How To Make Sure The New Aquarium Is Safe?

[FishBlast]

Nvm, I added them, the filter and the heater. Tzuppy seems quite scared, while Cracker was so happy to see Bee that he started courting her and they both kind of "shoal" together. Poor Tzup just sits there and looks around though.
And Bee keeps eating my sand

I'll take pics with my Nokia later, this Blackberry doesn't make good pictures...

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Yep, sounds like you're better off leaving the heater alone for now lol

I'd wait until the water gets up the the temperature you're happy with after it's full. That will give the water some time to clear too as I think too much sand in the water can clog up the filter (another more experienced member might need to confirm this though) but I've never used sand so I may be talking rubbish! I'd also add your fish just like if you had got them new. So maybe float them in the new tank in a bag to get used to the warmer temperature and add a little of the new tank water over time to the bag in case there are any big differences in pH or kH so that it doesn't shock them.

Well never mind then! lol

It'll be nice when you can get some plants in there, the fish will love all of the space

 

[FishBlast]

Yeah, I still saved some money to get some Elodea but might go with other floating plants that could hide fry.
My dad filmed the aquarium, will upload later on.

Since they all like to occupy the bottom / middle, the top can have the plants for a bit of bio filtering. Should help the filter till I get a better one (like 500l/h or 700l/h, they seem quite cheap and they come with all in 1 air + cleaning + chemical filtering and a bit of heating).

 

[FishBlast]

Also, much better pics with my Nokia till I can upload the vid.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Tzuppy looks so much smaller in there then he did in the other tank! But that's a great thing!! I bet he is just enjoying the sand on his belly! Do you like it so far?

 

[FishBlast]

Tzuppy looks so much smaller in there then he did in the other tank! But that's a great thing!! I bet he is just enjoying the sand on his belly! Do you like it so far?

I like the sand, but some plants are definitely needed to mask the filter. I'll be testing for ammonia tomorrow just to make sure that I didn't shock the bacteria.

And yeah, Tzup's quite small and I still don't know if he's a dwarf hoplo, a megalechis thoracata or just stunted but his big bro Seadra was way bigger than him and quite different at the age of 8. I have yet to get an ID on him, but I've noticed there's one Hoplo that has those pointy things like him yet no spots. I don't remember which, Personata or something else. So many Hoplos... I never even knew there were different species out there (such as the giant Litoralle)

Still, I wonder why he's not exploring. He vacuumed a mouth full of worms but he just looks around himself and sits on the same spot. The swordies like their new playground though. They're going through the sand like corys.

 

[FishBlast]

And here's the video. I had to figure a way to remove the annoying audio of the news lady that was on TV X_X so I went with a surfing song since the aquarium looks like a beach.

 

[FishBlast]

With the temp polystyrene lid. It seems to give them a sense of security as it darkens the area.
Even better, it doesn't tear off so it won't end up in the water. However, my female swordtail has taken a liking to the sand... so much that she sees it as food. X_X

But Tzuppy's still not sniffing around as usual.
At least they won't jump out.

 

[FishBlast]

Why is my red swordtail acting like a bottom-feeder? She started swallowing sand and throwing it out her gills. Could that harm her?

 

[OldMan47]

I have taken a quick look here and am wondering about your filter flow. You have what I have described in my own tanks as sand dunes. See this picture to see what I mean. I think it has the same problem.

In my case, I simply changed filters to get flow down where it belonged and a day later I had this situation instead.

With appropriate flows, I was no longer turning the sand into sand dunes and the tank could settle in and the filter could remove the tiny particles that were still in suspension. It made a huge difference for me.

 

[FishBlast]

The sand dunes are my fault. I set them up that way. And the sand was all over the tank when I had no filter in there because it was poured into the water, instead of being put first (mom didn't let me throw away the water that was already in there). The water is clear now, and the filter's flow cannot be changed, it's a one way power head. It only blows near the surface and needs to be near the surface to spray air.

Can't change whole filter either, at least not at this time.

 

[FishBlast]

Tzuppy is really acting weird. He's trying to climb over the filter. He even walked over it once.
Then he started sitting in the middle of the plant. Now he looks like he's trying to eat it or something.

No ammonia detected, but I'm worried that the re-location of the filter might have shocked the nitrite eaters and I cannot measure nitrite Other 2 fish are acting normal.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Don't be so paranoid! Lol nothing you have described causes me to have any alarm. Maybe he is just acting "normal" now that he has a sweet new house!

 

[gforce17]

Which fish are your nitrite eaters?

 

[FishBlast]

Don't be so paranoid! Lol nothing you have described causes me to have any alarm. Maybe he is just acting "normal" now that he has a sweet new house!

Well he's trying to jump out of the tank during the night. That's what's alarming me. Although I do know I've had many of these managing to escape, Tzuppy can't escape cause there's the temp lid there. I'm paranoid because I thought something was suffocating him, but the other 2 fish seem to be fine and are playing some kind of tag game, then searching for food together.

Which fish are your nitrite eaters?

Are you serious?