69 gallon freshwater

S

sbundy

AC Members
Oct 29, 2005
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hello

my tank has been up and running for about 5 to 6 months now. over these few months ive lost about 4 or 5 fish. ive tested my water every week and all seems to be fine: amonia 0 nitrites0 nitrates about 20 and ph about 7.5. since the beginning ive been feeding them only once a day. they eat for about 1 to 1.5 minutes. i do regular water changes about once a month(approx 20% to 25%). ive had a brown algea showing up on glass every week so ive put down lighting time to 6 hours a day. the temperature in my tank is between 80 and 81 degrees.

as far as the 2 blue demphsey cichlids: i know that they r not compatible but my local fish store told me that these were not agressive as all the other cichlids and that they would work in my tank. they have been in there for a week now and in fact there is no agression. They are right now the smallest fish in my tank. my local fish store tells me that should not change even when they grow.

this is an overview on my situation and i just wanted some input on how im doing or things i should maybe change or look into. any professional ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated!

thanks

p.s this is by far the best hobby ive ever gotten myself into!!!!

69 gallon freshwater 2 red rainbows 1 boesmani rainbows 2 cherry barbs 2 red torpedo barbs 1 silver mollies 2 small blue demphsey cichlids 2 clown loaches
 
Sbundy, you have ALOT of problems with your stock, but first....

What are your tank dimensions?
 
Your LFS gave you bad information on the dempseys. First, they can grow to 10" or more, the blue's a bit smaller than the common dempsey which can go to 12". As the grow they become aggresive to others and to each other and you really need to keep just one in a tank not two.

The clown loaches are OK for a while, but they can grow to 8" or more and can be a bit destructive if you have plants.

The rest of what you have should be fine. Some people will say that the mollies should not be there because they like brackish (somewhat salty to salty) water, but in the wild mollies move from fresh to salty and back -- and many people (myself included) keep mollies in a freshwater community with no problems at all.

I would either get another tank for the dempsey's or return then to the LFS. There are cichlids which are fine for a community tank and which stay at the 3 to 4" size. Rams, Kribensis, Dwarf cichlids yellow or gold usually.
Rams and Kribensis are the easiest to get hold of.

If you have web access there is lots if information about just about every kind you might run across, just check more than one site for information since you do get disagreements sometimes.
 
I believe in more frequent water changes and believe they should be done weekly, regardless where your nitrate level is. Maybe even more frequently with high loads of messy/heavy feeders. Some tanks get done daily, like fry tanks and discus juvies.
 
rbishop said:
I believe in more frequent water changes and believe they should be done weekly, regardless where your nitrate level is. Maybe even more frequently with high loads of messy/heavy feeders. Some tanks get done daily, like fry tanks and discus juvies.
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good point Bob, I didn't scroll down all the way to see your post and was just getting ready to key on the water changes. LOL
 
joephys said:
Brown algae is usually due to a lack of light, not too much. Too much light usually results in some type of green algae.
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Brown algae is diatoms which can grow in any light high or low. Diatoms feed on silica, once the supply has been used up they will go away on there own.
 
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