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Kitten's advice sounds all good. I can't get biospira here so I can't give you expert comments on it. But from my understanding you just fully stock your tank as soon as you add the culture, so adding all your cories and tetras at once is the way to go (but still hold off on the ottos).

Do you have ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte test kits? If I were you I would use the bio-spira as instructed (including kitten's advice) but still keep a close eye on your water perameters (daily testing for ammonia) to make sure your fish aren't getting stressed.

Make sure the tank is well aerated and the fish have places to hide out of the bright light, just to keep stress to a minimum.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

Last edited by whetu at 23-Feb-2005 18:54

^what do you mean, the freeze dried ones carry diseases but the live ones dont

Personally, my favorite are the bloodworms. They are easy to find in stores and the fish love them. However, because of the disease factor, you might want to buy live or frozen bloodworms instead.

yep, you can feed your fish all those, What kind of loaches did you get?



rabbit:88)

i know hikari makes some freeze dried foods and i was just wondering if i could feed them

1. daphnia
2. blood worms
3. tubifex worms

which do you think is the best....i heard somewhere that some of the mentioned foods can carry diseases??

my 4 tetras have moved to the top of the tank in the last couple minutes, not sure if there is some left over food floating around or what. the tank should be well aerated. what do you think is wrong?

my loaches seem to be fine though

Last edited by fishowner at 28-Feb-2005 23:22

Congratulations!

So to clarify: your fish are still in their bags, floating in the tank water? Add a bit of tank water at a time to the bags (to allow the fish time to adjust to anything in your water that might be different to what they are used to).

Now here's a tip: when you scoop the water out of the bags to make room for your tank water, throw the store water away. Then when you move your fish from the bag to the tank, net them out and throw the bag water away. This is to make sure you don't bring diseases from the store to your tank.

As for testing, it might take a little while for any ammonia to show (if it's going to). But I would get into the habit of testing each day, to make sure you're on top of it all. Chances are you'll never use up all the test solution, so test as often as you like!

ok ive got 2 loaches and 5 tetras in their bags and they're sitting in the tank. ive added biospira 10 min ago. they've been sitting in the tank for about 15 minutes....when should i start checking my water parameters.

i got a Red Sea water testing kit:

ph 6.2-8.6 (1oo)
Nh3,NH4 (60)
NO2 (60)
GH/KH (25)
Fe (60)
C02 (35)
Cl2 (60)

all i really need to do is set my heater, and maybe figure out some way to make more hiding places

i'll be getting fish thursday or friday...i'll keep you guys updated



Last edited by fishowner at 23-Feb-2005 23:57

1. first i am wondering if glo-light tetras are dyed?

2. im thinking of putting 3 or 4 kuhli loaches, 5 or 6 glo-light tetras and an otto in a 20 long.....will these be ok together?

3. im pretty sure ottos eat algae, but what about the loaches & tetras.. what do they eat?

4. i put water in my tank on friday, i have flourite as a substrate and i just got some plants today. when should i A) start turning my fluorescent lights on. B)start using fluorish tabs/liquid fert C)start using C02???

5. i got some biospira (its supposed to be kept cold right? because i've got it in my fridge right now )

Yep, cold is good.

6. anyways, the guy at the fish store said i should use about 3/4 of the packet and that i should add at least 10 inches of fish. now i cant remember if he said to add the fish within the first 36 hours, or if i should add them after the 36 hours. what do you think?

Biospira needs fish waste to feed the culture. You need to add the fish fairly soon after adding the Biospira (like, within a day), or you just wasted ten bucks. Oh, and unless you intend to use the Biospira in another tank (it doesn't last too long once opened, I don't think), you can add the whole package to the tank... you can't overdose it.

7. im getting some tetras and loaches, apparently they're not too hardy for cycling, though. anways, i wouldn't have 10 inches of fish even if they were good for cycling so how should i go about cycling the tank??

Because you're using Biospira, it sort of automatically cycles the tank for you. In the beginning, the cycle will be a bit delicate, but I'd say anything but the most delicate of fish should easily survive cycling with Biospira. I have fancy guppies and a young rosy barb that I tossed into a brand new tank chock full of biospira. They didn't even flinch.

If you say, chose to get 10 tetras... then I'd get them all at the same time and use those, as they're the least fragile of your choices (I believe... not terribly familiar with the loaches).

Last edited by Kitten at 23-Feb-2005 18:39

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Sorry I came here late, but someome mentioned Otocinclus. A major love of mine.

One way in which you can provide algae for any Otocinclus you buy is the method I've labelled the Otocinclus Pet Rock™ method.

Obtain several small rounded rocks (rocks from a shingle beach are ideal for this) or small pieces of bogwood (I originally used small bogwood bits but it works fine with rocks too). Soak them in jars of water where they will receive direct sunlight. Leave until they develop a nice coat of green fur. Voila! Algae nibble toys for your Otocinclus.

