How did my fish survive for so long?

[debabelz]

A few years ago I got given a 140 liter fish tank, it had 6 angels, 3 sharks 2 gouramis and about 4 other can't remember what they weres in it, I cycled the tank before putting them in but never tested the water or anything... after about a year my filter packed up and I never got around to getting another one and I only did 'water changes' when the water evaporated so low that I nearly had to refill the whole tank, the poor fish survived like this for over a year until my heater also packed up and they died... so how did they live so long and seemingly happily in such conditions? I have no idea what the pH of the water was or the ammonia level or anything else but surely it couldn't have been very good especially without a filter, is it normal for fish to survive in these conditions or did I just get lucky? anyway after having no fish for a couple of years now i want to start again but properly this time... I have a big filter and am letting the tank cycle, I have quite a few rocks, driftwood and plants in it and a silica sand substrate.... when should I test the water and do I have to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates or will a pH test be enough?

[BikBok]

how are you letting your tank "cycle" ? just wonderinn what you are adding for it to cycle.

[livingart]

You got lucky in the fact it was a gradual degradation of their habitat, after your previous attempt it would be good to get all test kits and get an understanding of water chemistry

[Ira]

And based on your obvious neglect of the previous tank I'm guessing you probably weren't feeding them very often either. So that would help.

[BikBok]

hopefully, by coming here and making the effort to join this forum she is showing that she does want to do things right this time.

My first attempt at fish keeping 25 years ago was not as informed as it is today, and I mostly have this forum to thank for helping me get on my way again.

Debabelz do you understand that cycling a tank is not just letting the filter run ? Look up the nitrogen cycle .

A test kit would be very helpful while your tank is new.

At the mimimum you need an ammonia test, but I do recommend you get the others if you can. Ammonia is the killer in a cycling tank.

What sorts of fish are you wanting to keep? Start with some hardy ones and not too many!

[debabelz]

hopefully, by coming here and making the effort to join this forum she is showing that she does want to do things right this time.

My first attempt at fish keeping 25 years ago was not as informed as it is today, and I mostly have this forum to thank for helping me get on my way again.

Debabelz do you understand that cycling a tank is not just letting the filter run ? Look up the nitrogen cycle .

A test kit would be very helpful while your tank is new.

At the mimimum you need an ammonia test, but I do recommend you get the others if you can. Ammonia is the killer in a cycling tank.

What sorts of fish are you wanting to keep? Start with some hardy ones and not too many!

Yes exactly I do want to do it right this time.... I will get an ammonia test, have tested the pH and it is 7 thats good right? what else do you have to do to cycle a tank? I have plants in there at the moment so have the filter and heater on 24/7 what else do I need to do? I want to mostly have tetras but would like some gouramis too

[BikBok]

hi deb,

have a good read about the nitrogen cycle so you understand what it is you're trying to achieve. there's a good article on the fnzas site : http://www.fnzas.org.nz/?p=1868

Basically you're aiming to establish a beneficial bacterial colony in the filter that can deal with fish waste. In order to do this you need to "feed" your filter and there are different ways to go about this ... go down to the "methods of cycling" on the above page and choose one you think will best suit.

There are differing opinions on which is best i.e fishless vs adding fish

I have always favored adding a couple of small hardy fish such as guppies, but many here don't agree with that I also add some bacteria supplement such as JBL filter star (my fav) or TLC smart start to speed up the process and shorten the time the guppies are exposed to ammonia and nitrite. . I monitor levels carefully and haven't lost fish doing it this way. I like to see fish in my tank!

You could also add some fish flakes for a few days ahead of time to start decomposing , then add your supplement followed by fish .

Whatever you do, don't overload your tank with fish too quickly, whatever stage you decide to add fish, just a a few at a time depending on your size tank... add new members slowly over several weeks or months. This gives the biofilter time to adjust to the increased wastes.

I have no experience with a complete fishless cycle so if you d cide to go that way, hopefully others can advise and help you with that.

Good luck - starting up can be confusing and seem like a lot of work but get it right at the start, then keep up your tank maintenance and water changes and you'll have a beautiful living ornament to admire and enjoy each day.

[kinnadian]

so how did they live so long and seemingly happily in such conditions?

Simple answer was that they weren't happy, they were slowly dying. It would be like subjecting humans to living in an outhouse, with all of your waste polluting your air and contaminating your food.

By the sounds of it you weren't doing actual water changes and I doubt any nitrate test could have picked up the levels that you had in your tank, since nitrates aren't removed through evaporation only from water changes.

Based on your description I assume you were irregularly feeding them, so they would have been starving and not produced a lot of waste. Also it is very likely a few died that you did not notice and the fish simply ate the dead fish before you noticed.

Fish are hardier than most people think, a lot of them live in swamps or stagnant water pools (which is essentially what your tank would have been). In saying this, MANY fish die in the wild because of these conditions, but we as fish keepers aim to have none die so we provide the best environment we can to ensure their survival.