Ianab

You can estimate the weight by working on 1kg per litre + the glass + the rocks and gravel So a 500l tank probably weights about 600kg. Thats 3 fat people sitting on a couch If you would worry about that, then best get your house foundations checked. If you cant get under your house it's likely that you have a concrete slab floor, no sensible sized tank is going to damage that. Make sure the tank stand spreads the weigth out over the full length, or set it up on a big slab of plywood to spread the weight evenly. Cheers Ian

To be sure about water changes you really need to test the water, mainly for nitrates. When they get up close to 40 on the scale it's time to change some water to keep the levels below that. How fast it gets there depends on tank size and amount of fish / fish food that are put in there. You can usually go by some rule of thumb like 20% per week for a normally stocked tank. More if you have max amount of fish or big messy eaters, less if the tank is lightly stocked. You should run the filter 24 hours, but generally the lights for about 12 hours. Some fish like to sleep, and others prefer to come out in the dark.. a bit like people Cheers Ian

Use it as a Guppy breeding tank. Just drop in 2 nice guppies, they will be OK in that size tank. WHEN they drop fry (they will) take the adults out. Once the fry have outgrown the tank they will be big enough to handle a community tank, and the adults will be ready to spawn again. Repeat untill you are over run with guppies :roll: Cheers Ian

Cool... wonder if there is a world record for BN Catfish I think they sometimes measure them minus the tail fin? Maybe thats the difference? Anyway the tank in question was 400l, so he has room for a couple of bristlenoses anyway, even jumbo size ones. Cheers Ian

Not sure what you mean with small?? Mine were over 20cm long last time I saw them... Are you sure thats it's a bristlenose? They should only grow to about about 12-15 cm or so. If it's a common pleco though, then it's still a baby :-? Cheers Ian

Volume of a hexagon is approx side length (squared) x 2.6 x height. So if your tank is 20cm per side and 60cm deep 20 x 20 x 2.6 x 60 = 62400 cc = 62.4 litres (aprox) But remember that taller tanks will generally hold less fish because they have less surface area than a long shallow tank. Anyway that will give you a good estimate to work from anyway. Cheers Ian

Think you should start with a couple of little bristlenose plecos then They are small, hardy and peacefull. Put them in there for a few weeks and let them clean up and cycle the filters for you. Cheers Ian

Probably safer doing it that way, but if there is something nasty in the water then your net and the fish themselves can transfer it anyway It's just a risk you have to take when you get new fish really. Cheers Ian

More plants will help, they will use up the excess nutrient that is feeding the algae. A couple of small plecos would probably help keep it under control too, although they will just convert it to pleco poo :lol: At least thats easier to vacumn out. Cheers Ian

Nothing special. Float the bag for a while to let the temps equalise, mix the tank and bag water and let them swim out. And predicting your first question after you let them go They will probably vanish under a rock within about 2 seconds and you wont see them for a couple of days - and thats normal too Cheers Ian

Not really... by definition 'sterile' is 'nothing living' I would also look at the other items in the tank, gravel, wood, ornaments as one of them may be leaching a chemical into the water. I guess the problem is that you dont know if it's organic disease or an in-organic poison. Do the fish recover when you take them out of the tank? If thats the case I would look at something toxic being in the tank. If it was bacteria or parasite they would carry it to another tank. Cheers Ian

Easiest and safest way would be to make it with Light Emitting Diodes and power it from a small low voltage 'wall wart' power supply. They also last for YEARS. You might even be able to get some of the computer 'modding' or car lights that would suit. If you stick with the LEDs you are pretty safe, they run off low voltage and even if you do wire them up wrong all that happens is the go 'pop' with some smelly smoke. Have a search on Trademe, there are lots of guys selling LED lighting gadgets there. Cheers Ian

You are on the right track though. Try dropping some sinking food or a lump of vege in there when you turn the lights out. Then sit and watch TV beside the tank and see what happens. First few weeks it might be the same but eventually it will get bolder and treat you as part of the furniture. Not as a large and potentially plecy eating 'something' Cheers Ian

A few tricks you can try... Like has been said, make some more hiding places that you can see into easily. Those ceramic hollow 'logs' are good. More hiding places often encourages them to come out more as there is allways a convenient place nearby to hide. Feed them just before lights out, in the same place. Turn off the tank lights but leave the room lights on. Once they get in to the habit they will associate the lights dimming and the tank lid rattling with food. Then just sit beside the tank quietly and see if they come out. Get them used to having people around the tank, they may startle when someone walks up, but they will get very used to someone sitting there quietly. My big pleco is in a tank that sits between our computer desks, and he is out and about most of the time as we sit here. When he gets hungry he comes and sucks onto the front glass and waits for food. When I drop a disc in he races it to the bottom. My other pleco is in a tank on the other side of the kitchen where there is seldom anybody there. He hides as soon as anyone shows up. Caves are set up so you can still see him, but you have to look under a rock or the filter box. So one associates a person walking up with food, and the other still thinks danger. Cheers Ian

