Questions Lots Of Questions....

[lemans81]

I am not a complete newbie, but these are some easy newbie questions so...

OK first we will start with the most pressing question.

I have 2x 2 gallon tanks, with filtration and light. They each house one male Betta, algae is growing slowly and I want to add something to eat algae. I am thinking either 2xshrimp or 2xsnails, or 1xshrimp & 1x snail. There is a small place for snail/shrimp to hide and a plastic plant or two in each tank with gravel substrate. If the snail or shrimp was eaten, I could always buy another one so thats not so much the concern. I am more concerned with room and general compatibility, I realize there is always a chance. My wife just found a gift card for $10 that expires today so I need to make my decision today sometime.

OK on to less pressing questions.
In my tank currently:
55 gallon tank
2x dwarf Gourami
1x cherry barb
1xSerpae Tetra
1xraphael catfish
3xleopard danios
1xred tailed shark

I am using HOB filters(one is for 30 gallon tank from my old tank, one is rated for 60 gallon tank), 2x100W heater(looking for upgrades as we speak), 2x f15T8 lights(again when money comes around upgrading these too).

Now the questions:
1. Do I need more hiding places and plants?
2. Should I add live plants or wait until I have better lights?
3. At what point should I worry about fish chasing other fish?
(some of the fish chase each other its never for more than 10 seconds, and they lose interest before they even make it the length of the tank, I have yet to see any fin damage. The red tail chases the serpae, the red gourami chases the blue gourami, the serpae chases the red gourami no other squables. We had a CAE which went psycho when moved to the 55 gallon and he had to go he attacked everyone.)
4. After the tank is cycled (early January I would guess but I would rather be safe than sorry) What suggestions would you have as to the fish I could add. I have heard things like bolivian rams, or more serpae tetras...what do you think?

Pictures of tank

 

[Breeze7050]

Seems like you haven't had any reply's so Im going to give it a go here - plus it will bump your comment up and maybe more people will answer!

I think you could add maybe 2 snails to each of your betta tanks to curb your algae problem. You should find out the type of algae though so you can get a species that will take care of it! But, snails are pretty good about taking care of "on the walls algae".

Your 55 looks good, but maybe you can add a large piece of driftwood - this usually adds hiding spots or else maybe make some slate rock caves - slate rock and driftwood available at most LFS and on ebay. Also you could add some taller plants for the fish that swim a little higher up.

The RTBS is failry aggrssive and will get to about 6 inches - he could pose as a real problem to your fish. They are generally mean!! May want to think about re-homing him.

The tetras, barbs and danios need to be in groups as they are schooling fish. Maybe you could pick the one you like best and up the number to 8 or so and re-home the rest?

I don't know anything about equipment, so you may want to wait on an expert for that!!!

I just noticed your tank is not cycled - how far into the process are you? Are you using a test kit to check your levels? That's a bit concerning as it is hard on some of the more fragile fish in your tank to not have a cycled tank.

You should worry about fish chasing now lol. It can happen anytime. Again upping the groups of schooling fish will help and so will getting rid of the RTBS.

Hopefully you find some of this info useful and some others reply!!

 

[Irf]

All I would add is perhaps you might like to keep from adding more fish until the tank is cycled. How long has it been running? Any signes of stress/illness? Have you had any losses? I think that most of what you've got in there are pretty hardy fish, but I've only once done cycling with fish and that was just with zebra danios.

Irf.

 

[lemans81]

In the bettas I went with 1 amano shrimp per tank, and they seem to be doing fine.

Sadly I need a full testing kit, I just haven't had the money to get one(I have had tanks for 7 years and never had more than pH). I took the rocks from my established tank which was a 20 gallon and moved them into this tank as well as about 20% of the water so this tank had a big head start. I would assume its still cycling and am going to keep assume its cycling until I get a test kit and I have no intention of adding any more fish until I have that kit. I have not had a single fish die, nor do any look sick.

 

[Irf]

In the bettas I went with 1 amano shrimp per tank, and they seem to be doing fine.

Sadly I need a full testing kit, I just haven't had the money to get one(I have had tanks for 7 years and never had more than pH). I took the rocks from my established tank which was a 20 gallon and moved them into this tank as well as about 20% of the water so this tank had a big head start. I would assume its still cycling and am going to keep assume its cycling until I get a test kit and I have no intention of adding any more fish until I have that kit. I have not had a single fish die, nor do any look sick.

It's good that you are not adding anything for a while.

Also, I'm fairly sure that the cycling process will only be very minimally affected by adding rocks and water from an established tank. The bacteria that you need to build up are in the filter material, as I understand it. Plenty of reading-up available elsewhere on this site....!

Best of luck and I hope the cycle completes soon for you...

Irf.

 

[Kazuya73]

I am not a complete newbie, but these are some easy newbie questions so...

OK first we will start with the most pressing question.

I have 2x 2 gallon tanks, with filtration and light. They each house one male Betta, algae is growing slowly and I want to add something to eat algae. I am thinking either 2xshrimp or 2xsnails, or 1xshrimp & 1x snail. There is a small place for snail/shrimp to hide and a plastic plant or two in each tank with gravel substrate. If the snail or shrimp was eaten, I could always buy another one so thats not so much the concern. I am more concerned with room and general compatibility, I realize there is always a chance. My wife just found a gift card for $10 that expires today so I need to make my decision today sometime.

OK on to less pressing questions.
In my tank currently:
55 gallon tank
2x dwarf Gourami
1x cherry barb
1xSerpae Tetra
1xraphael catfish
3xleopard danios
1xred tailed shark

I am using HOB filters(one is for 30 gallon tank from my old tank, one is rated for 60 gallon tank), 2x100W heater(looking for upgrades as we speak), 2x f15T8 lights(again when money comes around upgrading these too).

Now the questions:
1

. Do I need more hiding places and plants

?
2. Should I add live plants or wait until I have better lights?
3. At what point should I worry about fish chasing other fish?
(some of the fish chase each other its never for more than 10 seconds, and they lose interest before they even make it the length of the tank, I have yet to see any fin damage. The red tail chases the serpae, the red gourami chases the blue gourami, the serpae chases the red gourami no other squables. We had a CAE which went psycho when moved to the 55 gallon and he had to go he attacked everyone.)
4. After the tank is cycled (early January I would guess but I would rather be safe than sorry) What suggestions would you have as to the fish I could add. I have heard things like bolivian rams, or more serpae tetras...what do you think?

Pictures of tank