muddy

Kazz discus fish require different parametres, and most people keep them in a species tank, that is by themselves, i have never kept them, but there are a lot of people who do, gives me an idea , might look into a tank for them muddy

there is no exact time frame for changing water, just regular time frames and regular water quality checks with test kits. there seems to be one thing in common with which ever web site you go to, the LFS never gives the right info, they are there to make money, of course there are some very good shops around as well, they sell you all the equipment to start and the fish, your happy and they are happy, the fish die, you think you did something wrong or you just got bad fish, so you go back and buy more fish, your pocket is lighter and the LFS has more of your money in his account and so on and so on. research and patience, snowman is correct in saying that you go to the LFS with an empty pocket. i vacume/syphon fortnightly about 25% give my filters a swishout in the syphoned water about every 6 months but don't sqweeze or wring out the filter you will damadge the bacteria, try to have the new water as close to the same temp as the tank , room temp seems to work. everybody has different ideas for everything, there is nothing exact with this hobby muddy

shelley, you can get ammonia at most supermarkets or a good hardware store. its great for cleaning glass and floors etc, read the label, it should tell you what is in the bottle, you just want ammonia and water no scented stuff. if you are starting another tank this way is 100% free of contaminants IE; hydroids, ich and anything else you can mention. muddy

i feed my fish including neons frozen blood worms, talk about bringing the colour out, after about 3 feeds i could tell the difference, they were so bright, and like little pirahanas at feeding time, i very rarly feed flakes, it is believed that the flake absorbes water from the tank when you put it in, so the fish are actually eating tank water and getting full on that and not food, this could be why your fish seem to have indigestion , i also use small pellet food and crush it in a pill crusher. just some thoughts cheers muddy

ooops, might have been looking at the wrong conversation, but anyway, it was a good discussion. you need to get some ammonia in a bottle, not the cloudy or scented stuff, just good ol ammonia with water, the percentage of ammonia will never be very high, you can't get 100% ammonia, as this stuff is kept as a liquid at minus 36 degrees C and turns into a toxic, corrosive gas upon entry to the atmosphere. you can cycle everything in a bucket, heaters, filters etc, turn on the heater and an airstone and leave so that eveything has time to warm up, put in your bacteria and then using an eye dropper , put in your ammonia, it won't take much to get to 1ppm, then just let it cycle, it may take a few days, so test every24 hours, when your NH3 is back to 0.0 do it again using the same amount of drops. when you are clearing 0.0 NH3 in 24 hours, start testing every 12 hours, using the same amount of ammonia, when this is clearing evry 12 hours you may be ready to use everything. if you cant get to the LFS for your prize pets, don't worry, just keep feeding your bucket. this is the basics of fishless cycling, it does work, and in any kind of aquarium, if you are starting a marine setup, just setup your water parametres PH, SG, etc, and then go for it, same for ciclids, or goldfish, its not the type of setup that counts or fish, but the nitrogen cycle. its also good practice with test kits and gives a excellent understanding of the nitrogen cycle and some basic chemistry, i'm sure that anyone would enjoy doing this, and when your fish arrive you can enjoy them without stressing them or yourself . the LFS won't tell you about this as when your fish die , you think you did something wrong, its not your fault, if nobody tells you about all this stuff, they just want to sell you more fish. most of all be patiant and research everything. cheers muddy

i'm new here, and am very surprised to here that a tank is being cycled with fish !, this is cruel and should not happen, there are ways of cycling tanks without using fish, cycling can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks. the nitrogen cycle as it is called, must have ammonia in it to complete the cycle, Ammonia,Nitrites, Nitrates. i am currently cycling a 300ltr marine tank, its been 4 weeks so far and i expect at least another 4 to go, and i'm not using fish. i have put a small bottle of cycle in my tank to start the bacteria, but i still need ammonia to complete the cycle. please tell me if i'm wrong. rgds muddy