Advice on starting a Tropical Aquarium Please

Hi my husband and I recently bought a Juwel Rio 125 (set up almost four weeks ago, including one week for setup without fish). I am looking for some general advice on what I need to keep things running smoothly. My husband kept a tropical aquarium when he was in his teens (fifteen years ago now) and I think some of his gadgets are outdated. I will start by listing what we currently have in the tank:
3 male, 5 female guppies (3 males introduced the 2nd week after the tank was set up, 6 females introduced the 3rd week four of which seem heavily pregnant)
2 male,2 female mollies (introduced the third week)
1 angelfish (introduced the second week)
2 bala shark (introduced the second week)
11 neon tetra (4 introduced the 2nd week of which 3 died, 10 introduced the third week)

RIP:3 Neon tetra who died within a week of purchasing them, they seemed to be gasping for air
RIP: 1 female guppy who died this week.

We have one air stone and one treasure chest which are operated by an old air pump which is very noisey and vibrates a lot. I would like to get a more modern air pump which can regulate the flow of air, any advice on this would be welcome.Also on the air issue should I have the air pump on all day or how long would you recommend?
The room which we keep the tank in is a converted garage and is colder than the rest of the house, the 100w heater which came with the Juwel tank did not seem to keep the temperature very well so I have now installed a 200w Aquael comfort zone heater and this seems to do the trick. Is 25/26 degrees an ok temp to keep these type of fish in?
The guy which we bought the fish and live plants from recommended a 25% water change every two weeks. The glass on the inside of the tank is starting to look a little smudgy and i guess I could do with investing in a magnetic glass cleaner. The plants which we bought have grown very big and seem to be taking over the tank,without sounding stupid could i trim the branches or should i just take a couple out? I have six plants in total.
The PH of the tank is 7, I dont have any other testing kits, what other tests would you recommend and how often should the tests be carried out?
Sorry fo the long post I have so many questions and will probably have to post again, I would be grateful if you could help out even though this is supposed to be my husbands hobbie he is at work all day so I end up feeding them and keeping an eye on them. I am still not very relaxed as I feel I dont have enough knowledge and am constantly checking the tank to see if the fish are alive. Thanks in advance,Mary

Hi DalmationMolly
I will try to answer some of your questions, but I don't know everything either so others might want to chime in.

First of all I leave my airpump runnin 24/7 you can get very quiet airpumps nowadays for little more than 10 euro:)

As far as the temp goes I think you should be fine, just let me ask, what did U do with the original 100w heater? It might not be a bad idea to have 2 heaters running in the tank at the same time, that way if one stops the other can take over (same goes for filtration)

The waterchanges, everybody says something diffirent, I do weekly water changes, sometimes even 50% but others do only 25% so it is open for debate.

magnetic glass cleaners work, I personally prefer the manual ones (on the stick) because I managed to get some sand in my magnetic cleaner and scraped the glass.

What plants have you in your tank? I do trim mine regularly by taking of some leaves.

Test kits, get a liquid test kit (don't get the strips they aren't worth the sh*te) that measures for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAtes, if find API master test kit quite good.
You want ammonia levels at 0
nitrIte levels at 0
and the nitrAte levels at less than 40

You propably find that in the beginning you will test the water quite often but as time goes by and you get to know your fish's behaviour you will only test when you see/think there is something wrong with them.

As far as the stocking goes, your 2 bala sharks I think the tank will get too smal for them they can get 14-16 inches long.

I hope I helped you out a bit with this

If you go to Atlantic Homecare, B&Q or similar or even Tesco you'll be able to get cheap timers that you plug into your socket.

That way you can set your air pump to run all day and switch off in the evenings when you're watching TV or sleeping. Air pumps aren't 100% necessary but they are great for surface agitation to oxygenate the water and stop a "skin" developing. If you have a good, modern external filter this can be achieved by using the spray bar return and you can dump the air pump altogether.

I have the spray bar but I like the air stone anyway so I have it set on a timer from about 10am until 10pm.

