First, I want to thank everyone for the advice/info on here. It has been of great help to me. Now for the question, I have two 2" rbp's in a 20 low tank thats about 75% full with a 75 gal filtration system, shouldn't that be ok for a week or so until I can get a 55 gal setup? Thanks in advance for the help.
yet ANOTHER rbp noob question
- Thread starter knox_rbp
- Start date
what's the dimension of your tank? do you mean 20g long tank? should be ok, just keep an eye on them since one might pick on the other one. keep them well fed..worst case just put a divider in between. one week should be fine. but the question is are you just waiting for the 55g to finish cycling or you will be setting it up in one week?
I kept 4 2" rbp's in a 20g for 2 months with no problems until they got too big and i moved them to my 75g. They're still small so you got a month or two to upgrade.
im thinking it will take about a week to find one. Any cycling advice would be greatly appreciated
knox_rbp;3152273; said:
Cycling is easy. Most of the work is done for you. First introduce a source of ammonia (NH3) to your tank (fish usually, NOT piranhas). Bacterial species A will colonize your tank. It's ubiquitous so no need to add any to the tank. Bacteria A will begin to convert NH3 to NO2 (nitrite). Then, another bacteria species (B) will colonize your tank and begin converting NO2 to NO3 (nitrAte). After this happens levels of NH3 and NO2 should be 0ppm, while levels of NO3 should remain under 25ppm. There are two ways to remove NO3 from your tank, water changes and plants. Do frequent testing at first to ensure that these levels remain with in acceptable parameters. The process takes approximately 30 days. There are a few tricks you can use to speed the process along a bit. One is to purchase a sponge filter and place it in the already cycled 20g for approximately 30 days, and then transfer this cycled sponge filter to the new tank; instant cycling. Also removing some substrate from the 20g, fill a women's stocking with some, tie off the stocking, and place in your tank as an inoculum. After the tank starts testing NH3(4): 0ppm, NO2: 0ppm, and NO3: <25ppm, your tank is cycled and you can simply remove the stocking. Make sure you dechlor all your water after that, and don't clean the tank too much, just when NO3 is > 25ppm.
They'll be ok the 20L till your 55 is ready. Just keep them fed but always check up on them, because some juvenile RBP's are born aggressive nipping wise or eye damage is common.
Even if you have a big tank more hiding places would be a good idea. As they get older & bigger they get territorial. It really depends on the fishes mood more often.
Even if you have a big tank more hiding places would be a good idea. As they get older & bigger they get territorial. It really depends on the fishes mood more often.
i've been trying to balance checking them often but not so much it stresses them. i have quite a bit of cover for them but left a smaller portion empty in case they did need some room. Thanks again
