dhenn

Hi all, I'm new here. My daughter (age 13) has a fish tank and we're learning as we go. It's 10 gal, water tests 'perfect' for ph, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, chlorine, hardness, and alkalinity. She purchased 4 male guppies a few days ago and they seem to be very happy so far. She has a heater (it came with the tank kit which was made by top fin), and we bought a digital thermometer. I've noticed the water temp fluctuating from about 77.5F in the morning (light off) to about 79.5F by the afternoon (when the lights have been on).

Is this something we should be worrying about or is it OK? I think the only way we can stop this temp fluctuation is by keeping the lights off and I'm not sure that is the best for them either.

Any help, tips, or hints you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Chief_waterchanger

Oh that is definately not something to worry about.

You done excellently by asking, though.

Do you mind if I ask what you are calling "perfect" on the readings are? 0? (This is just to be extra sure that things are going well. )

You done well by putting only 4 male guppies in the tank. That stops the worry of fry and allows you to enjoy the beauty that is a good quality poecilia reticulata (guppy).

dhenn

the readings were:

Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 25
Chlorine 0
Alk 40
PH 7.2

Thanks for your help! She really doesn't want them to die or get sick.

dhenn

I should add, her goal is to add a few more fish in there at some point, probably over the next few weeks. She'd like to put a different breed in there but isn't sure which. She's mulling over some tetras, platys, or mollys....and probably a snail to clean the sides and bottom.

This should all work for her right?

Thanks again for your quick reply!

Chief_waterchanger

Actually, no.

You could do 3 platies OR 3 mollies. If you are referring to an apple snail then I would not recommend adding it due to VERY high bioload. A Japanese trap door snail would work, probably. Malaysian trumpet snails or ramshorn snails would work, and reproduce based on the amount of food in the tank... if they are overpopulating then you simply feed less to the tank.


Edit to add: I am happy to help and I hope you enjoy our site and community setting as much as we do.

We are a very kid friendly site also, if your daughter would like to hang out on the site also.

I forgot to mention... With all the science projects and school stuff kids do these days, having your daughter learn about tropical freshwater fish is definately something that could help her in her academic studies, as well as mold the way she deals with living beings the rest of her life.

dhenn

I believe she was looking at black velvet snails or inca snails (one) and I wasn't clear, she's not looking to add ALL those fish to the tank, she just hasn't settled on which breed she wants to add. My question was more along the lines of 'I believe they all get along together right?' ... at least the way I read the fresh water breed section of fishlore .

She'd be typing herself but she's just not home right now .

Devon

Welcome to FishLore!

Tetras can be fin-nippers and may terrorize your daughter's guppies. As CWC said, one of the other two kinds of fishes should be good.

Edit: are you and your daughter familiar with the Nitrogen Cycle/what the readings you're getting mean?

Lucy

Hi dhnn Welcome to Fish Lore

We're glad you're here. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like your tank has cycled. If you're using strips, they're not very accurate. A lot of us use the API master kit.

Here's a basic explanation of the nitrogen cycle:
First your ammonia will rise, in a few weeks you'll see the nitrite levels rise and the ammonia levels start to drop. After a few more weeks you'll see the nitrate levels rise and the nitrite levels drop.
Ammonia and nitrites are toxic to your fish. So until your cycle is complete, you need to keep the levels down with daily water changes
When you having readings of 0 on both ammonia and nitrites with some nitrates showing, your cycle is done.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it'll be well work the health of your fish.

Good luck.



.

jdhef

The water temp fluctuations shouldn't be a problem. Do you have an incandescent bulb? If you do, assuming it would fit, you could always change the bulb out with a compact fluorescent.

Also, do you know about the stocking guideline of 1" of adult size fish per gallon of water?

sirdarksol

Welcome!
I'm with CWC that the mystery snail (which are the round, colored snails that most pet stores sell, and include "black" and "inca" in their types) wouldn't be a good idea. They produce so much waste.
I'm also with Lucy in that I'm guessing your tank hasn't cycled (unless you cycled it prior to buying the guppies or bought Tetra SafeStart). It normally takes a few weeks for this to happen. Good news is that guppies are pretty hardy little guys. With some extra partial water changes, they should do fine.

