tekmanx

Hello all,

This is my first post on fishlore.com

I have a 20L tank I purchased back in January of this year, I have never once checked ammonia levels. I initially had about six fish in my tank, two columbian sharks, two plecos and two tiger barbs. A week or two ago (8-9months later) I was down to one columbian shark and one pleco. All of the fish lasted longer than 2months, some how they made it though the cycle.

Now that I have added six more fish (total of eight), I would imagine there is a large influx of ammonia from the fish waste... I called a few pet stores including the one I got the fish from and none of them locally have ammonia/nitrate test kits. My question is, is there any other way of checking the ammonia levels of my tank; Are there any homemade solutions? If not, what do you recommend for someone that is blindly maintaining a tank like I am? Daily water changes of 20% and for how long?

I currently have the below fish in my tank:
Two Columbian Sharks - One is 3-4 inches long, the other is about 2 inches
Two Plecos - One is 3-4 inches long, the other is about 2-3 inches
Two Tiger Barbs - Both 1-2 inches long
Two Blue Dwarf Gourami - Both 1-2 inches long

Any help would be much appreciated.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!!

are you sure about your tank size being a 20L ? thats only 5g or so and theres no way all those fish can fit in there even as juvies .....

if you can order online, an API master liquid kit has all you need and you can do hundreds of tests...I myself dont know of any home test/remedies

Lucy

Welcome to FishLore
Are you sure your tank is 20 Liters? I can't imagine that many fish being able to move in that size tank.
Will the store test your water for you?
You can always order a test on line.

Changing the water daily is a good, but as you know, you should have a test kit.

Best of luck

jdhef

I was kinda hoping that 20L stood for 20 long, but I think the Bahamas uses the metric system. Either way, I believe that tank is severly overstocked. The Pleco's are huge waste producers.

It's amazing that the fish store doesn't have any test kits. I would try mail ordering a test kit as advised above.

Good Luck!

Lucy

jdhef! You might be right, the title says 20 gallons.

Shawnie

well we dont offer litre tanks in subtitles either way , I agree 20L , 20gal long ...cant imagine even the juvie of those fish fitting without killing one another ..I hope the op has the answers so we can help more

tekmanx

It's 20 Gallon Long.. sorry

Lucy

Hi! Thanks for clarifying.
I love the look of long tanks.
It's hard to advise how long you should do water changes without knowing the parameters.
Can the store test your water? Otherwise, as said above, you should probably order a test kit on line. The API Master Kit is really accurate and less costly than the strips in the long run.

What kind of plecos do you have? The common ones grow huge and produce too much waste for your size tank. I believe for 1 it's recommended to have at least 55 gallons. Here's their profile: Common Pleco

Here's some info on your Columbian Shark
As you can see, they go from fresh water to brackish.
Your plecos can't tolerate salt.

Since the fish your fish have different requirements (salinity & tank size), you might want to reconsider your stock and re-home some fish as necessary.

I'm sorry, it seems to be all bad news, but I know you want what's best for your fish, as do we.
Best of luck

Shawnie

+2 ..great post lucy...
dont be sorry for not clarifying the tank tekmanx ....we are all here to try to help best we can and dont want to give incorrect advice ...good luck with your fish babies!

tekmanx

Yup, those are the Plecos I have I looked up there profiles already along with that of the columbian sharks. I found the information to be very helpful but equally as disappointing

I love the look of the sharks... I even added a spoon of salt to the tank every time I made a big water change. Aren't the plecos good for algae though? I have a small piece of wood that I got from the beach and it builds up some algae every so often, they keep that pretty clean. I now know where all the waste came from

If I'm reading you correctly, you're saying I should put the sharks and the plecos in another tank? My dad has a 40 gallon long than I can put them in. Any ideas for stocking that tank? We currently have a cichlid about 5 inches long! My dad doesn't have an interest in that fish anymore, he originally had three of them in there but he's down to one now. We may sell the cichlid back to the pet store or put in a local pond or something.

Also, I can't seem to find any local pets stores that sell aquarium plant/plant seeds. It sucks to live in the Bahamas as an aquarium hobbyist. Have any of you purchased seeds online? My dream is to have lots of plants in my 20 gallon long tank. I am about to read up on substrate recommendations. So far it seems like I will need more than the basic black gravel that I have now.

Lucy

I know it's disappointing. Many of us have gotten poor or no information when we bought fish only to get them home, look them up and say uh oh!

The sharks are super cool looking, for sure but they don't belong with the plecos because of their water requirements.
The 40g isn't big enough for either the plecos or the shark.

If you're planning on keeping your fish you'll need a 70g for the shark and a separate 55g (at the very least)for the plecos.
The plecos will eat algea, but they should also be fed algea wafers.

I've never bought plants on line. You might want to check aqaubid or someone else can advise you on that.

Please don't release the cichlid into the wild. Most likely it won't survive or reek havoc on the native fish. It may also be illegal to do so.

tekmanx

I have had one of those plecos and one of the columbian sharks in the 20 gallon long tank for 8 months or more... They lived through the cycle and they co-existed fine... I do intend to move them out, but how could they have co-existed without problems for so long?

Shawnie

you did have problems..fish passed just because it took longer for them to succumb to ammonia/nitrites or lack of tank size, doesnt mean they can continue to do so will probably result in internal growth issues as well as severe ammonia poisoning.... your shark alone needs a HUGE tank and brackish water..he will not be ok in your dads 40 gal

Lucy

They're young and relatively small yet.
From what I've read, the shark starts in freshwater but as it gets older it's salinity requirements change. I don't know what age that would be, maybe with further research you can find out.
A 20g long tank has a nice foot print (length of the tank), so there's been room for them so far.

mathas

PlanetCatfish seems to think the cutoff point is somewhere around 12cm:

Shawnie

if you start a new thread about planting your tank, ill move these last 2 threads to it

tekmanx

New thread created; you can delete this one :/
Live Plants - Fresh Water Aquariums

Shawnie

I have closed this thread not deleted as it is a reference to how/where your tank stands now that way members wont get confused