Advice Needed

[AML225]

Hello-

I don't know if you remember but several weeks ago I posted a thread about Black Skirt Tetras:


My previous post.


I hope you don't mind if I ask you a few more related questions:

Both fish survived the break just fine and I've since added two live plants to my 10g tank and 3 more Black Skirts. About a day after adding the three fish I also added a dose of Bio-Spira (kept and shipped refrigerated). My tank is going through a mini-cycle right now (I think) but all fish seem to be happy and healthy. I know my 10g is only going to seem even smaller now with 5 of the species rather than two but I'm wondering what can be done in order to make sure they're happy/healthy given the circumstances.

Assuming I ONLY keep black skirts in this tank what's the max number I can have? Is five already too many or can I continue to add a few more in order to further reduce their small shoal stress? My fish really don't have any tendency to school, is that normal? They also are quite aggressive and seem to chase after each other often with several of the fish having small tears in their rear fins.

They really all appear quite healthy with their black portions being very dark (as opposed to them getting lighter when they're particularly stressed in my experience). Any tips or advice is welcome!

Also here are my tank parameters using an API Freshwater Masters (drops not strips for those that aren't familiar):

***The only thing to note is that on 3/17 I'm pretty sure my 0.25 reading for ammonia is actually 0. Either way it's at zero and steady now...

I can neither afford nor fit a larger tank (I'm a college student) so that's not really an option. Given the circumstances what would you guys recommend?

 

[Davo86]

Hi

IMO you are at full stocking for a tank of that size,
You main priority atm should be to reduce your nitrite level and to keep it as close to 0 as you can until the cycle ends, The current level will no doubt be causing stress to your fish.

I would also add a few more plants to break up the lines of sight in the tank, The more dense the tank is the less aggression you are likely to see.

 

[AML225]

Hi

IMO you are at full stocking for a tank of that size,
You main priority atm should be to reduce your nitrite level and to keep it as close to 0 as you can until the cycle ends, The current level will no doubt be causing stress to your fish.

I would also add a few more plants to break up the lines of sight in the tank, The more dense the tank is the less aggression you are likely to see.

Won't reducing the amount of Nitrite in the water hinder the cycle? Don't the bacteria need it? It's been level for 3 days now so I am expecting it to slowly start to come down and the nitrates should start to increase indicating the cycle is complete. I know the batch of BioSpira was good because it cycled my girlfriends tank (we split a single dose good for 30g between two 10g) in 48 hours but she added it at the same time as her fish which from what I've ready works faster. I am going away Friday-Sunday so if the nitrites increase any before then or haven't gone down at all I will do a partial water change to reduce them.

 

[Davo86]

In any cycle where there are fish present, you need to try and erradicate any ammonia and nitrite or it will cause harm to the fish,
if fish are present then really its not wise to let the nitrite level go above 0.25

 

[AML225]

Alright I'll do a 25-30% water change today. Would it be worth it to purchase another does of bio-spira?

 

[SuperColey1]

Just keep doing the water changes and eventually the ammonia and nitrite will go to 0 as the bacteria colony slowly builds.

I agree with the poster above on stocking. Tetras are lively fish and really could do with more room than a 10G allows so that they have room to swim. I wouldn't get anymore.

In general for a small tank like this you want small fish that are not territorial and that are quite slow moving.

Andy