Basic Starter Questions

[trixilator]

I,ve now introduced 10 fish to my new 60ltr aquarium (on advice of my fish supplier) and wonder how much food I should be feeding them? The mixture is guppies, mollies and swords. I take it the pump/thermostat should be left on all the time but the lighting turned off overnight? Am monitoring ammonia content and am advised to leave population as is for the time being before introducing neons (my favourite) in another couple of weeks. Am I on the right track?

 

[rabbut]

Did you do any cycling with liquid ammonia prior to adding fish? If not, how did you prepair the tank for fish?

Feeding in a mature tank will be as much as the fish will eat in 2 mins once daily If I'm honest, it sound like the tank is already as stocked as is adviable untill it is 6months+ old. Any chance you can give the full stocking list?

Filters and heaters must be on all the time, appart from when you do maintanance, or whenever you place your hands into the tank if you don't have RCD circuit breakers installed in the powerpoint/main fuse board

I put my lights on a 12hr cycle on a timer. The time they are on though can be reduced if you don't have plants

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

dont add neons until the tank is atleasy 6 months old. as they prefer a mature tank

 

[trixilator]

Did you do any cycling with liquid ammonia prior to adding fish? If not, how did you prepair the tank for fish?

Feeding in a mature tank will be as much as the fish will eat in 2 mins once daily If I'm honest, it sound like the tank is already as stocked as is adviable untill it is 6months+ old. Any chance you can give the full stocking list?

Filters and heaters must be on all the time, appart from when you do maintanance, or whenever you place your hands into the tank if you don't have RCD circuit breakers installed in the powerpoint/main fuse board

I put my lights on a 12hr cycle on a timer. The time they are on though can be reduced if you don't have plants

All the best
Rabbut

 

[trixilator]

Thanks Rabbut - I,ve used Tetra Safestart. Have 4 male guppies, 4 mollies and 2 swords.

 

[rabbut]

So snake oil followed by a full stocking for a new tank. I suspect you will see an ammonia spike in the next few hours I have used Tetra Safestart before, and it did nothing to mature the tank. If it works for you, great, if not, your in for a very hard work trip through a fish-in cycle involving daily waterchanges and twice daily watertests for several weeks, unless you know anyone running a tank currently?

For the time being, you want to realy be on the alert. Keep feeding minimal (once every few days) and test the water at least once a day for the next week at least if it is all zero. Hopefully there will be no ammonia or nitrite spikes, but if there are, the safestart diden't work

All the best
Rabbut

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, sounds like a big Fish-In Cycle effort will be needed or the tank will start losing fish very soon. Let's hope the OP shows back up for help.

 

[vinylman]

Yes, sounds like a big Fish-In Cycle effort will be needed or the tank will start losing fish very soon. Let's hope the OP shows back up for help.

Indeed; 'miracle in a bottle' strikes again. Even when PFK reviewed SafeStart, they said it still exposes fish to Ammonia and Nitrites, so what's the point of it?.