Introducing myself

[thebiggerthebetter]

RTF: ... The RTC now called "Otto" will NOT eat pellets, and I cannot bring myself to not offer something else which at the moment is prawn plus 2 mandatory pellets which are still where I placed them in the morning
TBTB: Only hunger will motivate it to explore new feeds.

RTF: ATM Colony is nitrifying bacteria in a bottle.
TBTB: There is no ready filter in any bottle. AFAIK, all products of this type do is provide the seeding. It still takes time for the bacteria to establish, grow, and start processing the ammonia and nitrite. With a tiny bioload, perhaps a week could do it. With a large bioload, 3-5 weeks might still be needed.

RTF: Was watching a video on Youtube called 7 small fish which grow really big, and interestingly he didn't mention my two? he mentions Silver Dollars which I have kept in the past and they didn't grow very big at all
TBTB: "Really big" is relative. SDs are not big on my scale in 4500 gal. They are really big for an average home aquarium of 20 gal, that's agreeable.

RTF: ... also mentions a 'Gar'' which I had never heard of anybody got one?
TBTB: Plenty. Go to Forums page, scroll down to Advanced Aquaria discussions, find Ancient Fish, subsection Gars and Bowfins.

RTF: ...I already have the API test kits and I tested the water before the new Aro arrived it tested at Ammonia 0 Nitrite0 nitrate 20
TBTB: Excellent. Treat nitrate test as a relative test. 20 ppm on nitrate test can vary wildly from water to water. It is not an absolute test by any stretch like ammonia and nitrite are.

RTF: I thought the nitrate would have been lower as I had just done a water change, that"s the downside of having no substrate and no ornaments there is nothing for the bacteria to coat just the glass.
TBTB: that's why you have the filter and the biomedia in it. Denitrifying bacteria are anaerobic and live deep in substrate where there is no oxygen. They are not the nitrifying type that "coates everything".

RTF: Regarding the Arrowana being strictly a surface feeder, well mine isn't several times I have caught him coming to the bottom and picking up some prawn.
TBTB: Mine do the same. Arowana is not a strict surface feeder but a surface dweller.

RTF: ... also came up with an idea for decorating the tanks and giving somewhere other than bare glass for bacteria to coat. I'm going to silicone A long strip of black filter foam on the back of the tanks (inside obviously) foam will be 4cm thick and 4" wide along the strip I shall put some small slits and inside the slits I am going to put some aquatic plants, the foam will hold a considerable amount of nitrifying bacteria and the plants which will root into the foam will take care of some of the nitrate, just hope the fish don't eat the plants, is that a good idea?
TBTB: I think it's a good idea so long the fish are small. As they grow, they might damage or remove the plants with or without any purpose, especially the RTC.

RTF: ... also hoping that the foam doesn't take too long to arrive I had to order it from China...
TBTB: Make sure it is compatible with a fish tank and nothing toxic leaches out into the water.

 

[Red Tail Fan]

I don't like bare tanks either but it certainly makes it easier to clean up any left over food, You can get ATM colony for freshwater or marine
TBTB The only time I have come across anaerobic bacteria was when I had a deep sand substrate many years ago and the sand in the middle started to turn black
and smelled awful when you disturbed it, I think it is becoming a gas of some sort. I beg to differ that denitrifying bacteria ia anaerobic, it coats everything in the tank glass, substrate if you have any, ornaments rocks , wood, substrate gets air when I clean it, I never have deep substrate, the filters get air as the water flows in and out of them, that's how I see it anyway.
OK now a question, can I or should I feed them mealworms live or dried? also purchased some large airstones (saw this on youtube) I'll take a pic, nice big column of bubbless, oh incidentally I had never heard of an HMF filter so I looked it up and it looks like a first rate idea, I shall definitely keep that in mind, .

 

[Red Tail Fan]

Well my foam arrived, I soaked it for several hours in hot water and then dried it, the water was clear, don't know what else I can do with it, it is listed as filter foam, I must confess I am getting somewhat disillusioned with my two they hide all day, always leave some of what I feed them I tried the RTC on pellets for 3 days still wouldn't touch them, my tank water turned cloudy and apparently you shouldn't break up the Hikari foodsticks so now I just throw them in whole he always leaves some or they are stuck to the side of the filter. Guy on Youtube was giving a review
on Hikari sinking carnivore pellets, said they are rubbish in fact Hikari isn't all it is cracked up to be, so what IS good fish food??
Can I offer them mealworms? live or dried I believe I asked this before, to be honest I am getting past caring, my loaches are incredible they swim in and out of my hand, the Gourami eat from my fingers, Aro & RTC just hide!!!! boring waste of space and time.!!! oh just remembered I used a bit of Acetone on the inside glass of the aquarium will it just evaporate?

