Oxygen Problem, I Think...

[Doohiky]

Hi,

I've had my 20 gallon for a couple of months or so now. I got my Brother's old tank and bought fish before I knew about cycling or anything. But I haven't had any deaths yet, so fingers crossed.

Recently my parents went very overboard and for my birthday bought me several fish that get quite big and as a result my tank is overstocked. They mean well bless them .

Anywhere in there are:
1 very juvenile bristlenose plec
5 red eye tetras
4 tiger barbs (parents purchase)
2 clown loaches (parents purchase)
2 male black sailfin mollies
1 rainbow shark

Now I don't have an air pump running, just a Fluval U1 and a standard heater. There is live plants in there also. But the fish seem to be quite often breathing from the surface and don't look that active. I figured this was probably lack of oxygen for all those fish (I will find a new home for them at some point, clown loaches are only very small at the minute) and so was wondering if there was a way to get more oxygen in without having to buy a noisy air pump as the tank is right next to my bed. Anyway, any advice is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, you've got several problems going on simultaneously. You're going to need to get advice from some of the pros here like davo or others who know the bigger fish and figure out which ones to re-home and also figure out how to talk to your parents so their feelings won't be hurt but so that they'll understand you want the fish to live.

The Fluval U1 actually isn't big enough for your 20g, much less for your 20g with too many fish inches in it! You're going to need to upgrade filters. Hopefully you're using a liquid kit to watch your stats like a hawk, you could get into serious trouble with ammonia and/or nitrite(NO2) very quickly in this situation. Be ready to water change (with conditioner and rough temperature matching) if your stats show it to be necessary.

Try to disturb the water surface as much as possible with the filter (and airstone if you've already obtained one) but I'd rather see you spend the money on a significantly bigger fitler that can both filter and disturb the surface more than to spend money on a pump and airstone, which don't do all that much for oxygen additions.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical_Fish]

The Fluval U1 is too small for that tank, it's meant as a max for 10g tanks. I'd be using a Fluval U3 or bigger for that size tank. Try to make sure the output from the filter is disturbing the surface of the water to generate more oxygen


waterdrop beat me to it but glad to see he advised the same thing

 

[arobinson1984]

I too agree with what has been said above, u need to upgrade your filter. Also, are you testing your water regularly? If so with what type of testing kit? Lethargic fish which are hanging near the top can be a sign of ammonia present in your tank

Andy

 

[Doohiky]

Is Fluval the best filter make? My Brother's both use Interpret, I was just wondering if either brand was better or they were pretty much equal?

 

[afishdude]

Cant go wrong with fluval.

 

[Doohiky]

Ok, thanks.

 

[indigoj]

What are your water stats?