Help a noob out.
- Thread starter Jroehyn
- Start date
Jroehyn;4815734; said:
i just thought i should prepare him as not every one especially new bies no the potential size these fish get like
the jaguar cichlids femals get 14" males get 16"
convicts wont grow more than 6" at max 7
oscar 12" but can get upto around 16"
jacks 12"
so i wasnt having ago i was just warning you
i'm pretty sure they will outgrow the tank and i have another one to use when they grow. right now they are all 3 inchers and rarely fight over territory except for the convict pair. looking at the test chart the .5 ammonia indicates stress levels. guess i should get something to clear th ammonia. back to the gravel question, does it make a big difference?
Don't use any chemicals just do water changes. for gravel it is best to use natural looking colors for two reasons: Bright colored gravel looks tacky and ugly and it can also stress out fish. Usually they don't care but if you have like neon gravel it can stress out some fish.
anyone know why they just spit out the pellets i give them? they didnt do this when they were in the smaller tank
To bad you didn't keep them in the 20g till your new tank cycled. Those bottles they sell do nothing... just a waste of money. Best thing is keep changing the water. I did the same thing when i started. I took my fish out of a 15 and put them in a 55 before it cycled. They would of been better in a small area with good water then a big area with acid water.
Undergravel filters are useless. Your fish are not eating because they either do not like the food or are stressed. Or both. Well they are definitely stressed. They will eat when they get hungry enough. Assuming the ammonia doesn't kill them.
undergravels are not useless.. but that is a whole other debate.. and for your application I would agree.. not reccomended. Cichlids liek to dig.. and digging is bad useing UGFs.
I also wouldn't waste my money buying more chemicals other then maybe Prime, though I use aquasafe as my dechlorinator with no issues.
Take your filter from your 20. all nice and icky and shake it into your big tank infront of your uptake tubes so it gets trapped, put your other filter back in your 20.. and Do 20-30% Water Changes for the next 2 weeks Every other day until the tank is ufficently cycled. proper Cycleing takes a min of 5 days.. but with fish in teh system and the water changes ( to keep the toxin levels low so it doesn't kill your fish) Your looking at apprx a 14 day cycle.
Otherwise don't touch your filters.. don't screw around with the tank. Patience.
Likely your fish are spitting out their usualy pellets from stress of moveing.. but most cichlids are pretty ferocious eaters. So I would guess they have had their gills burned enough from the ammonia to discourage them from eating. ( try eating a peice of toast with strep or an otherwise sore throat.) You can try pre-soaking the pellets to make them soft and less likely to irritate or add some frozen foods that are softer to their diet. Or simply wait for them to eat the pellets again.
I also wouldn't waste my money buying more chemicals other then maybe Prime, though I use aquasafe as my dechlorinator with no issues.
Take your filter from your 20. all nice and icky and shake it into your big tank infront of your uptake tubes so it gets trapped, put your other filter back in your 20.. and Do 20-30% Water Changes for the next 2 weeks Every other day until the tank is ufficently cycled. proper Cycleing takes a min of 5 days.. but with fish in teh system and the water changes ( to keep the toxin levels low so it doesn't kill your fish) Your looking at apprx a 14 day cycle.
Otherwise don't touch your filters.. don't screw around with the tank. Patience.
Likely your fish are spitting out their usualy pellets from stress of moveing.. but most cichlids are pretty ferocious eaters. So I would guess they have had their gills burned enough from the ammonia to discourage them from eating. ( try eating a peice of toast with strep or an otherwise sore throat.) You can try pre-soaking the pellets to make them soft and less likely to irritate or add some frozen foods that are softer to their diet. Or simply wait for them to eat the pellets again.
