Some Questions

[ghostchoir]

My tank (125 litres) has been running for three weeks and has five glowlight danios and four julli corydoras.

We used some of the bottled bacteria a week before putting any fish in (the cories are new additions).

The ammonia is at zero, so that's fine. However the nitrite remains at the 0.3 mark. I've been doing a water change of 20-30 litres every other day (sometimes everyday) to try and solve this, however I was told yesterday that that is what's causing the problem and that I should just leave the water to settle down itself. Is this true?

My aquarium has sand at the bottom (as I read here that the cories prefer it) and when using the gravel vac on it I've been stirring it slightly and holding the vac a bit higher so I can get all the crap out but keep most of the sand. Again, I was told that this was causing problems. Is this true, and if so how SHOULD I be cleaning the sand?

How often should I be feeding my cories? I usually give them one small catfish stick twice a day as they tend to be oblivious that it's there until the danios go for it. I'm not sure if this is too much for them, or too little?

FINALLY, I bought some brine shrimp a few days ago. I filled a small bucket up with water (and used the aquariums chlorine remover etc in it) and put the shrimp in there, hoping to breed them. The plan is to feed them to the danios once a week as they seem to love this. Is this okay, or is there some risk of poisoning the fish by doing this?

 

[BigIan]

Welcome to the hobby

We used some of the bottled bacteria a week before putting any fish in (the cories are new additions).

The ammonia is at zero, so that's fine. However the nitrite remains at the 0.3 mark. I've been doing a water change of 20-30 litres every other day (sometimes everyday) to try and solve this, however I was told yesterday that that is what's causing the problem and that I should just leave the water to settle down itself. Is this true?

your doing the right thing...
you need some levels of nitrite in there for the bacteria to feed on and so grow. but keeping it at that level is fine, its not really toxic at that level so just keep it up untill you see a reading of 0

My aquarium has sand at the bottom (as I read here that the cories prefer it) and when using the gravel vac on it I've been stirring it slightly and holding the vac a bit higher so I can get all the crap out but keep most of the sand. Again, I was told that this was causing problems. Is this true, and if so how SHOULD I be cleaning the sand?

this is perfect again, yo0u need to stir the sand to A) get buried crud out and B) anarobic layers build up wher ethe sand compacts and can then lead to some serious water chemistry problems

How often should I be feeding my cories? I usually give them one small catfish stick twice a day as they tend to be oblivious that it's there until the danios go for it. I'm not sure if this is too much for them, or too little?

When i had corys they got catfish pellets once a day at the same time the other fish get fed...
bu the time the other fish have finished feeding the corys should have found the pellets

FINALLY, I bought some brine shrimp a few days ago. I filled a small bucket up with water (and used the aquariums chlorine remover etc in it) and put the shrimp in there, hoping to breed them. The plan is to feed them to the danios once a week as they seem to love this. Is this okay, or is there some risk of poisoning the fish by doing this?

you`l not breed brine shrimp like that they need salt water, plus they need to feed,

you can however buy brine shrimp eggs and hatchers on ebay and rather than a constant populaton you simply add some eggs they hatch feed them to the fish then start a new generation...

be wary of the salt aroundthe corys though it could kill them so drain the shrimp off first before you add them to your main tank...



hope that helped

 

[Miss Wiggle]

just to say i agree with all Ian's said, sounds like your doing the right thing pretty much.

 

[ghostchoir]

Thanks for the responses

Also, this is more of an opinion thing I suppose but I forgot to add it in my first post:

Much as I adore my little shoaling fish, I'd like to have one bigger one. Could anyone recommend any that would go well with my danios and cories? (There are plans to add one more group of fish - either a group of neon tetras or 4 more cories) Obviously they couldn't grow TOO big, couldn't crave a group, and couldn't eat my other fish! Are there any that would be suitable?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah plenty of options!

i wouldn't go for anything bigger than 4" in your tank but you can quite easily accomodate 1/2 slightly bigger fish.

would you be happy with a pair/trio of slightly larger fish?

look into rams and apistogramma's they can be a lovely addition to a community tank.

 

[ghostchoir]

A pair or a trio would be fine, I just didn't really want any that require a group of five or more as I obviously wouldn't have the room for them!

I looked at both of those and they actually look nice! I'm relieved about that haha as every fish I've found that's larger but beautiful (angels, bettas, etc) wouldn't work in my tank at all. Are there any that you would specifically recommend for beginners? Obviously I wouldn't add them for a while yet and they'd probably be the last addition.

And thanks for answering all my boring questions, haha.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

A pair or a trio would be fine, I just didn't really want any that require a group of five or more as I obviously wouldn't have the room for them!

yeah absolutely!

some fo the more peaceful barbs (i.e. not bloody tigers!!) could work.

the key if your going to have rams or apistogramma's is getting the environment right for them, they like plenty of caves and hiding spaces, at least 1 cave per fish, they can be agressive if cramped and not given proper homes. however if you can get the decor right they're a lovely addition. other thing to watch out for is feeding, they'll need some sinking food to be put in at the same time as the floating food for the danio's otherwise the greedy danio's will get all the food.

definately put them in last, they like nice clean water conditions so you have to make sure the tank is stable. but that gives you plenty of time to research and work out exactly what you want.