Ammonia Issues
- Thread starter AshP1986
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AshP1986
Fish Crazy
I was told they eat poo, but also this guy worked at a pet store... I'm pretty sure he only works there for the discount though, (I mean... keeping fish is pretty expensive, and he has 5 salt water tanks) as he only works once a week.
That's what they told me about the Hoplos as well. However, they never ate anything but bloodworms and daphnia. I used to have to net the fish poop out myself, but now I have the filter to gather most of it for me.
So basically, bottom feeders only clean food leftovers, at least for Hoplos. I never had corydoras.
On a side note: If you are having ammonia issues, buying Corydoras is a bad idea, as according to a lot of info on the internet, they are fragile to water chemistry.
OP
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AshP1986
Fish Crazy
No I'm not having ammonia issues. I was having issues with the testing... My classroom is in the basement and the unnatural lighting was throwing off my ability to correctly read my results
So ammonia is 0 constantly?
Also, I have no idea if corydoras are going to do well in a 10 gallon.
I also have yet to upgrade mine. I'm in a big muck right now having a temp 23L tank till I get a bigger one and what's worse is that my Hoplo would need a 100L or 200L tank X_X
I guess I'll never have Hoplos again for a loooong time once my last one dies... Still wondering if I should just get cory cats if I'd get a 64L tank.
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AshP1986
Fish Crazy
winmore
New Member
I have 4 corys and they realy clean the tank floor.not sure if they eat poo though.but they are cleaning all day.
Yeah but you need 6 cory cats (at least that's what everyone on this forum says).
So maybe in 1-2 years from now, I'll get a bronze cory gang if they'd fit in 64L or what ever I'll have later on if higher volume.
If you have a filter, that's where the poop went. Without filter, you'd see the weenies on the gravel. But bottom feeders are awesome for keeping the food from wasting away. Most other fish won't bother to pick it from the floor. (although my swordtails act just like my hoplo and pick whatever falls there and follow the catfish around)
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AshP1986
Fish Crazy
My guppies are excellent scavengers... Unless I am feeding them they are swimming around sucking on the rocks, plants, walls, filter, heater, and gravel/sand.... They are crazy... and cute 
Hmm, that sounds like what my swordtails are doing now, they suck on the filter and glass, so does the catfish but not as obsessively as the swordies.My guppies are excellent scavengers... Unless I am feeding them they are swimming around sucking on the rocks, plants, walls, filter, heater, and gravel/sand.... They are crazy... and cute
I made sure that each fish got a mouth full of worms in the morning, but they still act like what ever is growing there is the best food around. Lol.
OP
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AshP1986
Fish Crazy
I know right!
Maybe they like algae. I remember that my swordtails and guppies from the past aquarium used to love eating the Elodea plants and the lotus pads in a feeding frenzy. (pretty much what destroyed the Elodea and made me take the lotus out...)
Do you have a filter in either tank? If not, then any new fish you add is very likely to die, and your existing fish are very likely to not have a full lifespan and die early. A powerhead without a sponge on the end is not a filter, an airpump without a sponge on the end is not a filter. If you do not have a filter on each of those tanks, then your ammonia reading is not 0 ppm.
Did you know that water hardness is more important to fish than pH?
I recommend that Corys are not kept in hard water.
so you may as well give up on that point right now. If you wish to keep corys, the bottom of your 10 gallon is no smaller than 12*22 inches, your water is not as hard as the pH implies and you change your substrate to sand, then you can keep 8-10 of any one cory species out of this list: http
/blog.natureaquarium.co.uk/?page_id=278#sa-bottom
Going by decor, the only option I would consider right now is shrimp or snails.
pH, general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) are three different things. The reading you are giving is for pH, which implies that you probably have hard water (although does not guarantee it). Water hardness is measured in degrees (dGH/°GH and dKH/°KH) or in ppm (parts per million, same as ammonia, etc.) To measure hardness, one either needs two separate test kits for GH and KH, or look at what your water board says the water hardness is for a very rough estimate.
Did you know that water hardness is more important to fish than pH?
I recommend that Corys are not kept in hard water.
As far as I am aware, the standard 10 gallon tank is 22*12*12 inches in size, can you confirm that this is the case? It especially matters for the bottom area, so please be very precise.
Fish do not eat poo unless they are starving
so you may as well give up on that point right now. If you wish to keep corys, the bottom of your 10 gallon is no smaller than 12*22 inches, your water is not as hard as the pH implies and you change your substrate to sand, then you can keep 8-10 of any one cory species out of this list: http/blog.natureaquarium.co.uk/?page_id=278#sa-bottomPlease research *before* you buy fish. If you had researched, you would have found our that they are a schooling species (i.e. keep 6+ per species), that most species grow too large for the average 10 gallon tank, that they do best on sand substrate and are relatively sensitive compared to guppies.
OP
OP
AshP1986
Fish Crazy
Do you have a filter in either tank? If not, then any new fish you add is very likely to die, and your existing fish are very likely to not have a full lifespan and die early. A powerhead without a sponge on the end is not a filter, an airpump without a sponge on the end is not a filter. If you do not have a filter on each of those tanks, then your ammonia reading is not 0 ppm.
