Bacteria

[softbalangel04]

Ok so when I set up my 10-gallon tank, the guy at the fish store had me buy 3 goldfish, and 2 red-eyed tetras as our starter fish. Then we added 1 x-ray tetras, and two (1-gallon) albino frogs. As well as 1 (10-gallon) algea eater. But for the past two months, we've had to change our filter at least once a week. And now I know the gold fish aren't ment for a ten gallon tank, but i'm not going to get rid of them just because we messed up.

How can i fix this problem without getting rid of any fish. We were thinking of buying a bigger filter, but don't know what to get. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[nry]

Goldfish mixed with tropical fish? You didn't mess up, the shop did. Plus tetra are much better in groups of at least 6 of the same type, they are shoaling fish and prefer company of their own species. I would take the goldfish back to the shop, the tank is way too small for all of the fish you have in the long term, goldfish get BIG! Still, I clean part of my filter weekly, it is a good thing providing you just squeeze it gently in old tank water, tap water will kill of the 'friendly' bacteria: you don't need to change anything in the filter, just clean half of the media weekly.

 

[BHornsey]

Hi Angel,

Judging from your post this is your first tank?
nry is right, the shop is at fault here, not you.

The filter contains good bacteria that consume the waste that is produced by the fish, decaying food etc, and convert it to less harmful products. It takes a while for the bacteria to colonise the filter media (called cycling). An old method of thinking was to throw in a few hardy 'disposable' fish such as goldfish while the tank cycles. You should leave the filter media in and if they get clogged just rinse them in tank water. Tap water contains chlorine or chloramine which is harmful to the bacteria you are trying to build.

You can find lots of useful info about this in 'New To The Hobby' and 'FAQ ' sections of this board.

Are you interested in growing tropical plants? There's lots of useful info from the green (and wet ) fingered fraternity on this section of the board.