Angels and tetras will eat floating flakes fine too. My fish also seem to like the dried tubifex worm blocks. You just mush them onto the glass a couple of inches down from the top, they stick there and the fish go crazy eating them. Get some sinking spirulina or algae catfish tablets when you get your pleco too. Plecos generally need food with more plant mateial than normal fish food. You should be fine just doing small water changes each week. (10-20% of the water) Maybe start that next weekend? Several years with a bit of luck. They aren't a long lived species, but I think 2-3 years is the normal range. Now is a good time. If you have plants in there they will want light. You will probably get a bit of green algae growing on the glass and rocks too, dont worry, it's harmless and the pleco will love it. You can feed them as soon as they settle down enough to want to eat. With guppies thats probably about 10 mins Feed them small amounts to start with so they eat it all in a couple of minutes. Doesn't hurt to feed them more often, as long as it's small amounts and they eat it all. Just keep and eye on the fish, I wouldn't panic about a ripped fin or a spot at the moment, unless things get worse. If it is white spot there will be more spots and they will spread to the other fish. Then you need to treat it. Cheers Ian

Yup.. they seem to change colour depending on their mood. Sometimes it's a sign of stress, I guess the are in a bad mood, other times I can find no reason for it. Cheers Ian

I dont know what to tell you really... I have one tank that I just cant keep guppies in :roll: Strangly enough it has undergravel filtering as well, but the pleco and neons have lived in it quite happily for the last year. Well, one neon died, but thems the breaks, the other 6 look to be trying for old age pensions. The pleco has grown to about 6" and looking for a bigger home. But the guppys just lost condition and began dieing. So I moved them out. My other tank at the time had NO filter, just an airstone. The guppys basically took over in that tank. It's now got a decent Ehiem internal sponge filter, and even MORE guppies. It has a 4" pleco in there too. Same water, same food, same guppys. So.. ummm.. I dunno But if anyone in Taranaki needs guppys.. PM me, I have several hundred Ian

hard to tell.... If you have a few days to spare... http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/family.php?family_id=4 That lists 696 species of Loricarids... about 30 or so in the middle of the list are Panaques. It has pictures of most of the species, common names and general info Cheers Ian

yeah.. what Flatfish said. Pleco is a generic name for the Loricariidae family of catfish.. there are hundreds of them. The Panaques are a sub family of the Loricariidae. So all Panaques are 'plecos', but not all plecos are panaques... OK ? Cheers Ian

I think those black ghosts are considered peacefull... toward any fish that it cant fit in it's mouth :-? If they can swallow something they will. I think you will find more of the small fish vanish as the BGKs grow bigger. They are neat fish, but keep them with some bigger tankmates, Angels, Discus, Gouramis, Plecos etc. Cheers Ian

Umm.. nope.. thats a bit extreme But just feed them lightly, it will cut down on the bio-load going into the water and let things settle down. Cheers Ian