Going by decor, the only option I would consider right now is shrimp or snails.
pH, general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) are three different things. The reading you are giving is for pH, which implies that you probably have hard water (although does not guarantee it). Water hardness is measured in degrees (dGH/°GH and dKH/°KH) or in ppm (parts per million, same as ammonia, etc.) To measure hardness, one either needs two separate test kits for GH and KH, or look at what your water board says the water hardness is for a very rough estimate.
Did you know that water hardness is more important to fish than pH?
I recommend that Corys are not kept in hard water.
As far as I am aware, the standard 10 gallon tank is 22*12*12 inches in size, can you confirm that this is the case? It especially matters for the bottom area, so please be very precise.
Fish do not eat poo unless they are starving
Please research *before* you buy fish. If you had researched, you would have found our that they are a schooling species (i.e. keep 6+ per species), that most species grow too large for the average 10 gallon tank, that they do best on sand substrate and are relatively sensitive compared to guppies.
Kitty,
While I appreciate your "help" I do not like the tone you take with your responses. I have done nothing BUT research for the last 3 months. Um, yes, I do have a filter in both tanks. It would be ludicrous to not have filters. It would also cause many fishy deaths and this would severely upset me. I do not let my fish be in ANY kind of discomfort.
Also, my ammonia reading is 0 and has been for 4 weeks now. I'd say I am doing a pretty good job keeping the water in pristine condition.
Perhaps you could not tell from the picture, but my 10 gallon tank is a sand substrate! My 3 gallon is bare for ease of cleaning due to the fry being kept there.
Yes my water is very hard, hence the guppies as they seem to thrive in, or at least tolerate, hard water.
I will do my best to find a tape measure or some kind of ruler and measure the tank, but as for now, you will have to go with what I have given you.
I guess I have to say then that corys will be out as I can not simply "change" the pH of this area. I feel it is more important for the fish to have a stable pH than to have one that is being altered chemically to be lower and risk it raising from unforeseen causes.
Again, I did research the cory cats BEFORE I bought them and somehow must have missed the hardness part. However, I did switch over to sand substrate and bought a breed that only grew to 2 inches, as I have already stated.
Perhaps you are not reading through all of the posts or you would have discovered this earlier. So, unless you can contribute to this post in a better tone, I would ask that you please stay off of it and anything I may post in the future.
Again I will list my results as I have just tested my water:
Ammonia - 0
NitrIte - 0
NitrAte - 10
GH - 150
KH - 120
pH - 8
There are plenty of people on here who do not have filters, and since I cannot see one in either photo, it makes sense to ask as opposed to assume, as it would have been in this case, incorrectly.
Sorry, it looked like fine blue gravel from the photo. Which brand is it? Is it very fine and "soft" when you run your hands through it?
You are right that it is by far better to have a stable pH than a "correct" (but fluctuating) one, which is why I always advise against buffers. You might be able to lower it "naturally" in the long term by adding bogwood (which will release tanic acid) and adding plants… the problem with doing this is that it would mean that you would be unable to do one off, large water changes with tap water even in an emergency as the change in GH and KH would harm the fish. On the other hand, small water changes will not harm fish and in an emergency, it is relatively safe to do *lots* of small water changes at intervals instead of one large one, in other words, by acclimatising the fish to tap water over a period of a day or longer.
Then why did you buy two which grew to 2 inches?
There aren't many people on here who would recommend starting with only two and such large ones in a small tank, or would not have pointed out the difference in their ideal and your tank water.Regardless, I do recommend that you pay attention to water parameters when doing research as some species are very sensitive to them (especially harder water species going into softer water). Another point you might want to consider is how active a species is because some (like most Corys, some species of danio, etc.) may require quite a bit of space for their size, while other species which are not as active (like some plecos, some cats, etc.) are fine in smaller tanks: this is why I say that a 2" pleco is fine for a 24*12*12 inch tank, but a 2" Cory is not.
This is the first time you've mentioned most of these things, or clarified those which you did not make clear before. In fact, I am asking more questions *because* I am reading over what you have written and the latest one which comes to mind is "do you realise that some Corys grow to 1" and some to 3.5"?" Because from what you are saying, it sounds like you think that they all grow to 2" and C. julii (which is the Cory in the photo that you posted) do grow to over 2".
FishBlast, you should probably research Corys some more too, because bronze Corys (C. aeneus) grow to 3" and most definitely will (literally, in the proper sense of the word) try climbing out of the average 60 litre tank for lack of space!
What exactly do you not like about my tone? No offence, but I am *not* going to say something along the lines of "yay, Corys!" every other sentence as it takes me long enough as it is to sift out the information from the posts.
As far as I can see, this is the first time that you have posted the KH and GH results, and the rest of them are not really relevant to anything that I have said, but thank you for the reminder anyway.
Which is approximately 8.4 dGH and 6.7 dKH: these readings indicate that your water is relatively hard (as the pH implied) and should remain relatively stable (i.e. should not change much in the long term or short term). It is good water for most neutral to hard water fish. Once you are able to measure the bottom area of the tank, I will be able to suggest a few species which fit with your water parameters and tank size. Are you willing to add at least a small piece of bogwood? (Because some species of fish require bogwood as part of their diet.)
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