Dawn

Wrong? No surely not - I never own up to be wrong, oh now hang on there was that one time back in 1963.... :lol: No it definately said 'tablespoon' - another book I read today said '3 tablespoons per gallon' - so it seems everyone differs. I changed half of the water today and he has eaten a little although he completely missed the two mosquito wigglers, I expect we'll have mozzies tomorrow now! He went right up to one and said 'hello how do you do' and kept on swimming! So he's still alive, looking promising. How long does the salt stay in the water? Does that make it salty forever or does it eventually disappear? I ask this because today's book said to add more salt the next day!

Thanks Ira. I thought he might start getting picked on and also there were four males chasing a female around for hours on end and I thought he might get in the way of that too so that's why I shifted him. The book I read said 'one tablespoon per gallon' was a WEAK solution so I halved that yet again - now you tell me it's too strong. Okay I will replace some of the water and hopefully that won't stress him out even more. He did eat a few spirulina flakes this morning but he's still much the same - at least he's alive!

Thanks so much for the advice guys - I'm starting to understand what 'cycling' and all the other things associated with it means now. I will not panic and tomorrow morning will do a 20% water change on both tanks. And Derek no I can't think of anything that has changed for BOTH tanks to have gone down together like that, it's strange. All the fish seem to be okay except for my week old oranda, Prince Charming, who has been very slow and lethargic since yesterday. He is eating if you can call one mouthful eating! Perhaps this is an oranda trait I don't know but he's just not as active as the rest of them. I believe they have problems with food getting stuck in their swim bladders, does that sound right? Something like that anyway. I've put him into my once empty goldfish bowl (about 10 litres) with an under gravel filter and a bubbler and a tablespoon of rock salt (which is a weak solution I think) - let's see what he's like in the morning - is it okay to leave them in the salt water for a few days or should it be only hours or overnight? Should I starve him for a few days and if he's still alive start giving him something like lettuce or peas? Oh gawd I'm beginning to wonder if I'm cut out to be a goldfish mother! I feel a bout of paranoia coming on.....

Thanks Caryl. At 3:30pm the PH was 6.0 or 6.2 at a pinch, certainly no higher. It's a big drop from 6.6-6.8 yesterday? Both tanks are the same, it's strange. Re goldfish tank: Will it be okay for me to not do anything and do my 20% water change tomorrow morning in the hopes that will fix it? Or should I add some PH up tonight? Or change the water straight away? Re barbs tank: I was going to leave it another week (3 weeks since start of tank) before changing the water, should I perhaps add some PH up? Decisions, decisions....

In this case it does but I can make it mean all sorts of things depending on my mood - or his :evil:

Ooh good idea Dennis, I know just where I can get one too. Hopefully DH (also named Dennis) won't roll his eyes at that one :roll:

Nice article thanks Bill. I've printed it out for future use, now all I need is a nice picture of the wcmm to put with it. I'm eyeing up the spare space in the garage - no worries if I can get rid of the car....

Thanks Caryl. Unfortunately today the PH has taken a big drop, from 6.6 to 6.8 (I can NEVER tell the difference between these two shades on the chart) yesterday to 6.0 today. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate test readings are fine so I'm about to read up on what I should do now - unless somewhere here can give me some advice? Actually both tanks (goldfish & tropicals) PH has dropped to 6.0, yesterday and today's tests were done at the same time of the day, around 9.30am.

Hi Folks Hope this is the right forum. As some of you will already know I've had my goldfish only for a few months so I'm just learning. Out of 11 goldfish I seem to have only one female and she seems to want to spawn all the time! The first time I found most of the other fish chasing her around I put her into a small tank with two males and although she did lay some eggs I completely missed it and didn't realise until about four days later when I found just a few going mouldy - I don't think any of them had been fertilised. How would I know if they had been, does anyone know? Apart from finding some baby fish one day that is! Last week it started all again so back into the small tank she went this time with the largest fish, they stayed there for a week and absolutely nothing happened! Now today it's all on again and I don't quite know what to do, obviously the small tank is not conducive to what comes naturally but if I leave her in the large tank with FOUR males chasing her constantly for much longer she's going to have a heart attack - every now and again she stops and justs lays there as if she's dead - and then off they all go again! Or am I being over protective? Should I just leave her be and see what happens? I know the eggs probably won't last very long when they do appear but DH just rolls his eyes when I mention getting yet another tank! Help......please. PS I can't put her into the small tank at the moment anyway as it's being used as a hospital.

Yes I'd forgotten that - oh well I think I'd better just concentrate on those 3 or 4 hundred tiger barbs Pegasus suggested :lol: or that larger tank I need for a tropical community or........ I think one built into the wall would be very nice too!

Hi Goldie I love those Bettas too, would love to have some but think I'd be heading for a divorce if I bought anymore tanks just yet! I did note the shop had the males in very small mirrored containers, as you say hardly room to move around and I don't think they looked very happy at all, but what do I know. I was told I could put one male in my goldfish bowl because they don't need a filter or bubbler of any sort - would anyone here recommend that or is it just a very slow way to die?

