Need a little advice

[joshdrew92]

So i have just bought myself a test kit and the results are as follows:

ammonia: 0.50ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: 20ppm
ph: 7.6
temp: 25c

And currently the fish that live in my tank are :

5 cherry barbs
1 black neon tetra
1 black tail neon ( sorry if thats not the correct name )
2 otocinclus

I am not to sure on the size or gallon/litre and for some reason it wont let me upload a picture but i am pretty confident its not overstocked anyway .

So to get to the point i would just like as much feedback as possible on what to do to make it a safe and healthy enviroment for my new fishy friends at all times, from how to keep the water safe to the best foods to feed them ( i currently feed them king british tropical fish flake and have just bought some hikari mini algae wafers ).

I look forward to everyones input

 

[Bettafanatic]

Is your tank cycled? Do a water change to bring the ammonia down

 

[joshdrew92]

yes i did a fish in cycle and i will do a water 20% water change daily starting from tomorow. Any oher advice on how to run an efficient/healthy tank? thanks for your input

 

[Bettafanatic]

yes i did a fish in cycle and i will do a water 20% water change daily starting from tomorow. Any oher advice on how to run an efficient/healthy tank? thanks for your input

Try to avoid pH crashes as they will stall a cycle

 

[joshdrew92]

Try to avoid pH crashes as they will stall a cycle

hw do i do that?

 

[librarygirl]

Hi and welcome! This guide should answer most of your questions: Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice

What test kit are you using? How long has the tank been set up? The link above has a guide to fish-in cycling which you'll want to read. If you can measure your tank from side to side, front to back and bottom to top we can tell you roughly how many gallons it is.

Once the tank cycles and IF the tank size is enough to hold them, you'll want to increase your tetra numbers as they do best in schools but for now it's best to keep the load as low as possible. Flakes and wafers are a good start. Otos prefer algae but some can take prepared fish foods, some won't, it depends on how they were raised. You could feed the Otos some veggies too, blanched zucchini, cucumber are good (take any uneaten food out after a few hours).

I could write more but read the link I gave you above as it has most of the info in it and if you have more questions after that just post them here.

 

[joshdrew92]

can you tell by the picture ? thanks for the link by the way it was very helpful

 

[Samzter]

Your tank looks to be roughly a ten gallon.

 

[joshdrew92]

i have just vaccumed my tank and done a water change and the ammonia has gone up to 2.0ppm what should i do now??