Good luck with everything, keep the questions and info coming, and, as CWC said, we work hard to be family-friendly. We have at least a dozen active members who are youth, and would be happy to have another. (On top of that, there are worse places for a kid to be on the web )

dhenn

We did use a water conditioner in the tank late last week when we started setting it up and some enzyme stuff (don't have the bottles in front of me so can't tell you the brands or exact names off hand). I tested the water again this morning (the first test numbers above were from Monday or Tuesday). Current water numbers are this:

Ammonia greater than 0 but less than .5 (will will do a partial water change today .. 10% is the recommended change right?)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate: greater than 0 but not by much ... color is pale pink instead of white
Alkalinity still about 40
chlorine:0
PH 7.2
hardness 25

She filled a couple gallon jugs yesterday afternoon and they've been sitting without caps ... they're good to use for the replacement water correct? How frequently should she be testing the water?

As for sucking the sides of the tanks ... should I have her get a pleco or some other type of sucker instead of the snail?

We are using the testing strips. This tank is in her room and intentionally didn't buy the drops because I don't want spills. I understand what you're saying about the strips not being quite as accurate but they'll have to do for now (till they're all used up at least).

As for bulbs, I'll be honest, my husband did that part of the tank set up when I wasn't home and I haven't even LOOKED at them . Guess I should take a look at that as well - but as long as the 2 degrees aren't a problem, I'll probably wait on changing them out till they die unless there's a really good reason to swap at this time. He set it up and I get to learn all the rest ... sigh.

Thanks for inviting her to join as well. I appreciate it. I have pretty strict rules on computer use (especially internet use) for my children. She may be on here at some point in the future as I would like her to be taking a more active roll in learning what she's gotten herself into .

I should say as for stores, the only store we have that's local and semi-trustworthy is a big chain store. There is one other pet store in the area .. a local non chain store .. but I didn't like what the tanks looked like when we went in and one of my daughter's friends bought some fish there and they all died within a day or so. So we're kind of stuck with the big chain. There aren't any local fish only stores in this area.

So far, the employees at the chain have been helpful but what I've noticed is they don't seem to ask the questions that you all ask here. I think they assume certain things which may or may not be true. Not really a fault but could cause problems.

Thanks for your help!

Fishies-for-me

No real need to let the water sit out just make sure that it is the same temp as the water in the tank and that you use chlorine remover in it BEFORE you put it in the tank.

dhenn

doesn't the water sitting there distilling on its own dechlorinate it? Do you have to use the water conditioner for every gallon of changed water?

jdhef

Until your tank cycles, you should really do 50% daily water changes, since any amount of ammonia or nitrites are poisonous to fish. You will want to use a water conditioner to any water you add to the tank. Letting water set out will allow chlorine to escape from the water, but it doesn't get rid of chloramine or any heavy metals in the water (all toxic to fish).

As far as bulbs go, there is no need to rush out and replace with compact fluorescent. That was just an option if you were really worried about the small temperature swings. But those swings aren't enough to worry about.

You don't want to put a common pleco in a ten gallon tank. They get way to large. Even the Bristle Nose Plecos will get to large for a 10 gallon tank. As long as the tank doesn't receive direct sunlight, and you don't overfeed, algae should not be a big problem.

Fishies-for-me

Yes you have to use declor for every gallon changed. It is not to expensive tho. ( altho some can be...lol) Some come in a bottle with a dropper top and you only use about 8 drops per gallon. It can last a long time with only 1 - 10 gal tank.

sirdarksol

Actually, dechlorinator can go in immediately after the water goes in the tank, too. Better to do it before, but, as with doing Python water changes, there's sometimes no way to avoid a small amount of chlorine contact.
And no, setting water out doesn't dechlorinate it anymore (unless your city still uses chlorine, instead of the chloramine that most municipalities use now). Chloramine, unlike the old chlorine, doesn't evaporate before water does, making it more cost effective for cities.

Fish store employees may be helpful but, in the end, they usually don't know much. Most of the time, they're part-time employees who get dropped in the job after being shown how to net a fish, operate the faucet and air hose, and other simple tasks. On the other hand, there are thousands of us sharing information for one purpose: to keep happy and healthy tanks. We have a huge advantage over the relatively isolated fish store employees.

As far as something to clean the tanks, you could forgo the mollies/platies and instead get a bristlenose pleco. They don't get too big for your tank. Or you could go with a small school of otocinclus catfish (otos), again, in lieu of the extra livebearers. These guys are difficult to keep alive, and should only go in after your tank has been established for a few months, but are really neat.

jdhef

Yes, I was going to elaborate that to get a Bristle Nose Pleco you would have to fore go the mollies/platties, but I was fearful of at one time. But as usual (always) sirdarksol is correct

sirdarksol

jdhef, just wanted to let you know that I wasn't correcting you. You actually just ninja'd me, and made your post (and got a response, and made another) while I was typing my post out. I just put more info in because I always put more info in.

Edit: But you're right, I never make mistooks.