transition from fake to real plants

[latdow]

Hello, I am a college student and, while I am home, if I'm not at work or sleep[ing, I'm watching my fish. at the moment, I have a 6.2 gallon acrylic tanks with sparce rocks and a few fak plants. A guppy i have been baby sitting gave birth about a month ago, but they are still small enough to be swallowed, so theyre in the baby saver until i can get an intermediate tank set up. (if it was up to me, I'd have my Emerald Cory and my frog just eat them, but they're not my babies). anyway, I was doing som research and found that my cories need some algae, so I was thinking about adding real plants in my tank to help with amonia and tone down my water changes. (every time i either clean the tank or do a water change, one of my catfish would die). I was wondering what the best plants would be for a small aquarium that is small, at a temperature from 70-80 degrees and has to move back and forth from school an back. I was also wondering what smbrates would be best for this enviornment.

thanks thanks thankss!!!!
<3 from Latdow

 

[jpappy789]

Corys actually do not need algae and given their mouth structure, which is different than a pleco, probably are not able to get to it anyways.

I am wondering if your tank is also cycled since you shouldn't have ammonia at all. And water changes shouldn't be killing fish...do you use a water conditioner?

Anyways, adding plants is always a good idea. I would look into anubias, java fern, and java moss for a small tank. They are really easy plants. What is your lighting like btw? And you should need any special substrate. The ones I listed actually do best attached to hardscape like rocks or wood but can be put int the substrate so long as the rhizome is not buried (minus the moss).

 

[latdow]

i do use conditioner, but i had used the same thing at school and none of my cories died then. the baby guppies and my emerald do fine, but the elbino and my new one (i did not pin point the exact species of cory yet). I was thinking about doing changes less,but im worried about the amonia from the fish wastes later. I'm not sure if my tank is cycled. i declorinated the water an, and put the fish in.

 

[cellodaisy]

at the moment, I have a 6.2 gallon acrylic tanks with sparce rocks and a few fak plants.

That's a pretty small tank. A larger one would be easier to maintain and better for your fish.

(if it was up to me, I'd have my Emerald Cory and my frog just eat them, but they're not my babies).

Is that the total population of your tank? 1 adult guppy, some baby guppies, 1 emerald cory and one frog?

anyway, I was doing som research and found that my cories need some algae

As jpappy said, cories generally don't need algae. What you might have read about is people feeding their cories sinking algae wafers, which is not the same thing. Most algae wafers also have fish meal and other ingredients.

so I was thinking about adding real plants in my tank to help with amonia and tone down my water changes.

You should not have any ammonia in a cycled tank. What is your normal water change schedule? How long have you had this tank?

(every time i either clean the tank or do a water change, one of my catfish would die).

That should definitely not be happening. Please tell us more about your setup, routines, and history with this tank so we can help figure out what's going on.

I was wondering what the best plants would be

I second jpappy's recommendation of java fern and java moss. They're very hardy and don't need substrate. I've had good luck with super-gluing java fern to river rocks to make them sink. It actually looks pretty nice.

 

[latdow]

the tank population at the moment is 1 frog, 1 cory, 20 baby guppies and 2 adult guppies. I'm setting up an intermediate tank where the guppies are going to go because they are not mine, i just have them for the summer. when the whole tank is my own, I just want 3 cories.

it's completely plausable that i misunderstood what i was reading, but i seemed logical as to why my cories keep dying. the first cory caualty was when i changed all the fish into the 6.2 gallon tank. at school, they were in a 2 gallon tank with (then) 2 male guppies, 2 female guppies, 2 dwarf african frogs and 2 cory cats (one emeral and one albino). the only death that occured at school as one guppy that was harrassed to death and i use the same conditioner as i did then with the same gallon to teaspoon ratio. only one guppy died in transit from school to home and i moved the fish shortly after, when my first emerald died. i changed about 20-40% of the water, with no problem two weeks after the fish were introduced. then, another two weeks, i did a 70% water change, with no problem. 2 weeks after that (this would be this weekend), i did a 20% water change. the day after my albino died. yesturday, my new catfish's tail got caught in the filter. as soon as i noticed this, i turned off the filter and put him in a quarintine tank. he survived about 18 hours before he died.

so, that's pretty much the schedule i have. my mother thought i might be cleaning the tank too much, but i wanted to make sure none of my fish would get amonia poisoning.

 

[latdow]

Oh! i forgot to mention, my lighting is 15 w floresent, an it's on about 12-15 hours per day.

 

[cellodaisy]

Okay, let me see if I got this right...

2 gallon tank @ school:
2 male guppies
2 female guppies
2 dwarf african frogs
1 emerald cory
1 albino cory

>> 1 guppy dies @ school

>> 1 guppy dies during transit

>> cory #1 (emerald) dies shortly after move

6.2 gallon tank @ home
2 guppies
2 dwarf african frogs
1 albino cory

>> after two weeks, 20-40% water change (no deaths)

>> two more weeks, 70% water change (no deaths)

>> two more weeks, 20% water change - cory #2 (albino) dies

6.2 gallon tank @ home
2 guppies
2 dwarf african frogs

>> yesterday, cory #3 gets caught in filter & dies

6.2 gallon tank @ home (current)
2 guppies
20 guppy fry
1 frog
1 cory (#4)


My questions are:

1) Where did the other frog go?

2) When was cory #3 added?

3) When was cory #4 added?


In general, I would say that your small tank sizes and overstocking are probably causing the water parameters to fluctuate and allowing ammonia/nitrite/nitrate to build up quickly. You really will make your life easier and your fish's lives better if you can upgrade the tank situation and/or rehome some fish.

 

[jpappy789]

I agree. Coupled with the fact that you likely did not have a fully cycled tank when the fish were added I would say that you should probably think about upgrading or looking for new homes for some fish.

Plants will help use up some nitrogen (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) but they do not magically make a small tank livable for that many fish.

Please read this write up on the nitrogen cycle. I would strongly suggest getting a liquid test kit such as API as well.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

 

[latdow]

my other frog got itself caught in the baby saver and died. cory #3 was added shortly after the first emerald died and cory #4 was added a couple days before he got caught.

 

[latdow]

so am i having a problem bbecause i did not cycle my tank?

also, should i move the babies into a different tank? they are only a couple weeks old.