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ok, 29 gallon and 10 gallon set ups, please offer input...

10 gallon tank:

1 Male Dwarf Sunset Gourami (seems to be full grown at 2.5".)
1 South American Bumblebee Catfish (full grown at 2.2",and is fully nocturnal,wont be out when gourami is awake)


29 gallon tall tank:

2 cherry barbs (male and female pair, school with the tetras)
6 Lemon tetras
7 corydoras (sizes around 2" each, juliis)
1 Bolivian Ram (full grown, seems to be female,and about 2.5".)

so, do these seem over crowded? i do 30% water changes a week, is that enough to keep everyone happy? i was having some barbel erosion issues on a few of my corys and some agression issues between the gourami and ram, so when i pulled everything to do a deep gravel vac for the corys i just flip flopped the cherry barbs with the gourami, everyone seems happy so far. input appriciated!!!

Are either tanks planted? I'd get a few ottos for each if they are. Other than that the stocking lists sound pretty good to me.

nope, no plants save some java moss in the 29 gallon

reun,

Looks good to me.

About the cory barbels: What kind of substrate do you have in the tank? I heard that sharp edged gravel can cause the barbels to wear off.

About 30% water change: A good indicator if this is enough would be a measurement of Nitrate just before the water change. In any way, why not do a 50% water change?

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

well, the gravel isnt sharp, and only a few of them were having barbel issues, and the substrate has been in there for months with no ill consequenses. I determined that it was most likely due to dirty gravel that some of the cories were picking through, and i pulled the tank apart and cleaned the areas under logs and rocks i couldnt get to normally, im hoping this will fix the problem.


as far as water changes go, it takes a long time to change out the 30%, as the water temp is 79 degrees in the tank, and the water is room temp and i have no way of raising the temperature, so i have to add it in very slowly to keep the aquarium temp from dropping and shocking the fish...so, to do a 50% water change would take me several hours of adding water, so i spose thats why i have just done 30% water changes...that and i have two 5 gallon containers with which i transport RO water from the pet store in, i spose i could start doing a larger amount of water changes...but save the barbel erosion the occupants have been just fine and water peramiters have been stable, so i just had never bothered.

do i need to do more water changes? current filtration on the 29 gallon is two aquaclear 50's over the back filters with my own filter media installed (charcoal and ammonia absorbbing resin that gets changed weekly,floss,and sponge),so i suppose it is slightly over filtered ATM.

if i were u a nice bala shark would definately be compatible

55 gallon 1 rtbsm, 2 khuli loaches,2 gold rams 1m1f,1 leapord highfin pleco,6 black phantoms
2 odessa barbs ,1 tire track eel,2 green severums

well, i think i am done adding as both tanks seem quite happy at the moment. the gourami and bumblecat seem quite happy, as the bumblecat moved from a 7 gallon with two pesky cherry barbs who were quite nosey and refused to let him sleep, to a 10 gallon with a gourami that could care less about him tucked away in his cave. the gourami has his space now and doesnt have to share it with lemon tetras or a ram which he viewed as competition.

the ram is happy to have the aggressor out of the tank, the barbs are frolicling around pestering the tetras and themselves,and last but not least the lemon tetras are actually occupying and playing tag through the whole tank instead of hovering in the corner. the corys seem a bit nervous over the changes,but otherwise couldnt care less.

I dont think i will be adding bala shark since they tend to be schooling in nature, and no way can my already overpopulated tank support any more

I think bala sharks are a little too big for a 10g or a 29g. And, like reun said, they like company which wouldn't fit in either of his tanks.

*Kristin*

hey girlie...whats your opinion? is 30% a week water changes enough for both of these tanks? and does the load out for both seem pretty good?

30% sounds good to me. I do a 50% once a month and 30% the other times. Another tip, you say that you pour the water in slowly because you can't heat it. Try putting the container that you keep the new water in in a bathtub with hot water until it reaches the desired temperature. It usually doesn't take too long.

Good idea from jbe0404,

Except - I would assume if you had access to hot water in the bath tub then you would have warm water right away anyways.

If you don't mind, can you explain why you cannot raise any available water to more than room temterature? My imagination is a little limited as to what circumstances would limit you this way. A simple tank heater or even a heating coil that is used to raise the temp of water for tea could do the trick. Or does it have to do with the RO water?

Ingo

EDIT: oh - and before I forget: If your 30% are enough depends on your nitrates. As stated earlier, if they get high then you need a larger water change. But in general, a 50% change is always good .

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

When I do water changes, I boil a kettle (filled from the cold tap, NOT the hot tap - the hot water system has copper piping!) as if I'm about to make tea. Then I mix hot water from the kettle with cold water from the tap until the temp on my digital thermometer matches the aquarium as closely as possible. Works for me!

The digital thermometer I use is a real handy tool. It's accurate to 0.1°C. I measure the temp in the tank with it before the water change, then make up water to match that temp as closely as I can. Sometimes I'm bang on to the nearest 0.1°C, at other times I'm no more than about 0.3°C out either way. A temperature difference of that order of magnitude isn't going to be overly stressful to my fishes if I don't get an exact match.

