A Few Nebie Questions

[Cooper2085]

Hi everyone, im just wondering if you can help me with a few things.

How much shade do you have in your tank? The flurescent tubes are quite bright and i was wodering if there should be some sort of foliage over maybe half the water to keep part of the tank in shade? My neons stay at the bottom of the tank when the light is on, when its off they seem to move around more.

Would you recommend having a small bridge or log in the center for them to go under? At the moment i only have a 2" hedge in the middle, offering no real shelter there and 2 large rock formations in each corner offering plenty of shade.

The neons also seem to like it under and around the filter. Is this normal?

 

[Matty P]

You should alwasy try and avoid keeping your tank in direct sunlight whenever you can i.e. try and light it just using artificial tank/room lighting (this prevents excess algae growth). Have you got any pictures of your tank so we can see how it is layed out and what additions you could add to make it better to look at and for your fish to live in. Really you can decorate your tank however you like. You should have a look around some of the members pictures the picture section to see how they have decorated/planted their tanks.

Do you just have Neon Tetras, and how many do you have? Neons don't like the lighting to be too strong so they might like somewhere they could go to subdue the lighting, or even buy a different bulb that has a lower wattage.

Hope this helps...

EDIT: spelling

 

[Cooper2085]

Yeah this is the tank set up, its a fairly new set up and its my first. My lfs said to start slow with 5 neons:

Thats the tank ^

And theres the little neons ^

EDIT: Its not in direct sunlight, just room light and the tube.

 

[Matty P]

Have you cycled your tank yet. Before you are meant to add any livestock you need to let benifitial bacteria grow in your filter - this breaks down the harmful waste products of your fish and uneaten food (Ammonia) into less toxic Nitrates. You can either cycle your filter with fish or without fish - although this can be very stressful for your fish and they can die. You can either carry on cycling them with your Neons in, or you can take them nack to your lfs and cycle your filter without fish which is highly recommended.

Here is a lin on how to do a fishless cycle

Hope this helps

 

[Cooper2085]

Yeah i mentioned to the lfs about cycling and hows best to do it. They were very helpful and explained it all step by step. I have a friend coming round tonight to check the water for me, it was started with mature filter media.

 

[Matty P]

Good good, you should really get some of your own test kits - makes life much easier unless you live right beside your lfs. Looks like you need to raise your water level so you can't see the glass at the top, looks much better when the tank is full.

 

[Cooper2085]

Yeah its a strange tank, the water level is just below a glass ledge type of thing. The ledge is what the hood sits on, so i cant really have much more water in it. I might get a 1" strip of black tape to cover that up though

 

[Matty P]

What tank do you have? You could check to see if anyone else has the same one and if they have the same problem, because if it is normal then it is a pretty bad design fault.

 

[Cooper2085]

In all fairness its a really old tank, were talking 10-15 years lol. Just been very very well looked after ^^

 

[Matty P]

OK, sorry I just asumed that it was a new tank. Allthough it has been very well looked after I would be still be very cautious - I would check all the seals for any wearing because even if the tank has been well looked after all the scrubbing of the glass with scrapers, algae pads etc can wear the seals dow - just a warning, not saying it has happened.

 

[Cooper2085]

Yeah its been checked at the fish store ^^

 

[Luketendo]

I think the neons are doing this because:

1. They don't like the bright gravel. (It's white and reflects loads of light.'
2. Too much lighting.
3. 2 can be solved by adding loads of cover. Real plants are best but are much harder.