Help For A Friend?

bubble87 · Nov 2, 2010

long story short- a friend of mine recentley got a fish tank from pets at home.she went there at the weekend and brought a tank and then pets at home told her she could put fish in 24hrs later so now she has 5 baby neon tetras in there.btw its 70 litres.

she knew nothing about cycling at all so i did explain to her but she has decided she wants to cycle with the neons.im posting this as i just wanted to clarify with you what i told her to do.

i stated they may not survive and to buy a water test kit even tho pets at home told her nothing about this :angry:

i said to test the water every 3 days and do water changes every 3 days. is this the best thing she can do??i didnt think she would need to do a water change every day as she said the neons are very small and her tank is 70 litres.
i have cycled with fish before but i used zebra danios.
she has no internet access so i said not to worry we have all been there

Athena · Nov 2, 2010

Just a thought...I presume you have an aquarium yourself? Could you not let her have a piece of your mature filter media from yours to put into her new filter? If you cut off a piece, say, 1" and fit it into her filter by removing the same width off her new sponge, that should do fine. With so few fish in her tank and a piece of mature media, her fish will have a better chance of survival! There should be enough good bacteria then to process any ammonia those neons produce.

Tell her also, that when she wants to introduce new fish, don't add more than 2 at a time and give a good 2 -3 weeks between each additions, to give the filter bacteria a chance to catch up with the new ammonia output from the higher volume of fish. It doesn't take long for the bacteria to multiply, anyway.

Regards, Athena

bubble87 · Nov 2, 2010

thanks athena i cant give her any of mine as i have a biorb life which the filters are diffrent and mines only just been setup.im cycling with pure ammonia.

so what can she do now?

Athena · Nov 2, 2010

Ah, ok - sometimes you can ask your LFS for some mature media...or ask if they know any local aquarists that wouldn't mind donating some to her. It depends on how friendly/helpful they are. I know that my LFS will bend over backwards to help and have lots of contacts in the local area. I mean, if they asked me for some media I wouldn't say no, providing it's not every week LOL.

It's always worth asking.

There are also these forums - if you are lucky enough to live in the same area or near to another forum member, they will often be glad to help by donating mature media. If you can't get any anywhere else, try posting a request on the boards.

Are you in the UK?

Regards, Athena

bubble87 · Nov 2, 2010

i wish it was that easy.there are 2 fish store near us and both of them will not give out anything.ive tried in the past myself and always fail.yes we both live in ashford kent i will post a request and hope someone can help her out and me as i may pinch some to hurry mine along lol.if we have no success then shall she just keep doing the water changes?

Athena · Nov 2, 2010

Yes, that's all she can do, in that case. Ashford eh - I'm sure there must be someone on here that's nearby - even if you have to travel a few miles..?

Athena

bubble87 · Nov 2, 2010

yeah she said she will travel a little if she has to
just posted a request so fingers crossed

bubble87 · Nov 2, 2010

its just a good job she called me when she did as she was on her way to buy more fish at the weekend.

ive also told her to feed them pellets as they are less messy and feed them once a day

Athena · Nov 2, 2010

OMG definitely no more fish just yet! That's a recipe for disaster.

There are also pinned notes on these forums that explain the way to do a fish-in cycle - if you're able to print those off for her, that might help her a lot, seeing as she has no internet access herself.

I'm in Kent but I think a bit too far from Ashford - I'm in Herne Bay.

Let's hope you get a response to your request soon.

Athena