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my tank has started to grow some algae on the face and one of the decorations. ive seen the guppies picking algae from the side and the decoration and eating it. does this make the fish more self sustaining or should i continue to feed them and their tank mates regularly?

What type of algae is it that is growing? Green Spot, Brown, etc.? Most often algae growth is caused by excessive amounts of nutrients in the water, this is usually due to overstocking the tank and/or overfeeding the fish. How many fish are in the tank, what size is it, and how long has it been set up for? Sorry for not responding to your question sooner.

Hi,
Guppies are omnivorous, meaning that they will eat anything they can fit in their mouths that they deem as food, plants, algae, fish, and even meat (not a good idea).

They will travel throughout the tank nibbling at algae growths on the glass or ornaments as well as nibble on the leaves of live plants.

No, this does not make the fish more self-sustaining. Their main food is what you feed them. Because they are omnivorous, your food should be food that meets their needs and not too much of any one thing. Good quality guppy food would be just fine. The nibbling around the tank, is like you snacking throughout the day, or eating an occassional chocolate M&M during the day. Now that I think of it, is that even humanly possible eating an occassional M&M?

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thanks for the help. im not really sure what kind of algae it was. it started out as spots but grew into a very thin sheet. it was a dull green in color. ive cleaned it all up though because it was on the front of the tank and i couldnt see into it. at the time i had about 6 inches of fish in a 2.5 gal bowfront. 3 guppies and 2 adolescent otos. now its a guppy and a betta... for unknown reasons both otos died within 2 days of each other. and the 2 guppies managed to jump out of the tank where the slot is in the lighting fixture to allow coreds and the hose to exit the tank. the betta is now in this tank because i did a large water change of the tank and while it was empty i had all the decorations and heater removed. i broke the glass tube on the heater. so i used the bettas heater and transfered the betta over.

Hi,
Healthy algae is a bright green color. There is a brown color, but that is not actually an algae but rather an outbreak of Diatoms. The "clue" is your description..."Sheet" and "dull green." It is actually called BGA or Blue Green Algae, and it isn't an algae but rather a cyanobacteria.
Read the information contained in this link:

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/cyanobacteria

The key to its elimination is frequent regular water changes, not over feeding, cleaning cleaning the gravel and not having any "dead spots" (lack of circulation) in the tank...All designed to keep the nitrate readings down.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

aside from the cyanobacteria being really unattractive in the tank, are they dangerous? also i got one more oto after doing more research and discovered that theyre very sensitive fish when being acclimated. so i acclimated him very slowly after letting the bag temperature meet the tank temp and then added a single turkey baster of tank water to the bag about every 30 minutes. this guy has been in my tank for 5 days now and hes doing perfectly. hes active, no pink in his gills and a good round belly. theres always a little bit of food trapped in the cyperus helferi that he picks off, and i keep a slice of blanched cucumber in the tank at all times; an addition that the snail appreciates too lol.

Hi,
The Cyanobacteria is the result of water that is high in nutrients, generally has poor circulation, poor lighting, and an indication of gravel that boarders on filthy. It is unsightly, and will soon cover every surface in the aquarium.
NOTHING WILL EAT IT. The only way to get rid of it is to remove it, physically, and correct the cause(s).

I'm glad to hear that the ottos are doing well. Do not leave the cucumber in the tank more than over night, and then just once a week. Do a water change after removing the "cuc."

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

well youre right about the gravel being filthy. since i cant use my gravel vac very effectively i miss alot when i try to clean it. i added a bubble wall to increase circulation for the oto with an air flow regulator on it so that the increased current doesnt bother the betta too much. as far as lighting goes, its a very small tank which means that its very easy to light brightly. its being lit with a 2 inch 24 watt fluorescent bulb.

sorry..... its a 2 inch 13 watt bulb... dont know where i pulled 24 from..

Hi,
Lighting... Fluorescent bulbs come in large number of varieties.
They come in warm, white, daylight,sunlight, reading, plant grow, and blacklight varieties.

Bulbs labeled:
Warm, Warm White, reading are great for reading books or areas where you do not want a harsh light, but a rather subdued light. They are not good for plants.

Bulbs labeled:
Daylight, or Sunlight are perfect for plant growth.
There is an addditional label or rating that goes along with the Daylight/Sunlight label and that is the "temperature" of the light. This expressed in degrees Kelvin. If you were to take a black ball of metal, much like a cannon ball and heat it with a blow torch, it would turn from red, to orange, to yellow, to white, and then to blue. The various shades are degrees Kelvin.
The minimum you would want would be Fluorescent bulbs with a rating of 5000K. The "normal" range for most freshwater plants would 6000K - 7000K. Some tropical freshwater plants that live out in the areas without shade would do well with lights in the 10,000K (commonly called 10K) range.
Salt water tanks, especially with corals, need a minimum of 10,000K and higher.

Plant growth bulbs, generally give off a pinkish or purple colored light that washes out reds in ornaments or gravels
I don't use them for just that reason, they tend to washout colors in fish and objects in the tank.

Blacklight (ultraviolet light) should never be used in an aquarium. It affects the eyes of the fish, and is useless for plant growth.

Plants are generally divided into several categories:
floating, non-floating, and by light demand, low, medium, and high.
We achieve lighting for these classes by using the number of watts per gallon computations.

Total the number of watts your bulb(s) are (read the label on the bulb), and divide the watts by the gallon capacity of the tank. Two, 25 watt bulbs would be 50 watts, divided by a 30 gallon tank would equal 1.6 watts per gallon and only low light demand plants should be used in this tank.

