# New 90 litre tank advice



## Ink Spots (Jan 12, 2011)

Hi all, I'm setting up my first tank, thought I'd ask you for some advice. Ill give you the story so far:



Second hand 90 litre Aqua 620 with a double carbon filter ceramic noodle (for nitrifying bacteria growth) system, using tapsafe on the water
Replaced the heater and the filters, running at 25 - 26 degrees wit lights on 8-10 hours/day.
Big piece of swampy root wood bought from aquatics shop - boiling water rinsed and soaked in the bath for a few hours before putting in, turned the water a little brown at first but that's stopped.
Big chunk of green stone, again from aquatics shop
Planted a lot of different plants (didn't think to remember their names...), big mossy ones, spidery long grass and spinachy looking stuff at the back, grass at the front. I bought JBL root nutrient balls which I've placed in the gravel at 6 inch intervals wherever there are plants.
Also put in two moss balls as my friend told me they're great for keeping it clean

Fish:



3 x Pit Bull Plecos - seem happy and I think have grown quite a bit in the last few weeks, about 5 cm long
3 x Male Guppies - various colours. I bought 5 originally but two of them (both the blues) died in the last two weeks. The first seemed to be spending a lot of time right at the top of the tank, the second spent a lot of time at the bottom before dying.
8 x Neon Tetra shoal of the same type. Seem happy.
1 x Male Dwarf Gourami - Only got him two days ago, he's a little battered, with a split tail and a bent whisker, but I like him! He spends a lot of time hiding under the wood.

Been running about a month now. pH is around 8 (local tap water about 7.5), nitrite and ammonia undetectable, nitrates are building up though the test is quite difficult to read using the Nutrafin minimaster test kit, I think they're under 50. Changing about 20% of the water weekly to try and keep the nitrates down. 

I've been feeding them twice daily on flakes only, and now i've got a gourami I've bought some frozen mosquito larvae. I don't give any food specifically for the pit bulls but they seem to be happy sucking the leaves, wood and glass. Twice I've fed them brine shrimp just because it's really fun!

Not gonna change much until I'm confident it's cycled properly and steady, but theres a few things I've been wondering:

1) Any advice on feeding? I know overfeeding is a big cause of nitrate buildup so I'm trying to keep it down. If they're building up should I miss some of the feeds? Also I just bought the frozen mosquito larvae for the Gourami, how should I feed this as it just come in big macabre ice cubes!

2) Any advice on keeping it clean? Algae is just starting to be slightly visible on the scratches in the glass on the inside, how is the best way to clean a tank without damaging the setup (i.e. ripping up the plants, scratching the glass)

3) When I have fed them brine shrimp most of them end up sucked up the filter and on top of the first carbon filter, is that going to add a lot to my nitrates? Should I remove them?

4) I hear this "one inch one gallon" rule. Assuming once the wood and plants etc are accounted for I've got say 17-18 gallons, how many more fish do you think I can put in the tank. I mean the drawf gourami is surely bigger than two neon tetras combined!

5) I want to get a female friend for the Dwarf Gourami, hoepfully so they can make a bubble nest. However since I bought the first and read about them I hear a lot of bad things about their hardiness, infections etc. Any more advice on those? I haven't got any floating plants but I've added the mossy ones to give it more covered areas.

Any other thoughts or advice would be really welcome, such as other fish that would work in the tank (with or without the guppies which I might get rid of at some point). I like the look of glassfish, and I'd love to get some kind of cool catfish or other central character that would be happy on their own, but only if they're not going to kill the other or dig up my plants!

Thanks in anticipation for any adivce


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Actually you don't need anymore fish. I would cut down your feeding to once a day and just what they can eat in a couple of minutes without it going to the bottom. The pitbulls need to be given algae wafers a couple times a week and once in awhile fresh veggies like zuchinni, sweet potatoe, kale as a variaty In feeding frozen foods cut just a little off the cube and thaw out. remove any uneaten food after a couple of hours. As for cleaning try vac the substrate where there isn't any plants to get out any uneaten food. Water changes you might try and do 30% to bring your nitrates down.


