help for beginner
Uri Wilensky
I was given the following setup.
10 gallon freshwater tank
aquaclear 150 filtering system
whisper 100 aerator
50 watt heater
15 watt (Alp) flourescent aquarium light
some gravel
I ran the tank with filter and no fish for 2 weeks. The
temperature is ~75F.
3 weeks ago, I went to the local pet store and came home with 5 fish
recommended by the storekeeper:
1 M betta
1 F betta
2 neon tetras
1 catfish
I have a few questions I would greatly appreciate answers to:
1) how many hours should the light be on for? Does it matter if they
are continuous or not? The tank receives some indirect sunlight. How
should that affect the equation? Also, since I am at home mostly at
night, is it reasonable to have the light on only at night? Once I
have a light schedule, is it important to keep it consistent?
2) my local pet store did not sell test kits for nitrites or hardness.
I've got kits for ammonia and ph. Do I need the others to keep the
fish healthy?
3) what is a good plant to add to this mix?
4) 3 days ago, one of the neons died. The storekeeper said the fish
did not appear to have been sick, said it was just "one of those
things", and recommended I replace him with 2 other neons plus a "white
cloud" and a "head and tail light". I did what he said. I've noticed
that the latter two are not eating. Are they not happy with the mix?
It seems like the bettas don't let them get any food. Should I return
them? Feed them differently?
5) I notice that the neons sometimes lose all of their red color.
Often, before I feed them in the morning, they are white with a bit of
blue. They regain their vivid red color after an hour or so. Is this normal?
I would greatly appreciate any help you can offer.
Thanks
-Uri
Joan C. Maxfield
> I am a complete beginner to the fish world.
>
> I ran the tank with filter and no fish for 2 weeks. The
>temperature is ~75F.
This is great, helps rid the water of gases. Get some buckets
to do this for water changes!
> 3 weeks ago, I went to the local pet store and came home with 5 fish
>recommended by the storekeeper:
> 1 M betta
> 1 F betta
> 2 neon tetras
> 1 catfish
>
Here is your problem!!! Your fish store guy is hopeless. I
would get a good book on aquariums and the FAQ for this group. I
doubt anyone in this store is going to give you the right answers.
Your tank needs to 'cycle', build up a colony of bacteria that will
'eat' the ammonia and nitrite that your fish produce. Without that
bacteria the ammonia will build up to VERY harmfull levels. More that
high enough to kill a fragile little neon!
I would return the fish you already have if it is possible and
get some hardier fish to cycle the tank with. I used Mollies and
Danios in mine and once I used goldfish but I would rather stick with
hardy tropicals because if they survive you can just keep them,
goldfish dont do well in a warm tank.
> I have a few questions I would greatly appreciate answers to:
>
>1) how many hours should the light be on for? Does it matter if they
>are continuous or not? The tank receives some indirect sunlight. How
>should that affect the equation? Also, since I am at home mostly at
>night, is it reasonable to have the light on only at night? Once I
>have a light schedule, is it important to keep it consistent?
>
I'll let the big guys deal with this one, my light is on from
about 10am to anywhere from 8pm to 2am. I really need a timer!
>2) my local pet store did not sell test kits for nitrites or hardness.
>I've got kits for ammonia and ph. Do I need the others to keep the
>fish healthy?
>
Get ammonia and pH tests, these are things that need testing
often. Some fish stores do free testing which is nice but always so
far away for me! I either dont want to drive that far or forget the
water when I do go!
>3) what is a good plant to add to this mix?
>
Wait on plants till the tank is cycled. I have Apogoneton
(sp) bulbs in my tanks, they grow easy and fast and my fish like to
nibble them.
>4) 3 days ago, one of the neons died. The storekeeper said the fish
>did not appear to have been sick, said it was just "one of those
>things", and recommended I replace him with 2 other neons plus a "white
>cloud" and a "head and tail light". I did what he said. I've noticed
>that the latter two are not eating. Are they not happy with the mix?
>It seems like the bettas don't let them get any food. Should I return
>them? Feed them differently?
>
You'll probably notice an ammonia rise now, and then the pH
drops because of it. I would return the fish, tetras are not very
hardy (in my humble opinion) and buy then again when the tank is safe.
What you are dealing with is new tank syndrome, your fish store guy
SHOULD have known this!
>5) I notice that the neons sometimes lose all of their red color.
>Often, before I feed them in the morning, they are white with a bit of
>blue. They regain their vivid red color after an hour or so. Is this normal?
>
These poor fish are UNHAPPY! Change about 50% of the water now, and
often until the tank is done cycling. It's the only way to keep the
fish from burning up right in the water! After it's cycled you'll
have to keep changing the water, only not as much or as often.
Hope this helps!
Joan
--
J. C. Maxfield maxf...@athena.cs.uga.edu
DISCLAIMER: I don't speak for the University, but they often speak for me!
Gregory Frazier
: I am a complete beginner to the fish world.
Welcome to it. I'm afraid the welcome is going to be
a bit rough. I don't understand why, but petshop
owners in general, and aquarium shop owners specifically,
seem to be eager to drive people away from the hobby by
recommending awful fish mixes that will guarentee death
and unhappiness for the fish. I encourage you to stick
with this through the learning curve - keeping a tank
can be fun and easy.
: I was given the following setup.
