First off some background info, I've had the tank about 10 days now. Its a 75 litre tank with 10 Tetras, 4 Black Widows, 2 Leopard Dinos and a Golden Loach. I got the tank from a friend who had had it for over a year but no longer wanted it, so far its been running alright although I've had to replace the heater as it did not seem to be holding a constant temperature and replace the filter media and add the Golden Loach to try and get the algae back under control.
What temperature should I be aiming to keep my tank at? My heater is currently set to maintain 25 C (77 F), the book I have says 24 C (75F) but my neon tetras seem to lose colouration and become quite lethargic at that temperature.
My other query is about heater placement, I've currently got my new 100w heater located horizontally in the middle of the rear wall of the thank about 2-3 inches from the gravel. I did this to try and get the heater as low as possible to that its thermostat gets a more accurate reading of the actual water temperature as locating the heater in a vertical orientation would place the sensor above the heat source and would surely give a less accurate reading? Is my reasoning correct? I live in Scotland so I'm using a 100w heater as it can get cool in our living room at night and so far the heater seems to be doing a great job keeping the tank at the set temperature. Although I've noticed that the neon tetras in particular seem to lose some of there colouration overnight, I can't decide if this is to do with the lights being off or the temperature dropping to 24 C (75F) can anyone tell me?
My last question is about feeding I have bought some tropical fish food (flakes) it says feed 2-3 times a day and the amount is 1-2 flakes per fish. Does this sound like the correct amount? I can't decide if its too much or not , should the fish react to the food in the water when its added? I get a burst of activity for about 30 seconds when I add food in the morning and then they seem to ignore it but by the time I come back in the evening to feed them the old flakes are gone...
Sorry for the huge post!
Cheers,
Daniel
What temperature should I be aiming to keep my tank at? My heater is currently set to maintain 25 C (77 F), the book I have says 24 C (75F) but my neon tetras seem to lose colouration and become quite lethargic at that temperature.
My other query is about heater placement, I've currently got my new 100w heater located horizontally in the middle of the rear wall of the thank about 2-3 inches from the gravel. I did this to try and get the heater as low as possible to that its thermostat gets a more accurate reading of the actual water temperature as locating the heater in a vertical orientation would place the sensor above the heat source and would surely give a less accurate reading? Is my reasoning correct? I live in Scotland so I'm using a 100w heater as it can get cool in our living room at night and so far the heater seems to be doing a great job keeping the tank at the set temperature. Although I've noticed that the neon tetras in particular seem to lose some of there colouration overnight, I can't decide if this is to do with the lights being off or the temperature dropping to 24 C (75F) can anyone tell me?
My last question is about feeding I have bought some tropical fish food (flakes) it says feed 2-3 times a day and the amount is 1-2 flakes per fish. Does this sound like the correct amount? I can't decide if its too much or not , should the fish react to the food in the water when its added? I get a burst of activity for about 30 seconds when I add food in the morning and then they seem to ignore it but by the time I come back in the evening to feed them the old flakes are gone...
Sorry for the huge post!
Cheers,
Daniel