New 10G tank planted and running

[oscaremmy]

Gourami to 5g and 4 Panda Corys to 10g office tanks

March 26: 4 young panda corys added to the 10g rasbora tank in office. 1 Blue Gourami became the resident of the sparsely planted 5g. Also found a neat adjustable 13w CF (long tube type) desk lamp from a thrift store for $5 and it is perfect for the 5g, which I can now plant, at 2.6w per gallon. Maybe some java ferns in there, plus the cabomba and hornwort to help with filtration. Just loose cabomba and hornwort in there at present to make the gourami feel secure. He's feeding well. Here's some up to date pics taken tonight.

 

[~Kswords~]

Wow that's a great looking tank!!!!!!!!!!!! Really looks bigger then a 10gallon though!

 

[oscaremmy]

Thanks kswords! Yep, it's a ten gallon. Not sure if the planting makes it kind of look bigger...

 

[oscaremmy]

Came home tonight and everyone is doing great in the two 10g tanks at home. Tested both tanks and here are the results, compared with my test 5 days ago:

These tanks are fishy cycling and have significant planting:

Kitchen tank (setup 21 March - 7 days old at time of this posting)
(4 corys and 4 dwarf platys)
Note: peat substrate had tinted water a pale yellow prior to tonight's water change. Test results are prior to water change:

pH March 23/28: 7.4/7.2 (peat effect, perhaps)
Ammonia: March 23/28: 0/0
Nitrites March 23/28: 0/1
Nitrates March 23/28: 0/5


Living room (1st tank, set up 1st March, so 27 days old) 10g: 2 peppered corys, 2 bronze corys, 6 zebra danios, 2 bloodfin (wow they have really grown in the past 5 days and are now bigger than the danios)! 2 Von Rio Tetras (also significant growth). Due to all fish increasing in size, I feared the worst before testing...

pH March 23/28 7.4/8.0 (this has a gravel substrate; I was surprised to see this size of pH increase - any suggestions anyone?
Ammonia: 0/0
Nitrites 0/0
Nitrates 10/15
This tank is due a water change on Sunday 30th, but levels look good....still wondering about that pH increase though.

 

[irishspy]

What kind of gravel is in the living room tank? Could it be raising the Ph?

 

[oscaremmy]

That's what I wondered. It's just a dark gray gravel I bought from PetSmart in a plastic bag...wondered if it's limestone chips. Also wondering if phosphates could be responsible for raising the pH though. I have been reading up on CO2 and its impact on pH but it lowers it, (carbonic acid), so this is quite wierd. With a UGF, if the gravel is dissolving and is alkali, it would obviously impact the pH. The fish are thriving, so I'm not worried at present, and regular water changes will lower it again, but I am concerned that fish will be stressed by a pH shock when new water is added. I don't have time to strip down the tank, remove the UGF and use peat and sand as in the other tank, which is what I would prefer.

 

[oscaremmy]

On the other hand, I could move the Platys into the higher pH tank and move the Von Rio Tetras and Bloodfins into the peat substrate tank...the chemistry would maybe suit each type of fish better. What do members think? It would be a 4-for-4 exchange, in terms of numbers.

 

[oscaremmy]

Both tanks totally revised layout and replanted!

Replanted BOTH tanks today at home and removed UGF from original 10g tank, replacing it with peat and pool filter sand, as with other home tank. Kept HOB filter, thinned out plants due to excessive growth and although the newly set up peat tank is a tad cloudy, (only finished it an hour ago), here are images of the first tank (the one planted at beginning of March) and the 2nd tank, which I set up last weekend. The UGF plants were much less bushy than the ones grown in peat. Also felt the Tetras and corydoras would appreciate the lower pH that the peat substrate brings.

 

[oscaremmy]

Returned to work tonight and was sad to find one of the panda corys hadn't made it...partial remains, so no way to say why it had died. All other fish were fine. I decided to revise layout and again use a peat substrate in my 10g desk tank. As this was a substantial task, I transferred all of the fish into a 5g bucket of tank water, put their heater and HOB filter on it and everything seemed fine. When I came to return the 6 harlequin rasboras to the main tank I could only find 5 - then to my horror I discovered one had somehow managed to find a small gap between filter and bucket lid and was dried out on the floor. No chance of revival. So I lost 2 fish from the 10g since Friday, which are my first losses. Tested water parameters ammonia 0, nitrite 0, pH 8.2 (hence converting to peat-based planting as there are corys and rasboras in the tank and I am now bringing the water change from home - my well water has no nasty chemicals in it, unlike this city water at the university...). Nitrates are also reading 0, unfortunately, so I believe that the ammo chips in the filter - together with the hornwort, cabomba, anubias and amazon ferns - are absorbing ammonia before any bacteria can develop in the filter.

The tank remains densely planted and I will not replace the lost fish, I don't think. The inmates are looking very much at home in their revised environment. I will test the parameters again tomorrow and daily until I leave for home again. The powder blue gourami seems very healthy, although I can't help thinking he must be very bored being on his own. There isn't much stimulation. I have added plenty of floating plants and some moneywort, to try to make him more 'comfortable.' I know this is thinking of a fish in a human sense, but it's a fact that some fish are sociable by nature...wonder if the dwarf gouramis are, too?

 

[oscaremmy]

Lost my 3rd fish tonight

:help: Lost another rasbora tonight from my office 10g tank (I had bought 6 rasboras on 3/26 from my local fish store). I had lost one a couple of nights ago when it escaped from the bucket unnoticed during a total tank revamp and water change.

The loss tonight was VERY bizarre. The fish was darting at very high speed all over the tank - like a thing possessed, then stopped, spun round and round very fast many times, (exactly like a dog chasing its tail), then spiralled down to the bottom of the tank and nose dived into the sand, then swam a little way on its back and side. Then it 'recovered' spontaneously - then did this over again after about 10 minutes. his time it bent laterally and shimmied as it floated down. Then it recovered. I checked all my water parameters - no toxins according to my API Water Master Test kit. In case there was some unknown problem with the water, I transferred the little guy into the 5g tank with the dwarf gourami that lives there. He really perked up, but the gourami was showing may too much aggression. I jumped in my car and dashed down to the lfs and bought an isolation net to protect the patient from the gourami, but when I returned about an hour later, the little chap was lying dead behind the heater. I was really disappointed. Everyone else seems fine in both tanks...maybe it was just a problem that had nothing to do with the tanks. The only parameter I don't like is the very high pH of 8.4 in both tanks, but that should fall in the tank I have just replaced the flourite with a peat substrate. Any ideas what killed this fish????? Other inmates: total was 5 harlequin rasboras, about 3/4-inch each, 3 panda corys about 3/4 inch each. Pond snails.