New Guy Saying Hi.

[Dr. Goldfoot]

Hey everybody, I'm a green aquarist. I'm just a little over a month into creating my own submersible universe. After hitting the ground running with a 2 gallon hexagonal filterless aquarium, I've graduated to a 30 gallon freshwater rectangular tank with a Bio-fiber filter. Additional tank stats .... 0 PPM Amonia, 1-3 PPM Nitrite, 20 PPM Nitrate, 250 PPM Hardiness, off the chart Alkalinity/Buffering Capacity, 7.6-8.0 PH & a constant 80 degrees. Addition chemical loads....Top Fin Bacteria Supplement, Tetra Aqua Aquasafe water conditioner & Jungle aquarium salts. Food stuffs...TetraMin tropical crisps and Hikari sinking catfish wafers. In addition to the 3 fake plants and castle ruins I've added a rock cave system made of local river rocks. I boiled and tested with vinegar.

The tank now houses 6 fish. 1 orange sunshine guppy (Nemo), 1 blue guppy (Grover), 1 spotted cory catfish (Vitor), 2 Zebra Danios (Grissom & Warrick) and 1 redtail black shark (Bullit).

The purpose of the tank is both educational/family fun (I have two boys 1 1/2 and nearly 3) and aesthetics. Let's face it a big ol' fish tank in the dining room is pretty damn cool.

What I've learned is the internet has a plethora of information about keeping a healthy aquarium and the do's and dont's of fish ownership. Unfortunately, much of this info contradicts itself. Like many others, I started with basically no idea what I was doing. I've done just enough homework to be annoying to the Mom & Pop fish store employees. I feel like my tank has begun to stabilize and the fish seem happy and healthy. While we're happy with the current community of fish, additions are inevitable. The boys have a natural interest in "critters" such as ghost shrimp, african small clawed frogs, snails, crabs etc... Are these plausible additions? Now that we've obtained the fish that originally caught our eyes, I realize our tank lacks color. Any suggestions for 2-3 fish that would add some bright colors to our tank?

Here's some ?'s that are probably answered elsewhere on the site but since I'm on a roll.....

The cory cat has developed extra shiny silverness around the gills?
Are the bacterial chemicals more harmful than I think?
Should I quit adding a pinch of the salt due to the catfish (I'm pretty sure the shark is a catfish too isn't it?)?
I've been doing 15-20% water changes every 5-7 days. Make sense?


Anyways, I just wanted to say Hi.

 

[Hero]

I'm new to the fun too so I can't help out much.. But I would firsty say welcome to TFF!

Ok I see you have 1 corydoras. This species of fish love to shoal with fish of the same type. Corydoras must be kept in groups of 3-6 to. I believe a redtailed black shark is not a catfish. Also, I have read online that redtailed black sharks should not be kept an anything less than a 55gl. Can someone back me up on that... or am I way off?

As for color... I would highly recommend a pair of german blue rams. They will be fine in a 30gl (especially with your cave system!) and provide beautiful color to "aww" and "ooo" at.

German Blue Rams

Water changes.... we do water changes to remove nitrates from the water. I would test for nitrates 2-4 times a week and do no less than a 25% water change.

~Kyle

 

[Dr. Goldfoot]

I believe a redtailed black shark is not a catfish.
~Kyle

My understanding of the redtail black shark is...he's not a shark at all. The Rams are cool but wouldn't their lovely flowing fins look tasty to the redtail and the danios?

 

[ashleybrown2]

Hey, welcome to TFF

Stay away from african clawed frogs they grow to about 6" and eat everything and anything, they will tear apart all your livestock. Nitrites are too high really, anything above 0 indicates an uncycled tank, or a tank going through a mini cycle (bacteria catching up to account for lost bacteria/new additions). 1-3 ppm nitrites is extremely dangerous to your fish. Basically read up as much as you can about cycling, it could save a few deaths. Im afraid at the moment thats about the extent of my knowledge.

Ash

 

[Dr. Goldfoot]

Also, I have read online that redtailed black sharks should not be kept an anything less than a 55gl.



~Kyle

Kinda part of my original point. The site you linked with the Rams says 50 gallons min. while aquariumfish.net says 20 gallon min.

