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Fish Fussiness
May. 21st, 2008 09:11 amEveryone I meet who has kept fish in the past always says to me : “I never worked so hard, and my fish were fine!”
And I’m sure that’s true. Every time my mother reads one of my “Gucci, Gucci” blogs, she remembers how my grandmother (my fish-keeping forbearer) used to just dump her goldfish in a glass in the sink and clean out her tank with a scrub brush. They lived for years, apparently.
I should point out, that I don’t kill EVERY fish I come in contact with. Joe, my gigantic (four inch) comet goldfish, has been with me since that very first day nearly two years ago when I started all this fish stuff. Fergus came along only a few months after that, and they’ve survived any number of traumas, including a transfer to a larger 30 gallon tank. Both were “feeder” fish, bought for pennies at PetSmart (Joe) and World of Fish (Fergus). Bob[2] and Kenya, the white cloud minnow, live in an environment so stable I hardly ever reference my 10 gallon tank any more. Every Thursday their water gets changed and that’s all I do (other than feed them, of course.)
Now, with that in mind, I shall bring you up to speed on the continuing attempts to revive the “sick” 5 gallon tank.
You’d think a little tank would be easier. However, one book I read on Aquariums noted that beginners are actually better off with larger (the author suggested even as large as 50 gallon) tanks because the environment has a lot of “wiggle room” for mistakes in water quality, etc.
Also, despite the fact that a lot of people keep neon tetras, they actually “don’t tolerate dramatic changes to their environment” according to Michael Urmann of www.aquahobby.com. I’m not, in fact, supposed to be using them to condition my tank, but since I want to eventually put neon tetra in the tank, I decided to start with them as well. However, I only bought two, even though they feel more comfortable in schools of six or more. My hope is to get this tank to the kind of stable place where I might actually slightly overstock it, and get a large school of ten or so. I absolutely adore the way they flash and school, and the bigger the group, the more impressive they look.
So, as part of my exhaustive research process, I discovered that tetra are native to the Amazon black water and so prefer black/dark gravel (substrate) and heavily planted tanks. Growing plants, of course, is its own skill set, and I have to admit that I don’t tend to have a lot of luck with houseplants generally and my outdoor gardens thrive mostly because I allow weeds to grow. So, I had to do research into plant growing first before I introduced the fish.
I moved my CO2 infuser upstairs and got that running. Then, as the goldfish uprooted some of the moneywort, I transplanted that to the 5 gallon tank. I should say, too, that I put a layer of Flourite substrate underneath the black gravel. Flourite is a brand of aquarium substrate that’s supposed to be ideal for growing plants. It contains trace elements that normal aquarium water doesn’t provide. I also bought and buried some “Flourish Tabs” which are supposed to slow-release nitrates, etc., that plants need to stay healthy.
Then, of course, we had to solve the lighting problem. As you may remember many, many moons ago, while changing water in this tank I managed to drop the hood and break the lamp. Previously, this wasn’t much of an issue because I had no live plants in the tank. Now, with an over-planted tank in the works, lighting became a key issue. The hood part of an Eclipse system, which means finding a replacement bulb was pretty much out of the question, unless I wanted to buy an entirely new tank. (This tank was a gift, along with the 10 gallon.) We looked a number of over-the-hood aquarium lights, and almost bought one for $30, but on-line consumers gave it a resounding thumbs-down. Apparently, this particular brand will often arrive broken and getting replacements for its bulbs is also a huge hassle. All the others cost in the hundreds of dollars – well out of our price range. Sitting around one day, I had an epiphany. What about a cheap clip on light from Target, with a full spectrum light?
That’s what we’re trying at the moment. I have no idea if it will produce enough quality light for the plants, so I also bought species of plants that are supposed to tolerate low to medium light. Fingers crossed.
Next I bought a couple of tetra. Mason wants them to be named Egypt and Sierra Leone, but Shawn and I insist that one of them be named “piranha” after the longest-surviving fish from our last attempt at tetra.
The next thing I did was pull out my test kits. My PH tester came out bright blue – dangerously alkaline. So, I quick got in the car for PetSmart to buy a PH up. While I was there, I picked up some test strips the promised more tests than I currently have. The test strips proved invaluable as they test not only PH, but also “hardness” (GH) and total alkalinity (KH). Turns out my PH is actually in the safe range, but I have super hard water -- in the 300 pmm range. Also, my KH is low (40 ppm) and ideal is near (120-180 ppm). I’m not going to worry overmuch about my KH, because I read yesterday that one of the ways to lower high KH is to infuse CO2, which I’m doing for the plants. So, it’s probably changing my ideal KH to a somewhat lower one.
However, as I read that tetras thrive best in very soft water (0 -40 pmm), and I knew that a product called peat moss can be added to your filter to change that I decided to get it. After returning the PH up to PetSmart, Mason and I went to that reptile place on University Avenue. That’s where I bought the tetra, a couple of my low-light plants, as well as “black water conditioner” which is supposed to help mimic the Amazon River water quality. They didn’t have peat moss per se, but they did have a water softener “pillow,” which is added to the filter like peat moss. Then, once you reach ideal softness, it can be removed and “refreshed” for reuse (up to four times).
The good news is, we’re leaving for WisCON in a matter of days, so I can’t futz around and freak out my tetra any more. The bad news is that the last time we left tetra in the tank before WisCON we came home to a moldy clump of deadness.
