newfishlover

okay so my tank has been set up for 7 days now with all my fish in-1 pictus cat,6 neon tetras,1 rope fish, 1 snail, 2 african dwarf frogs,1 blue lobster and four live plants-just added plants yesterday.when can i add more fish? my tank looks empty.

Lucy

Hi, I moved your thread to a more appropriate section of the forum. When you have a question, please navigate to the forum that best suits your question.
After 6 days, your tank probably isn't cycled.
What are you readings for ammonia nitrites and nitrate?

Edit: I'm very worried about your frogs. They're slow moving and can easily be caught by your lobster. It's really not a good idea to keep them together,

newfishlover

i have those 6 in 1 test strips and they don't test for ammonia. by the looks of the colors on the test strip it nitrates is less than 20 and nitrite is .5

Lucy

It would be a really good idea to test for ammonia.
Ammonia and nitrites are toxic to your fish/frogs/lobster.
Personally I don't trust the readings from test strips. A liquid test is much more accurate.
Until your readings are 0 for ammonia and nitrites with some nitrates showing, your tank isn't safe for fish.
It would be a good idea to do daily water changes and use Prime as your dechlorinator to detox the ammonia between water changes.

Edit: I see this info was provided for you in your other thread:
new here

newfishlover

okay thank you.

Lucy

Your welcome good luck

sirdarksol

I would also be worried about the ropefish and the pictus catfish. Crayfish are opportunistic, and will often take any chance they can to catch food.
You can stack the odds, however, by target feeding the cray. In particular, it would like fresh foods like a small shrimp, or a bit of salmon, catfish, cod, etc... or a bit of beef heart or liver. You'll want to be very diligent in vacuuming the tank during water changes, as crays are very messy eaters, and leave bits of food spread all about.

In my opinion, your tank is pretty well stocked. The only thing I would do is add one or two more pictus cats. They are social cats (like corys) and are known to pine away and die if kept on their own.

However, I would wait until the nitrogen cycle is complete before adding those fish. The lone cat should be okay for the time being without any company.

You can read here to learn about the nitrogen cycle and how to help your fish survive it.

Toxic

Seems like my name gets mixed up in all the uncycled tank threads

newfishlover

i was going to get more pictus cats it is my favorite i have had him or her? for a year and a half now. what about more tetras? what else might get along with my tank?

AlyeskaGirl

Your Rope fish will eventually eat your Tetras. How big is your Rope? I bought a Senegal Bichir (rope fish) that is about 5 in right now but was told not to put them with fish that will fit into their mouths! Good luck!

Lucy

Original post edited for typo.

newfishlover

the tetras could probably fit in its mouth but hasn't bothered them at all.

AlyeskaGirl

Oh Ok, I just wanted to let you know incase your smaller fish start to disappear!

newfishlover

thank you

sirdarksol

As I said, your tank appears pretty well stocked already. I wouldn't even suggest adding more cats except that the one really needs company.

On another note, there is a world of difference between Senegal bichir and ropefish. They aren't even in the same family. The bichir has a taste for fish, the ropefish has a taste for inverts, particularly worms.
Important things about the ropefish if you didn't know them:
They are escape artists. The tank either needs to be sealed completely or the water level lowered a couple of inches to prevent it from escaping. Keeping the floor around, under, and behind the aquarium clean of dust will also improve your chances of saving the fish if it does happen to escape (dust dries them out more quickly).
They like the top of the aquarium (which I had wrong. I thought they were bottom dwellers), and will pass their time with the majority of their body out of the water at times.
As they get larger, they like the types of worms you'd use for fishing.

newfishlover

i have heard they are escape artist but i haven't had a problem, i have had him or her for about 5 months.

sirdarksol

That just means it hasn't succeeded in escaping yet. It's not a chance that I would want to take if it were my fish. We've had people on here who have kept hermit crabs (another notorious escape artist) for months and months with no problem. Then, one day, they come out to find the crab wandering around on the floor, trying to find water.

newfishlover

i look for him in the tank all the time and text my bf to ask him when im at work, so i still have been watchin out.