Hi From Me, And First Question

[matt77303]

Hi

After renewed intrest in tropical fish, I have just brougt a new tank, a juwel vision 180.

Hopefully i will be able to contribute to the forum.

Heres the first queustion, i have a the juwel filter in the corner and when it came it had 3 sheets of the white filter material in it, however the 'refills' i have bought have 5 in the pack, do i use 5 or split it and use 3?

Thanks very much.

Also i bought 3 fish on wednesday, cant remember what they are, they looked like tiger barbs, but not them because the fish 'expert' said these were more friendly than the tiger barbs. they where the same coulour but now i have one 'normal', one red and one red and black, why have they changed.

Matt

 

[onebto]

Welcome matt the white filter pads I guess they are the white thin poly pads?

If so they need to go on top the juwel filter sponges work from the bottom the coarsest and the finest ones at the top. When I ran a juwel filter I only ever used one or two at a time, anymore and it just seems a waste to me.

As for the fish changing colour, be honest we really need to know the species as there can be different reasons for a fish changing colour.

Has your tank been cycled?

Regards onebto

 

[Shaman]

Hi

I've got exactly the same tank. With regards to the filter floss, I change it every two weeks but wash it under the cold tap after 1 week. With the rest of the filters, I check them every two weeks and if necessary give it a gentle wash in some used tank water.

I think fish change colour quite a bit, but I've noticed it could be a sign of stress.

Shaman

 

[elisew]

Hi Matt, welcome to TFF

As has already been said, you should be ok with just 2 or 3 filter pads.
One thing I would strongly advise to both you and shaman is to never wash the pads under a tap, you will lose the beneficial bacteria that your tank needs to stay stable, just rinse the pads out in a bucket of the water you take out when you do your water changes. They should only need rinsing out once a month unless you have a lot of gunky waste from your fish and they probably won't need replacing for a while either.

Regarding your fish, could you possibly post a pic of the fish as you'll have more luck if people can actually see what they are?

 

[drobbyb]

Fish can change color for a number of reasons. Most times color changes are due to stress or rapid changes in their environment.

 

[Shaman]

When I said I was the filters I meant the White filter floss pad that collects the big chunks of rubbish! The main sponges and filters are washed in ok'd tank water gently & if needed!

Shaman

 

[fluttermoth]

I was my filter floss under the tap too; as long as it's only the filter floss it's ok; it blocks up very quickly and you shouldn't be relying on it for biological filtration, only mechanical.

matt; your fish sound like the Black Ruby Barb Puntius nigrofasciatus to me.
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Puntius&species=nigrofasciatus&id=156

You've probably got 2 males and a female; the males go really black and red while the females stay paler and more like the Tiger Barb in looks. They're a really nice fish; definitely more peaceful than the Tiger. They are a shoaling fish though, so you should get another 3 at least, if you have room for them.

 

[matt77303]

Thanks for the replys, to the above post yeap thats the ones.

I thought everybody was ignoring me as i forgit to enable email notification of forum replys.

Ill go and get another 3 tomorrow, they certainly are good looking fish.

Thsnks.

Matt

 

[elisew]

When I said I was the filters I meant the White filter floss pad that collects the big chunks of rubbish! The main sponges and filters are washed in ok'd tank water gently & if needed!

Shaman

Ok, I was just ensuring that Matt didn`t wash all of the filter pads with tap water, I wasn`t getting at you Shaman. The whole forum relies on eveybody giving tidbits of advice I believe

The barbs are meant to be pretty nice fish Matt, may have bought some myself if my tank wasn`t already stocked