: 10 gallon freshwater tank
: aquaclear 150 filtering system
: whisper 100 aerator
: 50 watt heater
: 15 watt (Alp) flourescent aquarium light
: some gravel
This sounds fine. If you're sick of the noise, you can
ditch the aerator - your Aquaclear 150 moves plenty of
water for that tank.
: I ran the tank with filter and no fish for 2 weeks. The
: temperature is ~75F.
Your tank was probably not fully cycled after 2 weeks. Cycling
is the process of building up the bacterial colonies that
convert ammonia->nitrite->nitrate - if you've read the FAQ
(or a good beginners' aquarium book) you know all about it.
If you haven't, read up.
: 3 weeks ago, I went to the local pet store and came home with 5 fish
: recommended by the storekeeper:
: 1 M betta
: 1 F betta
: 2 neon tetras
: 1 catfish
Interesting mix of fish. In a 10g, the female betta should be able
to stay away from the male (if not, he'll beat her up). The neons
probably won't nip the betta's fins, but...
: 1) how many hours should the light be on for? Does it matter if they
: are continuous or not? The tank receives some indirect sunlight. How
: should that affect the equation? Also, since I am at home mostly at
: night, is it reasonable to have the light on only at night? Once I
: have a light schedule, is it important to keep it consistent?
With a fish-only tank, the lighting schedule is not real vital.
I'd make sure the fish have at least 6 hrs of relative darkness,
relative in the sense that a dimly lit room and no tanklight
counts as dark. Note that the more light you have, the more
algae you'll get.
: 2) my local pet store did not sell test kits for nitrites or hardness.
: I've got kits for ammonia and ph. Do I need the others to keep the
: fish healthy?
Test kits are only really useful when cycling the tank. Nitrites
would be nice, hardness is quite unnecessary. If your fish
ever appear to be unhealthy, ammonia and nitrite are good things
to check.
: 3) what is a good plant to add to this mix?
With such a dim light, probably none - though you might get
away with some java moss or java fern (slow growers that don't
need much light).
: 4) 3 days ago, one of the neons died. The storekeeper said the fish
: did not appear to have been sick, said it was just "one of those
: things", and recommended I replace him with 2 other neons plus a "white
: cloud" and a "head and tail light". I did what he said. I've noticed
: that the latter two are not eating. Are they not happy with the mix?
: It seems like the bettas don't let them get any food. Should I return
: them? Feed them differently?
This mix of fish is *really* bizarre. Neons and head-and-tail-lights
are both tetras, but quite different species. Both species are
schooling fish - that is, they are adapted to swimming/existing
in groups. White clouds are minnows, and are also schooling fish.
While the neons and the h&t lights *might* school together (I
doubt it), the white clouds almost certainly won't. You haven't
said anything negative about the bettas, so I'll assume that they
are doing fine. I recommend that (a) you not buy any new fish for
2-3 more weeks, to make sure that your tank has cycled (look
for a fish store that will let you bring in some tank water and
they'll test it for nitrites for you), (b) when you do buy more
fish, return the h&t and white cloud and purchase 6 more neons
(or return the h&t and neons and get 6 more white clouds). The
fish will be happier, and will look better.
: 5) I notice that the neons sometimes lose all of their red color.
: Often, before I feed them in the morning, they are white with a bit of
: blue. They regain their vivid red color after an hour or so. Is this normal?
Yes - neons, and many other species of fish, have different
daytime and nighttime colorations.
--
"They thought to use and shame me but I win out by nature, because a true
freak cannot be made. A true freak must be born." - K. Dunn, _Geek Love_
Greg Frazier fra...@CS.UCLA.EDU !{ucbvax,rutgers}!ucla-cs!frazier
William J Mack
> >Often, before I feed them in the morning, they are white with a bit of
> >blue. They regain their vivid red color after an hour or so. Is this normal?
> >
> These poor fish are UNHAPPY! Change about 50% of the water now, and
> often until the tank is done cycling. It's the only way to keep the
> fish from burning up right in the water! After it's cycled you'll
> have to keep changing the water, only not as much or as often.
>
Im not so sure the fishes color loss is due to the fact that theyre unhappy.
Its probably due to being in the dark for a period of time. After they are in
the dark they lose color, sometimes almost all of their color. When the lights
come on, they regain their color and usually much quicker than an hour. This
is natural and I really dont think it indicates anything is wrong. I base this
only on what I have observed and not by any kind of hard knowledge. Anyone
feel free to correct me if Im misleading someone, but Im pretty sure about this.
What Joan said about the ammonia in the tank is absolutely correct and you
need to test your water for it as soon as possible, I might hold off on a
50% water change until I know the ammonia level and something about the
water I was adding to the tank. You surely dont want to siphon off 50% of
the water and then blindly fill it back up (with your tap water, I assume)
until you have treated it for all kinds of nasties (if the tap water contains
chlorine, ammonia ...). I only say this assuming your water conditions are
not extremely bad, which would require larger water changes. I might think
that a quick 50% change would stress the neons, the betta wouldnt mind.
Dont misunderstand though, you will need to perform regular water changes,
maybe 30% every 2 weeks, could be more or less frequent depending on your load.
With the female betta in there also, you might want to consider adding some
artificial (or real) plants so she can hide from daddy. Has he been rough
with her at all??
--
Bill Mack "If you expect me to be an expert on the
School of Electrical Engineering fundamentals while I'm asking a fundamental
Purdue University question....then fine, I'll pretend to be one"