 

[Hero]

Kinda part of my original point. The site you linked with the Rams says 50 gallons min. while aquariumfish.net says 20 gallon min.

The link I linked to about the Rams says a min of 20gl, re-read it. You need 10gl of space per ram.

 

[Dr. Goldfoot]

Kinda part of my original point. The site you linked with the Rams says 50 gallons min. while aquariumfish.net says 20 gallon min.

The link I linked to about the Rams says a min of 20gl, re-read it. You need 10gl of space per ram.

I was referring to the shark, not the rams. Just the site in general.

 

[Hero]

I was referring to the shark, not the rams. Just the site in general.

Ah I see, well if you read the same paragraph on aquariumfish.net thats mentions 20gl it says that the fish will eventually grow into a 40gl or larger.

 

[dthoffsett]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Sounds like you have an interesting tank so far. As pointed out, corys do best in groups of 5 or more, and keep and close eye on your red-tail black shark as he may get pretty aggressive once he's an adult.

However, before adding any more fish, you'll want to finish your cycle. As mentioned, your ammonia and nitrite should ALWAYS be 0. So, some water changes are in order. Also, the Top Fin Bacteria Supplement is just a waste of money. Manufacturers make a butt load of money off of products that just don't work, the only bacteria products that have been found to work well are Biro-Spira (US) & Bactinettes (UK), and that's only if they have been kept refrigerated during storage, transport, and sale. So the best thing you can do for your tank is to do daily water changes until your readings reach 0.

Here's a great article Miss Wiggle wrote about fish-in cycles.
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355[/URL]

 

[Dr. Goldfoot]

Unfortunately, I was completely in the dark about a cycling process until the purchases had been made. As a side note, you'd think this would be one of the first things a retailer would inform you of but I guess telling people to wait a month and half to buy your products doesn't make good business sense. It's also not something that automatically popped up in my initial research. I was making 25%+ water changes every other day but I've slowed down since my nitrite numbers have dropped off quite a bit lately. My test kit describes 1-3 PPM of Nitrites as still stressful but not life threateningly toxic. I still test the water and observe fish behavior for over an hour daily. They seem to at least be surviving. Everybody's eating well, interacting without any obvious aggression, no signs of ich or stress related fatigue. The plan is to wait a couple of months before making any further decisions on additional "friends". Even the added burden of cycling a tank with not only fish but not the ideal cycling fish hasn't taken out the joy.

I guess the advice I've gathered so far is to obviously wait out the initial cycling process and then consider adding appropriate tank mates such as a couple more cory cats for Vitor to frolic with. I guess that really just leaves one question. If I have 2 Guppies, 2 Zebra Danios, a Redtail Black Shark and with eventual additions 3 Cory Cats will that even leave room for anything else in a 30 gallon tank?

 

[SJ2K]

Unfortunately, I was completely in the dark about a cycling process until the purchases had been made. As a side note, you'd think this would be one of the first things a retailer would inform you of but I guess telling people to wait a month and half to buy your products doesn't make good business sense. It's also not something that automatically popped up in my initial research. I was making 25%+ water changes every other day but I've slowed down since my nitrite numbers have dropped off quite a bit lately. My test kit describes 1-3 PPM of Nitrites as still stressful but not life threateningly toxic. I still test the water and observe fish behavior for over an hour daily. They seem to at least be surviving. Everybody's eating well, interacting without any obvious aggression, no signs of ich or stress related fatigue. The plan is to wait a couple of months before making any further decisions on additional "friends". Even the added burden of cycling a tank with not only fish but not the ideal cycling fish hasn't taken out the joy.

I guess the advice I've gathered so far is to obviously wait out the initial cycling process and then consider adding appropriate tank mates such as a couple more cory cats for Vitor to frolic with. I guess that really just leaves one question. If I have 2 Guppies, 2 Zebra Danios, a Redtail Black Shark and with eventual additions 3 Cory Cats will that even leave room for anything else in a 30 gallon tank?

Yes, once you've added your extra cories (and id also recommend a few more danios) you will have plenty of room left if you were to remove the aggressive and territorial shark your options would open up alot more so

keep up the good work theres alot to take in at first but once you do, its plain sailing! Just keep that ammonia and nitrite at 0, perfect the stocking and enjoy