DavidPenniall
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I've got 8 Neon Tetra's, 5 Zebra Dario’s, 1 Betta, 2 Black Lyretail/Sailfin and want something new and a bit bigger and colourful.
What Fish Can I Add?
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gaz gun man
Fish Addict
what size tank is it, how long has it been set up, and how is it filtered?
DavidPenniall
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60L and about a week and a half and it is filtered by an internal filter.
Bobtastic
Fish Addict
Is that a week and a half after a fishless cycle or you're a week and a half into a fishin cycle?
As far as I was aware you shouldn't really be adding Neon's into a tank that is less than 6months old. That is aside from the fact that you have a lot of fish in if you are starting a fishin cycle. U'd have to be doing a lot of water changes to keep the Ammonia and Nitrite levels below 0.25ppm.
Can you tell us what your water stats are, and whether u're using a liquid base water test kit?
Also if your internal filter contains Zeolite (the Stingray internal filter that comes with the Elite 60 tank does contain zeolite).
As far as I was aware you shouldn't really be adding Neon's into a tank that is less than 6months old. That is aside from the fact that you have a lot of fish in if you are starting a fishin cycle. U'd have to be doing a lot of water changes to keep the Ammonia and Nitrite levels below 0.25ppm.
Can you tell us what your water stats are, and whether u're using a liquid base water test kit?
Also if your internal filter contains Zeolite (the Stingray internal filter that comes with the Elite 60 tank does contain zeolite).
gaz gun man
Fish Addict
was it cycled before you added fish? Or has it been set up and stocked for a week and a half?
DavidPenniall
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It was cycled and tested by shop before fish were added. I have the Stingray filter.
Bobtastic
Fish Addict
Humm... well the Zeolite in the filter will have been absorbing the Ammonia in the water that the fish produce so it isn't "cycled" in the way that most ppl on here mean.
Have read through the Know Your Filter Media artical in the Beginners Resource Center. There is a section towards the bottom of the OP that explains what Zeolite does.
The potential problem that you'll face is that sooner or later the Zeolite will absorb as much Ammonia as it can and the Ammonia levels will start to build up. U'll have to choose whether you want to start to do a Fish-in Cycling or just replace the Zeolite cartridges within the filter (which you'll obviously have to do each time they eventually run out).
Although, all of that doesn't actually answer your original question... I can never work out the max stocking levels for tanks... but I think it's roughly, as a guildline, 1 inch per gallon. 60 litres works out at 13.2UK and 15.9 US gallons. Not forgetting to do the calulations on the full adult size of the fish, rather than their current size.
Have read through the Know Your Filter Media artical in the Beginners Resource Center. There is a section towards the bottom of the OP that explains what Zeolite does.
The potential problem that you'll face is that sooner or later the Zeolite will absorb as much Ammonia as it can and the Ammonia levels will start to build up. U'll have to choose whether you want to start to do a Fish-in Cycling or just replace the Zeolite cartridges within the filter (which you'll obviously have to do each time they eventually run out).
Although, all of that doesn't actually answer your original question... I can never work out the max stocking levels for tanks... but I think it's roughly, as a guildline, 1 inch per gallon. 60 litres works out at 13.2UK and 15.9 US gallons. Not forgetting to do the calulations on the full adult size of the fish, rather than their current size.
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
I agree with Bob, its likely this filter is not actually cycled but is still running on the Zeolite. In that case, you still face a period of time where you need to work out what and how to replace this filter media with and then the true cycling of the filter. Only after that would it make sense to think about adding fish, as you may be in a fish-in cycling situation after you remove the zeolite. Also, can't remember but I thought there were other reports of just other basic problems with the stingrays.. help me out here guys!
The fish shop likely will not have understood/cared about the stuff we're talking about here, so will have told you all in fine. But the issue is significant, we're not just being mean, its possible the fish could die down the road.
~~waterdrop~~
The fish shop likely will not have understood/cared about the stuff we're talking about here, so will have told you all in fine. But the issue is significant, we're not just being mean, its possible the fish could die down the road.
~~waterdrop~~
I was in this situation and ended up doing a fish-in cycle.
I would strongly recommend replacing the filter now with a fiilter that holds more bio-media and is easier to service. The internal Fluval range is a good place to look.
If you are happy with the stingray - then I would ditch the zeolite cartridges and replace them an alternative filter media - e.g. floss - or you could put ceramic beads or some other filter media inside the old cartridges.
The situation you have here is that you can go down the road of using zeolite and replace the cartridges every week like they want you to. ($$$) Even if you do this - you are eventually going to hit the nitrite stage of the cycle and will have to do lots of water changes anyway. I am not against the zeolite in particular - in fact I think protecting the fish during a fish in cycle from ammonia poisoning is a good thing if you find yourself in that situation. I decided not to go down the zeolite route and used API ammo-lock instead. Ammo-lock is another product that converts the poisonous form of ammonia to the non-poisonous form. The advantage of Ammo-lock over zeolite being you know exactly what you have treated the tank with and won't see strange ammonia spikes if you use it as part of your water change routine. I believe this helped me protect my fish from any potential ammonia issues between my water changes.
As you have such a large stock of fish - it is inevitable that you are going to see high ammonia and high nitrite while you are fish in cycling which will last at least 4 weeks. You will have to be prepared to do at least daily changes.
I would also strongly recommend getting hold of a liquid based test kit - like the API master kit.
Good luck! - It is worth it in the end I promise.
I would strongly recommend replacing the filter now with a fiilter that holds more bio-media and is easier to service. The internal Fluval range is a good place to look.
If you are happy with the stingray - then I would ditch the zeolite cartridges and replace them an alternative filter media - e.g. floss - or you could put ceramic beads or some other filter media inside the old cartridges.
The situation you have here is that you can go down the road of using zeolite and replace the cartridges every week like they want you to. ($$$) Even if you do this - you are eventually going to hit the nitrite stage of the cycle and will have to do lots of water changes anyway. I am not against the zeolite in particular - in fact I think protecting the fish during a fish in cycle from ammonia poisoning is a good thing if you find yourself in that situation. I decided not to go down the zeolite route and used API ammo-lock instead. Ammo-lock is another product that converts the poisonous form of ammonia to the non-poisonous form. The advantage of Ammo-lock over zeolite being you know exactly what you have treated the tank with and won't see strange ammonia spikes if you use it as part of your water change routine. I believe this helped me protect my fish from any potential ammonia issues between my water changes.
As you have such a large stock of fish - it is inevitable that you are going to see high ammonia and high nitrite while you are fish in cycling which will last at least 4 weeks. You will have to be prepared to do at least daily changes.
I would also strongly recommend getting hold of a liquid based test kit - like the API master kit.
Good luck! - It is worth it in the end I promise.
Bobtastic
Fish Addict
I would personally suggest something other than a livebearer, unless you have the space or a way of rehoming the fry...
We started out with 4 platies and now we have 2midsized fry and 8 tiny fry! and I know it ain't gonna stop there!!!!
We started out with 4 platies and now we have 2midsized fry and 8 tiny fry! and I know it ain't gonna stop there!!!!
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Ah, you're starting to feel like me...
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