Ianab

If your water has chloramine added then you should use conditioner, agitation wont get rid of that. Most NZ water doesn't have that added, so we have less issues and often water conditioner is not needed. I would add a little water conditioner to a jug of water, mix it up and pour that into the tank, then fill up the rest with the hose. The nasties in the water will be neutralised pretty much instantly when it mixes with the conditioner in the tank 8) Cheers Ian

Guppys will handle about 19-29c. I think 25 is their ideal, but they will do fine at 22. At lower temps they grow slower but actually live longer. If your home is centrally heated and never drops below 20C then maybe you dont need a heater. But it would be horrible to come home on a freezing cold day next winter and find 1/2 your fish dead When you start buying $20-$50+ fish, and start getting attached to them, the heater seems a small cost Cheers Ian

Whats your secret?? I have to work to STOP them taking over the place :roll: Guppys can be a bit delicate, the fancy ones are usually inbred or line bred to fix certain genetic traits, but that breeds a lot of the native hardyness out of them. I have a few dead ones turn up in the tank ocasionally. But from the 12 I was originally given I have given away about 100 and probably have 200 left. If I need more I can just take the population control kribensis out of the tank for a week :-? Neons seem to the same, they are a bit delicate and dont live that long anyway. Any problem with the tank and they are the first to float :roll: Touch wood I haven't lost any plecos, they are hardy and long lived, just they grow so darn big So yes, some fish are more delicate that others. I also suspect local water conditions may have a big impact on what fish people have the most luck with. Different combinations or Ph and dissolved chemicals that suit some fish more than others? Could explain why some people are just jinxed with some fish, but have great luck with others? Cheers Ian

I suggest you get a heater next. The temp in your tank is fine at the moment for Danios, but is it going to stay that way for ever? Danios are pretty hardy and will handle cooler water, but many tropicals wont. A heater will be cheap insurance, and only cost the price of a couple of nice fish. Guppys will be fine in your tank, get more females than males though. The males pester the fems all the time, so if there are more females they get a break Bristlenose Plecos are the best option, they only grow small, 10cm or so, so they wont outgrow your tank. The other 'common' ones we get here all grow to 30cm or more. Lots of options, just do your research and make sure the fish are compatible, not a snack. Cheers Ian

Yeah. they are cool too. Big enough tank and you can have a big Pleco on there too 8) Cheers Ian

Like David R says, a water test kit will tell you when you are getting close to the limit. If you start getting traces of ammonia or nitrite in your water, then you have too many fish for your filters. If the Nitrate rises too much between water changes, then you have too many fish for the tank size, or need to do more water changes. A 200l+ Tank is a decent size, 20 danios is just a starter for that. What fish do you like? You can carry on with the small fish and get LOTS of them. But look at getting fish that live on each level of the tank. Danios live mid water, thats cool, but what about the top and bottom of the tank. You can get some guppys or platys that like the top part of the tank. Small plecos (bristlenose), smaller loaches or Cory cats are good for the bottom level of the tank. You can go with some bigger fish in that size tank, but many of the bigger fish will get too agressive to live with smaller danios. The BIG thing to watch is how BIG the fish you are getting actually grows. Lots of very nice (and cheap) fish that turn into tank busters Those nice shiny little Bala sharks and cute little plecos grow to 30cm eventually I say this with a 20cm Pleco looking at me through the glass with a hungry look on it's face :-? Cheers Ian

You probably want an Oscar than.. Smarter than the average fish, can learn to recognise people and get very responsive to them Easy enough to train to hand feed, but if you want them to jump for food.. best buy a rain coat :lol: And a BIG tank Cheers Ian

I wouldn't go with Angels, not with the small tetras anyway. Some individuals are fine.. other see them as food, not friends. Your tank doesn't seem overcrowded yet, and you have good filtration so I would think you have room for something else. You can actually keep small tetras etc in quite high numbers, maybe 1 per 2 litres of water? Their actual body mass and waste output is pretty small compared to bigger fish. The real limit is how the filters can process the fishes wastes and how often you need to change the water to get rid of the resulting Nitrate. As you now have a good canister filter that shouldn't be a worry. Oxygen and physical space to swim come into it as well, but I dont think you are near having a problem there. If in doubt get a master test kit and monitor the tank between water changes and keep a good eye on the fish. That will give you a good guide as to any problems starting to develop. Suggestions - get some more bottom dwellers. Small loaches - Dwarf or Zebra loaches are cool. Get a few of them as they are very social and will be out foraging for food and playing a lot more if you have 4 or so of them. Avoid Skunk loaches as they a fin nippers and Clowns as they will eventually grow too big Cory catfish - same as the small loaches. Get a small group and you will see them more. Both of those will get on fine with your little Pleco and the other fish. You could probably get a few more of the same tetras too, they are happier and look much better is a small school (10+) Cheers Ian

I would try a few water changes as well. Also with a new tank they often go cloudy for a few weeks until things settle down. I wouldn't do anything drastic yet, the tank is still very new. Just do regular water changes and see if it gets better. Cheers Ian

Eventually it will reach a stable level. In your example, when your tank has 4 units of 'nasty' you will be removing 1 unit in each water change. That unit will build up again during the next week and be at 4 again for the next change. Say it was PPM of Nitrate and it was 40, do a water change and it's 30, it goes up 10 in a week. So you can hold the level of pollution at (hopefully) harmless levels. Having said that, the skimmer will let you keep it lower with less water changes, so is a good thing to have. Cheers Ian

