Cleaning Filter Media Whilst Cycling?

[chrisbassist]

don't give up!!!

I know it's a pain doing water changes so often. and yes, there is a lot to learn, thankfully I'm a bit of a sponge when it comes to the information...

but give it another month, (obviously that time scale could be longer or shorter depending on the tests) once you have all the bacteria you need it's just a case of doing enough water changes to stop nitrAte getting too high. which is normally about weekly, sometimes a little less. and when you do that doing a bit of a vac to collect some stuff from the bottom. easy to fit that in once a week, and the rest of the week you don't have to worry, you can just sit and watch the fish.

So keep going, don't get discouraged, it'll all work out in the end and you'll have a lovely fish tank. which are often lovely pieces of furniture to look at, and more relaxing than a TV too.

keep going and give it some more time, you'll start enjoying it soon.

 

[nessar]

Hey ! Been away for a week and wondering how youre doing?

Yeah guppies are meant to be peaceful but can be nippy little things.

I have a bit of bad news for you though >.< sorry! The thing is with guppies, like all common livebearers, you need a male to female ratio of at least 1:2 , but 1:3 is better. When that female guppy grows up it will be 4:1 , and your males will quite literally bully her to death. So you might want to send her back too, or get her a new tank if youre sure she is female.

Hope you havent had any more deaths?

 

[OldMan47]

In the long run, the guppy ratio may well become a problem. In the meanwhile, you do not want to add any fish to the middle of a fish-in cycle. It can be enough work just to keep up with water changes without making things worse with more fish. With guppies, if you have at least 8 or more, I no longer worry about the ratios. An equal number of males and females works fine if you have at least that many in total.