And I’m sure that’s true. Every time my mother reads one of my “Gucci, Gucci” blogs, she remembers how my grandmother (my fish-keeping forbearer) used to just dump her goldfish in a glass in the sink and clean out her tank with a scrub brush. They lived for years, apparently.
I should point out, that I don’t kill EVERY fish I come in contact with. Joe, my gigantic (four inch) comet goldfish, has been with me since that very first day nearly two years ago when I started all this fish stuff. Fergus came along only a few months after that, and they’ve survived any number of traumas, including a transfer to a larger 30 gallon tank. Both were “feeder” fish, bought for pennies at PetSmart (Joe) and World of Fish (Fergus). Bob[2] and Kenya, the white cloud minnow, live in an environment so stable I hardly ever reference my 10 gallon tank any more. Every Thursday their water gets changed and that’s all I do (other than feed them, of course.)
Now, with that in mind, I shall bring you up to speed on the continuing attempts to revive the “sick” 5 gallon tank.
You’d think a little tank would be easier. However, one book I read on Aquariums noted that beginners are actually better off with larger (the author suggested even as large as 50 gallon) tanks because the environment has a lot of “wiggle room” for mistakes in water quality, etc.
Also, despite the fact that a lot of people keep neon tetras, they actually “don’t tolerate dramatic changes to their environment” according to Michael Urmann of www.aquahobby.com. I’m not, in fact, supposed to be using them to condition my tank, but since I want to eventually put neon tetra in the tank, I decided to start with them as well. However, I only bought two, even though they feel more comfortable in schools of six or more. My hope is to get this tank to the kind of stable place where I might actually slightly overstock it, and get a large school of ten or so. I absolutely adore the way they flash and school, and the bigger the group, the more impressive they look.
So, as part of my exhaustive research process, I discovered that tetra are native to the Amazon black water and so prefer black/dark gravel (substrate) and heavily planted tanks. Growing plants, of course, is its own skill set, and I have to admit that I don’t tend to have a lot of luck with houseplants generally and my outdoor gardens thrive mostly because I allow weeds to grow. So, I had to do research into plant growing first before I introduced the fish.
I moved my CO2 infuser upstairs and got that running. Then, as the goldfish uprooted some of the moneywort, I transplanted that to the 5 gallon tank. I should say, too, that I put a layer of Flourite substrate underneath the black gravel. Flourite is a brand of aquarium substrate that’s supposed to be ideal for growing plants. It contains trace elements that normal aquarium water doesn’t provide. I also bought and buried some “Flourish Tabs” which are supposed to slow-release nitrates, etc., that plants need to stay healthy.
Then, of course, we had to solve the lighting problem. As you may remember many, many moons ago, while changing water in this tank I managed to drop the hood and break the lamp. Previously, this wasn’t much of an issue because I had no live plants in the tank. Now, with an over-planted tank in the works, lighting became a key issue. The hood part of an Eclipse system, which means finding a replacement bulb was pretty much out of the question, unless I wanted to buy an entirely new tank. (This tank was a gift, along with the 10 gallon.) We looked a number of over-the-hood aquarium lights, and almost bought one for $30, but on-line consumers gave it a resounding thumbs-down. Apparently, this particular brand will often arrive broken and getting replacements for its bulbs is also a huge hassle. All the others cost in the hundreds of dollars – well out of our price range. Sitting around one day, I had an epiphany. What about a cheap clip on light from Target, with a full spectrum light?
That’s what we’re trying at the moment. I have no idea if it will produce enough quality light for the plants, so I also bought species of plants that are supposed to tolerate low to medium light. Fingers crossed.
Next I bought a couple of tetra. Mason wants them to be named Egypt and Sierra Leone, but Shawn and I insist that one of them be named “piranha” after the longest-surviving fish from our last attempt at tetra.
The next thing I did was pull out my test kits. My PH tester came out bright blue – dangerously alkaline. So, I quick got in the car for PetSmart to buy a PH up. While I was there, I picked up some test strips the promised more tests than I currently have. The test strips proved invaluable as they test not only PH, but also “hardness” (GH) and total alkalinity (KH). Turns out my PH is actually in the safe range, but I have super hard water -- in the 300 pmm range. Also, my KH is low (40 ppm) and ideal is near (120-180 ppm). I’m not going to worry overmuch about my KH, because I read yesterday that one of the ways to lower high KH is to infuse CO2, which I’m doing for the plants. So, it’s probably changing my ideal KH to a somewhat lower one.
However, as I read that tetras thrive best in very soft water (0 -40 pmm), and I knew that a product called peat moss can be added to your filter to change that I decided to get it. After returning the PH up to PetSmart, Mason and I went to that reptile place on University Avenue. That’s where I bought the tetra, a couple of my low-light plants, as well as “black water conditioner” which is supposed to help mimic the Amazon River water quality. They didn’t have peat moss per se, but they did have a water softener “pillow,” which is added to the filter like peat moss. Then, once you reach ideal softness, it can be removed and “refreshed” for reuse (up to four times).
The good news is, we’re leaving for WisCON in a matter of days, so I can’t futz around and freak out my tetra any more. The bad news is that the last time we left tetra in the tank before WisCON we came home to a moldy clump of deadness.