Parrots And Rainbows?

[newtankgirl]

Hi,
Tank upgrade all going swimmingly - all re-homed and enjoying more space! I have 2 questions though:

Nitrates - as long as ammonia and nitrites are ok does it matter if your nitrate concentration is high?

I have a red rainbow fish ( who did have a compainion til he died 6 months ago) He now hangs round with 2 boseman rainbows and all ok execpt that over the past few weeks he appears to be acting very strangly with my parrot fish. They (mostly parrot) follow each other around (non aggressivly), have progressed to dancing round each other - again not aggressivly and now there appears to be a bit of tail sniffing going on!! Is it even possible to have inter species flirting or are they just good friends?

 

[Fishkrazy1]

Nitrates come with fish waste... not much you can do about it, weekly water changes helps to lower this down as far as your fish go... odd might be inter species flirting or it might just be they are buddies now... I know my algea eater and clown loach do the same thing from time to time so does my jack dempsy and my oscar lolz no idea mine have never bred but hope for the best

 

[newtankgirl]

Nitrates come with fish waste... not much you can do about it, weekly water changes helps to lower this down as far as your fish go... odd might be inter species flirting or it might just be they are buddies now... I know my algea eater and clown loach do the same thing from time to time so does my jack dempsy and my oscar lolz no idea mine have never bred but hope for the best

The high nitrate came from a tank that had been filled with treated tap water and half of an old tank ( with old filter media in) - So maybe I need to test my tap water? Do I need to add anything to tank to bring it down as obviously my tap water has a nitrate value. ( Water tested from old tank had higher nitrate value which is why I put the fish in the new one so quickly) I have never tested nitrates before as i didnt realise i needed to - only ph, ammonia and nitrite

 

[Fishkrazy1]

Well there are some chemicals to lower nitrate... but your best bet would be to do a few water changes and everything should be ok still since you used half your old tank I'm assuming that everything worked out and you were able to pretty well skip your cycling process... Let me know about this as I'm restarting my 55 gallon tank and want to use between 1/4-1/2 the original tank for the bacteria to skip the cycle if it worked for you hopefully it'll work for me

 

[newtankgirl]

Well there are some chemicals to lower nitrate... but your best bet would be to do a few water changes and everything should be ok still since you used half your old tank I'm assuming that everything worked out and you were able to pretty well skip your cycling process... Let me know about this as I'm restarting my 55 gallon tank and want to use between 1/4-1/2 the original tank for the bacteria to skip the cycle if it worked for you hopefully it'll work for me

Thanks, my question about chemical nitrate lowerers and if they necessary though was because the high nitrate level was on a tank that was 3/4 full of tap water so if i water change that won't help because the tap water must be high? Saying that though, if that is the case then my fish have lived for the past 2yrs on high nitrate water i suppose so maybe it doesnt matter too much !! The reason i was asking is cos I dont know - ive never tested nitrates before so im not sure if has always been like that

Way i changed tanks was based on forum advise and fish shop - I put half old tank in + old filter sponges, waited 24hrs, tested water and then put other half in + the old gravel and the fish! They ok so far but this is the first time i have ever done this and its early days... Really not in a position to give advice but will post how it all goes

 

[Fishkrazy1]

ok... well I don't know then in regards to the nitrate because my afircan cichlid tanks nitrate lvl changes rapidly... I don't suggest using the chemicals though as the are harsh for your fish. I'm going to try using probably 1/3 of my 55 gallon tanks water in it to restart it and I'll post to you as it progresses too Anyways it sounds like it's working for you so hopfully mine will work out lolz... From piranahs to south american cichlids to (soon to be) community tank my 55 gallons been through hell test the tap water aswell though forgot to mention that before it might be the cause but mabye not good luck