New Hobby

[Miss Wiggle]

7.6 is not bad at all, most common trops will tolerate anything between 6.5 and 8. 7-7.5 being the usual preference. 7.6 is not a long way off that at all so you're fine. i'd only try and bring it down if it was over 8.


How long has the tank been up and running?

 

[becky0323]

We started the tank a little over a month ago.

I also wanted to ask you what other fish you recommend for our 20 gallon tank. We have 3 posibbly 4 with the baby mickey mouse platy's, an albino corycat and 7 neon tetras. Do corycats do better when there is more than one and also what other fish would be good for more activity.

7.6 is not bad at all, most common trops will tolerate anything between 6.5 and 8. 7-7.5 being the usual preference. 7.6 is not a long way off that at all so you're fine. i'd only try and bring it down if it was over 8.


How long has the tank been up and running?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

We started the tank a little over a month ago.

I also wanted to ask you what other fish you recommend for our 20 gallon tank. We have 3 posibbly 4 with the baby mickey mouse platy's, an albino corycat and 7 neon tetras. Do corycats do better when there is more than one and also what other fish would be good for more activity.

OK for now you should do water tests every couple of days, if you see any ammonia or nitrite then do a water change. when the tank's been running for about 2 months you can drop down to testing weekly, after 6 months drop down to testing every month or so.

yes cories need to be in a group, get the little fella some friends. a group of 6+ is best.

you can have 20" of fish, after adding cories you'll have this

4 platys - 8"
6 albino cories - 12"
7 neons - 7"

so that's 27" of fish, so the tank will be full at that point, it will be a fairly heavy stocking but manageable.

 

[becky0323]

Thank you so much for you help, you don't know how much it is appreciated. We will take your advice regarding testing the water. Can the Cory's be different types, or should we stick with all albinos? I hope you don't mind of I keep asking you questions as different situations arise, because I have found that the people at the pet store don't always give the best advice. Also, how often should we use the gravel vaccum?

Thanks again!

We started the tank a little over a month ago.

I also wanted to ask you what other fish you recommend for our 20 gallon tank. We have 3 posibbly 4 with the baby mickey mouse platy's, an albino corycat and 7 neon tetras. Do corycats do better when there is more than one and also what other fish would be good for more activity.

OK for now you should do water tests every couple of days, if you see any ammonia or nitrite then do a water change. when the tank's been running for about 2 months you can drop down to testing weekly, after 6 months drop down to testing every month or so.

yes cories need to be in a group, get the little fella some friends. a group of 6+ is best.

you can have 20" of fish, after adding cories you'll have this

4 platys - 8"
6 albino cories - 12"
7 neons - 7"

so that's 27" of fish, so the tank will be full at that point, it will be a fairly heavy stocking but manageable.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no problem, i like to help people out.

and i'd rather you asked the questions that did something wrong, if i didn't wanna answer them i wouldn't come on here so ask away!

the cories you can mix but it's best to stick to one type really.

use the gravel vac whenever you do a water change assuming no problems in the tank this should be once a week.

 

[rabbut]

The corries IME aren't too fussed about mixing inter-species so you can probibly get away with adding different types, though other members will tell you otherwise. If there are suffice numbers, the corries will shoal as different groups, untill a moment of high-stress arrises, when any and every cory in the tank will come together to form a massive shoal.

You need to be using the gravel vac at every waterchange, and waterchanges sould either be 25% weekly, 30-40% fotnightly or 50% monthly. Smaller more regular water changes are preferable to large irregular ones, as they keep conditions stable, so it would be best to aim for 25% weekly

Remember that qusetions are what this forum is here for, os if you have more, keep them comming

Rabbut

 

[becky0323]

All has been going well and the baby platy is growing. This morning I saw one of the other platys go to the bathroom in the form of a white string instead of brown. Is something wrong?

no problem, i like to help people out.

and i'd rather you asked the questions that did something wrong, if i didn't wanna answer them i wouldn't come on here so ask away!

the cories you can mix but it's best to stick to one type really.

use the gravel vac whenever you do a water change assuming no problems in the tank this should be once a week.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

white poo can be a sign of internal parasites, what are your current water readings, any other symptoms?

 

[darryl864]

We tested the water last night and everything is good except for the PH. It is the highest color on the card that came with the test kit (API).

My master API kit came with a High PH and a low PH test. If the colour is on the highest colour then you might need to do another test to see just how high. What I'm saying is if you have a PH of 9 and test with a low range PH kit the highest it will read is the highest on the card (mine is about 7.8). So you wont actually know what your PH is untill you test again with the high range PH test kit.

This might not be a problem but I just thought I would mention it.

 

[becky0323]

We haven't noticed the fish acting differently.

The water readings are:

PH 7.6-7.8
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Amonia 0

white poo can be a sign of internal parasites, what are your current water readings, any other symptoms?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok well waters looking good so no need for instant panic, i would just monitor them closely, look up internal parasites on the web you'll fnd plenty of info and look out for any other symptoms and any more white poo. they do sometimes have funny coloured poos after eating things..... just like if you've ever looked in the loo after eating beetroot!!

 

[Honeythorn]

Hagen Nutrafin (mini-master kit) and RedSea make similar freshwater kits but neither of those has a Nitrate test

The Nutrafin minimaster definitely has a nitrate test. I use it every month.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome Becky. It sounds like Miss W has you well on your way to a healthy tank that you can be proud of. I'm happy to hear that the fry is doing well. You can expect more fry about 4 weeks after the last ones so I would be looking for the next platy drop any day now. If you actually want to keep the fry, they need lots of good hiding places. When they get a little bigger they will also need a place to grow up and not end up overpopulating your aquarium. A platy will typically drop between 20 and 50 fry at a time and I know you don't have room to keep them all in your 20 gallon. Don't want to seem overly pessimistic but its something you will need to consider.

 

[becky0323]

We have an albino fish that is in the process of dying. We are at a loss for what is going on since the water was just tested the other day. It was just laying on his back, but was then swimming around when it was touched with the net. Should it be taken out of the tank?

ok well waters looking good so no need for instant panic, i would just monitor them closely, look up internal parasites on the web you'll fnd plenty of info and look out for any other symptoms and any more white poo. they do sometimes have funny coloured poos after eating things..... just like if you've ever looked in the loo after eating beetroot!!

 

[waterdrop]

Hagen Nutrafin (mini-master kit) and RedSea make similar freshwater kits but neither of those has a Nitrate test

The Nutrafin minimaster definitely has a nitrate test. I use it every month.

Wow! Sorry about that. I do not have that kit so I'm sure you're right of course. I just did a long google search on those and I can't figure it out. Seems about half and half with discriptions of the kit having different contents - it almost seems as if the UK ones have nitrate but the USA and AU ones seem not to have nitrate but have other things substituted. They all seem to be call the Hagen Nutrafin Mini-Master Kit. Maybe they distribute different content kits of the same name.

~~waterdrop~~