Neons chasing each other that normal?

[Ripples]

Just a quick question - you mention that your water seems to be exactly the same as it is from the tank...

You ARE treating it for chlorine aren't you? It sounds like every time you add new water you may be killing off your bacteria and starting again?

Not meaning to sound patronising!! If you've covered that just tell me to get back into my box - but I remember an old flatmate who never treated her water - and only did a single 5g water change in her 35g every 2 months. Poor wee fishes must have gone through a new cycle every time.

R

 

[Thethirdben]

yes, i've been using water conditoner every time i add new water, in fact i just went to the pet store yesterday to get some more.

what i meant was i took a sample of the the water in my tank, tested the amonia.

Then i took some tap water and tested just the amonia and it had the same results, i didn't add any water conditoner to the tap water sample.

You mentioned cycling the aquarium, i think i know what you mean.

1) Test your tank's ammonia and nitrates 2) Add 1/4 fish 3) Cheek the tanks ammonia and nitrates 4) do a water change after 6 days repeat the process again.

I think thats waht cycling your aquarium is like


Thats why i'm waiting for the levels to reach 0 again so i can add the next and last batch of fish into my tank.

 

[Ripples]

Quite right. Some people prefer to do the cycling without fish (by adding in ammonia in chemical form) as it causes less stress to your babies. However, it can be done with fish (as I did when I started). The one thing I'd differ on is the timing of the water changes - you shouldn't rigidly stick to 6 days for this. You should be testing your water for ammonia/nitrite and nitrates at LEAST daily and changing your water (probably as often) whenever you get even a tiny bit close to dangerous levels.

All done to keep the fishies happy and healthy as possible through a chemically nasty time.

Hope that helps
Rach

 

[Thethirdben]

well theres the thing on my first week i was rally annal about getting my levels right, and i changed the water every 2-3 days

 

[jaylin]

i just noticed my tetras are swiming chasing each other, is that normal?

What kind of tetras? Tetras will often behave as if they are picking on each other and it's perfectly normal unless they are killing each other.

 

[Thethirdben]

neon tetras

 

[jaylin]

I think your Neons are just feeling good and playing. I wouldn't worry about it uless they are trying to actually kill each other. I think it's kinda fun to watch the tetras kick up their heels.

 

[Holly9937]

If you have high amonia and or nitrite readings that can stress the fish and cause them to act weird too! You want to keep either below .5, preferably at or almost 0.