6 Gallon Tank

[corygirl]

Nice work on a little tank. Why don't you fill your tank up to the black band?

i dont know? hehe
i just filled it up for you
although the instructions with the filter said to fill the tank up to within a half to 1 and 1/4 inch from the top so somehow i took that to mean the water should be below the bottom of the filter where the water comes back out.......

this is my first tank ever so im a bit clueless

 

[willroo]

hello
Are you sure it is a 6 gal tank ? I have a 6 gal but it looks twice the length.

I change about 30% a week. Hoover about half,then other half next time.

Good luck

 

[corygirl]

thats what i was told by the people who gave it to me....

i just tested the water and it comes up 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10 nitrate.

i think that means healthy water but can anyone verify that for me?

 

[corygirl]

i just checked the measurements and it is indeed a 6 gallon tank, but with the gravel and decorations taking up space, its probably more realistic to say 5 gallons?

 

[Robbylikestofreestyle]

Yes I agree they do fine with a little salt, also don't over dose your chemicals either it is really easy to do so in a small tank I used to change 50 percent of the water every week and clean out all of the gravel when I had my 7 gallon nano. It was a little overcrowded but my fish did fine. I do a 40 percent water change weekly in my big cichlid tank and clean all of the gravel, but that is just me I like to have very low nitrates and 0 nitrites. (and cristal clear water!)

what chemicals are you referring to? am i supposed to be adding something else to the water? or do you mean the dechlorinator? so ill plan on doing a 50% change every week and vacuum all the gravel. how often should check the amonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels?
my tank is going to be a little overstocked. im going to have the ones i have now (one guppy, one balloon molly, one dwarf platy) plus 3 pygmy cories and one sparkling dwarf gourami. they are all less than one inch except the molly and guppy.

The vacuuming 1/3 only of the gravel is probably a hangover from older times with less efficient filters, where you probably did want to be careful to keep every single bacteria. Modern filters are more efficient and it is now thought that a relatively small proportion of the bacteria live in the gravel anyway, so vacuuming it all shouldn't be a problem. I do find with corys that it is VERY important to keep the gravel clean as they can easily get bacterial infections from dirty gravel, particularly in hot weather.

oh, thats important info to know, thank you

No that is all you really need chemical wise. (Maybe a ph buffer if your ph is too high or low in the tap water, although most fish will adapted anyways.) I would recommend testing every week for the fist month before and after water changes just to find out the effect of the water changes and also to regulate how much water you need to change every week for your particular stock. After a month I would stick to testing every week before your water change. You need to know if your tank is holding out between water changes. You don’t want heavy nitrate or nitrite spikes. Test your tank if any of your fish start acting weird and of course if any of your fish should happen to die.

DG's get about 2 inches sometimes more, mine have never gotten bigger than 3 inches. They are nice fish! But remember they all have there own personalities and some may be aggressive. Your tank is very overstocked however I have seen worse, as long as you keep your water conditions under control it should not be a problem. (you are getting hardy fish, except for the corys of course. I would get extra filtration. Might I suggest getting a German ram instead of a gorami? They are much more predictable in behavior. I think the stock would probably work anyways. A little dwarf frog would probably do well too. Also don't forget to add your fish in slowly, don't add them all in at once. It is too much of a stress on your tank, the bacteria may not be able to catch up fast enough and your fish will become stressed and floating targets for parasites. (Like itch) It is a common killer, some people get lucky and some people don't. Its always best to be cautious! Good luck with your tank and take care if you need any help don't be afraid to ask. I will give you my honest opinion based on experience. Its not practical to be an idealist but you should think realistically when stalking a tank don’t take any huge risks. I actually have a blood parrot in my big African cichlid tank because he was beating up all of my south American cichlids and he is doing fine, so you know never know how a fish will react for sure.

thats what i was told by the people who gave it to me....

i just tested the water and it comes up 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10 nitrate.

i think that means healthy water but can anyone verify that for me?

Yeah that is great test result, your tank is doing fine! Nitrates are ok if they are less than 20. (only as a guild line someone else may say higher or lower than that.)

