Somewhat newbie questions

[Grnmonkey3]

Hello all, I recently set up a tank for the first time in a few years as you can see by my signiture. My questions are 1) Whenever I walk in my room, or even move really, all the fish scatter and hide--what can I do to make this stop?--Do they just need to get used to me?, do I need to get a braver fish to encourage the others? These guys are too pretty to be always behind rocks
2) How often should I change the water in my 29 gallon, and how much should I change?

Thanks everyone!

 

[gixer]

what fish are they?

its quite usual for fish to be nervous when you move them into a new tank. let us know what they are and we might be able to tell you if they will always be like this.

some fish very rarely come out.. especially nocturnal ones

 

[Grnmonkey3]

Sure--I've got 2 opaline (blue, non-3 spot) gouramis (3"), 2 honey "gold" gouramis (3"), and a pleco (6"). I already know the pleco is nocturnal, but don't know about the other two. Oh, and it's been 2 days since I first put them in the tank--if that helps. Thanks for the quick responce by the way.

 

[gixer]

did you put all these fish in in one go?

how was this tank cycled? sorry i know its not the answer to you original question but it could be very important.

 

[Dragonslair]

If it's a new setup then all that you explained is normal. The fish are in a new environment and they need to settle. Just keep doing what you are doing and soon the fish will get accustomed to the vibration of your walk.
In their natural state, heavy water vibrations signal disaster or a very large predator, so naturally the fish will scatter and hide-natural instinct. when they "learn" that vibration doesn't hurt them or they even get fed they will become acclimatised to that and realise that they are not in danger. Changing water: You don't have too many fish which is good, so water changes should be once a fortnight at 25%. Again this is a matter of choice. There is no rights or wrongs, but you need to start somewhere.

 

[Grnmonkey3]

Thanks for the responces Dragonslair and gixer. First of all, Im not quite sure what you (gixer) mean by cycled. If you mean the order in which I put the fish in, then: First I put the pleco in, waited like 2 minutes, then let the 4 gouramis out that had been floating for 15 min. I thought adding all the fish at relativley the same time was best, because I thought if I did it staggered the fish would set up territory, and then when I would put in new fish, they fish already in the tank would be mad. Is this wrong?

 

[tstenback]

The term cycle in this forum refers to the nitrogen cycle. The fish produce ammonia (which is toxic to the fish) the bacteria in the tank break down that ammonia into nitrITE which is still toxic to the fish but less so and finally other bacteria break down the nitrITE into nitrATE which can be toxic but weekly water changes will usually take care of them. Gixer was wanting to know if this cycle has completed which means that when you test the water for ammonia the reading will be zero, when you test for nitrITE the reading will be Zero and finally when you test for nitrATE the reading will be positive. If you havent tested the water you should do so and if you have it is always a good idea to post the readings with your question so the gang here can give you more precise help.
Also there are 2 methods of cycling talked about here. They are fishless cycling, you add raw ammonia to the tank in place of what the fish would produce. This is considered better as no fish are harmed in the process. There is a pinned article at the top of the forum that discusses new tank syndrom that is worth a read.
Anyway i have gone on enough for now HTH and good luck

 

[gixer]

i'm affraid so mate.

a tank needs to cycle (well the filters really) have a read of this and hopefully you will understand whats going on in your tank at the moment.

unfortunatly you have added too many and the wrong type of fish to start with..

read the link and we will take it from there.

 

[Grnmonkey3]

Thanks for the info folks...I'll give these both a read and get back to you guys.

 

[Grnmonkey3]

Ok-read the new tank syndrome article and the the article you sent me to gixer, so I guess I need to start daily 10-15% water changes immediatley and go out and buy a master ph, nitrite, nitrate test kit at petco. Man, I'm pretty cheesed those at those fish store guys! They didnt tell me any of this stuff. Well, im glad I found this forum. Thanks guys!

 

[Sky042]

I can tell you though that I have 2 red honey gouramis and for the first week roughly they hid in the back of the tank whenever they saw me move. Now thoug they're much more active moving around the tank nicely.

 

[Xellos69]

same thing just happened to me monkey. (i got fish and put 'em in immidiatly. then i found this site. then i found out what cycling was ) ...

yup.

one of the two goldfish didn't make it. stupid chain store for not telling me about it. silly me for not researching it. hope your's fare better than mine are.

 

[StevieJack]

Hi all I just signed up…

I am afraid I am in the same boat as some of you guys...

I just set up a 10g aquarium; I let the tank sit with no fish for a week while filtering thinking it was doing some preparation.
I then added 7 Tiger Barbs. Now after reading many topics and posts by this great forum i am afraid i made all the beginner mistakes.

I am going tomorrow to get a test kit/s for all the above - ammonia, nitrite etc...

Never again will I trust a fish store %100, I will always double check there advice, this forum seems to be a great resource.

I have not lost any fish yet but I can just imagine what there environment is like after reading many posts here.

Stevie

 

[Mesome]

Hi Grnmonkey,
Do you have honey gouramis or golds? They are very different....

 

[Xellos69]

Stevie you're in a better boat than I am lol ... you let yours sit for a week. mine went STRAIGHT in. atleast I know better now