Things you have... a decent sized tank, filter and lights - so far so good. Bigger tanks are actually easier to look after than small ones. Things happen slower etc. Things you WILL need Dont know if your tank comes with a heater or not, you will want one if you are keeping tropicals. Goldfish or White Cloud Mountain Minnows will be OK without one. Thermometer - to check and adjust the heater. Siphon and a bucket - to suck out water when changing it and vacumn up the crud that gathers in the gravel. Net - eventually you will want to to catch fish when you move them around. Magnetic glass cleaner - handy if you dont have a Pleco to clean the glass for you. If you do have a pleco then you WILL need the siphon tube, trust me on that one. Fish food - depends what fish you are getting, but most common fish that a beginner should get will eat normal flake food. Catfish and loaches will want sinking pellets or tablets. Gravel / rocks / plants / driftwood. Depends on the look you want. Mostly to give the shy fish hiding places and make the tank generally look better. What to get depends on the species and the look you are after. Nice to have stuff Water test kits. Generally you can just wing it and rely on regular water changes and a lower number of fish to keep your tank healthy. But being able to test the water is a good thing, especially when you get into more demanding fish that need specific conditions. Extra filter or air pump. Your tank probably has adequate filtration supplied with it, but I personally like the look of a couple of airstones or an air curtain and the extra aeration and water circulation wont hurt. Also a good backup incase your filter gets blocked. Next steps..... Fill up the tank with gravel / rock / water. Turn on the heater and filter. Leave for a few days untill the temp is stable ( about 25c) and the water is clear. Now the important part.. cycling the tank. Your tank is now clean, means there are no 'good' bacteria in there to break down the ammonia that the fish produce. You have to take the initial stocking of your tank very slowly and let the bacteria build up in the filter and gravel. Easiest way to do this is to just put a few small hardy fish in there for the first week or 2. Feed them lightly and they will be fine. The ammonia will not build up too fast, and the bacteria will multiply fast enough to break it down. After a few weeks you can add a few more fish and gradually build up the numbers. Other thing to consider is what fish you want to keep. Some like being in groups, others are solitary. Some are good community members, some aren't. Good fish to start with are Zebra Danios, Neon Tetras, Guppys, Golden Barbs, Bristlenose Plecos ( they are smaller ) or other small catfish (corys). A selction like that will have various fish in the top, middle and bottom of the tank. I'm sure that others will recommend their favourites too, but thats a good combo that I've had in my tanks before without trouble. Feel free to ask any more questions, but next step is to get some water in there and decide what fish you want while it settles down. Then go and get a FEW fish at first. Cheers Ian

Yup.. my advice would be to do nothing for a week or so. I assume the fish are still happy and healthy, just leave the tank alone for 2 weeks or so and see what happens. No chemicals, no water changes and no new fish ( you probably have plenty). It should settle down and then you can get back to regular small water changes. I've just finished cycling my 70l tank, and the water went though various shades of white / brown / green but it's settled down now. It has about 20 assorted guppys and 2 small plecos. The plecs are only temp, they will outgrow it soon and get moved to my yet to be purchased 'big' tank. Trying to force the water conditions to stabilise quickly by pouring in different chemicals is probably not the best idea. The various treatments may have their place for certain situations / diseases and water problems. But time will help in most normal situations. Cheers Ian

You are getting there.. The pictures are a bit big to embed in the posts (taks to long to load on slow connections etc). Can you make them a bit smaller and repost them to photobucket. Then you can add them into your posts. Just use the Img button and put the url in there. http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/animal_lover_24_26/NewFishTankPictures004.jpg Your Ammonia and Nitrite will be Zero because there is NOTHING happening in the tank. The Ammonia and Nitrate will increase slighlty once you add fish, and should then drop to zero again as the filter bacteria start working. As ammonia and nitrite are poisonous you dont want them to build up too fast, hence just adding a few fish and letting the bacteria catch up. PH is neutral (7) and thats fine too. Having a test kit will make life easier as you can actually watch the tank cycle. Once you add some fish there should be some ammonia present after a few days. As long as it's only a few fish it wont get too high before the ammonia eating bacteria multiply and turn the ammonia into nitirite. So then you will see the nitrite rise a little. Then the next bacteria will kick in and convert that to nitrate. Nitrate isn't very toxic, but you do partial water changes to keep it's level under control long term. Cheers Ian

Wood can be all different species, and some will leach different natural chemicals into the water over time depending on how old it is and what type. Most woods aren't harmfull to the water and your water changes and filter should keep things under control. If you find one causing a problem chuck it out and try something else. Well I just pick up interesting bits of wood off the beach or riverbank and wash them well and drop them in. Some recommend boiling them first, depends where they come from I guess. They dont have to be huge, especially if you have a small tank. You could put a couple of small sticks in there and a large flat rock on top to weigh them down. Make an ideal cave for the plecys too. If the filter hasn't been used for a while and has new sponge just treat it like it's new and cycle it accordingly. If it's been dried out there wont be any significant bacteria left in it. Seeding from another tank is something you have to do pretty much same day. If it dries out or is left too long the bacteria die off. It varies, some are very good, some aren't so good, and also who you get to talk to in the shop. Some simple questions ( that you already know the answer to ) can help sort out what they know. If they tell you that an adult common pleco will be fine in your 2 ft tank then they aren't one of the good shops :-? The advantage here is that if someone gives you bad advice they will get corrected pretty quick. There might be different methods of doing things and different experiences, but those get discussed and you can see what you want to try yourself. Could be a bit of a squeeze, but if they are healthy larger fish it's easy enough to re-home some... or just do what most of us do... get another tank For the pictures.. go to www.photobucket.com and sign up for an account. That will let you upload pictures to your own picture pages then you can link them into your posts here. Cheers Ian