I think the main reason for skimmers on Marine tanks is that water changing isn't as easy. With freshwater you can just change the water from the tap and keep your water quality up that way. Heck you can change 50% a day if you want. Or rig up a trickle/overflow system to constantly change it. Why bother setting up an exotic filter system when you have clean water in the garden hose? With marine tanks the salt water takes more time to mix up and costs actual money, so it's more practical to look after it with more sophisticated filtering and change it less often. Cheers Ian

Some of the offspring (maybe the majority) will look like him. But he probably still carries the long fin genes recessively. So his genetics and the mothers will decide what combination of offspring you get. But I agree he has reverted back to the original 'wild' form. Guppys tend to do this if they aren't continously bred selectively for the traits you want to fix. The shorter tail is actually an advantage to him, I bet he's a tough little fella and can outswim the fancy ones A big advantage in the wild where the slowest swimmer is someones lunch. The wild males have to strike a balance between being showy enough to attract a female, and being fast enough to avoid being eaten. :-? Cheers Ian

There as several species called 'common plecos', but the one we seem to get here in NZ is P. pardalis http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=88 The other species have slight differences, but they are all BIG grey plecos. Brisltlenose are Ancistrus species, again the most common is this one. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=49 It's important to know which one you are buying. One grows to 12cm, the other to 35cm+ Cheers Ian

Nylon pot scourers - the plain sort WITHOUT any soap. Like the guys say, something durable with heaps of surface area. Fine sponge is OK if it's put in behind the other sponge filters, most of the solid waste gets caught by the normal sponges first. Ceramic media seems to be about the best per volume, but others work fine as long as you have space for extra volume. Cheers Ian

The filter from your existing tank is the most important part. You can move the water, gravel and ornaments across too, but most of the bacteria are in the filter. Move that and the fish into the new tank at the same time and you should be fine. Go easy on the feeding at first, less food = less ammonia released into the new tank. I'm guessing you will have a new bigger filter for the new tank? Just run that AND your old one together for a few weeks. This will allow your new filter to cycle, then you can remove your small filter and put it back in the small tank. Cheers Ian

Probably the most efficient method of heating, you are effectively pumping heat from outside to the inside. Say the unit draws 2kw of electricity, it should be able to put 6kw of heat into the room. Of course it makes the outside air colder, but thats not an issue. Another issue is the insulation of the room. If it's well insulated then you are going to keep the heat inside better. Things like draught strips for the windows and doors, ceiling and wall insulation, thermal curtains will all keep your expensive heat inside. Cheers Ian

They are a nice little cory, great for a community tank. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=267 They are best kept in groups, maybe 4 or more, but they only grow small (5cm) so you can keep a bunch of them. They will scavange a lot of food out of the gravel that other fish miss, but it's best to drop them a sinking pellet or 2 from time to time. Drop them in the same place each time, then you can make sure they are eating them. If they take a while to clean them up, then cut back on the feeding, if they mob them and eat them all, give them a extra one. Cheers Ian

True, but chloramines are toxic to fish too, so if your water has that 'dirty swimming pool' smell, then a water conditioner is a good idea for sure. Cheers Ian

I would just time the lights to come on in the afternoon and switch off around 'bedtime'. Adjust the times to suit your plants/discourage your algae. The fish dont really care what time of day is 'daytime'. They dont have watches So just leave the lights on at the times you (or your wife) wants to watch them ? Cheers Ian

The tall tank does limit the swimming space a bit, so you dont want BIG active fish in that sort of tank. But plenty of swimming space for smaller fish like dwarf gourmai and kribensis. You do want to give some more thought to what levels the fish live at of course. But some dwarf gourmai at the top, a few kribensis in the middle and a couple of bristlenose plecos at the bottom should work out fine. Cheers Ian

Hopefully the mods can tidy up your double post, you cant delete posts, but you can go back and edit them - just leave an "oops - double post" message Yes you are right about the tall tanks and less surface area, but having extra aeration to circulate the water better can help there. I have a tank like TTK's new one, and run a small internal power filter AND an undergravel. Seems to work fine, but it's not overstocked. A reasonable power filter and a couple of airstones will do fine. Cheers Ian

Not a huge one, but bigger is better. :lol: You still need keep an eye on the size that fish will grow to. A 10cm kribesis or gourmai will be fine, a couple of adult angels will be a crowd. Ian

Would be great if you can get a captive breeding scheme going for those little mudfish. Eventually captive bred ones might be available as an aquarium fish? Might do a lot to ensure they dont go extinct. Cheers Ian

There are some smaller cichlids that would be fine for that size tank, and peacefull enough to have other community fish in there too. A few Kribensis and an assortment of other fish would be fine. Your angels will be OK in there for a while, until they get too big. Mix in some small loaches or cory catfish and maybe a little bristlenose pleco. Angels are OK, but they grow big and tend to start nibbling on the smaller fish. So if you can seperate the tougher ones into one tank and leave the smaller tetras and platys in the small tank. Of course all it really means if you have started down the Multi-tank route :lol: Cheers Ian

Well everyone agrees - do more water changes 8) If your Nitrate level is high thats the only real way of fixing that, and it will help temporarily with the nitrite levels too. I'm just wondering why the Nitrate is so high in a fairly new tank. It must have been REALLY high before your first big water change First thing that comes to mind is overfeeding and excess uneaten food left in the tank. I dont KNOW that thats the problem, but it would explain all the problems you are having. Putting the fish on a diet for a week or 2 while the tank comes right can only help things as well. Cheers Ian