New Tank

[supraking]

lol yes, thanks i had a feeling it needed anglin more, ill kep an eye on my little fishy

i have spent a while looking up things on the net, ive been after some fish for about a yr now, but its a different hing putting it in to practice,
and usuall yit wouldnt be this quick. but im getting answers soo damn quick i cant help myself thank you again i dont know wot i would do without this place

 

[282911]

surface agitation is a good thing, the warmer the water is the less oxygen it holds, having your filter breaking up the surface of the water will drive more oxygen into the tank and keep the tank relativley cool. This is very important coming up to the summer months when lots of us loose fish from the heat.

your fish will tell you if there's not enough oxygen in the water.... they hold up little signs asking for air .... sorry, if they are hanging out at the surface of the tank and appear to be gasping for air then you need more oxygen in the water so need to adjust the filter output. remember with more fish in the tank the oxygen will be used up quicker so while you might not have problems now when you get more fish and the weather heats up you may need to adjust it so just keep an eye on things.

bit of a crash course this isn't it?! lol

 

[Miss Wiggle]

lol yes, thanks i had a feeling it needed anglin more, ill kep an eye on my little fishy

i have spent a while looking up things on the net, ive been after some fish for about a yr now, but its a different hing putting it in to practice,
and usuall yit wouldnt be this quick. but im getting answers soo damn quick i cant help myself thank you again i dont know wot i would do without this place

sounds like your doing all the right things, researching, asking questions and listening to advice. can't ask more so just keep up the good work and i think you'll be an excellent fishkeeper

 

[282911]

hi all, new to the site. a week ago i bought my first tank
i think it is a 10g tank (35 litres i think)
so only a small one but i do only have a small flat

when i got it, it came with a little bottle called 'cycle' i believe this adds bacteria and can start the cycle. so i added this when i first setup and then left it for 4 days with everything running, filter, heater, light. then on the 5th day i bought 2 fish, 2 mollies(sorry i no idea which sex). i left them in the bag in the water for 20minutes to let it heat up to my tanks temp, added abit of tnak water left them for a while repeated then finnaly let them out. all seemed well and i headed off to work. when i cam back from work i found one of them had died.
now i havent a clue why. i dont think it was something i could have done and it died between me going to work 4pm, and my girlfriend gettin in about 9pm. any body got any ideas

the ohter one seems fine i started feeding it 22hrs after i got it in, and now have had it 2 days and everything seems fine.
unfortunatly i cannot state how the cycle is going at the moment, as i dont have enough money to buy the test kits (first thing on my list when i get paid) but i dont see the amonia getting too high at the mo with only one fish and the 'cycle' stuff in it.
when should i start doin partial water changes and should i get another fish to help cycle it?

please dont flame, im new and got slightly impatient, i thought my tank would cycle better and quicker with a few hardy fish than without any

thanks for reading, ash

if you take a sample of water in a little container to most pet shops they do a water test,only costs a pound , i do that every week. ive only had mine since januay and know how eager you are to do things. them test kits are a rip-off.

 

[supraking]

ah ill ask round see if i can get someone to do a test thanks hadnt though tof that. but i wouldnt say they are a rip off must be easier to do it urself and if they last a month uve saved ur self a tenner

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if you take a sample of water in a little container to most pet shops they do a water test,only costs a pound , i do that every week. ive only had mine since januay and know how eager you are to do things. them test kits are a rip-off.

have to say i think you should always have your own test kit.

the api fresh water master test kit which is widely recommended is only £18, so factor in petrol costs in your weekly trips to get it tested and it's paid for itself in 3/4 months.

while the tanks cycling you should be testing daily so it'd pay for itself in 2-3 weeks!

if you notice a problem in your tank the first thing to do is test the water, what if it's a bank holiday and the lfs is shut for the next 3 days, what are you going to do then?

sorry but having your own test kit is by no means a rip off

 

[282911]

if you take a sample of water in a little container to a fish shop most of them do a water test for everything, only costs a pound. i do that every week , them test kits are a rip-off. i know how eager you get to get things done quickly, i only started a few months ago and love it.

