black phantoms

[exhibitx]

so i got 4 black phantoms 2 days ago, they havn't done much since then.

in the tank with them is 3 bloodfins, they are fine, swim around a lot together, eat, etc. they took about a day to come around to eating and swiming around freely.

they are all in a 20 gallon with a bio-wheel, tempeture is at 79/80. the tank was settup early on the weekend. so it had like 3 days to run. used tap water conditioner, all the stuff in it is aquarium safe. photos are attached.

the phantoms tend to just sit at the back of the tank behind this tunnel rock thing, they don't look like they are being defensive. a few of them will eat if food falls right infront of them, but otherwise they are not eating and seldom swim around. i usually have the room lights on or the tank light on, but when i'm going to bed and i turn all the lights off the phantoms start to come out and swim around a bit, but usually go back to their spot or around the bottom after a few minutes. i'm wondering if they are just getting used to the tank, or do they not like the light or something? or maybe my tank isn't setup well for them.

i'm not too worried since they just got put in there a few days ago, so i'm sure they'll come around, but i'm curious about the behaviour with the lights.

any help is appriciated, thanks.

Photo of the phantoms

Photo of the tank

 

[smithrc]

you may have rushed things 'a little' have a look in the beginners section at the pinned topics on cycling etc... there is a slow process that needs to pan out before lots of fish will be able to live happily...

however the phantoms seem to be coloured ok - e.g. not stressed.

you should stop adding fish at the moment and get a test kit to see what the ammonia and nitrates etc are doing.

 

[exhibitx]

got the water tested at pets mart, everything was reasonable, amonea was a little high but not really harmfull, guess thats to be expected. i did the test before a water change, then when i got back changed the water, so it should be even better now. i removed the rock, they seem to be swiming around a bit more now with the extra bottom space, i guess they like hanging around the bottom.

however my phantoms still arn't eating, except for the one. now i noticed with that one phantom he usually has his top fin fully extended and sometimes seems like he's chasing away some of the other guys, especially the males, but the female is not eating either. could it be an issue with dominance or something like that?

i figured if they were just getting used to the tank, they would be good by now. really starting to get worried now, some of them havn't eaten in like i guess 4 or 5 days now as far as i can tell.

 

[clutterydrawer]

I'm afraid there's not really such thing as a harmless level of ammonia. Any ammonia in the water will stress your fish. Do you know exactly what the level of ammonia was, when petsmart tested it?

You should do some water changes to lower it. Ideally, add some gravel or filter media from an established tank (if you know someone who has a tank....), this will add the beneficial bacteria which are required to break down ammonia.

Once your water parameters are perfect (and only then!) I would suggest adding at least two more black phantoms. I had two for a long time, they barely moved, I added four more and now they are practically hyperactive! They are shoal fish so they prefer to be ina group of at least six, though more is better. do you have plants in your tank? they like the cover plants provide to make them feel secure.

k that's all I can think of...good luck with them

 

[exhibitx]

i went back today and talked to the guy i normally talked to, said my amonea was actually pretty high. so he suggested i do water changes and gave me something to put in there, proquatics bacteria starter, so hopefully that will help.

guess i shouldn't have added so many fish to start off with, hopefully it will turn out ok. i feel bad for the fish now. i figured since they were all real small i could start off with those guys.

 

[smithrc]

keep up with water changes...

Ammonia will build up and get higher before it gets better (falling to zero when the tank is on it wat to bing ok) the ammonia is gradually be turned to nitrItes and that into nitrAtes by the bacteria... if you get a kit that can test for these yo'll be able to bee where you are in the 'cycle'

When the ammonia and nitrItes are at zero - the bacteria can cope with more fish (add the slowly though)

 

[exhibitx]

great, thanks for the tips, i appriciate it.

2 things...

how often should i do water changes? once every 2 days until it starts going down? or just when it's really high or? i'll pick up a test kit tomorrow, i'm like 5 minutes from petsmart so its no big deal for me to get over there to test, but that would be more conveinient if i'll be doing it almost everyday.

another thing is, i'm having problems with feeding, they don't come up to feed, so i put it under the water so it sinks, but that tends to create a lot of waste and i understand that food at the bottom polutes your water... any tips on that? when i clean my water i find quite a bit of left over food waste comes up, so thats a concern.

 

[clutterydrawer]

Only put in a bare minimum of food, just to see if they take it. if they do, give them some more, but if they don't, the waste food wont cause so much pollution as if there was more of it...hmm...you know what i mean...i think. if you vac your gravel when you change the water you will remove any bits of uneaten food.

seriously though, do you have any friends who keep fish? it would be so useful if you could get a bit of their gravel/filter media for your tank!

 

[exhibitx]

no, i don't unfortunately. i used to have a 55 gallon setup at my parents place, but that tank is not setup any longer.

 

[exhibitx]

they seem to have purked up A LOT after the three water changes, they are swiming around the middle, going after food, etc. so i'll keep up the water changes and testing and hopefully get through to the cycle without any set backs.

 

[smithrc]

good news... they are great to watch when they start flirting