Water Temp and general Noob Q's

[Reno_1ted]

Hello,

First off, this is my first post ! WOOOOO !!!!!!

Ok, with that out the way...

1) My bedroom gets hot (Even though i live in the north of england !) With my heater on its lowest setting, the tank thermometer says 28oC. Is this because...

a) My thermometer is bust, room temp isnt normally 28oC. (Its a sticker on the side of the tank one)
B) Your heater is bust and wont go lower then 28oC (Unlikely as sometimes it does drop to 26 or 27)

Also, what harm will it do at 28oC ?

2) I have 2 red coloured dwarf Gourami's. They seem to be a bit stationary a lot of the time and tend to sit amounst the plants and stay there. Also they like to hang out at the outlet for the fliter. Is this normal ? If not, what could the causes be ? Ive only had them a few days.

3) I have 2 Dwarf Gourmi's, 5 neon tetras and 2 tiger barbs. The neons i had for 2 weeks, then added the others. How long till i have enough bacteria to accomdate more fish, and how many more fish can i have in total do u think ? My tank is 36'', 17'', 16''

Cheers in advance y'all.

K

Also in my tank are

 

[Tempestuousfury]

to the forum. Introduce yourself in the newbie section.

I don't know how to make the conversion to F. I can tell you, however, that you should get a submersible thermometer because those give more accurate reading of the water temp.

Also, you should get a water testing kit so you know when or if the tank is cycled. If you don't know what that is, I or someone else can fill you in.

Gouramis, esp. dwarf gouramis are rather shy. You need to add more hiding places so they feel more secure. For some reason, if they have the hiding places they don't use them.

Also, barbs (and tiger barbs especially) get very nippy. They should be kept in groups of at least 6 so they spread the aggression amongst themsleves and not to the more peaceful tank inhabitants.

HTH

Oh yeah, to find the volume in gallons, do length x width x height (all in inches) and divide by 231.

You have a 42 gallon tank.

 

[Bol]

Well, for us backwards people, 28C is 82F. Probably not lethal for most tropical fish, but that's a bit higher than the temperature is usually suggested to be. Among other things, warmer water can't hold as much oxygen as cooler water.

Next, I'd believe your stick-on thermometer is probably wrong. Do you have another thermometer that you can check it with?

I'd expect your tank water temperature to be a little higher than room temperature (even with no heater), because the tank lights will warm the water a bit.

 

[Teelie]

The temperature is actually fine for the Gouramis. I keep my aquariums just a touch under that at 80°F/26.6°C for those and most sites have that as an ideal temperature range.

Not so sure on the temperature for the Tetras or Barbs though you need more Barbs. At least another 3 or else they'll get nippy and attack your other fish. They still might nip but won't be so prone to it in larger groups.