Clown Ruby Cichlid Or Rams

[themonkeees]

Hi I'm new to this site and new to the aquatic world I had a five gallon tank to start Bets and Danios and goldfish and a Janitor fish they are doing great and happy.
I moved on to a 20 gallon tank and I put the stones in and let the water run through the filter and put the treatments in a week before I put my 3 Clown Ruby Cichilds now they seem like the are coming around and they are lively and I just added a Beta to the mix My test set says that I have a Ph level of 8.5 is that to high for these fish,I did the test 3 times to make sure I even tested my tap water to see it is pretty high as well, how do I counter the ph is there a remedy or do I just wait?

 

[Davo86]

ph is the least of your worries provided it remains stable,
monitoring the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate is much more important,

given that your 5G is incredibly overstocked and your 20G is still cycling

 

[themonkeees]

Hi I'm new to this site and new to the aquatic world I had a five gallon tank to start Bets and Danios and goldfish and a Janitor fish they are doing great and happy.
I moved on to a 20 gallon tank and I put the stones in and let the water run through the filter and put the treatments in a week before I put my 3 Clown Ruby Cichilds now they seem like the are coming around and they are lively and I just added a Beta to the mix My test set says that I have a Ph level of 8.5 is that to high for these fish,I did the test 3 times to make sure I even tested my tap water to see it is pretty high as well, how do I counter the ph is there a remedy or do I just wait?

O.k so I should watch the nitrate levels and my small tank is over stalked, but they are all thriving? I will look into the nitrate but what gives off nitrate plants, Garbage or fish poop?

 

[LiveYourLife]

Fish produce ammonia through respiration (breathing). Ammonia is also produced by fish food, fish waste, plant leaves and dead fish, if they are left to rot in the water.

Ammonia can be lethal to fish, even in very small quantities, so it is essential that it is somehow removed. There is no safe level of ammonia in an aquarium.

Ammonia is removed from the tank by the first of two types of friendly bacteria which live in your filter. The bacteria which remove the ammonia are called ‘Nitrosomonas’. They do this by converting ammonia into nitrite. Ammonia can also be used by live aquarium plants as food.

Nitrite is also lethal to fish, and so must be removed. There is no safe level of nitrite in an aquarium.

The nitrite is removed by the second of the two types of bacteria in your filter. This bacteria is called ‘Nitrospira’. They do this by converting nitrite to nitrate.

Nitrate is relatively harmless to most fish unless in large quantities. The nitrate level in the aquarium is controlled by performing frequent partial water changes. You can read about how to perform partial water changes in the link below. Live aquarium plants can also use nitrate as food.



Seen as you dont know the 'cycle' Im not sure you did the research needed to keep fish adequetley?

 

[KieranP]

Hi I'm new to this site and new to the aquatic world I had a five gallon tank to start Bets and Danios and goldfish and a Janitor fish they are doing great and happy.
I moved on to a 20 gallon tank and I put the stones in and let the water run through the filter and put the treatments in a week before I put my 3 Clown Ruby Cichilds now they seem like the are coming around and they are lively and I just added a Beta to the mix My test set says that I have a Ph level of 8.5 is that to high for these fish,I did the test 3 times to make sure I even tested my tap water to see it is pretty high as well, how do I counter the ph is there a remedy or do I just wait?

O.k so I should watch the nitrate levels and my small tank is over stalked, but they are all thriving? I will look into the nitrate but what gives off nitrate plants, Garbage or fish poop?

O.k so ammonia its caused by fish crap, decaying excess food, anything thats decomposing will affect the levels of nitrate, you need to watch the nitrate levels a . PH isnt such a big deal, unless you have sensetive fish like German Blue rams then you need to monitor EVERYTHING!