Beginner few questions: food/lighting/tank lid

[swogbell]

Hey guys how are you? This is my first post on the forum. I'm very new but totally addicted to fish keeping. I have a dalmation Mollie and a black widow tetra in my 60L aquarium. Just a couple of queries I hope you can help me out with:

LIGHTING - I have 3 white LED gloves and 2 blue LED gloves running through the day, but my aquarium has two different switches. 1 for all the globes, and another just for the blue. Am I to leave the blue LED's on at night? Or do I turn the lights off completely?

FOOD - I feed my fish bloodworms... For two fish, how long do I hold the bloodworms in the tank for, or for what duration? Also, I'm gradually building my tank to 7 fish... How long do I feed them for and how many times a day? Appropriate time?

TANK LID - my heater in the tank is set to 26 degrees Celsius. I feel that whenever I lift the tank off its very steamy and I'm concerned the fish are over heating. There is an opening at the front for feeding and a large opening at the back that doesn't seem to have any access to the tank... Is that back opening meant to be kept open at all times for oxygen?

Please help if you have any answers... Open for all criticism.

THANKS GUYS!

??



Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Mattfinn]

Hey welcome to the forum,
First of all do some research on the fish you own, any tetra species prefers schools of 5 or more.
Bloodworms should be fed maybe twice a week, it's to much protein and can cause constipation.
Buy a thermometer to place in your tank and monitor temp levels there shoudnt be any steam or serious heat unless the heater is to large in wattage for the tank.
Lighting Id suggest running them on a timer. Leaving them on all day can promote algae growth. You probably want 6-8 hours max with the lights turned on.

Finally I have a question have you cycled the tank correctly, I know you're new and understand you are learning but if your tank is not cycled properly and there is not a sustainable colony of bacteria converting toxic ammonia (fish waste) into less toxic nitrates then you could lose all your fish.

 

[swogbell]

Thanks for the advice, it's not so much steam but more fog around the top of the glass where the water doesn't fill the top of the tank.

I have a test water kit and test the water weekly, also doing water changes with a gravel vac.

Does it matter what type of tetras? Or would they prefer 4 other black widows?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Mattfinn]

Yes 4 more black widows.
That's something I've never experienced before with the "fog" although my main tank is open top so...
Wha are your readings on your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and ph?