Well that's all for now,

Val

 

[moe214]

Well my foam arrived, I soaked it for several hours in hot water and then dried it, the water was clear, don't know what else I can do with it, it is listed as filter foam, I must confess I am getting somewhat disillusioned with my two they hide all day, always leave some of what I feed them I tried the RTC on pellets for 3 days still wouldn't touch them, my tank water turned cloudy and apparently you shouldn't break up the Hikari foodsticks so now I just throw them in whole he always leaves some or they are stuck to the side of the filter. Guy on Youtube was giving a review
on Hikari sinking carnivore pellets, said they are rubbish in fact Hikari isn't all it is cracked up to be, so what IS good fish food??
Can I offer them mealworms? live or dried I believe I asked this before, to be honest I am getting past caring, my loaches are incredible they swim in and out of my hand, the Gourami eat from my fingers, Aro & RTC just hide!!!! boring waste of space and time.!!! oh just remembered I used a bit of Acetone on the inside glass of the aquarium will it just evaporate?

Well that's all for now,

Val

As said many times, best thing we can say is rehome them. To call them boring is ignorant. They're babies in a new environment. Let me snatch you from the world you know and let's see what you decide to do. Some fish are fine the day of. I've had fish take up to six months to get comfortable and even eat with me in the room. Generally you don't want to break pellets as it makes a mess. You wanna get the right size for the fish. Hikari is fine pellet wise. But you do want to try and mix in frozen foods, can do freeze dried as well. No one food will give your fish everything's it needs unless you do a DIY food. You can offer mealworms if they're big enough to take the ones available to you. Might wanna cut the head off so they don't bite. Far as the acetone I'm not sure. I would have advised against it though.

 

[Tobiassorensen]

As said many times, best thing we can say is rehome them. To call them boring is ignorant. They're babies in a new environment. Let me snatch you from the world you know and let's see what you decide to do. Some fish are fine the day of. I've had fish take up to six months to get comfortable and even eat with me in the room. Generally you don't want to break pellets as it makes a mess. You wanna get the right size for the fish. Hikari is fine pellet wise. But you do want to try and mix in frozen foods, can do freeze dried as well. No one food will give your fish everything's it needs unless you do a DIY food. You can offer mealworms if they're big enough to take the ones available to you. Might wanna cut the head off so they don't bite. Far as the acetone I'm not sure. I would have advised against it though.

This.

And for the acetone question yes it will evaporate as long it is chemical clean acetone without any oils in it. I use acetone all the time to clean glas before i put on silicone when im building tanks. But then i fill the tank and drain it to leaktest it.

 

[Mitchell The Monster]

Just rehome.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

RTF: The only time I have come across anaerobic bacteria was when I had a deep sand substrate many years ago and the sand in the middle started to turn black and smelled awful when you disturbed it, I think it is becoming a gas of some sort.
TBTB: Yes, either hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide or some such gas.

RTF: I beg to differ that denitrifying bacteria ia anaerobic, it coats everything in the tank glass, substrate if you have any, ornaments rocks , wood, substrate gets air when I clean it, I never have deep substrate, the filters get air as the water flows in and out of them, that's how I see it anyway.
TBTB: I may be wrong and need to look it up but off the top of my head, nitrifying bacteria are engaged in processing nitrogen from ammonia into nitrate while denitrifying means getting rid of nitrogen, in this case via nitrogen gas. What you describe I call nitrifying bacteria. Perhaps wrongly.

RTF: OK now a question, can I or should I feed them mealworms live or dried?
TBTB: If they take them, either one could be fine.

RTF: I must confess I am getting somewhat disillusioned with my two they hide all day,
TBTB: It is normal for the RTC when tiny but it is not normal for an arowana. Something is bothering the arowana. Perhaps your cat when you look away. Healthy and comfortable arowana swim nonstop by the surface. They never stop, like sharks.

RTF: I tried the RTC on pellets for 3 days still wouldn't touch them
TBTB: Could try up to a week.

RTF: ... apparently you shouldn't break up the Hikari foodsticks
TBTB: never heard that one. I always broke them up for tiny fish.

RTF: Guy on Youtube was giving a review on Hikari sinking carnivore pellets, said they are rubbish in fact Hikari isn't all it is cracked up to be, so what IS good fish food??
TBTB: Filter what you hear. Unless you know the guy is a high level expert, I'd not believe him. People are not stupid, they'd not pay top $$ for rubbish for many decades. We are talking a worldwide community of fish keepers.

RTF: ... to be honest I am getting past caring, my loaches are incredible they swim in and out of my hand, the Gourami eat from my fingers, Aro & RTC just hide!!!! boring waste of space and time.!!!
TBTB: If you are into instant gratification, perhaps these fish will not please you as quickly as you'd like. With RTC, you must wait, as I said before, they will lose the need to hide after 6"-8". They will happily hand feed when bigger, and so will an arowana. With the arowana, YOU are doing something wrong. It's not the fish's fault. In a way, you are condemning yourself with these strong comments.

RTF: oh just remembered I used a bit of Acetone on the inside glass of the aquarium will it just evaporate?
TBTB: It will but as Moe stated, I'd never use it on the inside.

* * *

TBTB: Hope this helps a tiny bit.

 

[moe214]

Just want to add to TBTB, young aros will swim through and seemingly hide in floating plants, but if you meant the aro is at the bottom trying to hide then he is correct. My mistake for assuming your set up.