Ok so I am just getting into the fish hobby, I am 3.5 weeks into the cycling of my 30 gallon tank. my 40 gallon is already cycled as i got the aquarium used and i brought the original established water with it...
i have 15 fish in my 30 gallon, and i know it's probably overstocked but i want some other opinions,
it has about 5 tiger barbs, 5 albino tetras, and 2 red tetras (im not sure if the tetra names are correct), 1 skinny tetra that im unsure of the name, and 2 sharks (redtail and rainbow)... they are all medium sized, the sharks are only about 2-2.5 inches long, i totalled all the inches of fish and it equals about 26 inches worth of fish... and i know that for every gallon of water you can put 1 inch of fish, so i guess my question is can i leave the fish like that for now? i know once they all reach full grown it will go over the 30 inches rule...
also i tested that water and found 1 ppm of ammonia in the tank after 3.5 weeks into the cycle, on the second week of the cycle i added some of the water from the established tank to help speed up the cycle
should i be worried about 1ppm of ammonia? there's 0 nitrites and about 20-40 nitrates, im wondering why the nitrates are showing up already? could it be because i added some of the established water? i know the tanks not cycled if it shows 1ppm of ammonia...
in my 40 gallon i just added 4 cichlids today, whats a good type of cleaner fish to go with cichlids? would a pleco be good or should i just stick with cichlids alone? the 40 gallon water is testing good with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, and about 20-40 nitrates...
do tiger barbs get along with cichlids?
should i do a water change for the 1ppm of ammonia? when can i start seeing the ammonia go down to 0? does adding some established cycled water to the 30 gallon speed up the cycle by a lot? if so how long would it take if i added it during the second week?
and last question
is breeding cichlids hard? what would i need and how would i get started?
thanks to anyone who has the patience to answer any or all of these questions
-mike
ps. im using a liquid api master freshwater kit so i know the results are accurate, and ive been trying to research as much as possible and finally caved in and signed up for the forum... thx again
edit: also i should add that i did not add all those 15 fish at once, i started with the 2 sharks (redtail and rainbow) for the first 2 weeks and then i added about half of the 13 fish that were in the 40 gallon and finally added all 13 to total 15 fish in the 30 gallon... so im just concerned what i should do about the 1ppm of ammonia, i have been doing about a 33% water change (10 gallons of the 30 gallons) every other day and it seems to stay in the .5-1.0 range
are water changes during cycling bad?
thx very much
mike
i have 15 fish in my 30 gallon, and i know it's probably overstocked but i want some other opinions,
it has about 5 tiger barbs, 5 albino tetras, and 2 red tetras (im not sure if the tetra names are correct), 1 skinny tetra that im unsure of the name, and 2 sharks (redtail and rainbow)... they are all medium sized, the sharks are only about 2-2.5 inches long, i totalled all the inches of fish and it equals about 26 inches worth of fish... and i know that for every gallon of water you can put 1 inch of fish, so i guess my question is can i leave the fish like that for now? i know once they all reach full grown it will go over the 30 inches rule...
also i tested that water and found 1 ppm of ammonia in the tank after 3.5 weeks into the cycle, on the second week of the cycle i added some of the water from the established tank to help speed up the cycle
should i be worried about 1ppm of ammonia? there's 0 nitrites and about 20-40 nitrates, im wondering why the nitrates are showing up already? could it be because i added some of the established water? i know the tanks not cycled if it shows 1ppm of ammonia...
in my 40 gallon i just added 4 cichlids today, whats a good type of cleaner fish to go with cichlids? would a pleco be good or should i just stick with cichlids alone? the 40 gallon water is testing good with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, and about 20-40 nitrates...
do tiger barbs get along with cichlids?
should i do a water change for the 1ppm of ammonia? when can i start seeing the ammonia go down to 0? does adding some established cycled water to the 30 gallon speed up the cycle by a lot? if so how long would it take if i added it during the second week?
and last question
is breeding cichlids hard? what would i need and how would i get started?
thanks to anyone who has the patience to answer any or all of these questions
-mike
ps. im using a liquid api master freshwater kit so i know the results are accurate, and ive been trying to research as much as possible and finally caved in and signed up for the forum... thx again
edit: also i should add that i did not add all those 15 fish at once, i started with the 2 sharks (redtail and rainbow) for the first 2 weeks and then i added about half of the 13 fish that were in the 40 gallon and finally added all 13 to total 15 fish in the 30 gallon... so im just concerned what i should do about the 1ppm of ammonia, i have been doing about a 33% water change (10 gallons of the 30 gallons) every other day and it seems to stay in the .5-1.0 range
are water changes during cycling bad?
thx very much
mike