Sorry it’s been a busy week!!

Welcome back everyone,

Firstly let me apologise for not posting more recently but the past 10 days seem to have flown by. Mainly, I think due to this white stuff falling from the sky and this coinciding with a terrible bout of man flu I have contracted!!

Anyway back to the tank. When I last posted I explained that intended to increase the fish stock from the two zebra danios I had, well I did exactly that. I allowed the tank to settle for a few days, monitoring the levels daily. Still nothing changed and so on day 14 I purchased two leopard danios. These are great fish and instantly settle with the two zebras. I went for leopards so that I could maximise the variety in the tank and secondly so that the pair were more settled with a larger group. The group has been extremely active and clearly enjoy playing together and swimming in the stream of the filter.

The introduction of these extra fish has been superb and in fact I have seen now increase in levels suggesting my bio filter is matured well and coping. It has been 10 days since the introduction of these danios and the only change is the generation of algae. The tank has formed brown spots, most noticeable on the smallest plant and largest ornament. I very quickly found that this algae is common in newer tanks and it was suggested that light levels play a part as with all algae. My tanks is never in direct sunlight but is fitted with a day and night light. So I am now switching the day light off earlier to try and control this.

However, today I have again increased the fish stock. I have bought two albino cory catfish. I was keen to get a bottom dweller as the danios are mid to top fish. But many bottom dwellers grow far too large for my tank. While researching I found a great article called; Cory Catfish: Great little vacuum cleaners. After reading this I was set, but then I had to decide which species. I did the dangerous think and let my wife decide this!! Cleverly she selected the albino, which looks wonderful in my tank and a great contrast to the danios.
They have been in the tank only a few hours and have proven to be very active fish. They have also been feeding a lot from the substrate and ornaments. I’m hoping that this addition will also aid in managing the brown algae.

The addition of different species also raises issues around food. It’s well documented that tropical fish thrive on a variety of food. I have been using flake food but now that I have different level fish I need food that will reach and benefit all the species. As yet I haven’t had a chance to purchase anything else but I will be buying pellets so that the cories can gain the food they need. Obviously feeding lightly to avoid uneaten food piling up.

Hoping your all good and those in the UK are staying warm.

Day 10

Good evening all, hope everyone is well.

Today is day 10 of my cycle and I think that with my current stock levels the tank cycle has settled. The current situation is that the tank has now been running for 11 days and 10 days with fish. I have been monitoring it every day with a liquid test kit and in the last three days the results appear to have settled. I have completed 4 partial water changes in the last 10 days of about 20%. The current results are this Ammonia reads 0, Nitrate is 5 and Nitrite is less than 0.1. They have read very similar for the last 4 days.

Therefore my plan to progress is to add another two danios to bring the pair I currently have up to more of a school and increase the bio load slightly. As I am doing a fish in cycle the source of ammonia are the fish and their waste to I intend to add two more later this week. The reason I’m waiting slightly is to allow the bacteria that is present to mature slightly, hopefully allowing the increase in fish to be easier and less stressful for the fish.

However, I have been considering my stocking slightly more as I am considering more fish. I have decided that I shall be looking at danios still as I need to increase their school. There are a number of species within the Danios and I understand that they will all school so for variety I am a planning on looking for two leopard danios to accompany my zebra danios.

I have also been looking into more scaping of the tank. I really need another plant but want a larger one to help hide the heater, but I am considering a real plant. My only real hesitation is the fear is snails and their eggs on the plant. However, having researched it many people have suggested that snails will aid the tank. This is something that I will carry on considering.

Will next blog once I have the new fish or unless something dramatic changes before. Enjoy.

Two zebra danios

Quick pic of my two Zebra Danios. Not a great pic I know but just a quick one from my phone.

Day 6

Hello to all.

Today is day 6 of my cycle and it has been confusing and hard work.

Despite my research I have sought advice from forums as my liquid test kit are showing rather odd readings.

On day 4 I sadly lost a fish. I believe that this had nothing to do with the levels in the tank. After getting the fish home I noticed that said fish had a damaged tail and had likely been nipped while at the shop as they had angelfish with the danios. His swimming was poorer than the others and expected to lose him.
When I woke up I could only see the two fish and searched high and low but after a cup of coffee I located him stuck in the filter switch.
It has been suggested that this death could still of been due to the levels in the water and he had been stuck after his death. But I have checked the switch and it has no suction so I believe the little fella had been exploring and become trapped.

Anyway, on to my levels. After 6 days of fish in my tank I have had zero ammonia according to my test kit. Yet have shown reasonable levels of nitrates and a few nitrites.
This to me could only mean two things either my test kit is faulty or my tank is processing the level of ammonia being produced.

I have sought advice and more experienced people seemed to suspect that in fact my tank is past the first stage of cycling and is indeed processing the ammonia in the tank.
I have been using a filter boost by Love Fish daily and can only imagine that this is actually working and bacteria have grown in the tank.

On day 3 I had a very cloudy tank and this appears to have been a bacterial bloom which supports the idea that the cycle is going well.

I have completed 4 partial water changes of about 20%. Which is slightly more than I expected but I did one following the death of the fish to prevent any possible spikes in the levels from the death.

The mrs is still keen to get more fish but I have been able to resist. I am however considering real plants. Two reasons, firstly the obvious benefits to the fish and water and secondly as I think they would look nicer than all plastic.
However, I’m reluctant due to the possibility of having snails as a result of the plants. I have read that often plants have snail eggs attached and despite the best searching they usually appear.
I have not yet found any I thought looked particularly nice so have not taken the plunge.

Would love to hear from anyone and welcome to fishtanx2011!!