Tank Setup with Questions!

[Guihuyn]

Hey guys, I'm new to these forums and I have just set up my aquarium, nice to meet you guys. Thanks for reading my post btw 8)

I have a 6-gallon tank ( Eclipse Six System )

- 50 watt heater
- bio wheel
- filter
- plastic plants, and artificial rock.

Fishes:

-6 neon tetra
-5 black tetra
-4 ghost shrimp
-2 african dwarf frogs

After reading several posts, I think my aquarium may be overcrowded. Does this affect overall health in the tank and the medium in the water?

Anyways, I have had my aquarium for 2 days now. The tetras all band together and always like to stick to one place and swim against the current from the filter. When the light is on they usually are on the bottom. When I feed the flakes ( i have to make them bit-size because of their small mouths) they never go up to eat it at the surface. They only eat it when it falls down, is this normal? Also does anyone else recommend any other type of food other than flake, i heard brine shrimp was effective. Oh yea, whenever I turn off the light, the tetras seem to go crazy =D

More questions. The thermometer that is a sticker, I'm not sure if I stick it outside of the tank or inside. Also do you guys turn off the filters at night (if the tank is in your bedroom) so you can go to sleep better? Will it affect the aquarium? About water testing kits, should i get one, if so which ones? My filter thing is also behind the rock, will it affect the filtering? Hmm I think that's it. If anyone could help me, i would appreciate it very much! Thanks
:cool: :cool:

[Mantis_22]

Not to be a smart@$$ but do you do hourly water changes? That sucker is overcrowded unless they are all fry :)

[JSchmidt]

First of all, your tank is terribly overstocked. You might want to consider returning all the fish except the neon tetras. Your 'six-gallon tank' probably actually holds more like 4.5 gallons, especially when you take the displacement of decoration into account.

You should not turn off the filter at night. If you do, the beneficial bacteria that consume toxic ammonia will be deprived of food and oxygen, and there will be substantially fewer of them to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at zero. Placement of the filter in a small tank isn't that crucial, as long as the intake is not obstructed.

The thermometer goes on the outside. You should know the stick-on type are not terribly accurate; they are affected by the room temperature. The glass tube thermometers that attach to the inside with a suction cup are much better.

Your tetras will do fine on flake food. Mine are mid-water feeders, too. Just make sure you don't feed right before lights-out. That way, the flakes will have time to get soaked and sink.

The test kits that I recommend for a beginner are: ammonia (to keep track of the cycle), pH and nitrate (nitrate is used to gauge how often water must be partially changed). If you live near an LFS, you might be able to get them to test for ammonia for you. Many will do this for free. Just be prepared to resist when they try to sell you a bunch of chemicals/products to treat any real or imaginary problems.

Hope this helps,
Jim

[OrionGirl]

A second to everything mentioned above. I'm surprised the LFS didn't give you a shoe horn to get all those fish in there. Even the most lenient stocking advice (1 inch of fish per gallon) is exceeded several times over by your stock.

You may want to get some floating plants, or something that will provide cover from above for the neons. Neons--and most fish shaped like neons--are very low in the food chain, so they tend to be very wary of sudden movements and like having things they can hide under, like leavy plants or floating wood. They'll be more comfortable and less prone to freaking when there's a change to the lights.

[thom336]

Not so nice 2 meet us now, eh?

Jokin, but really, you should heed their advice.

[Guihuyn]

Cool guys, thanks for the informative replies =D are there any food that you guys recommend to feed the tetras? Brine shrimp? Freeze dried brine shrimp? Thanks!

[superjohnny]

Feeding frozen brine shrimp or blood worms is a nice treat. I like to vary the diet I feed my fish because I'd get tired of eating the same thing all the time... so will they. Just make sure not to drop the whole frozen block into the tank. Unthaw it in a small glass of water first.

The 8 watt light provided bye the stock Eclipse System 6 should not be powerful enough to hurt them.

NEVER turn your filter off.

Never.


Ever.


NO.

;)

edit> It's absurd that the LFS (local fish store) sold you all those fish. You should be outraged and return them for a full refund.

[Guihuyn]

Well I'm not sure what to do, I want to take out the frogs but I don't know where to put them. If i were to return them, how would I do that, put them in a bag ? I think one of the frogs ate my shrimp =(

[Mantis_22]

another crooked LFS mess up..

[carpguy]

Cycling was mentioned once or twice but seems to have mostly been brushed aside by the overstocking issue (you're overstocked). All tanks go through a period at the beginning when beneficial bacteria establish themselves and start processing the toxic wastes the fish give off. Once they're fully established the tank is "cycled", before that its "cycling" and its a very dangerous time for the fish. You may not need to return very many if your not careful and diligent at this point.

Go read this helpful article/faq (http://faq.thekrib.com/begin.html) on setting up your first aquarium. It has a lot of good info you'll want to know. Then come back here and ask as many questions as you'd like (and welcome to AqC, btw).

The amount of waste the fish can produce is a product of how much food they eat -- resist the little beggars and feed sparingly during the cycle, a little bit every other day is plenty.

The waste is in the form of Ammonia, which the bacteria will convert to Nitrite, and then to Nitrate. You'll want test kits for all 3 plus at least pH. Regular water changes are considered good practice in general, but during a fishy cycle you need to do them as often as necessary to keep the toxin levels down. This may be daily or more for a bit, weekly later on. The normal procedure for a fishy cycle is to understock and then build up slowly as the bacteria become established. Since you're already past full, you're working without a net… be careful, read, ask questions.

Hope That Helps and good luck :)