Newbie

Hi all.

I am a real newbie when it comes to aquariums et al. I trust that I will learn quite a bit from these forums.

ciao

 

Alright...here I go...

My wife surprised my 5 yr old with a Betta in a small tank. He initially ate the pellets quite well until a couple of days later. He was lathargic and refuse to eat. After some research, I realised that the water temp was too cold. I used a study lamp to raise the temp and he returned to normal. But then, the little one felt he was lonely. This is where the trouble starts...

Decided to upgrade and bought a larger tank, from Pick n Pay nogal. It came with a corner filter, gravel et al. After a while, we added more fish ie zebra fish, bala shark, female betta and plecos.

After cleaning the tank and the filter floss 2 weeks ago, the bala shark died. It seems that he ate the loose fibres from the corner filter. Today 1 pleco died. I don't understand.

I feed them twice a day with flakes and the water temp is kept at 26 deg, with a heater.

Any advice as to where I am going wrong?

tia

 

Hi Ige and welcme

How big is this new tank precisely. A corner filter can not support the fish you have.

Look in the new members section for a thread called My new aqaurium by Aqua and you
will see why your fish is dying. She made the same mistakes but are happily keeping a few
fish.

Ps you can not feed bettas twice a day with flakes or they will die very soon 2.

 

Hello and welcome:

Can I direct you to the beginner's forum, where you will find 2 articles that I wrote, that will assist you greatly with regards to this issue.

Your fish are also not compatible tank mates

 

Welcome to the forum. I am new here but an old somewhat experienced fish keeper. What you are facing is simple to state but a bit harder to deal with. You have a number of fish living in that tank and fish produce ammonia at their gills as a natural part their biological processes. Fish waste will also decay to produce some ammonia as will any left over food. The end result is a gradual increase in the ammonia levels in the water. The problem is that fish can be significantly affected by as little as 0.25 mg/l of ammonia. Unless you measure the ammonia regularly with a liquid type test kit, you must simply assume that any tank with a filter less than about 2 months old has too much ammonia or near the other end of the time too much nitrites. Dealing with that is rather simple. Whenever you see any symptoms of discomfort in your fish, do an enormous water change, I use over 90% changes. On the other hand, you can guess how much biological load you are dealing with and make daily 25% to 50% changes depending on how much the biological load is. Even if you take that approach, watch for any discomfort by your fish and be ready to do the truly large water changes.

When doing a large water change you must use a dechlorinator of some kind. Since they all use the same chemical to accomplish the dechlorination, the brand doesn't matter much. I use Seachem Prime because it works out cheaper where I live. All water changes should be done with roughly the same temperature water as the water you have removed. Testing it with your hand can get you close enough on temperature. Be careful not to run a heater or a filter dry while you are doing your water changes, it is so easy to forget if you usually do small changes.

After a couple of months of very close attention, the water changes can be reduced to about 25% weekly changes but can never be stopped. Poisonous chemicals do build up in mature tanks, but not chemicals that are as dangerous as ammonia or nitrites.

Something else to keep in mind is that replacing the media in your filter is just like starting all over. What many people do instead is use some of the water they have taken from their tank to rinse out the filter material and then put that material right back where it came from. Don't forget that the water you have removed is rich in nitrogen and other fertilizers. Use it on the garden or even on house plants. You may be amazed at just how fertile the waste water is, especially after you have cleaned your filter in it.

 

I would advise you to change your filter and buy an internal power filter that filters 300 - 400 liters per hour. Its a R200 investment that you wont regret.

I personally feel that Corner filters are useless for well stocked tanks.

Nothing else to add to what others have already mentioned

You will eventually get the hang of fish keeping. I suggest you ask questions here before you buy any more fish.

 

The thing is that tanks that comes with corner filter are at best 2FT big.
He has a pleco and balla shark in there with 2 bettas. The pleca alone grow twice as big
as that tank.

 

hello and welcome

Good luck with sorting everything out!
:bigsmile::bigsmile:

 

Hi and welcome to tasa. Plecos are also dirty lil buggers ie they produce alot of waste. Imo you shuld try return the bala and pleco as they wil get big fast and keep a close eye on your male and female betta, they could fight or nip each other if theres not enough hidey holes

 

Have a read here:
Helpful nutshell info: For new aquarium keepers
Nitorgen Cycle for Aquariums

I'd say the info therein is definitely crucial for staring off in the hobby on the right foot.

Also, invest on a Hang on Back (HOB) filter or internal filter at least, corner filters are best left for raising fry or other non-taxing purposes, but as a filtration system for a community tank it simply isn't effective, no matter what your shopkeep tells you, trust us, everyone gets caught this way the first time

 

hi and welcome, remember that many people start out with overstocked tanks and incompatible tankmates, i did and i had to learn from it. google the fish you want to find out their requirements before you buy them. and use a product like sera nitrivec or hagen cycle to give the filter a kick start. heres wishing you many happy years in the hobby.

 

The tank is 33 litres.

 

what is an ideal filter for a 33l tank? My corner filter does not seem to filter all the excess food. Are there any pics of a properly installed corner filter?

I looked at several filters at the lps at Sandton Square. The sting ray seems adequate.

PS: I tried to reset my password but never got the email from the administrators...

 

lge340



I use this filter on my 50L . . . .if you use it in your 30L it will suck up poop and food faster than it takes for the fish to make the mess.

Get something similar and you will have a poop free tank. Just make sure you do a weekly clean.

I also have an Elite Hush 10 on my 10GAL. It's a Hang on Back filter but does not provide as much flow as the Resun CS-400. I suggest you leave the stingray alone. It's like R200 and its not very effective.

I also use a Dolphin F-800 filter on my Jebo. It didn't have a filter so I thought this would be a good replacement. It also keeps the tank clean. I do suggest the Resun though. I payed R190 and it makes a cloudy tank clear in just 1 hour.

If you really want good filtration , run both the resun submersible and the Elite HOB......that should leave your tank stunning.

I have seen tanks with corner filters that are crystal clear. Those filters are probably running for years....

 

Thanx TankMaster. Any idea if my Bettas will have any problems with the water current... is this silent enough for the bettas?

 

The resun is silent but not smooth enough for bettas. Your best bet is a HOB filter

The Elite Hush 10. Ideal for fish with delicate fins. You might want to buy a Gravel Vac and an airstone while you're at it. The HOB doesn't filter gunk most of the time.

The other option is the Dolphin F-800. It's outlet is at water level and not that hard on the fish. the choice is up to you. Oh, the Elite hush 10 HOB set me back R160 . . .cheap price for this filter.....the Dolphin filter was the same price.....the Elite Stingray . . .now that's a filter for your toilet....lol

 

Just checked the water quality, all seems well. But there is just lots of floating food with a clear fuzz around it... eish!!!

 

That clear white stuff is fungus. Dolphin F800 is rated almost at 300L/H ? That will blow your
poor Bettas out the water. I use the Dolphin KF-350 and it is almost still to strong for Bettas in a 33L tank.

Ige, of all the fish you have you can only keep the Bettas in that tank, the rest will die
if you keep them in that tank.

 

if you go the HOB route, go with aqua clear.

 

Vis, is it too small?