Child’s first fish(es)
Discussion
Lazermilk said:
Mine were a pain to get started but the local pet shop were great, took a jar of water each week to test until it was right, even gave me some free chemicals to help get it sorted to start with as their advice hadn't worked, once we persevered past the initial start up its been fine since and have had some of the fish and shrimp survive for going on probably 5 years now!
Now its just a clean and water change every so often when its needed so pretty easy, are the smaller tanks not harder to maintain?
way harder to keep stable... I had a 60l tank and it needed weekly water changes, and i had issues with fish getting sick quite often (kept on top of water params, cleaning and the tank wasn't overstocked.Now its just a clean and water change every so often when its needed so pretty easy, are the smaller tanks not harder to maintain?
The OP has a 35l tank, which is going to be even more of a nightmare... bigger tanks are so much easier to keep stable.
I said it before and i'll say it again, if I ever get back into fish keeping I would have a 100l tank at absolute minimum, preferably double that.
designforlife said:
Lazermilk said:
Mine were a pain to get started but the local pet shop were great, took a jar of water each week to test until it was right, even gave me some free chemicals to help get it sorted to start with as their advice hadn't worked, once we persevered past the initial start up its been fine since and have had some of the fish and shrimp survive for going on probably 5 years now!
Now its just a clean and water change every so often when its needed so pretty easy, are the smaller tanks not harder to maintain?
way harder to keep stable... I had a 60l tank and it needed weekly water changes, and i had issues with fish getting sick quite often (kept on top of water params, cleaning and the tank wasn't overstocked.Now its just a clean and water change every so often when its needed so pretty easy, are the smaller tanks not harder to maintain?
The OP has a 35l tank, which is going to be even more of a nightmare... bigger tanks are so much easier to keep stable.
I said it before and i'll say it again, if I ever get back into fish keeping I would have a 100l tank at absolute minimum, preferably double that.
Wasn't easy moving it but worked out fine in the end, kept most of the same water using plastic containers to transport in the van with fish in the bags and then was forced to just put the fish in while the water was still very cloudy from the move, but no choice as nowhere else to put them that was heated, was convinced we would lose some overnight but next day water clear again and no losses!
If it is the fish dying and the shrimp are surviving fine, could maybe turn it into a shrimp only tank?
budgie smuggler said:
Testing and maintaining the water is part and parcel of fishkeeping.
Yes, I get that and was prepared for it.What’s killed any interest is doing all of that for nearly five months now, and still having what amounts to an empty tank where they won’t come out from hiding. There’s also been no consistency to it.
One big water change sorted things and perked them up briefly, so the next time they flagged I repeated the big water change but on that occasion it just made them even worse. It seems what works one day is the very worst thing possible the next.
Some people can’t cook, others are useless at DIY. With me, it’s obviously aquariums.
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 29th October 15:14
My tank is 1000 l with 330 l sump flter plus a permanent filtered drip overflowing to waste so there is a constant minor water change going on. I have a nitrate absorbing resin on the inlet water then passing through a heavy metal axe to remove chlorine and chloramine....my rays were over £3k so I wanted to rule everything out.
Fish keeping can be quite tough at times and is a constant learning journey. My toughest was trying to keep an Octopus in a small reef that kept overheating as you cannot leave a tiny gap as the Octopus explores outside the tank.
Fish keeping can be quite tough at times and is a constant learning journey. My toughest was trying to keep an Octopus in a small reef that kept overheating as you cannot leave a tiny gap as the Octopus explores outside the tank.
Crossflow Kid said:
With me, it’s obviously aquariums.
It really isnt...I think you have had some bad luck and very poor advice from the LFS.
The tank you have will be pretty unstable due to the small volume.
You have also bought pretty poor quality stock, as thats what the LFS tend to sell.
I also think that you tried very hard to the right thing, but ultimately, I dont believe the tank was ever A:cycled and B:stable for a number of reasons.
Ive read this thread from the start, and I think it would be a shame to give up now, just as you start to gain an understanding of fishkeeping.
Also, far to many shops are to quick to sell wonder cure chemicals rather than back to basics general husbandry.
My last tank was a 600 litre Malawi setup.
I did a 150 litre weekly water change (you have to overstock Malawis or they kill each other).
