10gal Tank Started 7th June 08 & Cycling With 6 Cardinals

[rhostog]

There's a good intro to frogs in the Invertebrates, Amphibians & aquatic reptiles forum:

[topic="0"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/18252/Aquatic-Frogs/[/topic]

I can confirm about platies being high waste producers - my daughter promptly named our two platies Poop and Plop...

 

[Lazerus]

Thanks Rhostog...I'm browsing that right now ....looks like its the Dwarf Frogs I'm after...>I'm nearly certain they were labelled wrong in the shop. I'll have to take a closer look on Friday for those 'hands' to make sure they are indeed the Dwarf variety.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi there,

Just checked back in from the early days of your thread. Glad to see that you successfully performed the "6-day" experiment and have not seen any ammonia or nitrites appear with your now-double-checked kit. Now that we know that you also put some fish food in during that first short fishless period, I'd say there is all the more reason to feel your filter is probably properly cycled to handle the bioload of the 6 cardinals. Given the small bioload and the clarity of your tank, I'd say you could consider extending the experiment another week (ie. not doing any water changing) to see whether you can get any nitrates to show up. I wouldn't extend it beyond that as water changes are also so beneficial in many ways we can't measure, that you wouldn't want to deny your cardinals and tank these benefits for too long.

I think the "jelly" buildup you described on your suction cups is just an example of "biofilm." Biofilm builds up on all surfaces in a tank as a result of the heterotrophic bacteria that break waste and debris down into ammonia. It is most visible on darker surfaces like black suction cups and often people will see/feel it on their airlines and filter-related hoses. It's harmless and I recommend you make it part of your occassional more intense tank cleaning process to pull this type of objects out of the tank and clean them, either with your hands in tap water or a quick wipe-off with a paper towel. Cleaning these objects outside the tank means less stuff floating in the water.

Don't know whether you've put your wood in the water yet but if you haven't and are concerned about it, you can put it in a bucket of water and see whether it turns the water too yellow. You can also perform the usual tank water tests on it every few days with your api kit and see whether it is going to leach anything. Most likely it was already ok and won't affect your water too much anyway.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Spishkey]

If the water quality was always good (which the Cardinals tetras especially require also) then, shouldn't the Gouramis do okay also? They seem to be a good match for my Cardinal tetras.

My understanding is that its not just about water quality (though I daresay good water quality will help), its to do with a virus that is unavoidable and untreatable.
I'll be honest, I intend to get some dwarves myself sometime after payday - I've had people warn me about their problems but the way I see it is that if I can introduce them to a tank with decent water quality, look after them to the best of my ability and they die - then it was going to happen regardless.

I've had my heart set on them for a long time though. As for live plants, get some Java Fern and then a smallish floating plant, enough to give it the option to bubble nest. Java Fern is expensive (about £10 for 3 plants at my LFS) but worth it, and seems very hardy. And it does look good.

sorry not read the whole thread yet but just noticed this bit java fern is expensive"

i have found a great seller on ebay who sells java fern plants (30+leaves) for roughly £2 with free shipping, if your interested let me know and i'll look up the name and shop!!!

 

[Lazerus]

Listen, thanks so much guys!! I really mean it. I don't know what I would have done without this forum...I know I've only post two threads, but in the background, the volumes of information I've read in loads of other threads has been really helpful.

I feel embarrassed that I've only got 6 little fish, for all the fuss I'm making!!

But the way I see it is, to me, their life’s are just as important as a huge tank of fish. I want to make sure I'm caring for them correctly otherwise what’s the point?

Anyway....I will continue to test without doing a water change for another few days. But I’ll be very careful. If think for any second that they might be in distress I’ll do an immediate water change. I’m at home all the time, so I can watch them constantly.

As for the Mopani wood, yes, I dropped it in and it’s so far not staining the water. Its in a few hours now. Actually, the fish seem to really love it? They are flocking around it and spending most of their day there today.

Even the sick lad has been swimming with the group all day too…..He's showing signs of huge improvement. I praying that this is the last of his odd behaviour.

I’m thinking the new background helped also with this change of humour.

Spishkey…thanks for the tip on the Java fern….I’m not sure where I’m at yet with my tank and what fish I’m getting but if I’m going to have some ‘real’ plants in the future, I’ll get in contact with you….Thanks!!! But perhaps other people looking in will contact you if they see this post.

Anyway…here is my tank now….the bit of Mopani is at the front on the left hand side of the pic. The fish can hide under it as its like a little bridge.

I don't mind a bit of brown in the water anyway, even if it does happen...I think it looks more natural.

 

[Lazerus]

By the way!

....do I need an air pump? You know the ones with the bubbles?

