Rosie Red Minnows

[augustaranger]

Kids brought home a couple of rosies from the school carnival in October. They now reside in a 1.5 gallon "tank" with a granite rock substrate and an airstone. No filter as I change 50% of the water 2-3 times per week. We plan to move them into a 10 gal. and add some white clouds. Anyboby else keep carnival refugees?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Rosey red minnows are very numerous and cheap due to being prolific breeders, many are used as feeder fish for predatory fish. However although these fish may be cheap, you still need to take care of them properly. How many do you currently have?
Keeping rosey red minnows;

http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Pimephales_promelas.php

I generally wouldn't advise anything under 60litres or 15gal tank (US) for these fish, the same goes for the WCMM's/white cloud mountain minnows .

 

[augustaranger]

We only have 2 of them; seems to be a male and a female.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

We only have 2 of them; seems to be a male and a female.

Rosey red minnows are sociable fish and will bennefet a lot from being in a larger group- i'd advise increasing their numbers to around 6 (if you would like WCMM's i would also advise a similar group size), they will be very happy together in a 15gallon tank in those numbers .
How much doing you currently know about cycling tanks?

 

[augustaranger]

I've read about cycling, but this my first real experience with fish. I had the water tested recently and there was borderline ammonia. Hopefully, the bacteria has established itself on the plastic plants and granite rocks in the 1.5 gal. tank. Maybe the newly added airstone will help as I read that the bacteria needs O2 as well as the fish, especially with no filter.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I've read about cycling, but this my first real experience with fish. I had the water tested recently and there was borderline ammonia. Hopefully, the bacteria has established itself on the plastic plants and granite rocks in the 1.5 gal. tank. Maybe the newly added airstone will help as I read that the bacteria needs O2 as well as the fish, especially with no filter.

You will need to get some proper filtration to make any real difference on the ammonia levels in the long term, the airstone will help make the fishes lives more pleasant (higher oxygen levels will make it easier for the fish to handle the water quality issues) but filtration is important as this will help cycle the tank properly. I'm not sure if an airstone will even be able to cycle it, as there will be no current bringing the bacteria the gunk/waste from the tank to break it down, and there won't be much surface area for the bacteria to grow on either.
You should read these pinned articles as they will help you out a lot- they are full of vital and important info and explanations to know ;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=88643