First Tank

[Comacchio]

Slight setback.. Possibly dosed with more than 5ppm (used to process this just fine however) and woke up for the 11 hour test (couldnt leave it for 12 hours unfortunately) and there was still around 1-2ppm of ammonia and around 1 ppm nitrite.

Im assuming this is mainly down to the temperature change after water change - used to be 30 and its now 25. Of course it took a while to get up to temperature so i'm not overly concerned. I also swapped out two pieces of carbon sponge for normal sponge, so hoping that hasnt harmed it badly either. And finally the pH of the water is about 6.4 as this is what comes out my tap!

Regardless, ive waited far too long already, so im still getting fish on sunday. If i need to change water more regularly so be it.

 

[Comacchio]

Hmm home from work and theres still 0.5 ammonia! No nitrite though. PH is around 6 (my tap water sucks!) I dont want to keep adding bicarb - is this going to be an issue?

 

[Comacchio]

So Today I went shopping! Came home with the following:

2kg of coral rock (To raise my tap water (ph 5!!) up a bit towards bacteria friendly 6 AAAANDDDDDDD

2 Keyhole Cichlids,
6 Panda Cory,
10 Harlequin Rasbora,
8 Neon Tetra,
1 Bristlenose Pleco,
1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco

Currently in their bags getting acclimitised by dropping water in every so often! Pics soon

 

[xingumike]

So Today I went shopping! Came home with the following:

2kg of coral rock (To raise my tap water (ph 5!!) up a bit towards bacteria friendly 6 AAAANDDDDDDD

2 Keyhole Cichlids,
6 Panda Cory,
10 Harlequin Rasbora,
8 Neon Tetra,
1 Bristlenose Pleco,
1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco

Currently in their bags getting acclimitised by dropping water in every so often! Pics soon

Sweet!

What size are the BN's?

 

[Comacchio]

Tiny! Less than 1.5 cm I'd say!

Both are hiding now...

 

[xingumike]

Tiny! Less than 1.5 cm I'd say!

Both are hiding now...

Yeah they do that!

Enjoy it while it lasts, they will be crap machines before you know it

 

[Comacchio]

And for my first set of pics..


Stocked Tank by Allan.Jones, on Flickr


Harlequin Rasbora by Allan.Jones, on Flickr


Bristlenose Plec by Allan.Jones, on Flickr


Albino Bristlenose Pleco by Allan.Jones, on Flickr


Keyhole Cichlid by Allan.Jones, on Flickr


Keyhole Cichlid-2 by Allan.Jones, on Flickr

One of my Keyholes is hiding (as you can see!) other is colouring up nicely

 

[xingumike]

Nice start mate, aquatic photography is bloody difficult ime.

Flooding the tank with a light source (eg a lamp) is cheap alternative to slave flashes!

 

[Comacchio]

Judging by the extensions on the dorsal and anal fins of my larger Keyhole, it looks like I have a male and female! Now to see if they pair..

 

[Comacchio]

Day 3 brings my first casualty. One of my harlequins decided to pop his metaphorical clogs. Levels are ok apart from 80ppm nitrates. Will bring those down with water changes when i get a chance!

 

[Xraymark]

Jealous 

 

[xingumike]

Day 3 brings my first casualty. One of my harlequins decided to pop his metaphorical clogs. Levels are ok apart from 80ppm nitrates. Will bring those down with water changes when i get a chance!

Shame, although almost inevitable I find with dither fish, be it a new or established tank.

Water change as you say should do the trick.

 

[Comacchio]

Well performed a 20% water change after work tonight and also added 3 Platys (Girlfriend complained there wasnt enough colour in the tank!) Nitrates are around just 40ppm or so, another WC tomorrow or Sunday depending on how fast it rises and how fast my pH falls (My tap water has a pH of 5!)

One of my Keyholes (The smaller, suspected female but could just be a younger male) has a white mark/nip mark possibly on one of its sides. Trying to get a macro picture to see closer for myself. What does white spot look like?

Also, since I done my water change, one harlequin (The largest, looks a bit misformed in all honesty) has been hardly swimming all by hisself, I don't think hes long for this world!

Other than that all the fish seem to be doing fine!

 

[Comacchio]

I've named my Keyholes 'Casper' and 'Kat'. Here's Casper


Casper by Allan.Jones, on Flickr

Also named my Albino BN 'Albert'


Albert by Allan.Jones, on Flickr

My smallest neon:


Neon by Allan.Jones, on Flickr

One of my new Platys:


Platy by Allan.Jones, on Flickr

And unfortunately Cat has a mark on her (him? don't even know! Hope it's a her!). Anybody know what it is?


mark by Allan.Jones, on Flickr

 

[Comacchio]

One week after putting in fish I've lost 3 Harlequins, 3 neons, 1 panda cory and 1 platy. I've been checking the levels twice a day and always getting back pH 6.5-7, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and recently the nitrates have been climbing. Can nitrates less than 100ppm kill fish outright?

I've ordered 40 aquatic plants on ebay to try and use up the nitrates, and performed 30% water changes 3 days in a row yet still fish are dying! Becoming very frustrating.