# Food, algae, catfish and tempatures



## rokslide (Dec 6, 2005)

HI all,

Just a beginner here so bear with me.

Just set up/setting up a 34 litre aquarium. First one since the good olde days of a gold fish in a bowl... it's one of those AquaOne ones with the filter, light etc.

Planning on keeping tropical fish so it has a heater etc.

Have done the initial setting up as advised by our friendly pet shop staff.
- week 1 - by itself getting bacteria etc established
- week 2 - with plants
- week 3 - some bottom feeders (kuhli loach and corydora)

Anyhow, that's the back ground, on to the questions....

1. How can I be sure I am feeding my fish enough? The food container warns not to over feed and to only feed them what can be eaten in a couple of minutes but it seems to me that these fish don't chase the food so... maybe they have plenty of food already??

2. Got some algae(?) or similar growing in the tank, was on some of the stones, it's now heading to the tank walls. I suspect this is an indiciator that I have not cleaned the tank when I should have. Does this sound right?

3. I understand the kuhli likes to bury itself in the gravel. I think our gravel might be a bit heavy for it. Any suggestions as to the best gravel for kuhli's?

4. Temperatures. The booklet that came with the aquarium suggested 24 degrees c. Living in Australia at the moment with the heat the way it is the tank is getting close to 30 degrees c. Is this temperature okie or should be have a cooling panel or something? What is the max temp. eg. when should we get worried?

Think that is pretty much it for the moment. Many thanks to anyone who can helpw with these questions.


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## garfieldnfish (Jan 18, 2005)

A 34 liter is about 10 gal. What fish do you have currently in this tank? 
Best advise I can give you right now is not to listen to anyone at your petstore. They usually have no clue and only want to sell you fish. As shown when they advised you to do nothing for one week to get the bacteria established. Did you put any ammonia in there? In form of dead fish, spoiled food, cat pee, fish food, etc. This is the only way to get the bacteria to start growing unless you add fish to the tank to start a cycle. Read up on cycling it will help a lot.
What fish do you want to keep in this tank?
Ask first, then buy. I did it the other way. Now I have 11 fish tanks. You don't want to go that way.


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## rokslide (Dec 6, 2005)

Sorry to be miss leading... the first week it was running it had the water treatment stuff in it. One to get rid of nasty chemicals that we have in Sydney water the other to help establish the bacteria.

The only fish in the aquarium at the moment are 2 corydora's and 1 kuhlii loach.

In the future I want to put some tectras(sp?) in there but other then that I haven't really picked any others yet.

I think our pet store guy is pretty good to be honest. He advised the slow and careful approach rather then rushing in and asked about what we wanted to keep and advised what fish worked well together etc so....


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

> 1. How can I be sure I am feeding my fish enough? The food container warns not to over feed and to only feed them what can be eaten in a couple of minutes but it seems to me that these fish don't chase the food so... maybe they have plenty of food already??


 The general rule is to give them about three minutes and what they dont eat after that is overfeeding. Just start out with a little, wait for them to eat it and then add a little more if they still seem hungry, you'll get the hang of it :-D If you havent fed them that day and they're not eating it they may not like it yet so try something else.




> 2. Got some algae(?) or similar growing in the tank, was on some of the stones, it's now heading to the tank walls. I suspect this is an indiciator that I have not cleaned the tank when I should have. Does this sound right?


 What color is it? brown? If so it's common in newly setup tanks and can easily be removed.



> 3. I understand the kuhli likes to bury itself in the gravel. I think our gravel might be a bit heavy for it. Any suggestions as to the best gravel for kuhli's?


 Since they like to burrow in the substrate they are better off with sand, its easier on the skin :-D

4. Temperatures. The booklet that came with the aquarium suggested 24 degrees c. Living in Australia at the moment with the heat the way it is the tank is getting close to 30 degrees c. Is this temperature okie or should be have a cooling panel or something? What is the max temp. eg. when should we get worried?
I think 30C is about 85F, that seems a bit high to me, but it does depend on the fish that your keeping


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## rokslide (Dec 6, 2005)

As far as the food goes they never seem to chase after it although they did seem a bit more active once it was introduced (especially the kuhli). I suspect we are fairly right at the moment.

After having a look around I suspect I have a classic case of brown algae. I have found some instructions to remove it so I will give it a bash tonight, or in the next couple of days atleast.

The place we brought the little kuhli from seemed to have a mix of sand and gravel. I will be heading back their way in the next few days so I will find out what they are using. I assume sand would be better for plants as well? 

Speaking of plants.... the ones I brought are bound (eg there is a wire around the base to hold them together). If I want my plants to grow should I remove this?

I might meantion the temp to the pet guys. I agree, it sounds a little high, but I'm not sure on the best method of cooling it down....

Thanks for the responses. As a side note, the fish all seem to be doing quite well, swimming around nibbling at things so I guess it's not too bad in there.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

rokslide said:


> Sorry to be miss leading... the first week it was running it had the water treatment stuff in it. One to get rid of nasty chemicals that we have in Sydney water the other to help establish the bacteria.
> 
> 
> > Establishing bacteria in a tank takes around 4 weeks, not 1 week, and you need to have a food source for your bacteria... Ammonia. If you do not have this, no bacteria colonizes the tank. How long have you had these fish? If its not yet a week you are going to experience an ammonia spike and fish (especially the kuhlis) die from excess ammonia in the water. There is a slight chance that the plants you have may help you through the cycle... however, you got dooped by the petstore on this one. They obviously are weak in their biology and chemistry


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

cycling......

fish create waste, essentially ammonia. there are bacteria, _everywhere_ that eat this ammonia and break it down into nitr*I*tes. then OTHER bacteria eat the nitr*I*tes and break it down into nitr_A_tes. the nitr_A_tes must be removed by regular water changes. the plants will eat some, but you will still have to do water changes to keep the nitr_A_tes below 20-30ppm.

the process of cycling requires adding ammonia as a food source to encourage the growth of those good bacteria in your filter, gravel, and everywhere else in your tank (except the water. the bacteria attach to hard surfaces, there are almost none free-floating in the water) this can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks depending on the tank.

water conditioners remove chlorine and chloramines. that's it. products that claim they contain the bacteria to give your tank a jump start are bogus. the ONLY product that contains the right bacteria, that are still alive, is Biospira. (make sure its handled properly and is kept refrigerated, but NOT frozen)

you need to get yourself a test kit. go with a liquid master test kit. they cost a little more, but they're so worth it. they last forever and they're much more accurate.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Don't panic. 
At a temp that high, and with only three fish, all you have to do is make sure the tank is very well aerated and the fish will be fine. In the future, only add one or two fish at a time, and only add them every two weeks.

You can open the lid of the tank and point a fan at it for evaporative cooling.


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