I have a 55g tank
(More populated then recommended)
I Have an Emperor 400 filter on the left side
A Whisper 20 filter on the right side
A bubble disk on the right side
A bubble bar on the left side
and a bubble stone in the middle
I do weekly 50% water changes along with gravel siphoning
And 15% water changes every two days, With the glass magnet!
I Have
1 Flame Dwarf Gourami
1 Paradise Gourami
1 Kissing Gourami
1 Sunset Platy
1 Blue Ram
3 Silver Dollars
1 Chinese Algae Eater (I know they get huge!!!)
1 Jellybean Blood Parrot (Doesn’t bother anyone!!!)
1 Clown Loach
4 Tiger Barbs
2 Emerald Green Cory Cats
1 Pictus Catfish
5 Australian Rainbow Fish
I also have plenty of hiding places, caves, and plants!
I also heat the tank to 80 Degrees F
I feed my fish a varied diet of shrimp, flakes, blood worms
and sinking pellets for the bottom feeders
And as for chemistry I use
Microbe lift Special Blend
Microbe Lift Ph stabalizer for 7.0Ph
Prime
Aqua safe dechlorinator
And I use a little salt
Noone bothers anyone!!!
Please tell me your opinion!
The only way to perfection is with the opinion of others!
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
If it’s working for you and the water chemisty stays stable, thats the main thing.
The extra aeration, double filtering and large water changes is what you need to do if you are heavily stocked. Dont ease off any of those.
I suspect most of the chemicals are not needed though, the Aquasafe and Prime do the same thing so you are double dosing there, just pick one. Your cycle bacteria should be established and living symbioticly with your fish. The pH is generally best just left alone, with the large water changes it will stay stable and close to your tap readings if you leave it be.
As well as the CAE getting big, so will the Kissing gourami, Clown Loach and Pictus. Even the Silver Dollars and Parrots Cichlid get to a decent size. Long term you are probably going to have issues as they all reach adult size.
But if your fish are healthy and happy now, thats OK. Just thinking ahead.
Ian
the salt helps to promote resistance to disease and I think the amount of air stones and filters in your are helpful but I wouldn’t be doing such a large water change each week as you can put undue stress on your fish. Especially since you have the sunset as they can be extremely sensitive to drastic water changes. If your Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite tests are reading zero or not registering a reading you should be pretty safe. The 15% changes every other day are pretty good. If I was you, I would forget about the 50% water change but increase the water changes every other day to about 20% or at most 25% in order to avoid stressing the fish – which is easier to do since they are over stocked. Also in order to almost eliminate the need for gravel Vacuum’s I would hook one of the air pumps up to an under gravel filter and then once a week siphon out any wastes on the bottom of the tank but being careful not to take too much water out.
Other than your tank being overstocked you should keep an eye on the pictus. He might end up eating your cory cats (they like to be in shoals btw). That’s an awful lot of chemicals. Is there a reason you’re using so many??? Its really not recommended to use any pH chemicals. Are you having problems with pH??
Although your tank is already a bit heavily populated, i would reccommend getting another clown loach or two. They are a fish who do better in groups and are much more entertaining to watch when they’re being social. Are you feeding any frozen foods? My fish and the fish I care for (I manage an aquatics department in a pet store) LOVE LOVE LOVE their frozen brine shrimp. Plus that pictus would be super excited to dive into the middle of a cloud of sinking thawed blood worms and brine shrimp!!!
First a question..You said you have plants ? Are they real or plastic.The reason I ask is because the plants will not respirate properly if you have too much air infusion from air stones and consequently they will not grow well.
Also its not necessary to remove so much water at a time.20 % is adequate. Having a couple of buckets of water around that will evaporate the chlorine is just as good and you wont have to use all the chemicals to treat the water although its not a bad idea to correct any PH differences you have from your water supply.
If you do have live plants make sure to leave some fish fecies near the roots of the plants because this is they’re food.I have a large tank that has only a cannister filter and tons of plants plus a good balance of fish so that they compliment one another in a balance that only nature can achieve.I also use C0 2 injection to feed the plants what they arent getting from the fish respiration .
There are tons of web pages out there on creating a natural balance and minimal filtration.Takashi Amano is one such enthusiast who creates gorgeous representations of nature in a tank.His book Natural World Aquarium is available at most descent pet stores.You should check it out.You will be blown away by what this guy does.
Other than that you sound like your taking really good care of your system.There is such a thing as over filtration and this is what I’m referring to when I speak of a natural balance that can be achieved through proper balancing of fish and plant.It is a challenge but the rewards are worth it.You will see your fish act more relaxed and some species really benefit from real not fake plants.