 

[corygirl]

oh you are right they do get bigger than one inch, but online it says the max size is 3cm which is just a little over an inch. ive seen them called pygmies and dwarfs so dont know if that makes a difference? thanks for the directions on how to test the water i have never heard of a german ram but i looked it up and the info i found says its a difficult fish to care for, need a larger tank, and can become agressive toward other fish. it says the pygmy gouramis are more shy than agressive around other fish. i had thought about african dwarf frogs but heard that they may eat my little fish? i have a filter thats good for up to ten gallons...... is that good enough or do i need a bigger filter? oh and how many fish can i add at one time?

Yes I agree they do fine with a little salt, also don't over dose your chemicals either it is really easy to do so in a small tank I used to change 50 percent of the water every week and clean out all of the gravel when I had my 7 gallon nano. It was a little overcrowded but my fish did fine. I do a 40 percent water change weekly in my big cichlid tank and clean all of the gravel, but that is just me I like to have very low nitrates and 0 nitrites. (and cristal clear water!)

what chemicals are you referring to? am i supposed to be adding something else to the water? or do you mean the dechlorinator? so ill plan on doing a 50% change every week and vacuum all the gravel. how often should check the amonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels?
my tank is going to be a little overstocked. im going to have the ones i have now (one guppy, one balloon molly, one dwarf platy) plus 3 pygmy cories and one sparkling dwarf gourami. they are all less than one inch except the molly and guppy.

The vacuuming 1/3 only of the gravel is probably a hangover from older times with less efficient filters, where you probably did want to be careful to keep every single bacteria. Modern filters are more efficient and it is now thought that a relatively small proportion of the bacteria live in the gravel anyway, so vacuuming it all shouldn't be a problem. I do find with corys that it is VERY important to keep the gravel clean as they can easily get bacterial infections from dirty gravel, particularly in hot weather.

oh, thats important info to know, thank you

No that is all you really need chemical wise. (Maybe a ph buffer if your ph is too high or low in the tap water, although most fish will adapted anyways.) I would recommend testing every week for the fist month before and after water changes just to find out the effect of the water changes and also to regulate how much water you need to change every week for your particular stock. After a month I would stick to testing every week before your water change. You need to know if your tank is holding out between water changes. You don’t want heavy nitrate or nitrite spikes. Test your tank if any of your fish start acting weird and of course if any of your fish should happen to die.

DG's get about 2 inches sometimes more, mine have never gotten bigger than 3 inches. They are nice fish! But remember they all have there own personalities and some may be aggressive. Your tank is very overstocked however I have seen worse, as long as you keep your water conditions under control it should not be a problem. (you are getting hardy fish, except for the corys of course. I would get extra filtration. Might I suggest getting a German ram instead of a gorami? They are much more predictable in behavior. I think the stock would probably work anyways. A little dwarf frog would probably do well too. Also don't forget to add your fish in slowly, don't add them all in at once. It is too much of a stress on your tank, the bacteria may not be able to catch up fast enough and your fish will become stressed and floating targets for parasites. (Like itch) It is a common killer, some people get lucky and some people don't. Its always best to be cautious! Good luck with your tank and take care if you need any help don't be afraid to ask. I will give you my honest opinion based on experience. Its not practical to be an idealist but you should think realistically when stalking a tank don’t take any huge risks. I actually have a blood parrot in my big African cichlid tank because he was beating up all of my south American cichlids and he is doing fine, so you know never know how a fish will react for sure.

thats what i was told by the people who gave it to me....

i just tested the water and it comes up 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10 nitrate.

i think that means healthy water but can anyone verify that for me?

Yeah that is great test result, your tank is doing fine! Nitrates are ok if they are less than 20. (only as a guild line someone else may say higher or lower than that.)

 

[corygirl]

Nice work on a little tank. Why don't you fill your tank up to the black band?

i had to lower the water level again cause it leaks.

