Need Advice...

[Mr. Fishy]

Ok, so I am pretty new to the hobby and I have a ten gallon tank with a Betta, 5 Zebra Danios, and a recently added Otto. Along with that I have a empty small flower pot on its side, two Java ferns tied down to some river rocks, the ferns are growing all over the place, so I am guessing thats a good sign. But... Im not really satisfied completely. What should I add? I have been doing tons of research and I cant find anything really. But there has to be something...

Another things I was wondering... I have a little over 2 inches of gravel in my tank, ha is that to much? Because I dont have any plants that are under gravel (When I first put it together I did, but the plant died and made a mess). And if it is, what is a good way to remove some?

Thank you for your time,

- Mr. Fishy

 

[Whiskers]

first welcome to the tank. i think your 10gal is stocked as much as possible. questions that will come your way are: did you cycle your tank? do you know what your water prams are? how often do you do water changes? how often do you feed fish? there are some i'm sure i have mentioned. as far as your gravel goes i would try to keep it thin since it will hold a lot of fish waste and left over food causing nitrates to go up (want to keep nitrate under 40ppm). IMO up to 2" of gravel is enough. as far as removel of gravel just scoop some out (with small cup or with hand) and move it around till you get desired level. some ppl don't even use substrait in their tanks. its all about personal preference and what you want your tank to looke like. Enjoy!

 

[Mr. Fishy]

Thanks Whiskers for such a fast reply.

To answer your questions...

Yes, I cycled the tank.

I do not know what my water parameters are.

I Just add more water once a little has evaporated. I know it sounds bad but my tank and fish look great still.

I feed my fish in the morning when I wake up and then before or after I eat dinner.

Thanks for the advice on removing fish gravel! Haha, I was just a little curious as to how the best approach to it would be without disrupting the fish.

 

[MissFishy]

Hi Mr. Fishy, I am Miss Fishy. Your tank has not been cycled if you don't know what your water parameters are. I have a site set up that is linked below that will give you some good info on what cycling a tank really means.

As far as your stocking, since you are not doing regular water changes (more info on my website about that), you really can't put anything else in there. Do you feed algae wafers for your otto? In a new tank there won't be anything for it to eat and they can easily and often do starve to death. Take a look at the website and come back with more information about your tank.

 

[Mr. Fishy]

Oh wow... I really messed up... I just conditioned my water and then left it for a week and then dipped a little strip in and it was all in the ok part. So I added some fish...
So what should I do Now?

 

[MissFishy]

It's ok, most people don't know about cycling prior to setting up tanks. What you'll need to do now is a "fish in cycle". Take a look at Cycling a Tank and read through the entire thing. You have some work ahead of you to make sure your fish don't die.

 

[Monoxide]

Read around and check out the site of Miss Fishy. Its really important to cycle a tank before adding fish. You can do fish cycle with fish in it. So to do it right, you'd have to take your fish back and start over new and good. Or start and read threads about cycling with fish in it. Which can be long stressful thing. Also the more you read and check out stuff. You never know if you will fall in love with other fish or a bigger tank. IMO I think people get small tank and spend alot of cash on it... then later on see lots of really cool rock work tanks with other colorful fish in it. Then they get rid of the other and have to spend even more money and stuff on the new bigger nicer tank*crazysmil So something to do is just look around and read some. Never hurts.

http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/fre...eshwater-beginner-stickies-read-me-first.html

 

[homebunnyj]

No, no, no, you don't have to take your fish back to 'do it right.' When you read about cycling a tank, you'll see that you need to test your water periodically for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

You should go ahead and do a partial water change, since you probably have toxic levels of one of the three things I just mentioned. You do this by removing 1/4 to 1/2 of the tank water, adding some water conditioner (dechlorinator like aquasafe or prime, whatever you got) either to the water you're going to put in the tank or directly to the tank -- enough for the amount of water you are replacing; then fill with water the same temp as the tank water. This will dilute the toxic ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate that have probably built up in the water. That's why you need the test kits -- to show you when you need to do a water change.

If you can't get test kits right now (the ones with the drops and test tubes, not the strips), the lfs (local fish store) can test it for you. Have them write down the numbers for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. These are the important ones. Don't let them con you into buying chemicals or more fish. They are salespeople, they sell everything they can. API Master Test Kit has all the tests you need in it plus several you may need later on, but not now.

Feed your fish once every other day for now. They will be fine, really they will. As for the oto, you will have to feed algae wafers unless you have a bunch of algae for it to eat, which is unlikely. It only takes a little piece of a wafer for one oto.

Read Miss Fishy's guide and the beginner stickies link in Monoxide's post, and all this will make more sense to you.

 

[Whiskers]

a good thing to do is get API master test kit. it will have tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and a few others that aren't too important at this point. that type of kit is more accurate than test strips (if you want to make your strips last a little longer cut them in half length ways) but you need to read the instruction throughly and follow steps to the letter. read what missfishy advised and if you have questions, please ask. thats what we are all here for is to help you enjoy your new hobby. cheers.

 

[Mr. Fishy]

Thanks a ton!
I will check out the store and get on the cycling