How much food is too much?

[QHowes]

Yes actually my girlfriend has a established tank she has had for a long time. What do i need to do? As i am on my way out to get the test kit is there anything else i should pick up? I have no live plants. Just gravel, two plastic plants, and your basic pump and thermometers. I have the hood and light aswell.

 

[Inchworm]

YES !!!!! That's what I was hoping to hear!!!! How big is it? What you will do will depend on it's size in relation to yours.

 

[QHowes]

Her tank i am guessing is 15 - 20 gallons

 

[FishHeads]

I have recently baught (1 week?) 6 plattys and i love them! I had a neon tetra in the tank that got stuck in the bottom of the filter in the tank so the plattys have been hapily eating him and the man at the pet store said that was fine. I also feed my fish once a day but by the 2nd or 3rd day I had the new fish I found that they were not satisfied with the amont of food i was giving them. They are always on the top of the tank looking for more and always eating the dead fish. I dont want to feed them too much but how much is too much?

My gpldfish are pigs. They eat any and everything in their tank. lol

 

[QHowes]

So i am on my way out the door to the pet store is there anything else i should pick up other than the test kit?

 

[Inchworm]

Good, It's bigger.

What you can do is, in effect, make a clone of her tank with yours. Remember that the important thing is the bacteria. You will be taking some from her tank and putting it into yours where it will establish itself an multiply.

This bacteria is all over everything in the tank. It is in the gravel,in the filter, on the glass, on the plants, decorations and floating in the water.

This is what I suggest you do if she will let you.......

Empty your tank and put the fish in a big pot or something while you work on this. Then take gravel from her tank and put it in yours. You can replace about a third of hers with yours. Do not wash it. Put it ON TOP of your gravel. Then fill your tank with about a third of the way with water from her tank. Fill the rest up with dechlorinated tap water.

Then, and this is important, take some of the filter material from her tank and put it into your filter. This is loaded with bacteria and it will distribute itself throughout your tank.

Do not let anything dry out while you are doing this or the bacteria will die.

Put the fish back in (check that the temperature matches) and then monitor the chemistry with your test kits.

This process will give you a BIG jump start on the cycle. If you have added enough bacteria, you may not even have a cycle. And it will not harm her tank at all. The bacteria will just reproduce itself in both tanks.

Good luck and keep me posted on the results.

 

[QHowes]

I baught a Amonia Test Kit for fresh water aquariums. The results according to the chart show that there are no present levels (or miniscule levels) of amonia in the water which is a good sign. Now I have to cycle the tank but I wont have a chance to do that until the weekend.

 

[QHowes]

Now that I have tested the PH and Amonia levels and everything is A Ok do you think it would be ok to to go buy more fish? After reading how to breed livebreaders it would appear as though my orange/black plattys are all female. But then again I am not quite sure...I havent seen fish breed before but they are definatly doing something with each other! So confused!!!!

 

[Inchworm]

Hello again QHowes

Please be patient. Your question tells me that you do not fully understand the chemical process your tank must undergo before it can support more fish. The absence of ammonia, in this case, only shows that the cycle has not yet started.

To cycle it must go through a stage with ammonia, then develop nitrites then proceed to nitrates. At this stage, there will be natural beneficial bacteria in the tank which will eliminate the ammonia that the fish produce, provided that you have not overstocked the tank. This will take some time.

Or, you could follow the directions I gave you in the post above which will skip the process of cycling by adding the bacteria directly to the tank.

You MUST get the bacteria through one method or another or your fish will die. It is that simple. There is no way to avoid it.

I understand that you are eager to get more fish--that's just the way this hobby is, but please try to restrain yourself. All too often (as you will see if you read old threads) newbies get carried away and wind up losing their fish. Good intentions really don't matter, it is the science that will make the difference in whether your tank is a success or a failure.

With you gf's help you will have a good-to-go tank in a very short time. Please wait.


_____
I'm not the best at explaining the ammonia>nitrite>nitrate thing. If anyone reads this thread and can explain it better, please do.

 

[Lithril]

Not sure bout the fish but unfortuantetly there is one other test kit thats an absolute must and thats Nitrite. Basically ammonia gets converted into nitrite which is still fairly toxic and this then gets converted into nitrate which is ok except in high concentrations, so although your ammonia is 0 I'd still be testing for nitrite to make sure.

 

[QHowes]

I cant comment on how clean my gf's tank is. She doesnt use any test kits just feeds the fish and thats about it. Would it be in my best interest to test her tank with my kits before attempting to transfer bacteria between our two tanks? Unfortunatly she is the only person i can think of that has a fish tank.

 

[Inchworm]

Hello again, QHowes

Sure, go ahead and test your gf's tank. It won't hurt and if you find any problem, I'm sure she'll thank you for it.

If all is in order, you can use the bacteria unless there are any diseased fish in the tank. If it is only dirty, all you have to do is give it a good cleaning with a siphon and wait a day or two. (She'll thank you for that, too.)

To clean with a siphon, (which is another piece of equipment you will have to get) just start the siphon by filling the hose with water and putting the small end into a bucket that is on the floor (lower than the tank). Push the big end into the gravel and lift. You will be able to see the dirt being sucked up and out. Repeat as often as necessary, but work quickly so that you will finish the job when about one third of the water in the tank has been emptied out. Then replace the water with fresh, dechlorinated water from the tap, that is the same temperature as the tank water.

You will want to clean your own tank this way about once a week. While you are doing it, you can wipe off the sides of the glass with a sponge that you reserve for this purpose only, and trim the plants, if needed. This is routine maintenance and once you get used to starting the siphon it will only take a few minutes to complete.

 

[QHowes]

Sounds great! The only thing is, apparently her fish are dyeing daily! I am still really hesitant to use her bacteria if her fish are dyeing that quick.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi QHowes

It sounds like your girl friend has a problem that you can help her with and learn a lot about fishkeeping in the process.

Have you tested her water yet? If so, what are the readings?

The next step is to give her tank a good cleaning. If you are able to complete it in one attempt, great. If not, clean half of the bottom, then do the second half in a day or two. Test the water again afterwards.

This may be enough to save her fish if they are dying because of bad water.

But perhaps there is another problem in the tank. Why does she think they are dying? What symptoms do they show before they die?

While we are working on this problem, you will have to cycle your tank with the fish in it, so reread the article about this and we will go on from there. When her tank is better, you can still benefit from her bacteria even if you have already started without it. It will just be a little harder and take a little longer, but the end result will be the same.

 

[QHowes]

All my fish have died within the last 24 hours. I baught a nitrtite test kit and the readings were VERY HIGH. I baught a plant today, just a java fern. I did a 50% water change today and i will continue doing about 25% everyday. Getting cultured gravel is next.