Parrot cichlids questions
- Thread starter Cmos46
- Start date
yeah they are awesome cats but they get HUGE (like 4-5ft!!) id have to flood my entire downstairs area to house an adult one LOL, but yeah just thought id let you know in case you werent sure how big they got, a 150g is still only going to be a grow out (not sure on their growth rate but i think they reach 2ft fairly quickly)
Would the chichlid work in a tank with my red tail cat and pleco for now. My buddy is having to change some water all the time becuase of the size of the tank and the ammonia keeps spiking. My tank i test everyday and have never had a problem with ammonia
in a 10g tank NO, because then you will be having to do constant water changes, and if that is a common pleco then its going to get big soon as well those things can get up to 2 feet! and if the cat is 8-9in then it could probably eat your parrot, i wouldn't put anything with a RTC that wasn't AT LEAST 1/2 its body length, but would be safer with something more like 3/4 its length. bottom line is you really need to get a bigger tank like yesterday, obviously you guys have a sucky lfs that doesn't give you good advice and only cares about selling the fish or they wouldn't have sold you guys a RTC, if i were you i would return it and not get another one until you have a nice pond to house it in
Cmos46;3882670; said:
tank "cycling" is actually a process where two different species of nitrifying bacteria colonize your tank.
The first species converts highly toxic Ammonia NH3 (NH4 depending on pH) into nitrIte (NO2). During this period you will show high ammonia levels in water tests, but slowly you should see increasing amounts of nitrIte. At this point in the cycle you shouldn't see any nitrAtes (NO3).
The second species of bacteria colonizes the tank in response to increasing levels of nitrIte (NO2). NO2 is also highly toxic and dangerous to your fish. This bacteria converts NO2 --> NO3. NitrAtes are toxic, but less so, your fish can tolerate much more NO3 than the other nitrogenous wastes. The best ways to remove NO3 from the tank, is to change the water frequently and to plant live plants in the aquarium. Live plants will use the NO3 as fertilizer.
Given the time it takes for bacteria to reproduce and establish sufficient populations to handle the nitrogenous wastes being produced by your fish, it is generally recommended that for a new tank you allow 30-45 days for the cycle to complete. If you have a good test kit like the API master kits, you can do weekly water changes until your tank parameters read as this:
NH3(4):0, NO2: 0, NO3: any nitrates indicate the cycle is complete, but for future reference it's best to maintain nitrates < 40ppm with 5-10ppm being optimal.
It's also recommended that you do this before you put fish in the tank. There are fishless methods, and methods that use fish, but generally a small population of somewhat disposable fish are used for the cycling process rather than the fish you plan to stock the tank with.
Any questions?
