Well I suppose it had to happen. I had my first mass extinction because I didnt pay attention to the water chemistry in my 5.5 gallon tank at home.
My 10 gallon goldfish tank is almost completely self sufficient...it is fully cycled and had so many plants that they eat all the pollutants in the tank. So Ammonia and nitrate levels are zero, and nitrite levels are low, despite the fact that I rarely do water changes. The fish are very active and seem happy. The plants and snails maintain the water quality for me and the water is always crystal clear.
I made the assumption that I could do the same thing in my guppy tank as well. That it would in fact be easier because guppies only pollute the water a fraction as much as the much messier goldfish. I was wrong.
I think my main miscalculation was putting too much fertilizer in the tankfor the plants. I didnt do water changes often, And I think I may have fed them too much. Also I dont have an undergravel filter because the tank is so small, just a sponge filter.
So anyway, three of them died off, including two pregnant females. There are four survivors, all males. They were lethargic and hanging out at the top of the water, depite the fact that the water was well oxygenated (which is never a good sign). I did a 75% water change, re-salted, and added a much more appropriate amount of fertilizer. The fish are clearly stressed (and I see ammonia burns on their fins), but the effect was almost immediate. They began swimming around normally. They still "rested" at the top or bottom of the tank periodically, but they were a lot more active.
So thats my lesson for this month....pay attention to water changes. They are important even if your fish dont seem to be affected. The females died overnight with no signs of distress and no warning.
The Fry in the nursery tank are doing well. As far as I can tell, I havnt lost any of them. They are all active and growing, and most can be sexed. Baby Brine Shrimp were an ideal food for them...not only are they small enough for even newborns to eat, but they stimulate predatory behavior and make the fry swim around (exercise). I am now supplementing with flake food.
I am buying a 29 gallon tank this weekend, and will use it with a divider to separate the sexes. I plan on making it my main planted tank for now on, and as soon as the fry are big enough not to get eaten by adults, I will start moving them over and separating them once the tank has cycled for a few days. I will be using water from my goldfish tank to jump-start the nitrate cycle.
Getting a little worried about my 6.6 gallon desk tank at work...I have six guppies in it and three of them swim around normally, but the other four are displaying teh same lethargic behavior I saw in my 5.5 gallon at home. I thought oxygenation might be a problem, so I added a bubble wall to supplement the power filter (no undergravel filter in this tank either). That and a water change helped, but they still "rest" at the top of the tank a lot. I dont know...maybe this is normal behavior. But I am not sure what else I can do.
I bought three ghost shrimp...I am experimenting with them as a supplement to the snails to clean the uneaten food, fish crap, and (maybe) algea in the tank. Not sure if they are helping anything, but they are kinda cool to watch either way. I have been told they breed fairly easily as well.
My 10 gallon goldfish tank is almost completely self sufficient...it is fully cycled and had so many plants that they eat all the pollutants in the tank. So Ammonia and nitrate levels are zero, and nitrite levels are low, despite the fact that I rarely do water changes. The fish are very active and seem happy. The plants and snails maintain the water quality for me and the water is always crystal clear.
I made the assumption that I could do the same thing in my guppy tank as well. That it would in fact be easier because guppies only pollute the water a fraction as much as the much messier goldfish. I was wrong.
I think my main miscalculation was putting too much fertilizer in the tankfor the plants. I didnt do water changes often, And I think I may have fed them too much. Also I dont have an undergravel filter because the tank is so small, just a sponge filter.
So anyway, three of them died off, including two pregnant females. There are four survivors, all males. They were lethargic and hanging out at the top of the water, depite the fact that the water was well oxygenated (which is never a good sign). I did a 75% water change, re-salted, and added a much more appropriate amount of fertilizer. The fish are clearly stressed (and I see ammonia burns on their fins), but the effect was almost immediate. They began swimming around normally. They still "rested" at the top or bottom of the tank periodically, but they were a lot more active.
So thats my lesson for this month....pay attention to water changes. They are important even if your fish dont seem to be affected. The females died overnight with no signs of distress and no warning.
The Fry in the nursery tank are doing well. As far as I can tell, I havnt lost any of them. They are all active and growing, and most can be sexed. Baby Brine Shrimp were an ideal food for them...not only are they small enough for even newborns to eat, but they stimulate predatory behavior and make the fry swim around (exercise). I am now supplementing with flake food.
I am buying a 29 gallon tank this weekend, and will use it with a divider to separate the sexes. I plan on making it my main planted tank for now on, and as soon as the fry are big enough not to get eaten by adults, I will start moving them over and separating them once the tank has cycled for a few days. I will be using water from my goldfish tank to jump-start the nitrate cycle.
Getting a little worried about my 6.6 gallon desk tank at work...I have six guppies in it and three of them swim around normally, but the other four are displaying teh same lethargic behavior I saw in my 5.5 gallon at home. I thought oxygenation might be a problem, so I added a bubble wall to supplement the power filter (no undergravel filter in this tank either). That and a water change helped, but they still "rest" at the top of the tank a lot. I dont know...maybe this is normal behavior. But I am not sure what else I can do.I bought three ghost shrimp...I am experimenting with them as a supplement to the snails to clean the uneaten food, fish crap, and (maybe) algea in the tank. Not sure if they are helping anything, but they are kinda cool to watch either way. I have been told they breed fairly easily as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment