DrDanke
04-20-2004, 12:09 AM
Well, it's been a rocky road with a horrible start. I had a bad tank ornament at first and had to start over, followed by a horrible ammonia spike that claimed one fish. When I redid my tank after that bad ornament, I used the 5 lb bag of new gravel I had left, and honestly, I like having less gravel as it is easier to vacuum thoroughly. My tank isn't even as pretty as it was at first, but the welfare of the fish was the only thing I was worried about and when I redid the tank, I basically just threw it together. I had a little incident with some micro organisms this past week, which I attribute to healthy water and overfeeding. Well the micro organisms have died out and the filter did it's job and everything is good now.
It's been 4 weeks now, and for a week now I thought one fish was sick, but turns out, it was a female and yesterday she just spawned with the larger male. They must have eaten all the eggs, cause I can't find any! I was thinking that the little fry would have a ball with some of the tiny micro organisms that are left. So there are 3 fish left, one large male, one large female, and one very runty male. I'm thinking my tank is going to be cycled soon, but I will wait longer. Tomorrow I am going to do a 2 gallon water change and take my bio bag out and rinse it in the old tank water to make sure it's clean.
Conclusion, I love my tank when it's healthy! The tiger barbs are very fun for a small fish. With the knowledge I have now, would I have done it the same? No, I would have gone with a small group of african cichlids and lots of rocky structure. That would be fun. But, at least I have something to look forward to. I wish I would have gone with the 20 gallon as well. That would have gave me more options. The whisper power 10 filter is quieter than a single air pump, which is great and the water is very oxygenated.
Thanks for all of your help, it was scary at times. Here is a picture of my tank now. Since I redid my tank I never went to the store and bought some kind of central structure for the fish. I gotta do that soon.
http://svr20.thump.net/1190199/drdanke/images/newtank1.jpg
It's been 4 weeks now, and for a week now I thought one fish was sick, but turns out, it was a female and yesterday she just spawned with the larger male. They must have eaten all the eggs, cause I can't find any! I was thinking that the little fry would have a ball with some of the tiny micro organisms that are left. So there are 3 fish left, one large male, one large female, and one very runty male. I'm thinking my tank is going to be cycled soon, but I will wait longer. Tomorrow I am going to do a 2 gallon water change and take my bio bag out and rinse it in the old tank water to make sure it's clean.
Conclusion, I love my tank when it's healthy! The tiger barbs are very fun for a small fish. With the knowledge I have now, would I have done it the same? No, I would have gone with a small group of african cichlids and lots of rocky structure. That would be fun. But, at least I have something to look forward to. I wish I would have gone with the 20 gallon as well. That would have gave me more options. The whisper power 10 filter is quieter than a single air pump, which is great and the water is very oxygenated.
Thanks for all of your help, it was scary at times. Here is a picture of my tank now. Since I redid my tank I never went to the store and bought some kind of central structure for the fish. I gotta do that soon.
http://svr20.thump.net/1190199/drdanke/images/newtank1.jpg