2 gal tank with 2 white clouds - now what?

[Anne L.]

This is a further thread to the one I posted a while back about my son wanting a fish tank.

He ended up buying a 2 gallon tank with air pump and underground filter, and bought 2 white cloud minnows to go in it.

I put some gravel from our established 10 gal tank in it, and a couple of plastic/silk plants as well.

We've been monitoring the ammonia levels, and they are at the lowest level. No nitrites as yet. We've been doing water changes every day or every second day to keep levels down, and the tank temp is about 67 degrees F.

I know this is a small tank for these fish, but he wanted to buy and keep his own fish tank. His room is quite small, so space is limited, and it's too cool for a betta to be in there.

Are we doing ok with the testing and water changes and such? It's been a couple of years since I had to do this with our 10 gal, and I did a fishless cycle on it.

The fish are doing fine, by the way, and the one bigger fish is a real little glutton when it comes to his food. Their names are Pepsi and Cola.

 

[OrionGirl]

Yep, sounds like you're doing a good fishy cycle. No problems, no worries--the bacteria will grow slower at the cooler temps, too, though, so you'll have to be extra patient and follow this routine for longer than a normal, 6-7 weeks of cycling.

 

[knashash]

depending on how much gravel you put in from your 10 gallon, you may be already cycled.

 

[Holly9937]

Have you tested for nitrates?

 

[Anne L.]

Nitrates aren't appearing yet, which doesn't surprise me because the ammonia levels are low and so is the temp. The tank's been going for less than a week so it's early yet.

I don't want to let the ammonia get higher before doing a water change though, right?

I put about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of gravel into the tank and put it on the bottom along with some new gravel. I couldn't find a decent way to hang it in there, so this was the next solution.

Because it's such a small tank, how much of the water should we be changing each time - I've been doing about 20% or so.

 

[OrionGirl]

correct--keeping the ammonia as low as possible is best for the fish, and lower levels won't alter the timeline for the bacteria colonies to reach 'full size'. I'd stick with 20-30%, unless you start seeing spikes that need to be reduced.

 

[Anne L.]

Thanks for the info. We'll keep on doing the water changes, probably a little more volume than what we have been, and go from there.

It's a nice little acrylic tank, and the fish are really pretty with lots of red fin colouration and green shimmery stripes.

:thm:

 

[Anne L.]

I'm posting a question from my son. One of the white clouds is very active, feeds well, and isn't afraid of anything. He actually seems to chase the other one around somewhat.

The other fish is very timid, and seems to be afraid a lot of the time. He isn't feeding well, and doesn't come up to the top of the tank to get food. We pushed some flakes down, but they were pretty much ignored.

We put the lights off in the room and just left the tank light on so they couldn't see us, and then left the room after a while. So I'm not sure if this fish is eating or not after we leave.

Is there anything else we can do besides wait?

 

[OrionGirl]

could be a matter of heirarchy--the aggressive feeder is 'top dog', and prevents the smaller one from coming out as much. Once the tank is cycled, adding another white cloud might help--this would spread out aggression onto 2 fish instead of just one. With diligent care, the smaller tank will support the threesome just as well.

But, fish vary in personality, and this could just be nothing more than that, too.

 

[Anne L.]

Thanks!

I remember that when I added a couple of new glowlight tetras to my tank, the new little ones bossed and bullied the other ones for a few days.

I just hope that this little guy is getting some food. When I sneak up on them, they are usually swimming together or close by each other, so I think tonight we'll just give them food, leave the tank light on, and go out of the room. If they see any movement in the room, they get scared.

The tank is sitting at about 65 degrees now since we're gone during the day with the heat turned down, which should be a good temp, right?

I just thought of something else. We have some floating plastic duckweed in the tank, only a few pieces, to give them a little cover from the light. Could this be scaring the fish, or would more cover be better? I had more in there to start with, but it made feeding a little difficult. I think a feeding ring might be better for this tank too.