Did My Lfs Give Me Good Advice?

[marleth]

During my last trip to the lfs (and this is a store that only sells fish and fish keeping equipment), I bought an otocinclus. I mentioned that I wanted to get my algae eater a little early to prevent future algae problems rather than wait for them to occur. I also said that I didn't want to fill my tank with pretty fish and not have room for the "worker" fish, algae eaters and bottom feeders. The employee told me that I don't need to factor the "worker" fish into the inch/gallon equation because they primarily stay on the sides and bottom of the tank.

This struck me a little fishy (hehe, fish pun ). I thought the inch/gallon rule of thumb dealt with waste output and not just swimspace. I would love your input on this. I don't want to get too fish happy and accidentally over stock my first 10 gallon tank. I currently have 3 zebra danios (2 red glofish and an unaltered zebra), 1 Honey Sunset Blue Dwarf Guarami, and the otocinclus. I'm planning on adding some corydoras and Harlequin Rasporas.

 

[Nick16]

right, that is shoddy advice as all fish produce waste m8. some more than other all be it but that doesnt matter an otto still produces waste. Ottos are VERY social fish and like to be kept in groups. so maybe get 2 more at least. have you read up on feeding the ottos veggies? how long has the tank been set up?

 

[marleth]

Wow, that was a fast response.

Tank is still fairly new. Set it up on Friday, Sep 12, added the danios on Wed, Sep 17, and the HSBD Guarami and Otocinclus on Sunday, Sep 21. Bought some algae discs when I got the otocinclus to make sure he had some algae to eat, and the guarami likes them too.

 

[Nick16]

did you not cycle the tank? if not you will need to be doing very regular water changes to help keep the stats right. i suggest you dont add anymore fish for 2 weeks or so to allow the 'good' bacteria to catch up. feed you ottos some corgette, mine love that.

 

[marleth]

I've done 2 weekly 25% water changes, and I'm testing for Ammonia on Sundays and Wednesdays. Is that regular enough? I will be doing another water change today after these responses. Damn greedy fish store.

 

[Davo86]

Hi, do you test for nitrate and nitrite? if so you may want to post all the results, so you can see where the tank is in terms of the cycle and of the general water quality atm.

 

[chesterscot]

feed them shelled mushed peas to m8 the gourami will eat that to
scot

 

[Corleone]

You'll need to do however many water changes are necessary to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25. This will probably mean much more than just weekly changes. For now, test every 12 hours. Once you get a feel for how quickly things rise, you might be able to drop back to daily.

The gourami and otos don't do well in cycles. Otos are fairly hard to keep since they're finicky eaters and will gladly starve themselves rather that eat alongside more boisterous fish.

 

[minxfishy]

Unfortunately whilst the tank is cycling, you may need to do daily water changes and I would advise that you test daily for ammonia and nitrIte. You dont want either of these to get above 0.25ppm. Ideally they need to read 0, however, as the tank is cycling it will need small traces of both in order to finish its cycle.

Otos really need mature tanks, they are sensitive little fish and may not get thru the cycling process.

Dont add anymore fish until the cycle is complete, ie, you have no ammonia or nitrIte for at least two weeks after the cycle is finished, then only add a couple of fish once every two weeks or so, to allow the filter to catch up with the extra waste load.