Cutesie fish suck!

[astronatus]

You know, I have seriously wondered if i was doing too much in terms of water changes.

Until a month ago, I was changing 50% every two weeks. Then I recently changed to 30% every week to see if the swings in water chemistry would be less. Do you think that still might be too much??? I do have a lot of plants in there, as well as a homemade CO2 injecter that definitely contributed to the death of my rainbows and gourami, as they all croaked within 48 hours of putting it in with no previous symptoms.

Howdy,

I think the key to successfully keeping smaller fish is tank stability. Old Schoolers would call it "aged water approach". Minimal maintenance has been the key for me. The more I messed with water changes and water chamistry, meds and filtration, the more died. I also found that plants are an essential part of successfully keeping small fish, especially tetras. Here's what worked best for me:

• set up a planted tank
• canister filter for good biofiltration
• no additional powerheads or anything
• monthly water changes (kill me) of 25%
• filter cleaning intervals 6 months or more (currently 10-12 months on my 20 gal Macropodus/Garra tank)

It's for sure that smaller fish need different care than Monsters.

HarleyK

 

[HarleyK]

I recently changed to 30% every week to see if the swings in water chemistry would be less. Do you think that still might be too much???

I may get shot, but yeah: If you have lots of plants as you say, reasonable biofiltration, the tank is reasonably stocked and you do not overfeed: Once every 2 weeks is the most I'd do. Depending on your plant growth, that can be easily reduced to monthly water changes.

Sorry to hear that CO2 killed some fish. I hope you have it all figured out now. Fertilization of plants will add to growth which will allow longer water change intervals on tanks with small fish.

Good luck,
HarleyK

 

[astronatus]

Part of what started my rant in the first place was losing a striped raphael cat the same weekend I bought him. Then I discovered that, lo and behold, the corpse I had found was actually that of one of my albino cories I've had since summer before last, so I felt better. The Raph was just hiding. I feel better, but I still am thinking about going with only larger fish. We'll see what happens.

 

[Jess.in.WI]

Walmart and other chains don't really carry the "monsters".

I dunno, my walmart sells pacu's and oscars, and I've spoken with them a few times, yeah, like that does any good!

I bought fish from Petsmart ONCE. A few platys and swordtails, and all of them were dead within two weeks, tho the original fish that were in the tank were not effected in any way.
The fish I've given up on keeping? Bettas. I cannot keep one alive for more than a month no matter what I do!