Tankload of questions (long)

NetMax wrote:

Sounds fine, provided the water parameters are similar enough. I'm not a
big fan of 100% changes, preferring smaller changes as required.

My water source is fairly stable, so no problems there. I'm not a big
fan of 100% changes myself, but given the size of his temporary home and
the need to keep the gravel clean, my options are limited.


I've decided to move the betta to a 5gal tank, (possibly an Eclipse Hex
5,) and give him a few mates, most likely 5-6 neon tetras.

Question 1: Is a half dozen neons too many for this tank, based on

1"/gal?

Answer 1: No problemo in regards to the biological load. Six Neons are
probably equivilant to only 2 or 3 inches of fish-load. Of course, you
would need to seed the bacteria and/or go up slowly. Understanding
Bettas might give you pause before adding Neons though. They are
attracted (in a bad way) to fish which are very colorful (this is their
territorial nature) and they can/will eat anything they can fit in their
mouths (they are carnivores). These two attributes put Neons (in a small
tank with a Betta) at a higher risk than other fishes. The deciding
factor is usually the particular disposition of the Betta, so ymmv.

Guess I'll have to start slowly on them then

Stop trying to feed him for 2-3 days. Then drop in a few bloodworms. If
they will not eat their favorite food after not eating for 3 days, you
have a problem. Until then, all you might have is a stubborn Betta.

I think he's taking after me actually g


Question 3: If I were to say, put some of the new gravel in a cup
inside one of my current tanks, how long would it reasonably take to
have enough bacteria attach itself to be able to jump-start the new
tank? As an alternative, would it be easier to temporarily install a
corner filter filled with cultured gravel?


Answer 3: Easier to take a cup of gravel from the established tank and
sit it in the new tank for a few weeks (you idea of a corner filter
works). Note that this mostly seeds a bacteria which is not difficult to
culture anyways, the stuff which breaks down solid wastes. It's the
nitrifying bacteria which takes a bit longer to establish (the bacteria
which coats surfaces, especially near moving water such as filtration
media).

Ok, will go that method then. I was thinking about doing the reverse
since I already have a 5lb bag of gravel sitting here on the shelf.

Answer 4: Yes, it would, if you could get it seeded well enough.
Ideally, you could swap bio-wheels, but they won't be the same size :-(.
Some squeezings from your older filtration media, into your Eclipse's
filter will jump start the system.

Ok, soaking it is.

Question 5: In a case like this, how much is too much?


Hornet tilapia are voracious eaters and fast growing to over a foot long.
If your filter and water change routine could keep up with it, you can
feed him a lot. Don't be surprised if you are filtering it as a 30g by
the time you need to move him out (the filtration requirement goes up as
a function of the total grams of food introduced, and goes down as a
function of water changes). If you want him to eat less, dropping the
water temperature a bit might help.

Media gets changed about once a month (Whisper 10), and gravel
cleanings/water changes are about 20% twice a week. Ammonia and
Nitrites have not spiked at all.


Marty is truly a creature of habit. He expects his one big meal a day,
and if you try to feed him at any other point in time he'll ignore it.


Neat. I've never seen or heard of this. Discus can be a bit anal about
their feeding routines, but a tilapia? Do some water tests, specifically
NH3/4, NO2 and NO3 and post your results. Many fish are fine with single
large meals (ie: channel cats), while others need to feed more
continuously (ie: Kissing gouramis, small tetras etc). I'm not sure
where the tilapia would fit. As an fast growing omnivore, it's probably
not harming him to eat this way.

I have to pick up some more testing supplies, as I currently have no
nitrate tests left. I normally check parameters in all tanks once a
week, and Marty's tank is consistently 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrates, and
usually about 15 Nitrates (normally the day before a cleaning, but it's
been about a month since I've tested them). Ph is 7.0. I have not
checked the hardness in some time, but am taking an "If it ain't
broke..." mentality towards that. With 120g between 4 tanks, hardness
has never been an issue.

I recommend that you gravel vac until your reach your target water volume
change (ie:20%). The following time (1 or 2 weeks), start from where you
left off. Small tanks are typically done that way. Move a decoration on
the tank to indicate what side you are doing next ;~)

The only problem with moving decorations is that Marty moves them around
right after that himself!


Question 6 comes after your promised last question?? ;~) ok, bonus
answer 6: the trick to gravel vacuuming smaller tanks is in being able to
have a finer control over the flow rate, using a resticting valve, or
draining into a pail which is up off the floor, on a chair or something.
If that does not work well enough for you, use a smaller diameter pipe in
the gravel.

I'll take a look and see what I can find for restrictors. Thanks.