Maintenance

[Patrick]

I have been reading many post and researching on the net and I cannot come to a definite conclusion about aquarium maintenance.

I have seen some people stating that you should empty x% amount bi-weekly or some stating that once every 6 months do a complete water change, and in one person, said that he never did anything to his aquarium all year. As you can tell I am very new to the seen and I would like to start off right by getting into a great preventive maintenance program that would highly benefit my fish.

At this point in time I have a 20g US glass aquarium with gravel and a whisper power filter, no live plants although I would love to add some in the future and will be adding 5 mollies 1 tetra and a snail in the near future (hopefully this weekend), and would love to hear all your opinions on what I should do, daily, weekly, monthly to keep every thing healthy and looking great!

All suggestions would be helpful!

Patrick

 

[Zanne]

Patrick,

You're probably going to get as many differing responses here that you have read everywhere else.

I personally clean the gravel and do about a 20-25% water change either every week or every two weeks.

You mentioned getting one tetra. Since most tetras are shoaling fish, you may want to consider getting more. Typically groups of 6 are recommended. (My neon count is currently going down due to either an unknown illness or a reaction to ich medication).

 

[Phantom Thief]

Have you cycled the tank?

And i personally do a 25% water change weekly. Not everyone does it at the same rate.

P.T.

 

[Guppylover]

I agree with Zanne and Phantom Thief, the 25% water change will be good. I use to do 25% water changes weekly but now I do more.

 

[Joviella]

Hi, I either do a 25% water change and gravel clean fortnightly or a weekly 10% water change and gravel clean. I use algae magnets on a daily basis to keep my glass clean and clean the outside of the glass twice a week with a glass cleaner spray(sprayed first onto a piece of kitchen towel to avoid any entering my tanks)
I clean my filter media in a bucket of my tank water fornightly and rarely need to add any new media with the exception of carbon and nitrate sponges. Hope this helps. You will find that lots of people do things in different ways, but you need to do what works for you and ,of course, your fish.

 

[clutterydrawer]

Heya

The reason there are so many differing opinions on tank maintenance is because all tanks are different....what works for one tank might not work for another. I have heard of people who were way overstocked and never did water changes and had no fish deaths, but I have also heard of people who did everything 2by the book" and had loads of problems!

Basically to be on the safe side and provide the nicest home for your fish, change 20 - 25% of the water each week, and hoover the gravel when you change the water. Keep an eye on your nitrAte levels to check that you're doing enough maintenance. Clean out the filter maybe once a month - just remove the filter media and rinse it in TANK water, not tap water. (!)Other maintenance includes stuff like pruning plants and removing algae but that can be done as and when it seems necessary.

Also, unless your tank has been fishless cycled, don't put all those fish in at once. The filter needs to adjust slowly to increased levels of waste produced by more fish.

 

[Patrick]

Thanks every one for your responses.

As to the amount of fish I am planning to populate the tank with, my hands are kind of tied. My good friend is moving away (Flying out East on Monday and can not bring the fish with him) and has offered his fish to my daughter and I. Asked my daughter first <sigh> and she has been begging me to get them, so I finely had to give in.

As to cycling the tank, sad to say, I did not learn that fact until just this week. Another friend had told me to just fill the tank and let it sit for a week and every thing would be fine L

Again from what I am reading, what I am about to say is kind of hard to believe but this is what the gentleman I am receiving the fish from has been doing for the last year (I trust the guy, he would not lie to me!).

Every two weeks he changes the filter, not just a rinse, but changes it completely (Power filter). Every month he removes the fish and snail, and places them in to a bowl (filled with tank water). He then removes all the water, cleans the gravel, rocks, and other décor with “tap” water. Then he places every thing back into the aquarium, fills it with tap water, adds his de chlorinator (he admitted that he has forgotten to do this once or twice and added the de chlorinator with the fish in the aquarium) and places the fish back in.

As of yet, nothing has ended up doing the backstroke.

I know it seems hard to believe but this is what he has been doing, with that said, do you think that the fish will be hardy and conditioned that they will all be able to go in on Sunday.

