unschooling?

[TigerBarbsRcool]

ok i have 7 barbs(4tigers 1albino 2moss/green) an recently they have started to drift apart an unschool an jus dont stay togather as they use to ive had them about 2 months now. water is fine an temp is 76 an never changed

 

[tttnjfttt]

How big of a tank are they in?
Can you post your water stats (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH)?
Are there any other tank mates?

 

[TigerBarbsRcool]

they are in a ten gal with 2 3-4in melon swords ph is 7.0 EXACTLY hardness is 6-ish the lil tab thing isnt exact with this. an they are in a 10 gal but thats going to change in 2 months cuz im getting them into a 29. i jus moved from Washington an my dads not makin another trip till sept when the weather cools off. email me if you have any ideas or add me to msn if you like my email is Fantasy_Penguin@hotmail.com

 

[TigerBarbsRcool]

oh ya sence you got 4 betta i figure your the right person to ask.
i got a 1gal bowl thing called "BETTA HEAVEN" from my aunt an i was wondering if i should get on i already got the water setting out. an i went to my friends dads shop(hes an LFS an got me into tiger barbs for there personality) an noticed this ALL white male betta an wondered if he would be a good for a 1gal. an what should i feed him as snacks an how much an...i wanna know ALL!

 

[tttnjfttt]

Do you have a test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?
Is your water naturally 7.0 or is this chemically induced?

I"m guessing they aren't schooling as tightly because of the small tank. From what I've noticed, my tiger barbs are more chilling they will be alot more loosly schooled. When they are playing or going after food, watch out. However, I have noticed they do tend to be alot more loosely schooled when they are stressed out.

I would seriously recomend gettign a 30 gal tank, not a 29. A 29 gal tank is 30" long, and a 30 is 36". Trust me, the barbs will love the extra swimming space.

You can check out the tank dimensions here. http/www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/size-chart.html

 

[TigerBarbsRcool]

no i dont have any other tests an the i havnt added chems sence i put in some stress reduser when i first got them. an i dont have a 30...but ill try to get one for the sake of my lil buddys...

 

[tttnjfttt]

How long have you had this tank set up for?
How did you cycle it?

 

[TigerBarbsRcool]

i had the tank itself about...4 or 5 years got it when grandmum died.
an i cycled it...jus put water in it an left it alone with the filter on for a week or so while i was in St. Louis.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Ok, I'm sorry to tell you this, but unless your fish have been in this tank for atleast 4-6 weeks, your tank is not cycled. Cycling your tank is the process of building up the bacteria which will break down your fish's waste. Putting the water in the tank and leaving it won't do anything besides remove the chlorine.

I'll give you more info on this, but right now, go do about a 50% water change with dechlorinator.

 

[TigerBarbsRcool]

ok there we go. how i do i cycle a tank?

 

[tttnjfttt]

Ok, here is what is going on inside your tank. Your fish produce ammonia, which is very toxic to the fish. Eventually, bacteria will build up in the tank which will turn the ammonia into nitrIte. NitrIte is also very toxic to the fish, and a similar thing happens, where another set of bacteria will develop to turn the nitrIte into nitrAte. The fish can tollerate the nitrate up to a certain level, which is why you do weekly or biweekly water changes; to remove the nitrAte.

Go to your LPS/LFS and buy a master test kit (about $30, but can be bought off the internet for around $20) that will test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. your ammonia and nitrite should always be zero. the nitrate should be less than 40

For now, do daily water changes of about 25% until your ammonia and nitrite both are zero. Make sure you are using dechlorinator (or leaving the water sit out for 24 hours before the change), as chlorine is toxic to fish and will also kill off the beneficial bacteria.

 

[tttnjfttt]

ok there we go. how i do i cycle a tank?

Basically, you are going to be cycling wiht fish in your tank, so your main goal is to keep the ammonia and nitrite low enough to not kill your fish. Tiger barbs are very sensitive to ammonia and nitrite in their water, so they will be acting diferently until this is done. Just do regular water changes and buy a test kit.

EDIT: the cycling process will naturally occur, but you need to wait it out. this will take about 4-6 weeks.

Alternatively, you if you can get some filter media from a friends tank, that will help. Also, Bio-Spira will also instantly cycle a tank, BUT it needs to have been constantly refrigerated. Products that aren't refrigerated like cycle are worthless.

 

[sylvia]

Fish won't school if in a very small space to which they are familiar as they don't feel threatened and can see each other from everywhere in the tank. They also don't exactly have very far to swim... Once you've up-graded (which you realy need to do soon as you're over-stocked as it is now), things should improve. Adding tall plants when you upgrade to break up their line of sight will also encourage them to school more closely.

BTW, bettas should be kept in at least a 2.5 gallon tank IMO (5 gallons is even better). 1 gallon realy is very small. A larger tank is also better because it allows for a small filter so that the tank can actualy be cycled effectively rather than you having to do a water change every couple of days. Bettas do fine on all the usual foods but most like to get live bloodworms as a treat. You should feed them just as you would any other fish - once or twice a day, a tiny amount, just about enough so that the betta cleans it all up in 2-5 minutes. Syphon up any leftovers. It's especialy important in smaller tanks to keep up with maintainance and not over-feed or else very bad water quality results. I'd also suggest that, if you're getting a small betta tank, you don't realy on 'letting the water sit' or 'age' to remove chlorine but go and get a de-chlorinator so you can prepair tap water right away - which you'll be needing as you'll need to do more frequent water changes on a smaller tank. An added benefit of getting a larger size tank si that you can incorporate, besides a small sponge filter, a heater into teh set-up. Dispite what you may hear, bettas are very much a tropical fish. Fluctuatiosn in temperature do make them weaker and stress them so that they become more prone to disease. They actualy do best at a temperature as high as 78 deg F. Bettas actualy breed at 80 deg F most comfortably and this is the optimum for fry too so they clearly preffer warmer, stable temps.

 

[TigerBarbsRcool]

ok. but im leavin tomarrow till sunday should i jus have my dad change the water while im gone? an what all could a put in a 29gal should i jus leave it at the 7 barbs or could i maybe get away with puting acouple triops in there?

 

[sylvia]

Oh and there are links in my signatrue about cycling if you're interested.