Hello,
I am a first time poster and I want to make sure I am not doing anything terrible.
I bought a 10 gallon generic tank from walmart as well as a generic filter that hangs on the back wall (I think it is a Tetra brand, but whatever is usually carried at walmart). I also bought a Tetra brand heater that is appropriate for the tank size according to the box. I got one bag of black gravel, which as I later found out is about half the recommended amount for the tank. It fills it all the way across but is very shallow in depth. I got a few fake plants, a fake yellow coral thing and a fake plastic anchor. I set all of this up with tap water and Aquasafe dechlorinater on a thursday just over 3 weeks ago. The next day I bought 3 Orange Von Rio Tetras. They were incredibly small fish, probably a half inch long or less each.
I have since done three water changes (about (15-20% each)and have done a few water tests. About a week in I still had barely readable Ammonia levels. A few days ago I had ammonia levels around .25 mg/L or maybe even less than that. This last one was done with the API drop test. The previous ones were with the test strips.
Yesterday I went back to my friendly petco and got 3 more Orange Von Rio Tetras and a Dwarf Gourami. My little von rio's from before have all grown a little so I got regular sized ones today. The Dwarf Gourami is beautifully colored and about 2 inches long. I also bought some baby shrimp to go along with the omega one freshwater flakes I had bought with the first fish. I have been feeding a very small pinch of flakes once a day. I have put 4 baby shrimp in since yesterday morning.
Today I took a Ammonia test and got around .25 mg/L again and also did a Nitrate test and got somewhere between 0 and 5 mg/L. I am not sure where this puts me in the cycling process. I know I shouldn't have gotten the other fish yet but outside influences led to it (mainly an impatient GF, okay I was getting impatient too). I also bought a 18-24" LED strip light that is in the mail. Finally I threw in a few Aponogeton bulbs as an impulse. Do these need to be buried because all but one keep floating to the surface. Will they start growing while floating?
Is there anything that I am doing that will cause these fish to die imminently? I can do frequent water changes and plan to do so since I have increased the bio load by so much all of a sudden. All the fish seem to be doing fine a day or so in and are getting along. They sometimes school and sometimes seem to go around on their own. The Gourami seems to just swim around where ever he wants unchallenged since he is bigger than the others. None look sick as far as I can tell. Any tips on things to look out for appearance wise that would be a cause for alarm?
Thanks for your help. I look forward to getting more involved in the aquarium community and figuring out how to do this the right way.
-Dan
I am a first time poster and I want to make sure I am not doing anything terrible.
I bought a 10 gallon generic tank from walmart as well as a generic filter that hangs on the back wall (I think it is a Tetra brand, but whatever is usually carried at walmart). I also bought a Tetra brand heater that is appropriate for the tank size according to the box. I got one bag of black gravel, which as I later found out is about half the recommended amount for the tank. It fills it all the way across but is very shallow in depth. I got a few fake plants, a fake yellow coral thing and a fake plastic anchor. I set all of this up with tap water and Aquasafe dechlorinater on a thursday just over 3 weeks ago. The next day I bought 3 Orange Von Rio Tetras. They were incredibly small fish, probably a half inch long or less each.
I have since done three water changes (about (15-20% each)and have done a few water tests. About a week in I still had barely readable Ammonia levels. A few days ago I had ammonia levels around .25 mg/L or maybe even less than that. This last one was done with the API drop test. The previous ones were with the test strips.
Yesterday I went back to my friendly petco and got 3 more Orange Von Rio Tetras and a Dwarf Gourami. My little von rio's from before have all grown a little so I got regular sized ones today. The Dwarf Gourami is beautifully colored and about 2 inches long. I also bought some baby shrimp to go along with the omega one freshwater flakes I had bought with the first fish. I have been feeding a very small pinch of flakes once a day. I have put 4 baby shrimp in since yesterday morning.
Today I took a Ammonia test and got around .25 mg/L again and also did a Nitrate test and got somewhere between 0 and 5 mg/L. I am not sure where this puts me in the cycling process. I know I shouldn't have gotten the other fish yet but outside influences led to it (mainly an impatient GF, okay I was getting impatient too). I also bought a 18-24" LED strip light that is in the mail. Finally I threw in a few Aponogeton bulbs as an impulse. Do these need to be buried because all but one keep floating to the surface. Will they start growing while floating?
Is there anything that I am doing that will cause these fish to die imminently? I can do frequent water changes and plan to do so since I have increased the bio load by so much all of a sudden. All the fish seem to be doing fine a day or so in and are getting along. They sometimes school and sometimes seem to go around on their own. The Gourami seems to just swim around where ever he wants unchallenged since he is bigger than the others. None look sick as far as I can tell. Any tips on things to look out for appearance wise that would be a cause for alarm?
Thanks for your help. I look forward to getting more involved in the aquarium community and figuring out how to do this the right way.
-Dan