Note that I use the same thermometer to measure the tank and the incoming water. That way, if the thermometer happens to be out by a fraction of a degree (although with an electronic digital unit calibrated at the factory this is unlikely) then the water coming in will be the correct temperature because the measurement error will be exactly the same with both bodies of water.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

well, as far as water changes go, there is a reason i use RO water here, i have discussed it in water quality forum before, but the city where i live has horrible water. it is loaded with unsafe minerals and lots of chlorine. if you run a bathtub full of it the water is green to brown, depending on the day. if you wash your car with it and dont dry it off immediatly it chemically etches itself(eats its way through) your cars paint and leaves spots in the clearcoat. doctors around here urge you not to drink the tap water. a neighbor is using some water treatment stuff on the city water and dumping it in her beta's bowl, but i still dont trust it, that fish has lived for several months,but i can bring myself to experiment with my main tanks.

so, I have RO water from the local fish store then i add minerals to it and buffer the PH. consistent PH and KH and even when the tank was filthy my water tested perfectly.

it is a trade off though, once a week i have to run to the LFS, load up containers with water,truck back, and clean the tanks and very slowly add water to them. i may try a small heating pad or perhaps the bathtub idea where i place the containers in warm bathwater...otherwise the RO water is a 63 degrees if i remember right, tank temps are at 79

reun,

That for sure explains it
Wow, I wouldn't put that water in my tank either.

Have you considered the purchase of an PO system? I guess it would be worthwile to do the math and see if it doesn't run cheaper in the long term. How much does the LFS charge for RO water? They must make a fortune with it as I would assume that many people in your area are in the same boat as you.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

well,actually, i have a very good local fish store, and they rarely charge for RO water, they had once or twice in the past to help cover repairs on it, that was it. to the customers that do all their bussiness through them they dont charge anything. I have purchased all my gear through them,with the exception of my used 29 gallon tank

if they go out of business or start charging crazy amounts, then i might have to look into it. when their RO system is down I have to buy charcoal filtered water from the grocery store and it runs me about $10 for 10 gallons of it, not to mention the cost in the addatives used to treat and buffer it. so in the meantime, maybe the bathtub proceedure if i need to change the water more than 30% a week

reun,

Now that is a nice LFS

On the other hand, they make the money up-front by charging a premium on eqipment etc. But never-the-less, nice gesture.

I guess under these conditions the bathtub option seems just fine. It probably is cheaper to heat a tub of water with gas/oil then it would be to heat the RO water with a tank (or tea water) heater.

Have fun and keep us posted on the success of this method,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

You live in an area where your tap water is medically unsafe for humans?

Yikes.

Er, this is America we're talking about here is it? As in the world's most powerful industrial nation?

Ye Gods.

Clownygirl lives in India, which some people still regard as a Third World nation (though given the progress India has made pulling itself up by its bootstraps, the locals will probably be most offended if you do think of their country that way!) and as far as I'm aware, she doesn't have water that bad.

Does your local water company use as its source the outflow from a toxic waste plant or something? And I thought my area was bad for this ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

hey girlie...whats your opinion

I think 30% will be enough, but if your nitrates are up a little too much at anytime, do a 50% weekly, like LF said. You are understocked in both tanks, so 30% should be fine for you.

I do almost 50% weekly...so I guess its about 40%. My nitrates are where they should be though in all my tanks.

I use a python to take water out and put it back in. I check temp of the water before I put it in and adjust it to be around 2 degrees of my tank temp. Then I let it go. I add dechlorinator to the tank, while the water is going in. I am one of those who doesn't let the water sit around for a certain time. My method works for me. I haven't had any problems with it yet.

Sorry about your water...that's kind of gross.


*Kristin*

nah, it hasnt been deemed medically unsafe for drinking, docs just advise against it for people with health problems cause the water is really hard and heavily chlorinated. i have drank water from the tap and havent died, so it cant be all bad, i have just seen what it does to my car and all it takes is a bathtub full of slightly green or yellowish brown hued water to make me not want to dump it in with my fish.

p.s. how does one determine if you are over or understocked? i have heard the rules like a inch of fish per gallon (split up amoung the fish of course, not one big one,lol) and a few other things, but what really determines over or understocking of fish? im generally happy with my 29 gallon and the occupants have plenty of room to swim and play, so i think i will leave it the way it is.

i am wondering,however if i could add a small dither fish or two to the ten gallon, the gourami has been moping about,prolly cause he doesnt have a frisky squad of tetras to keep in line anymore. however, im not aware of anything other than cherry barbs that can be kept solo or in duos in small tanks, and i def dont wanna add a female gourami to the mix, cause in only a ten, the male will chase her around like crazy, that and i dont have anywhere i can aquire a female other than somewhere on the internet. any thoughts?