Hi
Thanks for the info. I dont know what the names of the plants are that I have in the tank so I have attached a photo of the tank. I was just checking out www.plantgeek.net and think I may be in over my head as far as plants go I didnt realise there were so many different types of plants, low lighting non co2 etc. I still have the 100w heater. Could you recommend a specific brand of air pump? I just have gravel in the tank but it suggests on the above website that to keep plants successfully I might need to get peat or kitty litter. How many hours a day should I keep the lighting on in the tank? I usually put it on for an hour in the morning straight after feeding then it goes off when I head out, I turn it on again at about 4pm as the room gets dark and leave it on until 9.30. Is this too much? Does anyone have any tips on when to put the guppies into a hatchery? two of the four which are pregnant seem fit to burst.

Hi
Thanks for the info. I dont know what the names of the plants are that I have in the tank so I have attached a photo of the tank. I was just checking out www.plantgeek.net and think I may be in over my head as far as plants go I didnt realise there were so many different types of plants, low lighting non co2 etc. I still have the 100w heater. Could you recommend a specific brand of air pump? I just have gravel in the tank but it suggests on the above website that to keep plants successfully I might need to get peat or kitty litter. How many hours a day should I keep the lighting on in the tank? I usually put it on for an hour in the morning straight after feeding then it goes off when I head out, I turn it on again at about 4pm as the room gets dark and leave it on until 9.30. Is this too much? Does anyone have any tips on when to put the guppies into a hatchery? two of the four which are pregnant seem fit to burst.

Keep the lights on for 10-12 hours a day, then your fish wil have a day-night idea as well.
I hear good reports about the tetra whisper air pumps, but see what your lfs has in stock and they should be able to help you out.

Thanks, I tried to attach a photo of the tank but it exceeds the limit, do you know how to insert a photo into the text part of a message?

I normally upload the pics in my photobucket acount and then click on IMG code and paste it here.
like this

Hi I have uploaded the photo in photobucket hopefully this works

On the left behind your ornament is bacopa of I am correct, on the left is cabomba, the spikey plants on the left I have myself, still not sure if it is actually an aquatic plants, the one in the pot with the broad leave with the red in it, I used to have one and I am nearly sure it is not an aquatic plant.
what shop did u buy them in?

Having only started at all this 7 months ago, never thought I'd be giving advice on the forum, its not much, but here goes...
(I have a Juwel-240)

Test kit:
I'm using a Nutrafin Mini Master test kit, covers the main items,
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and pH wide range .
Its about €38-€45, not the cheapest, but has everything you need in one
box, and when you get used to using it, its probably one of the best
investments you can make for your tank, diagnose potential problems very quickly.look it up on the internet.

Algae/smudged glass:
Why don't you look at getting a Pleco? bottom feeder fish which will clean up your glass, just not sure if a tank of your size could accommodate two or not? but one for definite is a given.

Filter:
Are you using the juwel filter system or other? with the white filter pads, Juwel recommend you change them every week, initially I was, but you get a
sense for it over time, inspect it once a week, I'm now changing them maybe every 3-4 weeks.

Air Pump:
Some people don't like the Juwel supplied pump, but I've had no probs with it
so far, you can get good supply from it.

lights:
This seems to be a personal variable.
I have my lights coming on from 4pm - midnight.I averaged it at this from different posts I've read on the forum here.

Water change:
Initially I was terrified if I didn't do a 25% water change every week I'd run into problems with water quality, I eventually stretched this out to 2 weeks (after 2 months),,,,as the tank has matured, i'm now only doing 30% water changes every 5-7 weeks.(this involves lots of water testing in between to make sure I'm not going off the scale with Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate), but i've got very used to just looking at the water and knowing if there is a problem or not..it should be crystal clear!!

Bacteria:
Weekly addition of bacteria solution to keep the filter ticking over.

Feed:
Evening time only around 9pm.(varies per owner)

I lost a lot of fish initially, dispite taking a lot of precautions and information on board, but I've got over the purchase-new-fish-every-week syndrom
and since the tank + fish have stabilized, its now basically looking after itself, which I guess other more senior fish keepers here can explain is what should be happening.The tank is only 50% populated.

I'm using a small diary to keep track of feeds,water changes,filter changes,and weekly water bacteria and test kit results, this way i can clearly see whats happening over time, and more importantly - how mature the tank is getting between changes described above as it becomes more self sufficient.

hope that helps.

Brian

meath.fish wrote:

its probably one of the best investments you can make for your tank, diagnose potential problems very quickly.