Hi Folks Just to apprise you of what I have before I get started:- 5 striped tiger barbs and 5 green tiger barbs - small, 3cm or less each. In an Aqua One AR380 36 litre tank - 36x36x24 cm Siphon filter with wool, ceramic noodles and sponge Pink 8000k light tube T8-10watts 55watt heater & thermostat - set to 24C Plants - 10 Cabomba, 3 Twisted Val, two others unknown names but might be Sumatra Fern 2, Mexican Oak leaf 6. Medium size piece of driftwood with two small pieces of an unknown fern tied to it. About 6cm of a mixture of mainly dark small stones One 'no fishing' ornament Tank was started 10 July and fish added on the 13th. So far they look healthy and happy, water is clear, tests done this morning were:- PH 6.8 Nitrite 0.3mg/L Nitrate 5mg/L Ammonia 0mg/L GH 40mg/L (soft) KH <20mg/L Am I right in thinking the only one I need to worry about is the KH (carbonate hardness)? The test manual says I should adjust with an appropriate buffer, if needed. According to one of the many books I've been reading lately Tiger Barbs like soft water slightly acid which is what it seems to be. Do I need to use a buffer and if so what would that be? From reading various other posts it seems the light tube is not enough wattage, should I up it to 18 watts or more? The plants are looking healthy enough but it's early days yet. The tops of the cabomba are starting to lighten in colour but it's growing fairly rapidly, have had to prune it already. Do I have too many plants? Another query about the filter. I have the wool on the bottom, the ceramic noodles next and the sponge on top - do I have them the right way around or doesn't it really matter? I know I don't clean the noodles but is it okay to clean the wool and sponge in water from the tap or should I use tank water? I've just cleaned the sponge in tap water as it had nasty brown blobs all over it - from the driftwood I suppose? I did get the driftwood from the fish shop but I believe they leach out stuff anyway. Have I stuffed up the bacteria now? I haven't done a water change yet as I was told to leave it for two or more weeks, don't want to fix what isn't broken! Any and all comments most welcome.

Hi Caryl Yes we have a concrete floor thank goodness although the 36 litre tank is sitting on the buffet bench between the kitchen and the lounge, think it's fairly safe though.

Hi Caryl, Rob & Pegasus Thank you for the warm welcome. Yes I do have the bug bad don't I, but trying to be a responsible fish lover also. I thought perhaps 12 goldfish in a 90 litre tank might be a few too many so will have to curb my natural instincts for awhile. Last weekend bought one of the Hagen master kitsets that covers ten different tests so I'm monitoring all tanks regularly - and changing 20% of the water each weekend. Yes Pegasus the tiger barbs are in a heated tank :lol: but don't tempt me further although 3 or 4 hundred barbs sounds like a good number to me! I've only had them for 10 days and as it's 2 weeks since I set their tank up (36 litres) I'm starting to worry about the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate thing I've been reading about. I did exchange a couple of handfuls of the ceramic noodles from my other tank when I started it so the bacteria had a head start. All tests this morning seem to be okay but I have a query which I'll take to the appropriate forum, if there is one. No reason their names all start with C - just one of my many idiosyncrasies I guess! So what other fish shops in Auckland are good Rob (or anyone else)? I've been to Jansens, Fins for Fish in Grey Lynn, various pet-shops and another place in Lincoln Rd (Te Atatu) the name of which escapes me at present. Yes Caryl I have thought of joining a fish club in my area but so far haven't found one near me - I live in New Lynn.

Hi Folks I'm a novice to the fish-keeping game but really enjoying it immensely, it only took two months to get completely hooked! My daughter took me shopping one day in May for a mother's day gift and the rest is history..... It started with Charlie the red & white comet and an expensive (I thought at the time, little did I know what expense was around the corner) round glass goldfish bowl. We then progressed to Charlotte the baby shubunkins who unfortunately managed to injure herself somehow and died within two weeks. Replaced her with Charlotte II, a larger shubunkins, and about now I decided I needed a 'proper' tank! Started with a 20 litre size, an underground filter, a bubbler and the usual ornaments etc. This is where the fish started arriving thick and fast - Coal the moor, Calico (calico), Caramel (bronze), Queen Camilla (white/pale yellow), Columbine (blue) and Chantal (red & white) - all fantails - oops far too many fish for such a small tank, this is where the Hollywood Fish Shop started rubbing their hands with glee when they see me coming! So the 90 litre tank on stand arrives and of course (I think) eight fish aren't enough - up pops Crunchy the algae-eater! This is when one morning I see all the fish except Crunchy and Coal chasing Columbine around and around and around in a dizzy dance - at least I KNOW I have one female now, even though I've named most of them with female names I haven't a clue as to what gender they are! I pop her into the small tank and think I should get her a couple of blue fantail males (I told you I was GREEN) so off out I go and get Courtney & Chandler - thinking I should have a good chance that one of them will be male - and they both were! Unfortunately neither of them were up to it as I don't think the eggs were ever fertilised. I didn't even notice she'd laid her eggs until about four days after the event missed it completely until I found all these funny little sticky dots all over everything! Oh well it's all good fun and hopefully next time I might know what I'm doing! Since then I've added Cadbury the chocolate fantail and Prince Charming the black & gold oranda. Oh yes not to forget the 36 litre tank and the five tiger barbs and the five green tiger barbs.......no names for them though, who can tell them apart! Looking forward to joining in on this website, have already learnt a lot from reading the posts from everyone, most interesting. PS Queen Camilla passed away last week, the day after DH managed to drop the lid/lights into the tank with a large splash/bang! At least I'm blaming him, it couldn't be that the tank is overcrowded of course....

My daughter asked me what I'd like for mother's day and I said a goldfish in a bowl would be nice - two months later I have a 20 litre tank, a 36 litre tank and a 90 litre tank plus an empty goldfish bowl! :roll: (See more about me and my fish in the Welcome Forum).