Tank maintainence - Am I doing it right?

Cruise Control

Cruise Control

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May 12, 2004
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
My tank:
- 2 1/2 ft tank (Not sure how many gallons this is. Help. It's 2ft x 1ft x 1ft)
- Black sand (About 1in)
- Standard overhead filter with filter wool
- Bubble wand
- 2 Driftwood
- Lightly planted (2 plants)

Fish:
1 Ruby Shark
1 Koi Angelfish
1 Pleco
1 Red Crayfish
(Was thinking of 3 more Clown Loaches. Bad idea because of the crayfish, right?)

- Gravel vac + 30-40% water change every week.
- Rinse & clean filter wool every month

My questionis, am I doing this right? I've had this tank for about 3 months now but I'll admit I have NEVER checked for pH, Nitrites or Nitrates. All my fish and crayfish seem fine (except for for the 11 Neon Tetras my Angel ate in 4 days! A website said they would be fine together!)

Also what do you guys say about adding medication into the tank as a PRECAUTION. No fish look sick at all. I've got this really bright green stuff which I add about every 2 weeks to make sure I get no disease in my tank. Bad idea? I've got another blue medication specially for ich which a friend uses as a precaution as well as to add a nice blue tone to his water that he likes.

Opinions?
 
personally, I don't see the need to necessarily dose medication in the water for no real cause
just a waste of money
i'd rather keep the fish happy by changing water frequently :)
 
First thing I would say is, would you take 2 tylenol every 4 hours to prevent a headache you didn't have? Well pretty much the same thing with fish. Medicate when you see a problem. You water changes are going to be doing the best thing for the fish.

Second thing I would say is that you tank is going to have trouble. It is too small for your fish. The pleco can get to be 2 feet long. "sharks" generally get at least 6 inches long and heavy bodied and the angel will get cramped in there as well. Plsu the cray fish will just be waiting to grab hold of anyone that gets near. As for clown loaches, they need at least a 75 gallon tank as they can get to be 10 inches long and quite wide. I would be looking at a new tank if the fish you have are ones you really want to keep.
 
Cruise Control, I don't want to be a kill joy but I don't think any of those fish are really appropriate for a tank of that size. Others may say I'm wrong but here's my thinking.

Pleco- Your biggest offender. The common pleco will grow to 18" in time. If you plan to move to a much bigger tank within a year this might be okay but otherwise, take him back. Plecos also are poop machines. They make a horrible mess and may make you want to over filter the tank. Bristlenose and clown plecos look very similar and would be much more appropriate for a tank of that size as they max out at 4-5"

Ruby Shark- I'm assuming this is a Red Tailed Black Shark. These guys like to swim and will grow to around 6" or so. A 15g is really a bit small for them.

Koi Angelfish- I'm certainly no pro on the angelfish but I know they get a bit bigger than you'd like to keep in a 15g. He may be okay but I think you'll want to pick tankmates carefully.

Red Crayfish- While you'll hear different stories from different folks who've kept crayfish, generally speaking these guys will eat whatever they can catch. They can be trouble unless on their own in a species tank. The fish in your tank right now might be okay since they're on the larger side (although I'd worrying about the angels fins getting nipped) but really, I wouldn't keep him with fish.

Clown loaches are out since they can grow up to a foot or so and like to be in groups.

As far as your maintenance, 30-40% weekly is a good start for water changes. You should really be checking regularly for ammonia nitrites, and nitrates on a regular basis until you're convinced they are at zero for ammonia and nitrites and under 40 or so for nitrates. Then check periodically. Checking for pH is a good idea too to make sure your water chemistry is stable.

Preventative medication is generally not a wise thing to do. It has the potential to do more harm than good. Just because it can heal a sick fish doesn't mean its good for a healthy fish.

Tom
 
*Slaps forehead* I feel like SUCH a newbie! It feels like I've got EVERYTHING wrong with my tank!

First things first. I'm definitely gonna get myself a test kit. Next I'll be giving away most of my fish and look at other smaller fish for my minute tank. Any suggestions?

Thank you so much guys! Appreciate your time loads!
 
Don't be too hard on yourself. We've all been there :D

Your tank is not so bad off. Not "everything" is wrong with it. First, stop medicating until someone gets sick AND you can identify the illness. A little bit of carbon in the filter along with a nice water change should clear out the meds.

Is your tank 2' long or 2 1/2' long? A 24"x12"x12" tank is a 15g but a 30"x12"x12" is a 20g long. In either case there are fish that will be happy in that tank you just have to pick fish that aren't going to grow as large as the tank is long ;)

Always keep the adult size of fish in mind when looking for them and don't always trust the kid at the lfs. Check for yourself here or elsewhere on the internet. There's plenty of info easy to find. Try returning your fish rather than giving them away. You might get at least some credit towards new fish.

Some ideas for fish in a 15 or 20:

Danios, cory cats, tetras, bristlenose pleco, dwarf gouramis. There's a lot of options. Keep in mind that a fish need some swimming space. While a 6" fish may technically fit in the tank it won't realy be able to swim freely. You'll want to stick to fish on the smaller side, say, under 4" or so. Feel free to post another stocking plan when you've had a chance to think about it.

Tom
 
"LFS" - Is this a pet store chain in America? (I'm not from America)... oh wait, Local Fish Store?

But yes, it's a 2ft tank so I'll be working around 15Gal specs fro now on.

Thanks again for the all the info! The crayfish has decided to rip up all my plants and eat them. I don't know why but I find this so cool! He'll then preside over the rest by climbing the 1ft-high driftwood and hanging out. I'll just go out and get more plants for my tank. They're sooo cheap here! About US0.40 each!

I've also seen my Rainbow Shark scratch himself on the gravel a few times. Not very often and I don't see any growth/whitespots on him. I'm not sure if this is normal.

You guys are the best! I'll post a pic of my tank over the weekend.
 
Crayfish are fun. I kept one I liberated from a Hispanic grocery (I tried to buy it but they just gave it to me) for a year or so on fish food and turtle pellets and earth worms in a small acryllic tank and weekly water changes many years ago. Undemanding and interesting looking. However, I'd never keep the guy with fish or plants, they'd soon be gone.

My dorm mates stole one from the bio lab this semester and put it in their fish tank. It ate a lot of their feeder minnows and tore up their baby oscar. :(

And yes, LFS is local fish store :)
 
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