these were some that interested me, and I was just curious as to what...

Ammonia: 0.5 ppm Nitrites: 2 ppm (or thereabouts, I find this one hard to judge, but it's at least at 2) Nitrates: 4 ppm (slightly lighter than what's shown for 5, so I'm estimating here) Dosed ammonia back up to 4 ppm, we'll see where we're at tomorrow!

Thanks for responding jlk!! You've eased some of my concerns - I'll just worry about ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels for the time being. As for the plants, I've actually got a small credit at my LFS, so I was thinking about adding something... any suggestions? Would it be wise to invest in...

Wow, we're in a very similar boat and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this thread!! Really looking forward to some pictures - I'm quite interested to see how your substrate looks, and how things turn out with your plants (I skipped the soil due to receiving free substrate and just not...

Nitrates at roughly 5.0 ppm... looks like things are really moving along! Stopped by the LFS today, and really getting excited to get some guys in the tank! They've got some Gold Dojo Loaches that they speak quite highly of, but I'd also like to get a few dwarf lobsters (/crayfish)... bad combo...

Ammonia dropped below 1.0 ppm again today, and nitrites slightly over 2.0 ppm... got ammonia back to 4.0 ppm, and will test for nitrates later today. A little surprised at how quickly things are moving along - I do have a potted plant in there from my LFS. Could that have something to do with it?

Interesting, Niceguy. I thought even low-light plants were a no-no with cichlids. Also, have any of you had any experience with Mexican Dwarf Lobsters (I assume really crayfish, though they were labeled lobsters at my LFS). Apparently they're okay for a community tank according to the folks...

Ammonia dropped to nearly 1.0 today!! Is it odd that it happened so fast (roughly 5 days)? I assume this is partly due to the plants?