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## verdifer (Sep 8, 2010)

1)I know folks who feed every 2 to 3 days, your Plecs will need some Veggies in their diet and Algae Wafers won't go wrong either, if you put Zuccini in for the Plecs you will prob see other fish having a bite of it.

2)You will get Algae no matter what, scrape it off the glass, I like scrapers with blades but you need to be gentle or you will have more scratches.

3)If they are in the filter remove them but a better thing would be to switch it off at feeding time(don't forget to put it back on and don't use tap water to wash them off either).

4)The 1 inch rule is just a rough estimate, sensible stocking is the way to go, your tank is small so you won't get much more in it and you will prob only p**s bigger fish off in a small tank.

5:I don't keep freshwater so I don't know about that.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

The one inch rule mostly works with small fish like the neons, larger fish need more gallons per inch and you have to bare in mind that you fish are likely still growing.

Is your Gourami eating? Unless you need it to entice him to eat or something I'd hold off on the frozen food for a couple of weeks to make sure every thing is going well because it gets the water dirty faster. You have added your fish pretty quickly, do you know if the tank has finished cycling? When you feed it defrost it first in a little tank water (I have a clean yogurt pot that I'm sure doesn't have any soap residue set aside for this). If the cubes are too big I cut them up before defrosting.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

What color is the algae and what type of light are you using? I use a dish-type scrub pad for my algae.

I would hold for now at your current stock level for at least another month. Your tank needs to settle out more and get established a little. Too much too soon and it will crash.


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## Ink Spots (Jan 12, 2011)

Thanks all. The Gourami hasn't seemed too active when eating, the guppies and tetras tend to munch everything before he gets there, he responds really slowly then has a half hearted sniff around. He does eat a bit if its right in front of him though.

Should you always turn off the filter when feeding? 

The algae is green, been running since about 18th December, when I got it it had four large mollies and two 15+cm common plecos which we've got rid of, so I think the ceramic noodles already have some of the nitrifying bacteria. Quite well planted too so i guess that will help. I'll take a photo once i find my usb cable for my blackberry.

Not gonna add anything else for a while, maybe a female gourami and thats it, will probably get rid of the guppies and maybe one of the pit bulls at some point. 

Regarding the pit bulls, they didn't seem too keen on the sweet potato, I'll try zucchini or algae wafers, but one of them has doubled in size and they're quite active so I think they're doing ok!


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## Ink Spots (Jan 12, 2011)

Update: Help! Things are not going too well! Two of my neon tetras got white spots on their fins exactly like the picture linked at the bottom of this message. They also looked off balance. I took both of them out and put them to sleep today.

I have introduced a female gourami who is not looking happy either, three days in she hasn't eaten, is floating around the top of the tank, and her tail looks like it's been nibbled, and she has white patches behind her side fins on both sides. Maybe the guppies are having a go at her? They are quite feisty sometimes and hang around the top too. 

Fed them live bloodworms recently for the first time, got them when I picked up the female, problems been happening since then.

Neon tetra white fin:

Google Image Result for http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=110011&stc=1&d=1257355321


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

The fin ailment looks like some columnaris happenings I've experienced. I have yet to successfully treat a fish columnaris and they just die.


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## Ink Spots (Jan 12, 2011)

jrman83 said:


> The fin ailment looks like some columnaris happenings I've experienced. I have yet to successfully treat a fish columnaris and they just die.


Did it affect your other fish?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Ink Spots said:


> Did it affect your other fish?


Columaris is a nasty disease that can wipe out your whole tank in extreme cases. The last fish I put in my tank that had columaris had two others that I put in also. All three had it and they all died, plus two others. I attribute the death of the two to putting infected fish in my tank....I didn't fully utilize my quaratine tank like I was supposed to and only kept them in it 1 wk. It could also not affect any of your other fish....just depends.

Maybe someone else can comment on what that may be. It's definitely not fin rot or it would be shredding away.


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