28 L Tank... High Ammonia

[wheelsoffury]

Hi all
Really need some advice.
I've a 28 l tank with 3 platies and 3 glow lights. Now a major pets company who I shall not name have recommended giving up the male platy to another home and keep the 2 female platys and 3 female glow lights. Now I know the amount of fish is why the ammonia is 0.25 but I also know they've had babies. We've had a lot of problems with fish stock and finding out solid and reliable information about how many fish to gallons/litre etc
I know that after the big male platy has gone, 5 fish is the max.

So I've a couple of questions...

1. If I give the male to another home, will the female die in my tank due to not bing around that male anymore? Sounds silly but I'm not at all sure. The male and female hang around together constantly. The Mickey Mouse platy does too now and again but not as much.
2. Once I've taken the male to the new home, should I do a water change and test on the same day? Just to see I the ammonia is still at the current level?

Any other tips to reduce ammonia?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. This site is amazing!

 

[Ninjouzata]

1. No
2. Yes
 
I'd actually take all of these fish back to your LFS as none of them belong in a 28L tank and it sounds like you did not cycle it, you may want to have a read of THIS.
 
The glow lights need a 56-75l depending on what they are (there is glowlighte tetra, rasbora, and danio that I know of) and the platies need a 75l.
In this size tank I'd really suggest having a single betta or maybe some micro fish like mosquito rasboras.
 
There is no set number of fish for a certain sized tank as it depends on how big the fish gets (adult size) and their behaviors etc.

 

[wheelsoffury]

I cycled the tank back in March, had all the fish since April.

I was advised these fish would be okay in my tank Fed up of wrong advice.

Thanks anyway x

 

[Ninjouzata]

How did you cycle it? Did you follow the link I posted (I just had to edit it in there, sorry I forgot!). If you did follow the method I linked or similar, have you messed with the filter media at all?
 
Unfortunately many LFS workers advise others this way either because they do not know themselves or because they just want your money.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ninjouzata's advice is sound and i agree 100%.
 
First off, any advice from LFS or pet companies are sometimes to be taken with a large dose of salt. Some LFS staff are fairly knowledgeable, but few and far between really.
 
Second, Platies need a fairly large tank, 20 gallons / 80 litres really, they are active fish and need swimming space due to their energy levels.
 
I'd re-home them all tbh am afraid, they'll survive but not thrive

 
For a 7 gal / 28 litre tank, a Betta Splenden is perfect for this tank.
 
As for your ammonia levels, what kind of test kit are you using?
 
Have you tested your tap water?

 

[wheelsoffury]

Just followed the link you've posted. EXACTLY how I did it in order to support the awaiting fish at that time. Well we originally had double the anout I had in there back in end of April so upon getting decent info, gave up the fish that we handed back then kept these ones (3 platies 3 glow light tetras). Not really had any problems up until the ammonia rose... Frequent water changes of 30-40 % twice a week. Not over feeding, ph of 8.2 (tap water 8) nitrites and nitrates reading 0... Very confused.

All fish seem happy. We noticed a glow lights fin had been nipped so added aquarium salt (worked wonders!!!)

I'm grateful for your advice!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Have you cleaned the filter or changed filter media at all?
 
Also, what test kit are you using?
Liquid based or dip strip kit?
 
The thing thats a little confusing is 0 Nitrate.
 
If your bacs are doing the job their supposed to do, then should be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a reading of nitrate anywhere between 5 to 40 ppm.

 

[tunagirll]

If your nitrites are 0 and ammonia is 0.25 then it might just be an ambiguous reading on your test kit - however with so much and so frequent water changes, it might be an obvious question but if you like the fish - why not get a larger tank? You can pick one up secondhand for not much, your fish will be happy, you won't need to do so much water changing - you can sell the smaller tank and bobs your uncle

 

[the_lock_man]

I'm with Tunagirll, likely a misread test. The API kit can be a very iffy, especially if you don't hold the tube so it's touching the colour card.