waiting..

kerrid

kerrid

AC Members
Mar 10, 2007
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Boston
my 20g long is in day 14 of fishy cycling. i'm a pretty impatient person and the whole sit and wait thing is killing me. i check the water sometimes four or five times a day, hoping that i'll see some dramatic change in the time between checks :rolleyes: i've already figured out which fish i plan on getting after, how many, and in what order. i've set up my old 10g to put my little sisters poor betta in, but still i have to wait for the 20g to cycle so i can do the whole cycle-cheating thing. i'm heading to the pet store soon to buy another, hopefully larger (not too expensive) tank. so i figured while i'm waiting for this to happen i'll bug the helpful people on this forum :)
1.last water change i got a big mouthful of fishy water from the manual siphon/gravel vac. whats the best way to start it without doing that again?
2.is it possible to put too much conditioner in the water? i'm using aqua safe water conditioner.
3.how much should i be feeding the danios during the cycle? i dont want to over- or under-feed, but i'm afraid i might be over-feeding a bit. i'll put some food in the tank and they'll gobble it all up like they've never seen food before and then just swim around asking for more(or that's what it looks like). their tummies look a little too big =( i cut back the food a bit but they look like they're begging for more.
4. what's a good-size tank for a relatively good price. i'm still in school and only work 2 days a week.
5.i'd like to put something else in with the betta. i wouldn't mind ghost shrimp, i think they're some pretty cool looking things. would those be ok with a betta, and if so how many?
sorry for the length, and thanks in advance.
 
1.) I used to get that to. Until I realized you dont have to suck in the water until it goes up to your mouth. You only have to suck on it to get it moving where it cant go. For example, if your tank is high up, and the gravel vac looks something like this |__/---
| <---- gravel vac
| The bucket would be here

( red is tank). Rest is gravel vac. You dont need to suck until the water passes the "hump" or in this case, the slash. From then, the water just flows with gravity. Get it?


2.) I have never heard of using too much conditioner unless you dump like a bottle in like a 3 gallon. Otherwise, I dont think so.

3.) Fish can go surprisingly long without food. Im cycling now and feed once a day. I would prefer to underfeed then to overfeed

Ill let other people answer the other questions.
 
Just an addition to the gravel vac: You can try and move the wide piece of the gravel vac up and down very quickly (don't chop your fish up ;)). If all goes well, you will push enough water "over the hill" to start the water flow.

Regarding bettas and shrimp, this depends on the betta. Just buy one ghost shrimp (here, six go for a dollar) and look whether the betta decides to eat it. If he leaves the shrimp alone, buy some more. They have hardly any biomass, and you can have quite a few in that 10 gallon.
 
1. No way would I put that thing on my mouth! I use an infant nasal aspirator. Mine came from the hospital from one of my births, but you can get one at the drug store for about $2. I've hear that some people use a turkey baster.

2. Water conditioner isn't an exact science. I use Prime, and treat for the whole tank volume a few times a week, when I change water.

3. I feed two or three time a day, but not the three minute rule that most commercial food says. With the exception of the sinking things for the bottom feeders, they are finished in about one minute each time, if that.

4. I just got a good price on a 20 gallon long for my goldfish, but my larger, bow front was pricy. Check out Craiglist in your area for good deals on used tanks.

 
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