I prepped my water by running it through a Nitrate resin filter as my tap water is 40ppm to start with. The filter reduced the Nitrate to zero, and I aerated and heated the water for 24 hours before changing.
The only chemicals I added were Seachem Prime, and that was more for peace of mind than it was required, and Cichlid trace elements.
I did this weekly and got the change down to about half an hour, with zero temp changes in the tank.
Dont give up now, there so much more to keeping fish that you are missing right now.
The poor quality stock issue is what I keep coming back to.
Water tests come back as largely inconclusive, with occasional minor blips, the shrimp are thriving, one of them’s got really big now, the algae is thriving, the plants are thriving.
The only thing that isn’t is the fish.
Logic suggests the fish are the problem.
Water tests come back as largely inconclusive, with occasional minor blips, the shrimp are thriving, one of them’s got really big now, the algae is thriving, the plants are thriving.
The only thing that isn’t is the fish.
Logic suggests the fish are the problem.
Crossflow Kid said:
The poor quality stock issue is what I keep coming back to.
Water tests come back as largely inconclusive, with occasional minor blips, the shrimp are thriving, one of them’s got really big now, the algae is thriving, the plants are thriving.
The only thing that isn’t is the fish.
Logic suggests the fish are the problem.
What area are you CFK ?Water tests come back as largely inconclusive, with occasional minor blips, the shrimp are thriving, one of them’s got really big now, the algae is thriving, the plants are thriving.
The only thing that isn’t is the fish.
Logic suggests the fish are the problem.
Turn7 said:
What area are you CFK ?
An area of uncertainty.I’m so undecided about it. I don’t want to simply give up as this was partly an exercise for CFK Jnr in caring for living things but on that basis it’s failing.
On the other hand it’s just been massively disappointing and a source of unrequired stress.
(We’re in NE Hampshire)
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 29th October 18:40
Crossflow Kid said:
Turn7 said:
What area are you CFK ?
An area of uncertainty.I’m so undecided about it. I don’t want to simply give up as this was partly an exercise for CFK Jnr in caring for living things but on that basis it’s failing.
On the other hand it’s just been massively disappointing and a source of unrequired stress.
(We’re in NE Hampshire)
Edited by Crossflow Kid on Tuesday 29th October 18:40
Or Lynchford Aquatics in Farnborough.
Not been for quite a few years but Kevin and a Debbie were always helpful and knowledgable.
Phone ahead and speak to them about your issue, maybe ask if it is ok to take a water sample with you. I used to get freshwater and reef gear from them when I lived in the area and bought a few shrimps to vary the gene pool in my colony as I was passing a few years ago.
Not been for quite a few years but Kevin and a Debbie were always helpful and knowledgable.
Phone ahead and speak to them about your issue, maybe ask if it is ok to take a water sample with you. I used to get freshwater and reef gear from them when I lived in the area and bought a few shrimps to vary the gene pool in my colony as I was passing a few years ago.
Crossflow Kid said:
otolith said:
Is the temperature stable? What's the heater set to?
It’s a cold water set up.I have enough trouble with Mrs CFK covertly tweaking the thermostat for the house by a few degrees up all the time without worrying about fish as well.
otolith said:
Is the room temperature where the tank is fairly constant? Just wondering whether there is anything other than water chemistry upsetting your fish. Platys are more cold tolerant than people assume (well, the variatus species is) but they are still usually kept in heated tanks at 24C-26C. I'm wondering less about whether the fish are too cold, though, than about whether the small unheated tank is doing big temperature swings.
I was running my head around this possibility last night given that we don’t know the exact test readings of the water. This might make sense if the shrimps are flourishing and the fish are struggling. Rationale being that cherries typically like the water a little on the cool side compared to community fish. This is why I have a separate shrimp tank - well also that the baby cherries and juveniles fit in the mouth of most community fish!Personally, on a 35litre tank (iIRC) with fish in, I’d still dump a complete 50ml bottle of safe start in for the hell of it at this stage if there are doubts on bio health in the filtration system. But I have never kept platties in an unheated tank before (just noticed that bit) so you may be on to something here.
Edited by SeeFive on Wednesday 30th October 11:56
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