My filter agitates the water just fine and creates a current just fine, but its just I've seen alot of pictures now with the bubbles going up in the same tank as the filter pump and Im wondering is my tank lacking there?

I don't think my fish need it....but again, perhaps there is a good reason for having one other than just looking nice?

 

[RedeyesUK]

No, as long as your filter is agitating the surface enough (and positioned properly, it should - i've got the same filter in one of my tanks), then an air pump isn't really necessary.

I feel embarrassed that I've only got 6 little fish, for all the fuss I'm making!!

But the way I see it is, to me, their life’s are just as important as a huge tank of fish. I want to make sure I'm caring for them correctly otherwise what’s the point?

Don't feel embarrased - a tank is a tank, and will need the same sort of basic maintenance, regardless of how big it is or how many fish you've got. You're doing the right thing, keep it up!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

But the way I see it is, to me, their life’s are just as important as a huge tank of fish. I want to make sure I'm caring for them correctly otherwise what’s the point?

precisley, who are we to say any one creatures life is more/less valuable than another?!

it's nice to see people who care even if it is only a few tetras.


air pumps are just decorative (despite their claims of oxygenation), totally your choice if you want one or not.

 

[Lazerus]

Hi all,

Great…I’ll give the air pump a miss so. They are nice of course seeing the bubbles going up, but space is limited in the tank so it will just cause more clutter.


Well it’s a full week exactly now since I did a water change and the tests this morning are Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 and Nitrate 0. PH is still 7.8. So, it’s looking really good on the ‘cycled’ tank front.

My water has tinted only very, very slightly from the Mopani wood and it looks amazing! It gives a real sense of depth to the little tank. I'm delighted with the effect.

I was dreaming of all sorts of fish last night in a huge big tank...I tell ye, these fishes are getting in on me!!!!

Edited to say....saw a pic on this forum of the species of gourami that the lad in the pet shop was showing me, but when I look up Honey Gourami online is shows a different fish?

This is like the one in the pet shop which I believe to be a honey gourami:

This is also known as a Honey gourami.

So, which is the 'real' Honey gourami? I actually saw both these varieties in the tank on Monday but the orange one looked smaller and so better suited to my tank.

 

[Lazerus]

Hi again....

A funny thing has happened.....while I was browsing this forum etc, I had left my test results in the bottles on the table behind me since earlier on (I always forget to empty them for ages!)....went to log out here to go off and do stuff and noticed that my Nitrate result had changed colour fractionally.

Its not the nice bright yellow anymore, but is not exactly the 5.0ppm either...was in between the 0ppm & 5.0 pmm.

So perhaps I was a bit premature on posting my results before. I'm going to do another test now and see what happens.

This is good, right?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah you need to be fairly precise with the instructions, if it say's wait 10 mins then make sure you do so.


yup, if we have nitrate showing and definatley still no ammonia or nitrite then you are cycled

 

[Lazerus]

Its says wait 5 mins...which I thought I had done cause I was mooching around doing stuff, logging in here etc....so I can't be sure.

I know all previous days readings were definately 0 thought, as I usually leave the bottles sitting there for ages (even hours! ) so I would have noticed before now if the colours had changed like this.

Its looks like its a false alarm anyway... I've done a second test now definately leaving it 5 mins and results are: 0
Having left it another 5 mins again...the results are still 0

So I don't know?

This is definately the first day I've seen a change happen like that. That bottle must have been sitting there about an hour.

So perhaps there is trace Nitrates showing up now and it needs longer to process in the bottle?

I'll know better tomorrow...or maybe later tonight.

Thanks!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

as i said before nitrate test kits are pretty unreliable so i wouldn't be desperatley concenred. i can understand how it'll be a weight off your shoulders when you do see some though!!

 

[Lazerus]

Well, yes.....seeing Nitrate with no Ammonia or Nitrite would confirm for me that my tank is definately cycled. Where as at the moment there is still a question mark over it.

Ok....I'll be back on later....Thanks a million...once again!

 

[waterdrop]

Color based chemical tests should be considered to carry no meaning either before or after the clock time when you are instructed to look at them. (Only the chemist who designed the test could speak reliably about what colors at other times might mean!) Its not that these tests are so very precise.. they aren't, but its always good practice to strive for consistency, so you should always fill your test water to the same spot and always use a timer for each of the timed aspects of these tests. Personally, I use one of those little minute/second electronic kitchen timers that hangs around your neck - that way you can go about other things, like rinsing tubes from other tests. When it beeps, I read the tube against its chart under the same light, at the same distance as I always do - its the lack of variation that will help your aquarium log in the long run, or at least it can't hurt.

I understand your interest of course, as I have been following along. Always quite interesting to wonder about where the nitrates are! But, nontheless, reading a 5-min test at 7 mins should be considered to carry no meaning.

~~waterdrop~~