New Tropical Aquarium (a few questions)

[iSaluki]

Hello,

I have a few questions about my tropical aquarium and I'm just going to fire them off here:

I like to keep my tank lights in for 12 hours a day , going from 7am to 7pm , however after 7pm until somewhere around 10pm I still have my reading light on. Will this effect my fish and should I do anything?

The aquarist that I bought the fish from (currently only 5 guppies) gave me an amount of food to give my fish once a day. How strictly should I stick to this amount and does time have any influence on anything (eg , could I feed them at 7am one day and 5pm the next).

Thanks,
Seth

 

[iSaluki]

I have just talked with someone who is a bit more experienced than me and they said that my reading lamp should not really influence the fish. This would be because they would naturally have a moon and stars above them and the light generated by that would be more intense than the current amounts of light. And I didn't get a chance to get an answer for the second question so at the moment I'm just going to go with feeding them between 4pm and 5pm everyday.


Another more major concern of mine is when I go away. Should I get a machine to feed them or use one of the feeding discs? (A sort of block of food that is slowly released into the water) Does anyone have any experience with both of these?

 

[Jessie J.]

Slowly adjusting the time you feed your fish shouldn't mess them up. Guppies are very sensitive to overfeeding and can even die from it; feeding blocks with guppies is not a good idea in my experience. The day you leave, if you are only going to be gone for about 5 days or less, feed the guppies just a teeny tiny bit more then usual. They'll be fine, but make sure to feed regularly when you get back. But if you already have a feeding machine (don't rush to go out and buy one) set it so that it feeds the fish no more than usual. Good luck!

 

[Colin_T]

Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly. By having your reading light on before you turn the tank light off, you are doing this anyway.

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If the tank is newly set up (less than 2 months old) then only feed the fish once every couple of days and a do a 75% water change 4-8 hours after feeding them.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If you put food into a new tank every day, you will get high ammonia & nitrite levels and these will kill the fish. Keeping the feeding down for the first month or so will minimise ammonia and there will be less chance of the fish dying.

If you are going away for a few days to a week, do not bother with automatic feeders or holiday feeding blocks. They are not necessary. Just feed the fish the day before you go, and do a water change and leave it at that.

Unlike mammals and terrestrial animals that use most of the food they eat to keep warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water. This means any food they eat is used for growth and movement. Subsequently they can go for weeks or even months without food and not starve to death.

 

[NickAu]

I like to keep my tank lights in for 12 hours a day , going from 7am to 7pm , however after 7pm until somewhere around 10pm I still have my reading light on. Will this effect my fish and should I do anything?

Not a problem.

Are you around when the lights come on? If you are feed the fish about 5 minutes after the lights come on, in no time the fish will associate lights on with feeding time and it wont stress them out.

 

[Fishbox23]

Hi I have recently inherited a tank and I’m quite new to this,
Containing 9 fish
2 small angel fish
3 cardinal tetras
4 mollies
2 plants

The tank is 55 litres, any tips on what I need to do etc...
And any specific fish I need to get or can I get any?