 

[Robbylikestofreestyle]

No worries glad I could help here is some more answers to your questions:

German rams? Nah just keep the water warm and clean and they do fine, I kept two of them in my little 5 gallon a few years ago. People think that just because they are cichlids they are aggressive. They are definitely a lot more delicate than goramis but they are not aggressive, (usually neither are DG’s) at least the ones I have kept have always been very good tank mates. Perhaps you could be talking about a different species of gorami lol there are so many verities these days it is hard to tell.

Oh and dwarf frogs lol, ok well here is the basics on them. They don't need much space they keep to themselves they are very small they could not swallow a neon even if they are full grown. (Nor could they catch them) They are one of the only species of frog that are fully aquatic and can be kept in small community tanks. (They have a giant cousin too if you ever want to get a huge fish tank going and really like frogs) They should not be kept with nippy fish since they do come up for air and can be vulnerable to attack at this point. They should be kept with small non-aggressive fish. They do not produce much more waist than a fish would and they are not particularly delicate. I would recommend adding a few frog bites after you turn the lights off just to keep them healthy and well feed. They are great bottom feeders and scavengers and do very well in small tanks.
Here is a picture they are very small as you can see:

http/user.aol.com/cebrezzie/aquarium/DWARF.JPG

I have kept them before; mine never grow bigger than an inch. They are usually about a cm when you buy them though.

To answer your question about how many you should add at a time; the general rule is one fish at a time or 3 schooling fish at a time. I would w8 one more week before adding any more fish into your tank, just because you want to have the bacteria colonies growing strong before you try adding to many fish or you could go threw another mini cycle since your tank is so new. Consider your options carefully and have fun with your new fish tank.

 

[dwarfgourami]

No worries glad I could help here is some more answers to your questions:

German rams? Nah just keep the water warm and clean and they do fine, I kept two of them in my little 5 gallon a few years ago. People think that just because they are cichlids they are aggressive. They are definitely a lot more delicate than goramis but they are not aggressive, (usually neither are DG’s) at least the ones I have kept have always been very good tank mates. Perhaps you could be talking about a different species of gorami lol there are so many verities these days it is hard to tell.

German rams tend to do less well in hard water, so it may depend on your water stats. And could it be that Robby is right and the pygmy gouramis you have seen are actually sparkling gouramis (trichopsis pumila), not the same as dwarf gouramis (colisa lalia).

 

[corygirl]

No worries glad I could help here is some more answers to your questions:

German rams? Nah just keep the water warm and clean and they do fine, I kept two of them in my little 5 gallon a few years ago. People think that just because they are cichlids they are aggressive. They are definitely a lot more delicate than goramis but they are not aggressive, (usually neither are DG’s) at least the ones I have kept have always been very good tank mates. Perhaps you could be talking about a different species of gorami lol there are so many verities these days it is hard to tell.

German rams tend to do less well in hard water, so it may depend on your water stats. And could it be that Robby is right and the pygmy gouramis you have seen are actually sparkling gouramis (trichopsis pumila), not the same as dwarf gouramis (colisa lalia).

yes they are sparkling gouramis, but i have seen them referred to as sparkling dwarf gouramis so i figured that was the correct term, guess it was wrong )

 

[Robbylikestofreestyle]

No worries glad I could help here is some more answers to your questions:

German rams? Nah just keep the water warm and clean and they do fine, I kept two of them in my little 5 gallon a few years ago. People think that just because they are cichlids they are aggressive. They are definitely a lot more delicate than goramis but they are not aggressive, (usually neither are DG’s) at least the ones I have kept have always been very good tank mates. Perhaps you could be talking about a different species of gorami lol there are so many verities these days it is hard to tell.

German rams tend to do less well in hard water, so it may depend on your water stats. And could it be that Robby is right and the pygmy gouramis you have seen are actually sparkling gouramis (trichopsis pumila), not the same as dwarf gouramis (colisa lalia).

Oh yes I forgot to mention that you should test your ph and try to keep your water neutral in ph. In a mixed community tank you will have varied preferences so it is best to keep things more less neutral. You don’t want hard water for most small community fish. So I would test your water, although most fish these days are farm bred and they are very adaptable. Well goodnight I hope I managed to answer a few of your questions : zz

 

[corygirl]

latest pic of my tank