As to only having 1 Tetra, how long should I wait till I can add a few more?

Thanks again for all you suggestions!

Patrick

 

[Phantom Thief]

Have you been testing the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?

If the first two are zero, then you can add more . But i would actually add more regardless of that , because tetras need to be in schools.

P.T.

 

[clutterydrawer]

So the tetra has been living by itself up to now?

If that's the case then what I would do is: add the fish. monitor the ammonia and nitrite. when tehy are zero, add more tetras. If the tetras has been by himself up to now I don't think a little bit longer willl hurt.

 

[Patrick]

Phantom Thief, I have yet to test any levels, although I will be going into town on Friday to pick up a test kit, there are no LFS in my area, and the nearest one is 40 min drive

ClutteryDrawer, it seems very hard to believe, I know, nothing I have read matches up with anything he is doing, technically from what I have read, every thing that he has been doing should not work at all.

I will pick up the kit and test on Friday, hopefully every thing will be ok, and then I will introduce them on Sunday.

From what I have read, I should then be testing daily and if I understand this correctly I may end up having to do a 15% water change daily until all levels return to 0. At that point, again if I am reading correct, I could add a few more tetras, 2 at a time, until I reach the amount of 6 total.

Would 6 Tetras and 5 Mollies be a reasonable amount of fish for the tank?

 

[clutterydrawer]

Phantom Thief, I have yet to test any levels, although I will be going into town on Friday to pick up a test kit, there are no LFS in my area, and the nearest one is 40 min drive

ClutteryDrawer, it seems very hard to believe, I know, nothing I have read matches up with anything he is doing, technically from what I have read, every thing that he has been doing should not work at all.

I will pick up the kit and test on Friday, hopefully every thing will be ok, and then I will introduce them on Sunday.

From what I have read, I should then be testing daily and if I understand this correctly I may end up having to do a 15% water change daily until all levels return to 0. At that point, again if I am reading correct, I could add a few more tetras, 2 at a time, until I reach the amount of 6 total.

Would 6 Tetras and 5 Mollies be a reasonable amount of fish for the tank?

Yeah I dunno how he got away with it but like I said earlier, fishkeeping is a mysterious business and we can't always tell why certain things work/don't work. annoying innit?

As long as you monitor those levels carefully and do your water changes if necessary I think you'll be fine, you sound like you're on the right track.

As for the stocking...I'm not sure, cos I don't know how big mollies get, or what kind of tetra it is. Any ideas?

 

[Patrick]

As for the stocking...I'm not sure, cos I don't know how big mollies get, or what kind of tetra it is. Any ideas?

Please do not laugh, all I know is that he said that it was silver and that his children named it Twitchy, due to it twitching all the time...Well on the topic could this be some form of a disease?

 

[clutterydrawer]

Please do not laugh, all I know is that he said that it was silver and that his children named it Twitchy, due to it twitching all the time...Well on the topic could this be some form of a disease?

If it is "flicking" and kinda scraping itself against rocks, I seem to remember those are signs of impending ick/whitespot...but also signs of stress through elevated ammonia/nitrate levels! which I would expect with his maintenance program

however it might be just "nervous", tetras are shoaling fish which means if not kept in a group of at least six, they get very, very nervous and unhappy, because in their little heads they think they might be at risk from predators if not protected by a group

I can't really tell what type it is just from its colour, maybe when yo uhave him you could show us a pic? Then someone might be able to ID him and you could get him some friends of his own species.

 

[Zanne]

When you get him, you could take a look through the tetras here to see if you can identify him.

http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg....d=21&pCatId=890

 

[Patrick]

I can't really tell what type it is just from its colour, maybe when yo uhave him you could show us a pic? Then someone might be able to ID him and you could get him some friends of his own species.

I will definitely take a picture as soon as I get them...getting rather excited, so much more involved then the first assumption of just filling a tank and placing some fish in it. As I read through all the post and view all the beautiful pictures of fish and aquariums, I am starting to realize how much fun and challenging this is going to be...I think my daughters new pets have just become my hobby <grin>

Thank you Zanne for the link, I will definitly have a look!