Method #1
1. buy tank
2. set tank up and cycle it
3. while tank is cycling, you have plenty of time to research different species of fish and find out how big they get, what their needs are as far as food, water parameters, etc..., and how well they get along with other fish
4. when cycling is complete, choose fish that are appropriate for that size tank
5.add fish slowly over time so the beneficial bacteria colonies have time to catch up to the increased bio-load
6. take good care of those fish until they die of old age
Method #2:
you have decided what fish you like, but have not purchased them yet
1. research the needs of the fish
2. buy a tank that is appropriate for the fish you want
3. set up and cycle tank
4. purchase and add fish slowly for reasons stated above _________________
Last edited by KingFisher on 2008.03.14(Fri)7:37; edited 1 time in total
Yeah, that's why I had to wait until today. The tank's been running for 4 days now with no fish. I did move him in, and he seems to like it. My pleco's grumpy cause there's no algae for him to eat, though, and the oscar keeps playing with the pleco's algae wafers.
Are there any plants in the new tank? 4 days isn't long enough to cycle a tank properly, especially with no ammonia source, so you may have to do daily water changes for the time being.
I'd recommend getting some liquid tests for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (if you haven't already) and testing regularly to keep an eye on how things are going. Ammonia and nitrites should ideally be at zero, so if you have any levels of these you need to do your best to keep them down.
Here's a great post on cycling. I found it really, really helpful. It might help you avoid troubles with any future setup you plan on doing. Good luck.
I think since the fish is in there its a tad bit to late to be advocating fishless cycling. Do add some bio-spira, stress zyme or cycle to the tank as to atleast give your tank a jump start colony of bacteria. Fortunatly your fish is small and for the moment the 40G of water will be able to dilute its wastes down while the tank cycles. Id also suggest small daily waterchanges to help minimize stress to the fish and to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels from getting to bad. But the fact is...a spike must occur to allow for the bacteria to colonize, just make it as gentle as possible.
I hope you understand the true magnitude of an oscar fish. Now my oscars are still young at only 10" but they are a massive species. Someone once said that they are like a living breathing football in ones tank...and I agree. Hold a football up to your tank and imagine a fish that large...and see just how minute your tank is going to look at that time...because oscars will readily reach 14" length a good 8" deep and around 3" wide with a mouth that could surround a golfball. They arnt a fish for everyone for sure
Are there any plants in the new tank? 4 days isn't long enough to cycle a tank properly, especially with no ammonia source, so you may have to do daily water changes for the time being.
I'd recommend getting some liquid tests for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (if you haven't already) and testing regularly to keep an eye on how things are going. Ammonia and nitrites should ideally be at zero, so if you have any levels of these you need to do your best to keep them down.
Good luck!
Yes, I have some live plants in there. Some type of water grass. Dunno how much help that is. The fish do seem to like it more than the fake plants in the other tank. They spend a lot of time hanging around in it.
Yes, I have some live plants in there. Some type of water grass. Dunno how much help that is.
Realistically, zero help. Cycling with plants takes a lot of fast growers and initially still a very low bioload. You should not have added the Oscar before cycling the tank. I suggest you follow everyone's advice and add bio-spira to speed up the process, and use other conditioners and with daily water changes to keep the ammonia/nitrite spike under control. _________________ A Quarter Fathom Journal
Posted: 2008.03.23(Sun)1:22 Post subject: keepin em all together
I need help, I want to know how I can keep my eel catfish away from my jaquar, he is buggin her like crazy, n jaquar is gettin tired of this she's splashin water all over the place lucky not thinkin about jumpin outside the tank. what I do is I keep the eel catfish in the net for awhile n then I let him go, he'll be calm for a while n again will go back to square one. I have four oscars, 1 tiger,1 red and 2 albinos, texas green, 2 eel catfish, 1 up side down,1 jaguar,2 tinfoil,2silver dollar,3 groumies,and 2 highfin sucker mouths. I keep the taxes in a different tank but now my real concern is how to keep this eel catfish away from terrorizin my jaguar.
please suggest me.
thanks
To add the new fish I would recommend you remove him from the aquarium and move things around, decorations, rocks, caves etc. Put him in a 5 gal buck with a air hose in it for a lil, so that when you drop him back in things won't look the same as "his old stomping ground" I have done this with my cichlids to a high degree of success. If at all possible let the 2nd cichlid be a female. by changing his environment and it begin a female this should hopefully stop WWIII in your tank.
BTW I realize this is an old post but I feel the experiences I have had have some relevant info to the topic.
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