A Couple Of Newb Questions

[DDeHavenII]

Ok, some background info, I'm 20 years old, like fish (guppies and few others) and my mom bred guppies and bettas for a number of years. However the problem is my mom is no longer availible to help me with this stuff. So a few questions are in order.

I know about the 1" to 1g rule, everyone on the internet and the people from petsmart have pounded this in.
I know about "cycling" and the dangers of amonia and nitrites.
I know about doing water changes weekly.
I know to keep good water quality and temprature.


What I'm confused on is a couple of stocking options

I want an algea eater/bottom feeder, along with keeping my current cycling fish, 2 swordtails. The main stock are going to be guppies but I want my 20g tank to look like this

2 swordtails
1 peppered corydora
1 mystery snail (glass cleaner)
perhaps 9 guppies (when fully cycled and a ration of 3 males to 6 females)

The biggest question I have is this, Salt seems to be helpful for almost all tropical fish (and the swordtails seem to really enjoy it) so has anyone have/had a tank with salt in it and the corries were fine with it?

Also my tank is currently in day two of the cycle process (just started) and my swordtails seem happy and healthy, however a couple of things. First they like to just swim around in the back and in the bubbles of the airstone, is this normal for a mollie/platy/whatever the heck it is? second, last night when I turned out their light I noticed they went nuts, darting all over the place, turned it back on and they settled down instantly. normal?

 

[merry78]

Hi, i can't be lots of help, but i think that corys like to be in a group (like 6 or so), i have three in my 20gal with guppies (so i need to get more corys too). I think one by itself might be a bit stressed.
Lots of people say (and i have found this with my fish too), that their fish love to play in the bubbles from an airstone, i think this is quite normal.

ps, welcome to the forum!

 

[Scunny]

yeah corys need to idealy be in a group of 6, although i have a group of 4 bronze corys in my community tank, but i'd say thats the bare minimum.

Theres a chance that the ammonia levels could be starving your fish of oxygen...although they'd probably be at the surface getting air rather than around the bubbles. Probly just normal behaviour.

If you want a glass cleaner why not try a plec? I've just bought a Pitbull Plec to go in my Betta tank, and although being rather small, he's really active and great to watch.

Hope some of that helps.

 

[DDeHavenII]

I thought plecs got large?

Anyways, my swordtails don't seemed to be starved for O2, They seem to enjoy the bottom alot (too much for my tastes) and feed at the bottom. My fish did give me something of a scare when I got home, my lighter ST was just sitting in a corner not doing much, a tap on the glass and he doesn't move, the darker ST was responsive however. A few minutes later however and he is zooming around the tank.

Ammonia is a little high so I'm doing a partial water change tomorrow afternoon.

Btw, any answer for the going crazy with the light off?

 

[ArauraDiscus]

The 1 inch per a gallon rule isn't agreat one. It only works for very small fish of no more than 5-6 inches long and less than half an inch wide or tall.

 

[rdd1952]

I want an algea eater/bottom feeder

1 peppered corydora

The biggest question I have is this, Salt seems to be helpful for almost all tropical fish (and the swordtails seem to really enjoy it) so has anyone have/had a tank with salt in it and the corries were fine with it?

Also my tank is currently in day two of the cycle process (just started) and my swordtails seem happy and healthy, however a couple of things. First they like to just swim around in the back and in the bubbles of the airstone, is this normal for a mollie/platy/whatever the heck it is? second, last night when I turned out their light I noticed they went nuts, darting all over the place, turned it back on and they settled down instantly. normal?

I assume you want the cory as your algae eater/bottom feeder. Corys don't eat algae. They are basically scavengers and clean up left over food on the bottom. You definitely either need to get at least 3 or leave them out all together. A single cory will stay hid 99% of the time and you will never see him.

Personally, I don't see the need to ever use salt for freshwater fish unless it's as a medication. All of your fish are true freshwater ish (no brackish fish such as mollies) and hae probably neer been esposed to salt until you added it to your tank. They will be fine without it. And as a general rule, you don't use salt with any scaleless fish such as corys or plecos.

Quite a few fish enjoy swimming in the air bubbles. Its fine and won't hurt them at all. The behavior when you turn the lights off though is odd. Most fish are much more comfortable with no lights on at all. In the wild they only have ambient light and not a huge bulb sitting on top of the water so it isn't natural for them. What you are seeing could be the first signs of stress from ammonia. The fact that they are staying mainly on the bottom also could be a sign of stress from bad water. You should do a water change any time the ammonia (or nitrite) gets over .25ppm to try to lower it back to tht number. Waiting another day could allow it to rise as much as another full point which is not good. That would mean you needed to do a much larger water change to get it down to a safer level.

