Tropical Fish

ponder said:
I think you work out correctly. Scary though that people cannot even judge 20l though...
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140L is correct, my HP48 doesn't lie :)
Yeah something didn't look right it's suggested even with it being 140L he could maybe add one more fish, very tempting to fill the tank up when they're all juveniles and look lost in that big space, but they do get bigger eventually. That's if they don't go floating first :)
 
2 fish died this morning,the guppy and the sucker fish,i'm guesing the tank was 2 small,soz for spelling.
 
Dasher said:
2 fish died this morning,the guppy and the sucker fish,i'm guesing the tank was 2 small,soz for spelling.
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Most probably has nothing to do with the size of the tank.

They could have been stressed from being put into a new environment. 2nd problem is that you tank has no cycled properly, meaning that there is no natural bacteria in the water to break up all the fish poop etc...
 
Dasher said:
2 fish died this morning,the guppy and the sucker fish,i'm guesing the tank was 2 small,soz for spelling.
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Eish. It happens, and you need to find out why so the other's don't go floating too.
Were you given some muti to balance the pH?
Did you follow the procedure to add fish to the tank?
Is the water temperature correct?

There is a procedure to get your tank going at first and they don't survive in straight tap water with all the cholorine in it, get yourself a pH test kit and check what's going on.
Also it's not advisable to fill tanks from the garden hose, there's bacteria living in there that also nails them.
The tank size is fine, don't shove any more fish in yet let those ones get the tank primed.
 
Dasher said:
2 fish died this morning,the guppy and the sucker fish,i'm guesing the tank was 2 small,soz for spelling.
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Before you add too many fish you normally need to cycle a tank for a little bit. Cycling a tank is about getting the whole nitrogen cycle kicked off and going. This cycle works by effectively breaking down fish waste. If you tank is not cycled, and you add too many fish at once, you tank cannot break down their waste in time and the water becomes toxic to them.

Thats a quick and simple explanation. If you really keen on getting this right, i suggest you join the forum below:
http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/

Have read on there as ask questions, you will learn quite a lot and will save the lives of many of your fish.
 
Thanks for the advice.

i don't know how to cycle the tank but 70 % of the water in there is from the pet shop

i added 2 teaspoons of aqua safe to the water,the heater is set to 24C but the water is 28C because of the house temprature,one of the aquarium keepers at the pet shop says it's fine as long as i don't change the temprature suddenly.

thanks for the link to the website,i didn't even know SA had a tropical fish forum


i'm now saving up for a 500L tank which cost around R8000 with filter and all the other stuff tropical fish need,should prob take me about 2 months to add that to my hobby bank since business seems to be slow.
 
Dasher said:
i'm now saving up for a 500L tank which cost around R8000 with filter and all the other stuff tropical fish need,should prob take me about 2 months to add that to my hobby bank since business seems to be slow.
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:eek: Jeez, that's expensive. I would advise you to go the second hand route, will work out much cheaper. I sold my entire reef setup for like R3k and that was a lot of kit, 180cmx60cmx60cm tank.
 
ponder said:
:eek: Jeez, that's expensive. I would advise you to go the second hand route, will work out much cheaper. I sold my entire reef setup for like R3k and that was a lot of kit, 180cmx60cmx60cm tank.
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it's no normal fish tank,they allready cycled it,it's very big,you get new stuff and fish if any of your fish die within 8 months.the tank also looks pretty nice,it also has a reserve tank to put your fish in when yo clean it,it also tells the nitride and amonia and a bunce of other stuff levels,it has a water tester,and thats just the start.
 
Dasher said:
it's no normal fish tank,they allready cycled it,it's very big,you get new stuff and fish if any of your fish die within 8 months.the tank also looks pretty nice,it also has a reserve tank to put your fish in when yo clean it,it also tells the nitride and amonia and a bunce of other stuff levels,it has a water tester,and thats just the start.
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When you clean tanks you almost never remove the fish from the tank. YOu typically just take some dirty water out and put some fresh water in. You never drain it completely because then you have to cycle it again.

The other stuff seems decent,like replacement fish and the test kits etc. But i still suggest joining the forum i mentioned, post the details of your tank, the equipment you getting and the fish etc. They will tell you if you are being ripped off or not.
 
catweasel said:
When you clean tanks you almost never remove the fish from the tank. YOu typically just take some dirty water out and put some fresh water in. You never drain it completely because then you have to cycle it again.
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+1

Cycling is one of the most important bits - its keeps the nitrogen levels correct. Get yourself a ph meter and check the water.

I change 25% of the water every 2 weeks. Also get yourself a gravel pump - while your cleaning the gravel the water is removed. Also get something like aquasafe for the replacement water.

Join http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/ - its a very active forum with loads of clever fishy people.
 
i allready joined a trop fish forum,thank for all the help guys.


P.S i bought my tank for R50 and it's a 60 litre,the stuff i got with it wasn't very decent but the tank itself was nice.
 
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