FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I currently take care of my boyfriend's six danios (they are very hardy fish!). My goal is to build up his 20 gallon tank which will probably be easier and more cost effective than purchasing my own tank. I would like some advice on how to go about improving this tank.

I am assuming role as care taker of this tank because after reading the forums on FP, I decided to test the water for ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and pH and the readings were off the charts! Off the charts in a bad way! The one that worries me the most is the high concentration of ammonia (8.0)! I think this is because he does not do regular changes to his tank and we don't have any plants.

I would never think of putting any other fish in there until the ammonia level drops. So, I have been doing 20% water changes twice this week so far.

I'm not sure that the heater is working, and the filter was finally changed after over a year! I'm pretty sure the hardware being used is a store bought package and could use an upgrade.

Do you have any suggestions or recommendations on equipment and supplies that I need for these fishies? The tank is sparse. 0 live plants, 3 fake plants, about 1 inch gravel, and a fake rock.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

a twenty gallon tank is a nice tank to "Start" with. first of all get at least two or three more inches of gravel in there. if it doesnt match, oh well. secondly take out the incandescent light bulbs (most tank packages come with these) and switch them with daylight compact flourescents. if they are flourescent tubes, go but new one(s) that are for plant growth. keep up the water changes and even if it is needed do a 50% or more water change. as for a filter get a marienland penguin rated to do arround a 40 gallon tank to make sure it can handle the load. also get some bacterial seeding supplement and some cheapy live plants (check out www.aquabid.com for some good deals).make sure you use water conditioners and eventually when you have lots of plants add fertilizers. i would also suggest getting some drift wood and just throwing it in there because with the constant water changes its tannins (turn the water tea colored) should be cleaned out regularly. we also dont know the species of danio, so i cannt tell you good tank mates for them... but wait until you redo the tank and it is cycled and stable to add more fish!

keep us updated!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Hold up, there are 6 danios in 20 gallons and you are getting that high of a reading??

That doesn't sound quite right, that size tank should be able to plug along for a very long time with that level of fish without hitting anywhere near that level. Did you take the readings after you started cleaning and changing filters?

Can you tell us the other levels, the type/colour/size of the gravel and the make/model of the filter?

Also, are these zebra danios or giant danios?

In the meantime, feed sparingly every 2 days and if you have a nitrite reading, add a small amount of aquarium salt.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett