A Few Questions And Looking For Advice

[Fiontan]

I mention arbitrially a few months ago on Facebook that I was considering getting fish again (I haven't had any since I was a child). My stepdad jumped on this and put together a tank for me as a Christmas gift. He got a hand putting it together from people he knew (everything is second hand) and got some advice for me from his father, who has a rather large tank for as long as I've known him. Still there are a few things I want to make sure of. . .

My tank is a small one and is sparcely populated, I plan on getting a larger tank later when I can afford it. Right now I have a 10 gallon tank and the fish inside are as follows. . .


1 Plecco
2 Platties
1 angel
3 guppies
1 snail

I already know that the anglefish will need a bigger tank, right now it's still young though. So I believe I have some time before it's an absolute must.

The big thing that I need to know. . . I was only given a lamp to heat the tank. Now I did some looking today and do know that I will need to give the fish a day/night schedule. Which I am fairly sure they haven't been getting. What I need to know is. . . Will those fish do fine if they don't have a heat source for a few hours while the light is off at night? Or will getting them another heat source be an absolute must?

I don't have much money available to me, right now I have about ten dollars to my name. Which will likely go to buying the suction hose for me to clean out my tank. So anything that can be recommended to make these poor little fella's comfortable or assurance that they will be okay for a few hours without their light heating them would be nice.

Also I do appologize if this current setup offends anyone. It wasn't exactly my choice and was rather rushed.

 

[dafrnhm]

I haven't had a heater in my tank for over a year now. Depends on the room temp.

Get a thermometer and see what the temp is, check it when the light is off early in the morning and see if its dropped with the light off, if your room is warm enough you don't need a heater.

 

[phoenixgsd]

oh dear, i suppose your stepdad thought he was doing something good, unfortunatly though, in reality its not good, the fish need a heater and as its a new tank it hasnt been cycled, you do have a filter dont you? you can either do your best with the gift you have been given and try to fish in cycle, although you must be on top of your game for this or your fish will either die or become very sick with a fhortened lifespan, or return the fish to the shop and probably offend your stepdad and get a credit note to buy all the things a tank needs, heater filter dechlorinator and a liquid based test kit

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Don't spend money for a special suction hose. Just any length of hose will do, that hasn't had any chemicals through it.

What's the filtration?

The heater would definitely be a good idea, especially with winter. Unless your house is very warm, the tank will cool down significantly overnight. The bigger concern is using the light as the source of heat will mean that the light will also, potentially OVER heat the water, which is equally bad. A standard heater for a tank will cycle on and off as necessary, the light won't.

Spend your money on a decent heater, and save the money from the siphon hose. For a while you can use an old bottled water bottle to empty the tank for a water change. It may take longer, but it will work. You can also use an old juice bottle, or anything else like that. Just give it a good rinse with a splash of bleach (regular bleach, not bleach with any surfactants or perfumes) or vinegar, just to be sure that its "clean". Then rinse it off REALLY well. You have a means for emptying water out of the tank, and refilling.



The biggest concern is the type of pleco you have. Is it a common plec or is it another type. 10 gallons is typically way to small for a pleco as well as an angelfish. You might be able to return either the angel or the plec to a fish store for store credit and get a heater in return.

 

[phoenixgsd]

have a read of the link in my signature on cycleing, any questions please ask

 

[eaglesaquarium]

If this is an uncycled tank, just ask the guy with the established tank to give you a piece of the filter media to add to your filter. Any chunk will have the bacteria you need to cycle it. Adding this to your tank will speed up the entire process tremendously. A few days and you'll be cycled for that bioload, especially if you keep the feedings small.

 

[Fiontan]

There is a pump going and it has a new filter. The tank has been running for about a week before it was brought over to me, and they used some water from his fathers tank to get things going. Like I said I had little control over what was done or put in there, he was just really excited to try and get me fish. I do have a thermometer in there and some chemicals to treat it if anything gets out of balance. . . I don't have anything to test the water with yet as they were using things that his father had.

Here is the angel http/sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/196171_4086467082247_1884430354_n.jpg

and the plec http/sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/547472_4086460922093_1949108642_n.jpg

And here is a picture of the general set up right now http/sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/293205_4079607430760_2006397711_n.jpg

I will be able to get something nicer for them here soon (hopefully), since I have an art commission that I'm working on which will get me about 30-50 dollars.

 

[fluttermoth]

You need a heater, as soon as possible. If you can get a nice clean cola/lemonade bottle, you can fill tat wit hot water and stand that in the tank to keep it warmer.

For the moment, change half the water, every day. Make sure you warm and dechlorinate the new water. If your step dad's father would give you some of the actual sponge (or whatever's in there) from his filter that you can put in yours, that would be the very best thing.