 

[282911]

if you take a sample of water in a little container to most pet shops they do a water test,only costs a pound , i do that every week. ive only had mine since januay and know how eager you are to do things. them test kits are a rip-off.

have to say i think you should always have your own test kit.

the api fresh water master test kit which is widely recommended is only £18, so factor in petrol costs in your weekly trips to get it tested and it's paid for itself in 3/4 months.

while the tanks cycling you should be testing daily so it'd pay for itself in 2-3 weeks!

if you notice a problem in your tank the first thing to do is test the water, what if it's a bank holiday and the lfs is shut for the next 3 days, what are you going to do then?

sorry but having your own test kit is by no means a rip off

oh i thought they only lasted a few weeks, must get one then,sorry if i sent message twice ,wasnt sure if first one got sent, totally rubbish with computers.

 

[supraking]

ok i think this discussion is for somewhere else
i think the kit is best when u first start out, once you know the ph of your water do u really need to test it all the time?
and once the cycle has finished only really going to need to test ammonia and nitrite for fluctuations and nitrate should balance if u keep a regular check on water changes, so only need the smaller sets which care for ammonai and nitrite, about £5 each

and i hope to love it, if all goes well in the cycle im lookin at gettin between 7-10 fishies not quite sure what yet tho. depends on what the tests show
again thank you for your time and im off to work now

 

[282911]

miss wiggle is a fresh water test kit the same as for tropical

 

[Miss Wiggle]

oh i thought they only lasted a few weeks, must get one then,sorry if i sent message twice, wasnt sure if first one got sent, totally rubbish with computers.

no problem, obviously it depends how often you use them but you should get at least 6 months or so out of a kit.

ok i think this discussion is for somewhere else
i think the kit is best when u first start out, once you know the ph of your water do u really need to test it all the time?
and once the cycle has finished only really going to need to test ammonia and nitrite for fluctuations and nitrate should balance if u keep a regular check on water changes, so only need the smaller sets which care for ammonai and nitrite, about £5 each

and i hope to love it, if all goes well in the cycle im lookin at gettin between 7-10 fishies not quite sure what yet tho. depends on what the tests show
again thank you for your time and im off to work now

what i'd advise for testing is as follows

while cycling - every day
in the 2/3 months afterwards - every week
in the 6 months afterwards - monthly

after that - when you spot a potential problem.

again your fish tell you when you need to test the water (more signs) at the first sign of disease or a lethargic fish etc you run some tests.

 

[282911]

right , youre really good at this so can you tell me how much food to give . i have 6 medium tetras, 5 red-eyed tetras which are quite big and 2 guppies. a month ago my gravel and ornaments all went dark green, almost black.pet shop said im overfeeding them, but on the fish food it says what they can eat in 2-3 minutes 3 times a day. what they showed me to give them ONCE a day only takes them 10 seconds to eat.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

once a day and what they eat in 10 seconds sounds much better to me, you should look to feed a variety as well not just flake food. starve day once a week

one of the important lessons to learn in fishkeeping is not to trust the packaging. all manufacturers want you to keep buying they're products so will tell you to use more of them or that they need replacing every month (in the case of filter media) which is absolute rubbish. overfeedig your fish is one of the most common mistakes.

most fish live on the brink of starvation in the wild eating sporadically. your fish will survive for 2 weeks without any feeding perfectly fine so there's really no need at all to feed 3 times a day!

 

[poopsydrew]

once a day and what they eat in 10 seconds sounds much better to me, you should look to feed a variety as well not just flake food. starve day once a week

one of the important lessons to learn in fishkeeping is not to trust the packaging. all manufacturers want you to keep buying they're products so will tell you to use more of them or that they need replacing every month (in the case of filter media) which is absolute rubbish. overfeedig your fish is one of the most common mistakes.

most fish live on the brink of starvation in the wild eating sporadically. your fish will survive for 2 weeks without any feeding perfectly fine so there's really no need at all to feed 3 times a day!

Wiggle,
i was just browsing this post when you said you dont need to change your filter cartridge every month....really? i always thought every month sounded kinda like a lot, considering how much beneficial bacteria build up on there. How often would you suggest changing a filter cartridge in general? you are always very knowladgable (spelling) so i figured who better to ask than you...

 

[supraking]

right the mrs got inpatient, we now have a scissortail barbera (spelling?), 4 black neons and a sucking loach.
also found out 35litre is actually about 8 gallon, so slightly smaller than i thought. think i am going to do a large (30-40%) water change daily as my tank isnt going to be able to handdle the ammonia at the moment and hope that should be enough