Well Hello From Atlanta!

[Rindy_Ruth]

Good evening - at least it is where I am in Atlanta.

I am very much a noobie. But, I am proud of myself for having my male betta in a 5 gallon tank with a heater and filter. So, I knew that much. I got him on Saturday at a local independently owned fish store and my tank came from Chewy on Sunday. So I am 24hrs. in to this interesting new hobby.

I admit I wanted Austin (that's my betta's name) as part of the décor for my refurbished new home office. But the more I read about fishkeeping, the more I wanted to know and it is all so interesting to me. I plan to read, read, read, before I post, post, post on this wonderful forum.

Thank you for the warm welcome.

Rindy_Ruth from Atlanta!

 

[Rocky998]

Hi and welcome to the forum! These questions will help me and others help you with your first fish.
Are you using a water conditioner and if so what kind?
What type of aquarium test kit do you use?
What are your tap water parameters?
What are your aquarium water parameters?
What brand of filtration system are you using and what is the media you use?

Sorry if that's a lot of whats lol... Just answer all in order and if you don't understand a term I use, just ask!

 

[Oblio]

Welcome to TFF (almost) neighbor

 

[Rocky998]

I will say this and it will be a tough read, but please take this as a kind gesture... You absolutely can never purchase a fish before getting an aquarium... Not even right after. The fish you have now may become very ill in the coming days due to the tank not being cycled or having enough decor to help it remain stress free... All aquariums go through something called the nitrogen cycle, which is basically ammonia slowly turning into nitrites and then turning into nitrAtes. Ammonia is highly toxic to fish and what fish/invertebrates produce when they poo or die. When there are nitrites that come in, these are also highly toxic and will kill any fish... Then the nitrites produce something called nitrAtes which then "eats" the nitrites... Nitrates are not as toxic and most aquarists aim to keep the number below 20ppm... As this process continues more and more, the system becomes more balanced and eventually you will have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites... This is why aquarists cycle their tanks before adding fish... You can read about each type of cycling here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycle-your-tank-a-complete-guide-for-beginners.475055/.

I would recommend getting more decor in the tank so the fish feels safer... Maybe try using live plants like java fern and anubias. A good floater plant could be frogbit OR red root floater!

 

[Oblio]

Then the nitrites produce something called nitrAtes which then "eats" the nitrites

Nitrobacter (not Nitrates) convert nitrites to nitrate.

 

[Oblio]

Until your tank is cycled, check water parameters daily and do a 75-85% water change if ammonia or nitrate is greater that zero. Make sure you condition the new water. Less food is more.
Do not clean your filter while cycling unless totally gunked up.
Keep calm

 

[Rocky998]

Nitrobacter (not Nitrates) convert nitrites to nitrate.

I've never heard this... I've always heard of just the simple nitrites turn to nitrates... Hmmm... Very cool! Thank you! Nitrobacter... I'll have to search about that...

 

[emeraldking]

Hi & welcome to TFF...
To be honest, I do understand the concerns of the co-members with regards to the tank cycle. But betta fish are one of the labyrinth fish that can be put in a non or hardly cycled tank without getting the betta in trouble. But it's not that I would recommend it (especially when one is a novice aquarist). But they actually can. This is 15 years experience of bettas keeping and breeding speaking.

 

[Essjay]

Nitrobacter (not Nitrates) convert nitrites to nitrate.

Actually, it's Nitropspira not Nitrobacter which turn nitrite into nitrate. When the first bottled bacteria products appeared on the market they did contain nitrobacter species which Dr Tim Hovanec proved were not the species which grow in aquariums. The early work was done on water with much higher nitrite content than our tanks and nitrobacter are the species here, so it was assumed they would also be the ones in fish tanks.

And it's nitrosomonas species of bacteria which turn ammonia into nitrite.

Also, it is nitrospira not Nitrobacter which converts nitrite to nitrate in aquariums. Neither is anaerobic. The Nitrobacter rquired higher level of nitrite to thrive than is found in aquariums.

Hovanec, Timothy & DeLong, E. (1996). Hovanec T, DeLong E.. Comparative analysis of nitrifying bacteria associated with freshwater and marine aquaria. Appl Environ Microbiol 62: 2888-2896. Applied and environmental microbiology. 62. 2888-96. 10.1128/AEM.62.8.2888-2896.1996.
Link to paper

Hovanec, Timothy & Taylor, Lance & Blakis, Andrew & Delong, Edward. (1998). Nitrospira-Like Bacteria Associated with Nitrite Oxidation in Freshwater Aquaria. Applied and environmental microbiology. 64. 258-64. 10.1128/AEM.64.1.258-264.1998.
https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/aem.64.1.258-264.1998


Nitrification
B.B. Ward, in Encyclopedia of Ecology, 2008

"Nitrification is the step in the nitrogen cycle that links the oxidation of ammonia (produced from the degradation of organic matter) to the loss of fixed nitrogen in the form of dinitrogen gas. It is performed by a few different groups of microorganisms, including the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, the ammonia-oxidizing archaea, and the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. These microbes are all aerobes and are predominantly autotrophic."

from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/nitrification

 

[Oblio]

Thanks @Essjay for the correction, that's what I get for using DDG. I knew it was some Nitrothingums bacteria and the site I saw looked accurate.

 

[Essjay]

Many sites still believe the original work, pre Dr Tim. TwoTankAmin did a lot of research on this, his posts are worth reading.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

 

[Essjay]

@Rindy_Ruth He's a gorgeous betta

 

[The603]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[connorlindeman]

welcome!