On 28 May 2006 06:21:15 -0700, "froggo"
wrote:

hi, i have just got my first tropical fish aquarium. set it up two
weeks before adding any fish and took the water sample to shop, the
advised it was ok - a little high on the nitrite side but nothing to
worry about too much.

i have a small tank so started with 3 guppys and 4 tetras. all was
well for 3 days and then 1 one of the tetras died. i have done my own
tests for nitrite and amonia which seem ok. have done water changes of
about 5l from a 35l tank. what am i doing wrong?

I was told to feed the fish only 3 times aweek and as such so far they
have only had two feeds - they seem to eat it really quickly when i do
feed them - am i not feeding them enough perhaps? (they only get
literally a couple of flakes).

any thoughts ?

thanks

Not necessarily wrong unless you are having major problems. One dead
fish in a new tank is not something you did wrong.

However, I sure do things different than you have been advised
regarding feeding (I will ignore the 2 weeks without fish, time
wasted, but over).

I feed my fish twice daily. One rule of thumb I have read is feed
what the fish can eat in 2 minutes. With so few fish in the tank it
wouldn't take many flakes each time.

I gather you mean 5 litres from a 35 litre tank, but you don't say
over what time period. I do 20% changes twice weekly. I have read
others do changes once a week, some once a month. Part of the final
answer must include your filtration. I clean my filters only when the
water is mostly going over the overflow and not through the filter
media. This is easy to see during a water change.

Lots of things to consider in each tank setup. Keep asking questions.

I hope you will not let our troll keep you from posting.

dick