Keep several in rotation, and your Otocinclus need never be without algae.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

thanks for all the info. i do have some questions about cycling though:

5. i got some biospira (its supposed to be kept cold right? because i've got it in my fridge right now )

6. anyways, the guy at the fish store said i should use about 3/4 of the packet and that i should add at least 10 inches of fish. now i cant remember if he said to add the fish within the first 36 hours, or if i should add them after the 36 hours. what do you think?

7. im getting some tetras and loaches, apparently they're not too hardy for cycling,though. anways, i wouldn't have 10 inches of fish even if they were good for cycling
so how should i go about cycling the tank??

Last edited by fishowner at 23-Feb-2005 16:31

1. first i am wondering if glo-light tetras are dyed?

Not dyed - they're naturally that pretty

2. im thinking of putting 3 or 4 kuhli loaches, 5 or 6 glo-light tetras and an otto in a 20 long.....will these be ok together?

As other people have said, you'd be better with 6 or more of the schooling fish and adding at least three ottos at a later date once everything is well settled (and you have plenty of algae for them to eat).
The loaches will be happiest with plenty of hiding places. Terracotta pots are good, although often loaches prefer to squeeze into really tiny, cozy gaps between rocks rather than the big 'caves' we expect them to like :%)

3. im pretty sure ottos eat algae, but what about the loaches & tetras.. what do they eat?

Your standard staple foods - something floating (like flake) for the tetras and something sinking (like wafers) for the loaches. But be adventurous and try to give them as much variety as possible - frozen or freeze-dried food, cooked vegetables... see what they like.

4. i put water in my tank on friday,

As this is obviously a new tank, I'm assuming you've read up all about the cycling process? I don't know if either the glow-lights or the khulis are tough enough to withstand cycling - but that's a whole 'nother question. Please ask if you're in any doubt about how to cycle your tank

i have flourite as a substrate and i just got some plants today. when should i A) start turning my fluorescent lights on.

Turn the lights on as soon as you plant the plants. Ideally have them on a timer for 10 - 12 hours of light a day.

B)start using fluorish tabs/liquid fert

Don't use any liquid ferts now - wait until your plants have settled in for a while and started growing again.

C)start using C02???

You can start using CO2 any time you like, although your plants won't start using it until they're growing vigorously so you might be wasting that expensive nutra-fin yeast! Also, while you're cycling your tank the fish will be under stress and need as much oxygen in the water as possible - so best to wait until the cycle is completely finished before adding CO2.

Your lighting setup sounds great - take a look in the planted tanks forum for more info on what kinds of plants will do best in your conditions (although I guess you'll find out for yourself soon enough)

Last edited by whetu at 23-Feb-2005 03:08

ok, i'll try that.... 4 loaches, 6 or so tetras, and then maybe i'll add a couple ottos once the tank is established for a few months (if theres adequate space/bioload)

as for the co2 im running one of those nutrafin setups, and i should be ok as far as high lighting goes: got a 30" twin tube housing recently so with that i can put up 40 watts and i also have a 28 watt compact fluorescent fixture. (btw, the twin tube is 6,700 and the compact is 10,00k) so if i can fit both on top of my glass lid, i'll have 68 watts or 3.4 wpg

(im guessing all the light will make the loaches even more reclusive than they normally would be)

but im gonna be putting a few small tera cotta pots in there so they should have adequate shelter

Last edited by fishowner at 22-Feb-2005 23:32

Hmm... I'd make the tetra school at least six members, and personally, would make it as big as you can, stocking-wise. Ottos are also schoolers. They are delicate and shouldn't be added until the tank is pretty well settled.

Flourite... fun fun fun. Plants love it. Personally, I don't think you need much in the way of ferts with it, but ask a plant guru on that one. When I had flourite, I had a crypt, java fern, aponogeton... all of the flourished like crazy and hate me now that I replaced the flourite.

Liquid ferts are also best for plants that feed from the water column, really... floating plants, stem plants, etc.

As for CO2, I don't use it. However, from what I can tell, it's only worth using with high light situations. If you don't have high light, I think it's not going to do you much good. However, again, you'd have to ask a plant guru on that one.

Good Luck!

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

1. These fish aren't dyed.

2. This will be pretty cool. You know that you won't see the Kuhli loaches too much as they are nocturnal as well as like to hide all the time.

3. The other fish will eat flake and sinking pellats. Depending on your budget the better the food the better they will be in colour and growth. Also algae waffers would help just incase not enough algae is there for the Otto. I haven't had these guys before tho so wait for further advice.

4. I would put the light on now if you have live plants as they will need the light to grow. If possible have 8 to 10 hours of light a day.

As for the other parts of the question I can't help you there.