So far So good..

[Jeff]

Well after waiting the recomended period, getting all the levels to where
they are supposed to be, buying a new heater and getting the water temp to
where it needs to be and running a test with some Molly's, after 1 1/2 weeks
this is where I am.

Initially the water was cloudy, in fact all the way up to yesterday morning.
I had installed all three filters. Now the water is actually crystal clear
like the water I see in the tanks at the pet store. (I believe this to be a
good thing).

One of the Molly's died right off within a few hours but the other one
seemed to thrive. I took that as a good sign as well.

Today I added some fish (IAW Instructions from this group and websites). 2
Black Mollys, 2 Cory Albino Catfish, 1 Red Sword and 2 striped...err
umm...forgot the name.

Fed em.

All the fish to this point seem to be doing very well. They are eating, and
swimming vigourously. Will have to give it some time to see if they all
survive I suppose.

Those catfish must be similar to the cats I fish for (Flatheads, Blues and
such) because they seem to have adapted almost immediatly, going straight to
the bottom and feeding off of whatever it is on the rocks and up and down
the glass doing the same and they move A LOT.

I notice the sword occasionally chases the other fish around. Normal? It
didnt have the "Semi Aggressive" note on the tank I purchased them from.

I now have 8, 1 inch fish in a 20 gallon tank. I read in more than one place
you can put 1 inch of fish for each gallon of water, but the tank already
looks a little crowded to me. The fish appear to already be vying for space.
Whats the rule of thumb on this one?

Light or no light? I read that the light should be turned on to match the
outside light. Then I read that for new fish, or fish on a new tank the
light should be left off to decrease initial stress. Then I read it really
doesnt matter, light on all day and turn it off before you go to bed. Whats
the rule here?

Fish feeding. I have read 3 or 4 variations on this as well. Once a day, a
pinch? Twice a day, a pinch each time? Drop in a couple of pinches and see
how much of it they eat then adjust? Once again, whats the rule here?

One good thing about Petsmart....14 day return policy on dead fish.

TIA
Jeff

[Elaine T]

Jeff wrote:
> Well after waiting the recomended period, getting all the levels to where
> they are supposed to be, buying a new heater and getting the water temp to
> where it needs to be and running a test with some Molly's, after 1 1/2 weeks
> this is where I am.
>
> Initially the water was cloudy, in fact all the way up to yesterday morning.
> I had installed all three filters. Now the water is actually crystal clear
> like the water I see in the tanks at the pet store. (I believe this to be a
> good thing).
>
> One of the Molly's died right off within a few hours but the other one
> seemed to thrive. I took that as a good sign as well.
>
> Today I added some fish (IAW Instructions from this group and websites). 2
> Black Mollys, 2 Cory Albino Catfish, 1 Red Sword and 2 striped...err
> umm...forgot the name.

Ack! Where did you read about putting 8 1" fish in a tank that's only
been running for 1 1/2 weeks?!? Brace yourself for a rough ride.

First, read the article on "cycling" in the beginner section of the FAQ.
(URL's in my .sig). Your tank is going to build up ammonia and then
nitrites. Because you've put in about twice as many fish as you should
have to start, the ammonia and nitrite will build up to toxic levels
rather rapidly. You're going to have to do quite a few water changes to
keep from losing fish.

> Fed em.
>
> All the fish to this point seem to be doing very well. They are eating, and
> swimming vigourously. Will have to give it some time to see if they all
> survive I suppose.
>
> Those catfish must be similar to the cats I fish for (Flatheads, Blues and
> such) because they seem to have adapted almost immediatly, going straight to
> the bottom and feeding off of whatever it is on the rocks and up and down
> the glass doing the same and they move A LOT.

They will feed on whatever you GIVE them. With greedy mollies and
swordtails in the tank, you will need to target some food to the cories.
Hikari makes a very good sinking wafer food. Break off about 1/3 of a
wafer and drop it into the tank after lights out for the catfish.

> I notice the sword occasionally chases the other fish around. Normal? It
> didnt have the "Semi Aggressive" note on the tank I purchased them from.

Normal. Swords can be a bit aggressive.
>
> I now have 8, 1 inch fish in a 20 gallon tank. I read in more than one place
> you can put 1 inch of fish for each gallon of water, but the tank already
> looks a little crowded to me. The fish appear to already be vying for space.
> Whats the rule of thumb on this one?

Rule of thumb for small fish is 1" of ADULT fish per gallon. However,
mollies and swordtails eat a lot and put out a lot of waste, so you may
want to stock lower. Your mollies will grow to 2", sword possibly to
3", and cories to about 1.5". I count maybe 10" of known fish, plus the
unknown striped whatzits. So, you may eventually have room for a few
more small fish.

> Light or no light? I read that the light should be turned on to match the
> outside light. Then I read that for new fish, or fish on a new tank the
> light should be left off to decrease initial stress. Then I read it really
> doesnt matter, light on all day and turn it off before you go to bed. Whats
> the rule here?

If you have any plants, lights on for 10-12 hours, and off for the rest.
Otherwise, turn it on in the morning and off at night more or less at
the same time every day. Fish like a normal photoperiod (same as you
and I) but they're not depending on it like plants are. If you start
getting a lot of algae, keep the light on for less time.

> Fish feeding. I have read 3 or 4 variations on this as well. Once a day, a
> pinch? Twice a day, a pinch each time? Drop in a couple of pinches and see
> how much of it they eat then adjust? Once again, whats the rule here?

Really, there are no hard-and-fast rules about feeding, except to never
allow uneaten food to stay in your tank. It's important to feed very
lightly while your tank is cycling. The more you feed, the more waste
your fish produce. Until the cycle is done, give what they can eat in
about a minute once a day, plus the night time snack for the cories
every other night.

Once your tank is cycled you can feed a bit more food twice a day until
your fish are done growing. With tanks of adult fish, I go back to
feeding once a day.

> One good thing about Petsmart....14 day return policy on dead fish.

Hopefully you won't have to use it!

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Jim Anderson]

In article >, eetmail-
says...

> One good thing about Petsmart....14 day return policy on dead fish.

You must bring in a water sample with no detectable ammonia and nitrite
to collect the store credit. (at least mine do.)

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To eMail me, just pull "my_finger"