Fish Experts?

[Kleinerhejhog]

They always tell me the water is hard and the nitrate is high, and everything else looks good.

How many days do you have to return live fish? And what do you tell them? They ate everything, I don't need them any more?

He just doesn't look happy at all.




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[Kleinerhejhog]

Also, I've had a longtime understanding that frequent massive water changes (like 20%) wasn't good because it changed the water chemistry so much, apparently that is not so?

[Kleinerhejhog]

And, sorry, yes, Wode, that is what the algae eaters look like. They are also the most interesting fish I have, they play tag all over the place and play hide and seek in the rock pile. :/

[Kleinerhejhog]

Just so you can see what I mean by the rock pile. I want to put something else tall in the far corner and do something different with the tubing.


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[wodesorel]

Nice looking tank! That is not a 29 gallon - it's probably a 30. (Those are longer. 29s are more square.)

Do you know what the rocks are? If they aren't inert, they can leach unwanted minerals that can either mess with the parameters or poison the fish. Some looks like plain old quarts which is okay, but not all rocks are safe.

A large water change would be over like 50%, anything under that is usually fine as it's removing excess buildup and replacing it with clean water. 10%-25% is average for a weekly clean,or a daily change when cycling. The water inside the tank should match the hardness and pH of the water that is filling it on a regular basis, and if it's not that something funky is happening in the aquarium. The main problem with big water changes is when the water in the tank gets old and funky and concentrated because it's not done often, and then people remove it all at once, and the clean water is so different in composition that it sends the fish into shock. I've had to do 90%+ changes before due to accidents and it never did anything to my water parameters or fish.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but is the betta missing part of his upper lip?

[Kleinerhejhog]

I think other than one small round one that came out of a creek in Kentucky, I got all of the rocks at a fish store in Michigan. The pink and green ones for sure are quartz. Oh, and there's a little chunk of amethyst, too.

The friend I got it from said it was 29; she bought it new, so I just went with that...

Okay, so the more often you change water, the safer it is to change large amounts?

On the betta, I am not 100% sure, it looked like there was something hanging off his face; whatever was going on with him, he gave up.

I asked at the store about returning the algae eaters, they will not take them back. The girl suggested I give them away, or let them go in a stream or something. Smh...

[Makena95GT]

If its been less than 14 days they can take them back. If not.. Take them to a mom and pop fish store.

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[Kleinerhejhog]

I think it's been longer, but not sure because I can't find the receipt. She said I could not even donate them back to the store.

[wodesorel]

If you like the algae eaters, there is no reason to get rid of them. Just be aware that tankmates may not work out, and they might get bigger than what the tank can handle. I have an off-species tank myself. People get kuhli loaches and never see them again (though they are still alive) and think 'oh well, really boring fish'. My tank is nothing but a big school of kuhlis and two laid back clown plecos. Without any fish around to bother them, the kuhlis are insane and I wouldn't dream of adding any fish to the tank now that would cause that to change.

[Kleinerhejhog]

Other than posting in the local garage sale group, not sure of any other way to give them away. And outside of the high end aquarium store, I don't even know of any Mom and Pop places.

I can be happy with what's in there now, if I get it stable.

[Kleinerhejhog]

Ugh, the more I read the more discouraged I get. The one big Q I kept forgetting to ask was whether the undergravel filter is a help or a hinderance. Looks to me like a major hinderance. And even when the kids at PetSmart would tell me the water is so hard, it never occurred to me that might mean there are probably types of fish that simply don't survive well in hard water. Fish aren't labeled that way. Just as frustrating as getting plants at Home Depot that simply don't grow well in Texas.

[wodesorel]

Some people still swear by UGFs, but they've fallen out of favor. For sure it can't be the only filtration on the tank, and it can make cycling harder since it will trap organic debris where it can't be cleaned.

Yes! It's a lot like trying to buy plants. They sell the prettiest stuff because that's what people want, but they don't take into account how well it will do in any given local climate. The standard 'boring' species are the best bet, both with gardening and fish.

For hard water, cichlids are the standard, but they are aggressive and have to be kept with like species. They'll attack anything that moves otherwise.

[Kleinerhejhog]

The under gravel is not the only filtration. There's a Fluval 50 on there. Wondering if I should try to switch to, or just add, the large canister filter that came with the 55 I got for the crabs.

Are there any others that do okay in hard water? Just never have been fond of cichlids. :/

And I lost a neon yesterday. Sigh.

[Makena95GT]

Ive kept all types of fish in hard water. I live in Pflugerville (pretty much north Austin) and besides the darned neons.. Havent had an issue.

Id toss on the canister filter and ditch the UGF. Depending on what canister filter it is.. You may be able to ditch all other filtration for it but I wouldn't mess with it till your tank cycles

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[Kleinerhejhog]

Right now it's in pieces all over the garage floor, lol... Never had a cannister filter before, so not sure if there's anything different about how it works. At first glance I thought just like an HOB just a lot bigger. I can definitely see that one advantage would be that it could pull water from one end of the tank and refill on the other, rather than the in and out being two inches apart. I think all the media that came in that filter is probably dry now; would there be any advatage to rewetting that, or would I be better off to start from scratch? And no, I wouldn't plan on removing the HOB until the other is up and running and things have been stable for probably months... As for ditching the UGF, should I just turn off its air, or remove it entirely? And how close timewise to doing that could I add the cannister? I'm thinking removing the UGF would result in a whole lot of dirty water all at once, would having an additional filter running help clean that up faster? What about temporarily moving all of the fish to another tank?

Sorry for tossing out a zillion questions all at once...

Huh, I've had these neons for at least a year. I'd always been under the impression that they just didn't have long life spans, is that the case, or are they just super touchy?