Tell me what you think

[Kanake]

Howdy,
Not so much questions but information on my tank and then some of you nice people can chime in and tell me what you think. Good or bad I would like to hear from you.
I recived my 10 gal. tank for my birthday in May so at the end of Sept. it will be 4 months old. I had good and bad advice so it has taken me awile to get this all together. I did a fish cycle. I have a little bigger than gravel size river rocks witch is good for what I have planed now. I love the Tetras as I have heard they are related to Pirahnas (they eat like they are!) and are a river fish. So I have kepted this in mind. I would like to add some of the java grass and keep a good part plastic plants. As everyone ate my plants I did have. This really messed up my filter and the grass seems a better choice.
Now days I do 20% water changes every 4 to 7 days. Vaccume gravel at this time also. Test water.
Last test was.
Ph 7.6
High Ph 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2.0
I think that my pelco who has grown quite large needs to be replace for a smaller type. And would like to replace my highfins with more Serpae. I think a total of 8 Serpae and a Cory as I hear they remain small.
So chime in let me know what you think give me some advice.

 

[IMCL85]

If there isn't any algae grow on the glass and plant there is no reason on getting any algae eater as there is nothing for it to eat. And u probably wand up like me have to buy algae tablet for them, but if you feel in love with the sucker mouth how about some oto cat fish they r also algae eater and they tend to stay small as well and unlike pleco that make soo much pooo all over ur tank and they r very peaceful species. Beside I dont find alot of the sucker mouth family fish attrative. Any ways 10g tank is a nice starter tank in my opinion. I start with a 20g which comes free from next door old ladys that move out long time ago. As u just begin this hobby u made a good decision going for java species, those r amount all my fravoit plants as they r so hardy and have very low lighting requirement. And rest of ur tank stats seems to be great, you should be able to keep some small size tetra in ur tank no problem. And ur selection seems good. How about 4-5 of ur sepre tetra with 3-4 cory as cory like to school. Mix would be ok as they go alone pretty well together and peaceful. But ofcourse I would vote for neon/black neon tetra beside ur sepre just my personal fravoit . Good luck

 

[tttnjfttt]

Everything sounds good. Make sure that if you get corys, they are in atleast a group of three. Another option is the Oto. Both pretty small, but i don't think the oto needs to be kept in groups.

 

[Kanake]

Thanks for your input. My sucker fish does have algae to eat and the algae pills, wafers I feed are eatten by everyone. I have placed a weekend feeder by the heater where he hangs out the most but have yet to see anyone eatting it. If he has grown so much I would guess that he is getting enought to eat. This is also why I do more water changes poo drives me crazy.

I will do some searching on the otos and corys. My goals are to keep the tank for a year and learn all I can from it as I have a bad habbit of bitting off more than I can handle at one time. Also should I make sure I have some girls and boys as a mixture for the Serpae Tetras. Can you tell the female from the male if so how? I don't want to breed at this time but thought they might be happer this way.

This is water changing day and will let you all know the befor and after results. I had the test strips and have just gotten a master test kit to play with. Yeep-E!

One more question or should I start a new thred. My tank sets on the bar bewteen the kitchen and frontroom. I bought a new sofa and it covers up half of the tank. Can I rase the tank in some way. Bricks or a shelf. Would this mess with the heating as the air would curculate around the whole tank. Any ideas would be helpful. This is the only place in the house that bear this weight.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Please don't use the weekend feeders. They have a lot of junk in them that the fish don't eat and can do more harm than good. Fish can go for atleast a week without food, so you don't need to worry about it too much.

As for raising the tank, be careful to keep it sturdy. you don't want to have your tank fall over.

 

[Kanake]

Thanks will take the feeder out! Is there a algae feeder that the other fish would leave alone. I feed Tetra Min Tropical tablets. Was told to give this to my bottom feeder. I also feed flakes and freezed dry bloodworms. I was told not to give fresh worms and shrimp as that could cause ick. Is that true? And yes I will becareful not to have balance problems when I raise the tank. Oh and I found my Serpaes in the fish index. I thought I had read everything and have much more readding and looking around to do.
Love this sight you are all so helpful.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I feed my fish frozen blood worms as a treat, and have never had trouble. I don't know if there is an algae feeder or not, but they have cement (or concrete, alwasy forget the diff) in them, which is just bad.

 

[Kanake]

Well this will be my last post in the section. I did water change today and I'm very happy

Before Water Change
Ph 7.6
High Ph.78
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

After the same as above. Did a 2 gal change but added 3 1/2 gal due to evaperation. Water temp at about 80 F.

Thanks everyone! Have more fish questions about my Tetras so off to another board.