Hi,
I've never owned a fish untill recently I got a small tank with 2 fish as a gift from wife and kids whom know even less about fish...
I need you experienced people to give me some feedback on what I've done so far....so I can do better from now on. Don't spare me ! Any constructive help is more then welcome.
I'll try and give a short description of what I have and what I've done so far. I've been reading things like this forum and allready know some stuff was a bad idea...
ok here goes :
the tank is 20 liters ( about 5 gallon?). they filled it with tap water ( I have a water softner, good or bad ?) and emptied the bag with the 2 fish in it. I've been reading about cycling tanks etc, obviously this was bad, but just how bad ? what are the consequences of this. the fish seem reasonably fine now...
to finish the setup there were also some brightly colored rocks on the bottom and a filter/water pump.
I think the fish are 2 goldfish, they look like red cap oranda's but their forehead is not lumpy, just red ? is this because they are young?
I feed them twice daily " flakes for gold fish" and more recently sometimes "daphnies for all exotic fish" , this is probably too much, I'll try and lower their ration to once a day....is that ok ?
I change about weekly 25% of the water. I leave the bucket of new water a day to rest upfront, to evaporate chemicals.... I add a bit of" JBL biotopol R for goldfish" i got with the tank.
The pump/filter has 2 internal components: a big nylon spongelike thing that traps dirt(?) and a small charcoal(?) container. I rince both thouroughly under the tap.
from what i've read I shouldn't rince that under the tap but just in the water I took out? do i need to do this weekly too ?
I got them about 3 months ago. After about 6 weeks, after reading you have to keep the tank clean, I emptied the tank ( I kept a bucket of some of the original water), took out the collored gravel which contained a lot of brow goop by that time and replaced that by very rough sand...I collected at the beach ( this must be bad) I assumed that by rincing it thouroughly and pouring some boiled water over it first that it would be ok bacteria wise. the fish seem to like the sand as they pick the grains ( 2-3 millimiter) up, etc... I have been wondering on how I can clean that bottom layer now...but after reading here it seems that I should leave it and just change the water ?
...the fish seem ok after all this. the have active and quiet periods, always seem to eat ok...so how bad was it really, and more importantly what do I do to do better ?
humbly yours :bowing:
honger18
some pictures of the fish... : http://users.pandora.be/test75/
Please tell me what they are if not what I thought
I've never owned a fish untill recently I got a small tank with 2 fish as a gift from wife and kids whom know even less about fish...
I need you experienced people to give me some feedback on what I've done so far....so I can do better from now on. Don't spare me ! Any constructive help is more then welcome.
I'll try and give a short description of what I have and what I've done so far. I've been reading things like this forum and allready know some stuff was a bad idea...
ok here goes :
the tank is 20 liters ( about 5 gallon?). they filled it with tap water ( I have a water softner, good or bad ?) and emptied the bag with the 2 fish in it. I've been reading about cycling tanks etc, obviously this was bad, but just how bad ? what are the consequences of this. the fish seem reasonably fine now...
to finish the setup there were also some brightly colored rocks on the bottom and a filter/water pump.
I think the fish are 2 goldfish, they look like red cap oranda's but their forehead is not lumpy, just red ? is this because they are young?
I feed them twice daily " flakes for gold fish" and more recently sometimes "daphnies for all exotic fish" , this is probably too much, I'll try and lower their ration to once a day....is that ok ?
I change about weekly 25% of the water. I leave the bucket of new water a day to rest upfront, to evaporate chemicals.... I add a bit of" JBL biotopol R for goldfish" i got with the tank.
The pump/filter has 2 internal components: a big nylon spongelike thing that traps dirt(?) and a small charcoal(?) container. I rince both thouroughly under the tap.
from what i've read I shouldn't rince that under the tap but just in the water I took out? do i need to do this weekly too ?
I got them about 3 months ago. After about 6 weeks, after reading you have to keep the tank clean, I emptied the tank ( I kept a bucket of some of the original water), took out the collored gravel which contained a lot of brow goop by that time and replaced that by very rough sand...I collected at the beach ( this must be bad) I assumed that by rincing it thouroughly and pouring some boiled water over it first that it would be ok bacteria wise. the fish seem to like the sand as they pick the grains ( 2-3 millimiter) up, etc... I have been wondering on how I can clean that bottom layer now...but after reading here it seems that I should leave it and just change the water ?
...the fish seem ok after all this. the have active and quiet periods, always seem to eat ok...so how bad was it really, and more importantly what do I do to do better ?
humbly yours :bowing:
honger18
some pictures of the fish... : http://users.pandora.be/test75/
Please tell me what they are if not what I thought
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