There are some plecos such as BNs that stay under 4 or 5 inches and would give you the algae eater/bottom feeder you are looking for.

The 1 inch per a gallon rule isn't agreat one. It only works for very small fish of no more than 5-6 inches long and less than half an inch wide or tall.

I know about the 1" to 1g rule, everyone on the internet and the people from petsmart have pounded this in.

I agree but the fish he plans to get will all fall into that catagory except possibly a pleco. I am totally surprised that someone at Petsmart mentioned that though. Most of the chains (and a lot of the true fish stores too) have no clue what a sensible stocking level is. To them, 6 goldfish in a 2 gallon, unfiltered bowl is fine.

 

[Chris_qld]

I agree, go the Bristlenose Catfish. They don't grow too large and great little guys. Mine will fight off my angels trying to steal his (her?) algae wafers.

 

[mcdanielnc89]

I use salt.. IMHO it keep my fish unstressed.. so it helps my fish IMO... everyone has thier opinion about teh salt..

 

[poopsydrew]

Useless and unecessary for the fish you have. Like rdd I would only use it for medication purposes or my brackish tank, and if you are stuck on using salt as a "preventitive" you need to use marine salt ,not aquarium. Salt is also not good for corys as they are very sensitive to salt, even small amounts stress them. Save yourself some money and stop using the salt.
While your at it throw out your carbon too.

Drew

 

[vinylman]

Personally I wouldn't use salt unless I had a fish that specifically required it. Do you have a shop/friend who will be able to take a constant supply of Guppies/Swordtails?. Even if the survival rate of fry is, for argument's sake, 10%, then that 10% will be added every month. Just something to think about. You could always get all males. If you get Swordtails, they might get a bit aggressive with each other for the other fish in a 20G to feel comfortable.

 

[DDeHavenII]

The two ST that I have are both males, and the black sword did get a little agressive at the smaller one the first day. however, they both are swimming along peacfully with no problems. That may change when more fish arrive, but thats not for another month.

And I just removed about 3 gallons of tank water with some fresh dechlorinated water, and they seem a little more active now.

also, that BN will be fine with community fish? I thought they were agressive little suckers?

 

[merry78]

never heard of a BN being aggressive with other fish types, mine certainly never have been. Male to male they can get aggro, but if you just have one i can't see any probs arising.

 

[-germ-]

With a fish in cycle you should be performing 25% water changes daily at the very least!
Alot of people who cycle fish-in water change when their ammonia/nitrite gets high this is a bad method, to coin a phrase 'prevention is better than the cure', i have performed 4 fish in cycles, no deaths (well one is a non-cycled tank, never will be, its my quarantine and i run it using Purigen) not that i would reccomend fish in cycles, but i performed 60%+ daily for the sakes of my fish....
If your fish are lethargic then you should obviously be doing more changes!
Sounds like i'm being aloof/harsh, apologies just trying to be honest.
Other thing is alot of small fish will dart about when lights are turned straight off, especially when new to an aquarium. IMO its a harmless panic reaction, but to prevent/discourage it extra cover will help and staggering the lights should also do it, ie room light-on/tank light-on, then room light-off/tank light-on, then room light-on/tank light-off, then all off.

 

[bubblesburst80]

Just a little bit on your bubble point, I have 2 colombian redfin tetras, 5 black neons and a baby angel fish, i have a row of bubbles going along the back of my tank and they all love going in the bubbles from time to time, the teras even seem to race each other through it!
good luck with your new tank

xXx

 

[DDeHavenII]

alright, quick update, My ST seem to be doing 100% better since this morning Now swimming around and enjoying themselves.

I may be out of luck with a Bristle Nose Petsmart does not stock them, and there are very few fish stores around. However I gathered a list of what might work, assuming they don't mind a few guppys (alright, ten guppys)

Tank Dimensions
Width: 1Ft
Length: 2Ft
Depth(excluding gravel): 16 1/2"

This is what they do have

Gyrinocheicus Aymonieri (algea eater)
Pictus Cat fish
Synodontis Longirostrus (that WAS the name)
Striped Raphael Catfish (any chance this one would work?)
African Feather Fin
Rubber Lip plec
Albino Chocolate Plec (this one may get too big)
Upsidedown Catfish (truly a weird one, lives up, or down, to its name)


Oh, and the reason my fish act nuts when the light goes out, Petsmart feeds them right before lights out so think they are getting food.