Long term, you're going to need some water test kits (especially for ammonia and nitrite) and you're going to have to get a bigger tank, or rehome some fish.

Make sure you don't overfeed, change as much water as you can, every day, get a heater, and you should be able to manage over Christmas; good luck!

 

[Fiontan]

I'm going to see if I can get that heater, is it okay for me to have the light going during the day and switch to the heater at night? Or should I just forgo the light for now and keep my room lights as their light source? The room I live in is well lit during the day though very dark at night. There is no natural lighting because the windows are sealed off for the winter.

I don't want the light/heater combo to cause problems, but I also don't know if switching heat sources would put stress on the fish.

Also I am planning on getting a 20 gallon tall as soon as I can, but I don't know how long that will be. Is there any way someone can give me a time frame that I should have them in a larger tank by?

I apologize again for the state that this poor tank is coming to you in, and thank you all for the help you are giving me.

Right now all the fish are active an looking good. Especially the Plec and the snail who both are fascinated with everything. I'm not sure what signs to look for with the various types of fish. I know mostly about the angels behavior. The angel has been rather shy and has taken a liking to hanging out by the fake lilly.

Also I would like to get some natural foalige for them as well.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Unfortunately, using water from an established tank doesn't do much. It will do a little, but the vast majority of the bacteria live on surfaces within the tank, primarily in the filter's media (sponge, floss, ceramics, etc.).


I'm not an expert at IDing plecos, if you post that pic in the catfish section, someone should be able to ID it almost immediately, which will then tell you how big that fish will grow. A common plec can grow up to a foot or more. Even a small pleco, like a Bristlenose pleco will outgrow a 10 gallon tank. The only pleco I can think of that would be fine in a tank that size would be a pitbull pleco it only grows to 2 inches.


Is the tank running an undergravel filter?

 

[Fiontan]

A lot of the decorations and things came from the older tank as well, so hopefully that will help a little bit? But the fitler itself is fresh, and yes it is an undergravel filter.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm going to see if I can get that heater, is it okay for me to have the light going during the day and switch to the heater at night? Or should I just forgo the light for now and keep my room lights as their light source? The room I live in is well lit during the day though very dark at night. There is no natural lighting because the windows are sealed off for the winter.

I don't want the light/heater combo to cause problems, but I also don't know if switching heat sources would put stress on the fish.

Also I am planning on getting a 20 gallon tall as soon as I can, but I don't know how long that will be. Is there any way someone can give me a time frame that I should have them in a larger tank by?

I apologize again for the state that this poor tank is coming to you in, and thank you all for the help you are giving me.

Right now all the fish are active an looking good. Especially the Plec and the snail who both are fascinated with everything. I'm not sure what signs to look for with the various types of fish. I know mostly about the angels behavior. The angel has been rather shy and has taken a liking to hanging out by the fake lilly.

Also I would like to get some natural foalige for them as well.

The pleco is more than likely searching for a source of algae. That little guy is going to need algae wafers or similar. They won't eat the same food as the other fish, and they also won't live on the poop of the other fish either, which unfortunately, a lot of people believe. An algae eater like a pleco is generally better added once algae has begun growing, rather than adding it immediately. He'll be fine, IF you feed him the proper food. He'll also eat zucchini, cucumbers, peas and a bunch of other veggies. Just make sure these are all fresh or frozen (never canned) and that they are RINSED THOROUGHLY! If you aren't sure about it, don't feed it to him. He will also eat blanched lettuce leaves. These often need to be weighed down so that he can find it on the bottom.

 

[Fiontan]

I have some of all those veggies thankfully.

I had asked him for a snail and said /maybe/ a pleco since I wasn't sure about it's comfort in there. He ended up getting both of them. He's a really sweet guy and tries really hard to give me whatever I ask for. . . not always with the proper results. We have plenty of frozen peas though. Any idea how many I should drop in there for the poor little plec?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

All the fish will eat the peas (and its generally believed to be good for their digestion). I'd drop a pea or two in and see if it makes it to the bottom. Be sure to remove the inside from the tougher outer casing. The fish won't eat that and it will just foul the water. If it sinks then watch the plec. Give him a while to find it, a few hours. Keep your eye on where the pea is and if the plec finds it. The platys will probably find it first though, if I remember platy behavior from my childhood.


The pleco also needs to have access to wood. They use it for roughage in their digestive systems. My BN (bristlenose) plec lives on the underside of a piece of mopani I have in my tank. He excavated the sand out from under it and now he has a cosy cave.

 

[Fiontan]

Alright. Thank you very much!

Also I will be able to have that heater for them in about two weeks. So we'll all have to rough it for a little while.