Two Newb Questions

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PurpleSmurf

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I just started a 10 gallon cold water tank Monday. I havn't cycled and have no testing equpiment (yet). So far I have introduced the following fish in one day intervals: 1 Strawberry Platty, 1 Gold Crescent Platty, Gorami, 2 Long Fin Blue Danio, and todays additions 4 Zebra Danio, and 1 Red Fire Dwarf. I also have three live plants, 2 Bloodwort and one unknown potted.

I did a 10% change today just to make sure the amonia isn't climbing too high and used the pour-off to setup a quarintine tank (about a 1.5 gallon tank).

So far all is going well. I'm just worried about my Gorami, he's actinve amazingly shy for being the largest fish in the tank. He immediatly darted behind one of filter columns after being added today. He's swum around the tank a little, switching sides once or twice and even venturing to the middle to eat. But for the most part he's been sitting under the plastic cave, even now after about 6 hours in the tank. Is this normal? I mean, even my walking into the room will cause him to dart for cover... I'm thinking about getting one more gorami to keep him company / push him about a bit, any chance of that working?

My other question is about the feeding of my fish. I have about a $25/week budget for maintaining the tank for now. (This should increase soon, I'm probably going to get a job at the LFS.) My platty's seem to just be biting and spitting out the flakes I give them, but eating the betta food I stole fro my sister. The danios eat with gusto so there's no problem there, but I was wondering if maybe I should switch to live food or just stich with a mix? I can get another 1gal and raise brine shrimp or something...

Or... what about culturing alge and then setting up a snail tank to feed off of? Trouble with that would be that none of my fish eat snails. =/

My tank:
tank.jpg

The hiding gamori:
gamori.jpg
 
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ok I'll take a stab at this and see if I can help ya

I just started a 10 gallon cold water tank Monday. I havn't cycled and have no testing equpiment (yet). So far I have introduced the following fish in one day intervals: 1 Strawberry Platty, 1 Gold Crescent Platty, Gorami, 2 Long Fin Blue Danio, and todays additions 4 Zebra Danio, and 1 Red Fire Dwarf. I also have three live plants, 2 Bloodwort and one unknown potted.
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What is the temperature of your tank? The fish you mention would normally be kept in a heated tank. The fish you are keeping are getting past the stocking limit for even a cycled 10 gallon.
I did a 10% change today just to make sure the amonia isn't climbing too high and used the pour-off to setup a quarintine tank (about a 1.5 gallon tank).
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Have you tested your water? You will really need to check ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and preferably pH. A 10% water change is probably not enough given the load on the tank. I suspect your ammonia is through the roof so the QT tank is only getting poisoned water.
I mean, even my walking into the room will cause him to dart for cover... I'm thinking about getting one more gorami to keep him company / push him about a bit, any chance of that working?
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Your fish may be stressed by the ammonia levels. Do not add any more fish. A load of stem plants will help but water changes are your best friend at this moment. If you can get some media from a cycled tank it would speed up your cycle, or you could try some bio-spira. I wouldn't worry about your fish not eating. Take care of the water quality and the fish will perk right up but you are overstocked as it is.
 
I have ask the same questions as reiverix and a few more.How long has the tank been set up for.And another question is your quarentine tank cycled? how long have you had it set up?
 
I dumped the Q-tank, I don't need it right now. As for getting the extra gourami, that won't happen, I saw him swimming around the tank this morning after my shower, so he must just be skiddish from the change of environmens.

The temp in my tank about 71-75, should I get a heater?

As for the water quality, I'm going to try and get my dad to buy a testing kit today and do three 20% changes today. (I'd just do an outright 50% but with the level of stress the gourami has already been through I'd rather not push him.)

And my fish seem to have enough room. The danio's school together and flit about the tank while the gourami seems to have claimed the corner. The plattys stick together and occasionally check out the gourami. However adding more fish is out of the question, my tank is fully stocked.

Maybe I should invest in a 20gal and cycle it.
 
3 20% changes will likely be just as stressful as one 50% change, possibly more. As long as the water is the same temperature as the water in the tank and you use a dechlorinator, the fish will be fine. I'd start doing daily 50% changes, and testing the water for ammonia every 12 - 24h - you've got an awful lot of fish in there.
You should get a heater not only to bring the temperature up around 77F, but also to regulate the temperature - since heaters have built in thermostats, they prevent termperature fluctuations, which are very stressful to fish.
Welcome to the hobby :)
 
Okay.

My thinking on the 3 x 20% changes was instead of crowding all the fish together on the bottom they'd have a slight disturbance every hour or so, but because you're adding new water and distilling the ammonia you'd have to take out a larger volume of water.

When adding water I take room temperature-ish water, add the dechlorinator (Stress-Coat), and let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour next to the tank.

Would buying and starting a fishless cycle in a 20 or 50 gallon be advisable? When that tank was ready I could transfer my current fish to it, and use the 10gal for breeding(?). It would also give me room to increase the danio school, add two more gourami to take agression off the smaller fish, and get some alge eaters/tank cleaners.

Edit: Would getting some gravel or water from an established LFS tank be advisable?
 
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For your water changes it is not necessary to let the water sit after dechlorination. As long as the temp is close to the temp in your tank you can add the water immediately after dechlorination.

A 20g or 50g tank will give your current inhabitants a much nicer envoronment to live in, the only danger is that tempation sets in and you add even more fish to the larger tanks to the point where these tanks are also overstocked. With that said a 50g would probably allow you to add the fish that you plan to add, the 20g might be pushing it.
 
=D The water change really seemed to help things out. The gourami has moved from the back-right corner to the front-left, is noticably bolder (no longer hides when I enter the room and even ignore my finger near him), and I saw him eating at the last feeding. Everyone else seem much livlier and I may have a pregnant platty if my suspicions are correct.

I'll keep up a daily 20% water change until I get my test kit on Monday.

I'm going to save up for a 50 gallon tank to cycle and transfer my current population into, and plan to add two more gourami, a pleco, two shrimp, and three more platty.

The 10gal will probably be used for breeding guppies, tetra, or plattys.

Sound good?
 
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I would not add two more gouramis. They are notoriously tempermental fish and will likely attack each other. It can be done in larger tanks with lots of hiding spots, but then you will probably rarely see them all. My dwarf in a 20 gallon willbe the tank terror one moment and then hide in a tall plant for an hour the next. They are funny fish that seem to be emotional wrecks. Adding more, IMO, will be a bad idea.

As for adding a pleco, look for a dwarf variety. The common plecos add far too much to a bioload and get far too big for a 50 gallon tank. Look for a clown or bristle nose pleco, they stay smaller.

Before adding any new fish I would suggest either asking here for advice from people who have kept them or else look up species profiles on the internet, in books, etc... to see if they are suitable for your tank and what sort of environment they will need.
 
The things I've read on gouramis say they prefer to be in groups of three. The dwarf red fire is also a supposedly good community fish (no problems with harassment so far).

I'll plan the ecosystem for the 50gal more carefully than my current setup, I really want a balanced healthy tank.
 
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