Truck
UKAPS
12 fish at 5cm fish.
Water Change Help
- Thread starter orangefish
- Start date
kaivalagi
Fish Herder
Just to give a second opinion, Truck is spot on as always, LFS's do lie most of the time, they want your money. Finding a good LFS that doesn't lie can be hard, when you do find one stick with them!
There is a general rule for fish capacity: 1 inch of fish per 1 US Gallon. This can be a little overly conservative but it is good to use it until you know a bit more about the hobby.
50L = ~13USG, so you can have about 13 inches of fish or 33cm according to this rule...
Better to trust the opinions here than at the LFS in my opinion, you can get a few opinions from different people and get a sense of what is right - so far you should get the sense that you have too many fish in that tank
There is a general rule for fish capacity: 1 inch of fish per 1 US Gallon. This can be a little overly conservative but it is good to use it until you know a bit more about the hobby.
50L = ~13USG, so you can have about 13 inches of fish or 33cm according to this rule...
Better to trust the opinions here than at the LFS in my opinion, you can get a few opinions from different people and get a sense of what is right - so far you should get the sense that you have too many fish in that tank
OP
OP
orangefish
Fish Crazy
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Ok, thanks everyone- i'll have a think about it. I might be getting a new, bigger tank not too far into the future anyway
kaivalagi
Fish Herder
Make sure that new tank is big enough for what you'll want long term, I bit the bullet recently and got a nice 5ft tank so I wont need to upgrade again (that's the plan anyway
Ammonia is too high at 0.25. It's a complicated bit of science involving temperatures and pHs to work out just how toxic it is but at your level of fishkeeping (new owner, new tank), it's best to err on the side of caution. Do a good water change as soon as you can (ideally tomorrow if you've not done once since the test) - I would recommend about 50% as it's your first one and you've had an ammonia spike.
Remember - with ammonia and nitrite, any level is bad even if it is only a little bit.
As for normal water changes - I would also recommend 25% a week. I like to roughly temperature match the water - I'm not too fussy but I've seen how the temperature can drop if cold water is put in. Sometimes the water comes out very, very cold, especially in spring/autumn/winter and can shock the fish. I also see water conditioner as essential. The chlorine generally gasses off when the water is poured but chloramine and heavy metal residues are rather harder to handle.
Truck and Kaivalagi are right - pets shops have a very different idea as to what is a "sensible" number of fish to have than we do. They tend to be much less sensitive to the individual needs to certain species and will take our "absolute maximum number of fish for an experienced keeper to experiment with" as their "good numbr of fish for a first time owner". Part of it is ignorance of the subtle needs of these animals and part of it is to make money. I would agree with the others - your tank is over stocked and also contains some unsuitable species. The mollies and swords should really be in a 15-20 gallon tank, the danios would also appreciate 15 gallons as a minimum and the sucking loach (also known as a chinese algae eater) needs to be in a 40 gallon tank because they get to around 8-10 inches long and become very aggressive as sub-adults and adults.
I would also strongly advise you to get your own test kit and not to add anymore fish to the tank. If you can upgrade to a 20 gallon (minimum) and rehome the sucking loach to someone with a much larger tank, your fish will fare a lot better as they grow into adulthood. A 30 gallon would be better but even a small upgrade is better than nothing. Your danios each need 6 of their own species - maybe trade one of the pairs in for another pair of the other species making 4 zebras or 4 spotted (do you mean leopard?) and then add a couple more once you upgrade the tank. Same with the tetras - 3 penguins really isn't enough for them to behave naturally and be settled in the long term so I'd advise getting 3 more when you upgrade your tank. The dwarf cory also needs at least 5 friends to shoal and play with. It will be very lonely on its own and that may cause it to become stressed and sick.
Remember - shops will tell you anything and often leave out the 'nasty' bits of information that might put you off parting with your money. If they can sell you a sucking loach as "a good algea eater" they will and if they think that telling you it will get to 10 inches and kill your other fish will put you off, they just won't tell you.
I used to work in a pet shop and it wasn't pretty.
Remember - with ammonia and nitrite, any level is bad even if it is only a little bit.
As for normal water changes - I would also recommend 25% a week. I like to roughly temperature match the water - I'm not too fussy but I've seen how the temperature can drop if cold water is put in. Sometimes the water comes out very, very cold, especially in spring/autumn/winter and can shock the fish. I also see water conditioner as essential. The chlorine generally gasses off when the water is poured but chloramine and heavy metal residues are rather harder to handle.
Truck and Kaivalagi are right - pets shops have a very different idea as to what is a "sensible" number of fish to have than we do. They tend to be much less sensitive to the individual needs to certain species and will take our "absolute maximum number of fish for an experienced keeper to experiment with" as their "good numbr of fish for a first time owner". Part of it is ignorance of the subtle needs of these animals and part of it is to make money. I would agree with the others - your tank is over stocked and also contains some unsuitable species. The mollies and swords should really be in a 15-20 gallon tank, the danios would also appreciate 15 gallons as a minimum and the sucking loach (also known as a chinese algae eater) needs to be in a 40 gallon tank because they get to around 8-10 inches long and become very aggressive as sub-adults and adults.
I would also strongly advise you to get your own test kit and not to add anymore fish to the tank. If you can upgrade to a 20 gallon (minimum) and rehome the sucking loach to someone with a much larger tank, your fish will fare a lot better as they grow into adulthood. A 30 gallon would be better but even a small upgrade is better than nothing. Your danios each need 6 of their own species - maybe trade one of the pairs in for another pair of the other species making 4 zebras or 4 spotted (do you mean leopard?) and then add a couple more once you upgrade the tank. Same with the tetras - 3 penguins really isn't enough for them to behave naturally and be settled in the long term so I'd advise getting 3 more when you upgrade your tank. The dwarf cory also needs at least 5 friends to shoal and play with. It will be very lonely on its own and that may cause it to become stressed and sick.
Remember - shops will tell you anything and often leave out the 'nasty' bits of information that might put you off parting with your money. If they can sell you a sucking loach as "a good algea eater" they will and if they think that telling you it will get to 10 inches and kill your other fish will put you off, they just won't tell you.
I used to work in a pet shop and it wasn't pretty.
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