Water change:
Initially I was terrified if I didn't do a 25% water change every week I'd run into problems with water quality, I eventually stretched this out to 2 weeks (after 2 months),,,,as the tank has matured, i'm now only doing 30% water changes every 5-7 weeks.(this involves lots of water testing in between to make sure I'm not going off the scale with Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate), but i've got very used to just looking at the water and knowing if there is a problem or not..it should be crystal clear!!

I lost a lot of fish initially, dispite taking a lot of precautions and information on board, but I've got over the purchase-new-fish-every-week syndrom
and since the tank + fish have stabilized, its now basically looking after itself, which I guess other more senior fish keepers here can explain is what should be happening.The tank is only 50% populated.

I'm using a small diary to keep track of feeds,water changes,filter changes,and weekly water bacteria and test kit results, this way i can clearly see whats happening over time, and more importantly - how mature the tank is getting between changes described above as it becomes more self sufficient.

Good post.

100% agree that a good test kit is prob the best investment you can make when keeping fish (actually keeping water is more correct )

Your fish would probably prefer if you changed 15% of the water every 2-3 weeks rather than 30% every 5-7. Personally I change 10-15% weekly in both my Oscar tank (its needed!) and my sons community tank. I think it makes it easier to maintain optimal conditions with small batches of fresh water added more regularly. The fact you are stocked at only 50% and feed only once daily goes greatly in your favor however. Also you said your water test readings are good so this obviously works ok for you.

I keep a small diary myself of all my water changes, filter maintenance, water test readings, etc:

You say you lost a lot of fish initially; this was probably due to either/both (a)tank not fully cycled before you started stocking (b) stocking too quickly when your tank was cycled but the volume of fish temporarily overloaded the bacteria in he filter. The key is to wait until the tank is cycled before stocking (there are many tips to speed this up, search this forum) and then to stock GRADUALLY so as not to overload the filter bacteria and cause a spike in ammonia/nitrite levels until more bacteria grow to consume these.

Good luck.

hey dalmationmolly


i only started keeping fish 2 months ago so im new to this too


i have a rio 180

4 angel fish
1 bala shark
2 kribensis
5 neons
4 zebra danios
4 emperor tetra
1 leopard ctenopoma
4 german blue rams
2 clown loach
1 gold nuget pleco
4 otocinclus


i use an Interpet - airVolution air pump there not the cheapest air pump but are quiet good!

there is a slight vibration noise from it though so what i done was put a small towel between the pump and the surface it was touching now it doesnt make any noise!!


you say your having trouble with algae on your glass you should look into gettin some otocinclus they would be perfect for you tank size as most plecos grow into monsters

oto's stay small biggest i seen was about 4cm's and they do a great job of getting rid of algae i have 4 and they do most of the cleaning for me there great lil' fishes!!!


www.fishlore.com/profiles_otocinclus.htm


good luck with your tank!!

stephen

Hi I bought them in Baumanns in Stillorgan. The plant with the broad leaves with red in it is not doing well, the fish have ate a lot of it. Do you have any experience with live bearers? I found a baby guppy in the tank this morning my husband is going to call into his mothers house to get the hatchery later(not sure if thats the correct name). I caught the baby in a net but within an hour it was gone possibly got out through it. I am just wondering does the mother give birth to all of the babies at once or should I expect to see more arriving later. I am wondering would the Angel fish or others in the tank have ate some of the babies.

The Angel fish would have been delighted with the live 'food'.....

I see another little baby there now, one life comes into the world another goes out, i found another guppy dead. I dont know what is going wrong. I am feeding the fish at 8am, at lunchtime I give them a tiny bit of flake food then at 5pm I feed them again, I am doing this as it says on the food 2-3times daily and I found that the fish didnt seem satisfied. Could i possibly be killing them with the amount of food I am giving?

You should really get yourself a test kit and see what your levels of ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes are, because your tank is still so new, it might have something to do with that.
Or you could take a sample of your water to your nearest fish shop and ask them to test it for you.

Hi I have ordered the API master test kit on ebay so hopefully will have it on Tuesday. When I carry out the test if one of the results or all of the results are too high is there somewhere on this forum that I can find info on how to bring down the readings?

waterchanges is the way to bring it down