Low light is considered .5 to 1.5 watts per gallon.
Low light demanding plants are found in areas where trees are thick and overhang the streams. Very little sunlight gets through the leaf canopy down to the surface and through the water to the plants on the bottom of the streams.

Mdeium light is considered to be 1.5 to 3 watts per gallon.
Medium light demand plants are those that would live where some sunlight gets through the trees to the surface and stream bottoms.

High light is considered to be 3+ watts per gallon
High light demand plants are those that are exposed to sunlight throughout the day and the sun penetrates through the water to the bottom.

If you have live plants in your aquarium you want to have a Daylight or Sunlight bulb (with that label, the bulb will automatically be between 6 & 7000K, and perfect for the plants.

If you have watched any TV or movies, where folks are diving you should note that light does not penetrate very deeply into the water. The light rays are scattered by any particles floating in the water. If you have a regular aquarium, where the length and width are same or more than the depth (top to bottom) then everything I've said so far, is valid. If, however, you have what is called a "Show Tank" or by the other name, a "Tall Tank" then you have to add in the height of the tank to the mixture. Regular Sunlight 6,000K - 7000K Light will not penetrate to the bottom of your tank if it is 24 or more inches deep. To compensate for that you will have to go higher in temperature (shorter light rays, penetrate deeper) and use a 10,000K bulb. You really cannot bully the light to the bottom by increasing the number of bulbs. That would work down to the bottom of a two foot depth, but after that you would need to change the temperature of the bulb to furnish the necessary amount of light energy to the surface of the gravel.

To successfully grow that Java Moss on slate rocks, you would need to have the sheets of slate at an angle / so that the moss grows up the sheet. If you place the sheet |
the moss toward the top of the sheet will out grow the stuff at the bottom and shade it making it grow even slower or die off. If it is at an angle / then you won't have that severe a problem as the moss matures.

I've included a lot of information in a small place and mixed this reply with the comment you had about getting a new 50G tall tank. As you stock that 50G tank, remember that you have to compute the number of fish in that Tall Tank by the surface area of the tank. NOT, by the capacity of the tank.

http://www.howmanyfish.com/#page=page-1

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thank you very much for the help. the tank has 374.125 square inches of surface area. it can support 31 slim fish and 19 full bodied fish. more than enough. so while its cycling ill grow however much moss i need and try getting it to grow on the slate in a different container before putting it in the tank. im wanting the moss to grow on the faces of large pieces of the slate and straight up the pillars.

http://imgur.com/svb0Igd

this is an absolutely terrible representation of what i want to build with the slate. whats green represents what i would like covered in moss. the tents at the bottom represent hiding places for the loaches.

i know that because of the top layer, light will not be able to get down very low in the tank. instead of java moss, is there a low light moss that will still carpet?

Hummm,
It looks like a tierd wedding cake. Not something one would normally find in an aquarium. There are several large wharehouse hardware stores. Lowes, and Home Depot come immediately to mind, along with lots of flooring stores.

You should be able to purchase a package of 5 slate tiles from one of them. I know they come in 12x12 squares. This is true slate, that has been quarried and then shaved (sawed) into 1/4 inch thick, 12 inch squares and perhaps larger sizes. Generally it is a uneven surface, slate grey in color with some orange (from iron staining) blemishes.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thank you for the suggestion. i did find slate tiles at lowes and home depot. those were the first places i looked. the slate itself looks good as far as coloration is concerned, but i want natural slate pieces, not cut pieces. my dad may have a connection that might be able to provide me with the kind of slate i want. do you think theres any way i could modify that structure to make it look better? im thinking of eliminating the top tier but leaving the pillars. maybe theres some type of stemmed plant that can grow on slate? or between the pieces? something like that would look really cool. it would give it the look of a heavily planted aquarium without having to use very tall plants.

You can break the tiles into more natural-looking pieces. When my parents tiled the downstairs of their house with slate, I took all the broken tiles for aquarium use.

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Hi,
You can always drop a tile or two on the floor.
However, do be careful. Slate is a metamorphic rock ( it was shale before it was compressed and heated. When it breaks, the edges are very sharp. If used in an aquarium and the fish are startled, they can gash themselves badly.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

not a bad idea. i have angle grinders and a bench grinder that i can use to file down sharp edges. ive read that slate needs to be soaked for about a week in order for it to cure and release whatever chemicals and additives that might be in it that could harm the fish and the water chemistry. is that true?

Hi,
Soaking won't hurt, but usually they are refering to sandstones, and shales. Shale can contain hydrocarbons such as oil that would leach out into the water and polute it.

As a rule metamorphic rocks such as Marble, and some igneous rocks such as Quartz are safe for aquariums.

The sedimentary rocks such as limestone and dolomite are used in aquariums as substrate to drive the water into a pH of 8 and hold it there. Or a marine tank to keep it's pH high.

Sandstones can contain iron and the "glue" that holds the grains together can be a carbonate, in which case the glue dissolves in the aquarium and the stone disintegrates (this will happen with cheap airstones). If the glue is silica dioxide (SiO2) then the sandstone will not fall apart and is good for the aquarium.

The way to tell is to scrape the surface of any rock and then put a drop or two of battery acid, or a weaker acid, (vinegar) on the cleaned surface. If it bubbles, then it is a carbonate and it will affect the hardness and pH of the tank water. If you are going to test a rock have your parents read this paragraph and either they do it, or they supervise you.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

im 19 i dont need parental supervision lol. but thank you. thats something ill definitely keep in mind if i should ever find a rock in nature that i would like to use.