The BIO-Wheel

yuccapatrol is kidding of course....you need to do weekly water changes for the sake of your fish. Gotta get the poop and uneaten food off the bottom, using a siphon is easiest, do you already use one?

There is very rarely a need to add a product OTHER THAN WATER CONDITIONER to your tank. Its a waste of your money when there are likely other, better treatments for your problem. Algae? reduce the amount of light and stop overfeeding. Ich? try salt and heat...

Maybe its just me, but Id want to add gravel and a few more hiding places - ornaments, plants, etc- for your fish.

Hope this info is usefull for you
 
You also need some gravel in there to give the beneficial bacteria for the nitrogen cycle some more surface area to grow on. If you have mature gravel in a well-established tank, then MAYBE your fish would squeak by with infrequent water changes (and I wouldn't dream of chancing it anyway). Without gravel in there, I am surprised you aren't seeing more spikes and deaths right now.
 
NeonFlux, I just saw that you have asked here about this same stuff about 3 months ago? If you still are having trouble keeping these fish properly, you may need to think about rehoming them.
 
:coffee: ...I dont have problems any longer Zoo v_v;; sorry to cause much trouble for you guys long months ago,but this time everything is A-OKAY.I moved a few silver dollars away to my dad's tank.And nerdyguy83,i dont think gravel will do much for me,sorry.I could see they are doing very fine.And about the hiding areas and such,i have fake plants that have a corner room for them to hide behind.As you havent seen(maybe)in my second post,i told you about the plants attached to the 2 rocks and things that are in the my tank;the bridge,heater...
 
nerdyguy

I think you misunderstand the dynamics of biological filtration. You do not need any gravel for that purpose. Bacteria adhere to gravel, and rough surfaces like most gravel provide more surface area, but for the processes of biological filtration you MUST have O2. The more oxygen, the greater the effectiveness of filtration. Generally, filtration only takes place in the top 1/8 inch of a gravel bed, because that's the limit of oxygenated water contact. Deeper gravel beds require water flow to function as a filter, like with an UG filter. You dont need this, but deep sand beds do not provide ammonia/nitrate reduction below the surface layer. The contrary, in fact. They are fine for plants, not filtration.

What you need for biological filtration is media (sand, pads, plastic, etc) with oxygenated water flow. If the conditions are highly oxygenated, as in media with only a thin trickle flowing across them, or with a media regularly lifted into the air (bio wheels) the ammonia/nitrate reduction is literally hundreds of times more effective. One conditioned biowheel paddle provides more bio filtration than the entire sand bottom of a small tank.
 
NeonFlux said:
:coffee: ...I dont have problems any longer Zoo v_v;; sorry to cause much trouble for you guys long months ago,but this time everything is A-OKAY.I moved a few silver dollars away to my dad's tank.And nerdyguy83,i dont think gravel will do much for me,sorry.I could see they are doing very fine.And about the hiding areas and such,i have fake plants that have a corner room for them to hide behind.As you havent seen(maybe)in my second post,i told you about the plants attached to the 2 rocks and things that are in the my tank;the bridge,heater...
Click to expand...

well, you were asking about water changes every 3 or 4 weeks, which is what you had asked about months ago and were told it wasnt a good idea, so I figured you were still having problems. As far as decorations and hiding places, it will give your fish a better feeling of security and they may be more active. The gravel ish may be just a personal opinion. Do you use a siphon, btw?
 
NeonFlux -

There are forums/message boards devoted exclusively to blood parrots, you might find helpful info on them, also. I have 8 of them in a 125g, and they're at least 6" from tail-end to nose. They are amazing gravel diggers, as are most cichlids, so it doesn't matter how much housekeeping I do when I do the weekly water changes. They immediately rearrange and create their own craters and hills. They're a bit skittish, though, and do like to have things to hide behind until they've determined that there's a possibility that the dark shape outside their home may have food for them. I have one terra-cotta pot in there that one "couple" has determined is their little love nest, and they hang out almost constantly.

Do the weekly water changes, though, as everybody has suggested.
 
TheZoo,What is siphon?And nope,i dont have any problems anymore.You can now be relieved.=OBtw the water conditoners im using are one of thoses with novaqua and this other one...So..i dont really need them at all? :hi:

And as for fishinmaryland,that sounds interesting;The hill,craters,and that terra-cotta. ;) So, :idea: 6 inches,huh?And the water changes,i guess i gotta do what i gotta do.
 
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A siphon, a length of flexible tubing long enough to go from your tank to the ground. You start suction and use it to suck water and poop from the bottom of your tank. There are fancy models (most popular is the Python brand) that you can hook to the faucet for easier starting and to refill. VERY useful too for all serious fishkeepers.
As far as water conditioners, you need one that neutralises chlorine and, depending on your water supply, cholamines. Thats it! No need for fancy aloe additives and what not.
 
Ohhh,so that tube is called a siphon.Yes,i have one.I use it to do that.Usually i would shake the tank water up a notch and suck up the dirt and poop.And yeah,about the water condit.,i do have one that neutralize chlorine,and i use it.So i guess everything is a-okay?
 
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