I Cant Keep My Kribensis Or Bristlenoses Alive!

[Lone Wolf]

A few weeks ago I started up my tank again. I havnt had tropical fish for about 3 years. This time I went for cichlids for a bit of a challenge and boy what a challenge it has been!! I have worked at a fish orientated pet shop for years so thought I had it all down but aparantly not. I have a 80 litre tank with a hooded light, Internal filter and air pump. I monitor the water regulary and keep it at a constant neutral ph. The heater shows 26 degrees but the thermometre shows 24-25 degrees. My fish get fed blood worms, daphnia, mysis shrimp (all frozen) and tropical flakes when they are willing to eat them. I have a couple of caves and a few fake plants, sand on the bottom so the cichlids dont dig, and feed the bristle nose algae wafers or bottom feeder pellets. I have a convict (roughly 7 centimetres long), a firemouth and gold severum of about the same length, 4 tiger barbs about 3 centimetres long, a myers hillstream loach about 4 centimetres long and one kribensis about 5 centimetres long. I have lost two kribensis and 3 bristlenoses (all bought after one had died) so im not having a good run with them. I regulary top up the tank when water evaporates and feed a variety of food. The temp and ph is normal so what am I doing wrong? Some one suggested driftwood for the bristle nose but dosnt that taint the water yellow?
Any help is appreciated

 

[walkers101]

first of all you really are gonna need a bigger tank if its 80 litre and not gallon its seriously over stocked and the sev firemouth and convict need a way larger tank also whats your amonia stats?

 

[scotty]

did you cycle the tank?

 

[kaivalagi]

did you cycle the tank?

I doubt it: "a few weeks ago I started up my tank again"


Please provide water stats, i.e. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels

If you know you haven't cycled the tank I would try and get most of those fish into a tank that have been cycled then do a fish-in with the hardiest of them, tiger barbs maybe...well atleast they'll be the cheapest to replace. You need to do daily or bi-daily water changes to keep the nasty stats down until the filter builds up enough bacteria i.e. when you read zero Ammonia and zero Nitrite...

Have a read of the cycle related stuff here: www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

 

[Lone Wolf]

Yes I have cycled the tank. It cycled for about a week before I introduced anything. The first fish I added were a convict and two kribensis, then waited another two weeks then added tiger barbs. Then waited another week and added the firemouth and severum. I havnt been able to test the amonia and nitrates etc, as a test kit for those costs around 80 dollars, I was told on a different site that as long as I did regular water changes and topped up any evaporated water, as well as maintain ph The amonia and nitrates would stay down? I use a siphon to remove the crud from the sand (not all of it) and do a 15-20percent waterchange once a week. I havnt yet had to adjust ph majorly, just by like .2 up. All the other fish are fine. When I had a communtiy tank I could never get the bristlenoses to stay alive for more than a week or two so I think I just repel them, But everyone told me kribs were easy? None of the fish look stressed. They dont chase each other but ive notised the last krib has started to spit food through its gills? They compete for the food a little bit but I make sure they all eat, maybe im feeding the wrong stuff?
Im aware the fish will grow big, and that being aggresive species they will most likely start to fight, but I also have a 120 litre long tank with goldfish in it that I was planning to move some to once they get bigger. (minus the goldfish of course)
thanks

 

[Ryefish]

when you say it cycled for a week, can you explain how?

 

[Lone Wolf]

Yup I put in the heater, water conditioner and filter and let it all run for about a week and did ph tests every day. I also ran the light as if there were fish in there. Have I cycled the tank wrong?

 

[kaivalagi]

Yep, that's not cycled, refer to the link and advice previously posted...

 

[Ryefish]

Follow Kaivalagi's advice posted above
Sounds like your cycle was just swishing some water around for a week, which a lot of LFS's tell everyone to do and train employee's to tell everyone to do.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Ok and I also forgot to add that I used nutrafin cycle which is a live bacteria that starts your biological filtration. Would this have helped the tank cycle? If not what do I do now. The tanks been running for a while so do i leave it now or take all the fish out and cycle the tank the other way? Only problem would be what I do with the fish.
thanks for all your help

 

[kaivalagi]

Ok and I also forgot to add that I used nutrafin cycle which is a live bacteria that starts your biological filtration. Would this have helped the tank cycle? If not what do I do now. The tanks been running for a while so do i leave it now or take all the fish out and cycle the tank the other way? Only problem would be what I do with the fish.
thanks for all your help

Most people, including me, believe that the so called live bacteria in a bottle just doesn't work at all...it is a money maker really.


You need to get a liquid testing kit for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates at a minimum really, so you can monitor what is happening with the cycle and when to can let off on the water changes etc.

Do daily 50% water changes from now onwards, maybe more frequently than that even as you have so many fish in there. You really do need to read through all the stuff I posted links on, it will make things a little clearer as to why you have a problem, what should have been done, and what you should do longer term

Do you have a friend who keeps fish? Can you get your more sensitive fish moved into a matured tank whilst you sort yours out?

The best advice I can give is that you read up on fish keeping i.e. the nitrogen cycle, water changes, testing etc and the types of fish you have...you have a lot to learn if you've not done this before now...

From my point of view an 80 litre tank cannot hold all those fish, one severum on it's own is too big for it in the long term...also Kribs are african cichlids so shouldn't ideally be put in with cichlids from the americas such as the rest you have...read read read is my best advice for you. And do daily water changes until you know what you are doing. You are liable to lose more fish though...

Post back any questions you have after you've digested as much info on all of this as you can, there is a lot to comment on and I see this as pointless until you know a bit more first

 

[OldMan47]

Back to the beginning Lone Wolf.
You have not begun to cycle your tank. What you have done is let the filter and heater run on a biologically inert tank for a couple of weeks. The end result is simple. You have done nothing to establish your bio-filter except to move water through it. Where does that leave you? You need to start cycling your tank. the Nutrafin Cycle is much like other similar products, it may possibly have been alive when it left the manufacturer's location but it is dead by the time you add it to your tank. So what does that mean? It means that you have an uncycled tank on your hands and have no easy way to clone the filter. I clone my own filters from established and productive filters but have no way that I know of to establish a viable bacterial colony without that clone from a mature filter. I gave actually tried the product called Cycle and found that it shortened my filter's cycle to exactly what it might have been without using the product. A way of interpreting that result, my own interpretation, is that the product had no beneficial effect at all. So where does that leave us? Forget the name brand instant cycle products and read up on doing a fishless or fish-in cycle. Both of those approaches are known to lead to success after enough time is given, but the instant cycling products are not known to add any benefit whatsoever to the process.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

if one dies, why buy another right after? there is clearly something wrong... the same thing happens to me w/ plecos. i come into the fish store w/ excellent water parameters, and when the pleco dies a day or so later, the parameters are still excellent. i just don't buy any plecos anymore.