oXo

Hi,

I recently finished cycling my 56 Gal tank (took ages .. but did it without fish )

Yesterday I went out to buy some fish, got 4 glo-fish, 5 glowlight tetras and a bottom feader. Now I think I might have stressed them a bit since I had to leave them in the bag for an hour or so to change my tank water since the Nitrates were too high. I added them to the tank gradually (about 45 minutes by adding a cup or so of tank water every 10 minutes. I didn't want to leave them in the bag any longer.

Since I added them they immediately went down to the bottom and back into the right hand corner behind a big (artificial) driftwood and a java fern. I have seen one or two of them come out and swim with the glo-fish (who is all over the place) but 3 or so stick to the corner. It has been about 24 hours now and the seem to be content with the corner.

I gave the other fish some fish flakes but just one or two came out to eat the others stayed in the corner.

Did I over stress them ?? How do I get them to eat something ? Other food maybe ??

Thanks
oXo

Lucy

Hi oXo welcome to Fish Lore

If you have nitrites, your tank isn't fully cycled. A cycled tank will have readings of 0 for ammonia and nitrites with some nitrates showing.
It was wise to do a water change. Continue that daily until you're fully cycled.
Other than that, sometimes it takes time for them to get used to their new surroundings.

Good luck.

oXo

Hi Lucy

Thanks for the quick reply ... hehehe .. I have to admit that I got a bit confused with nitrite and nitrates, they sound way too similar ... I corrected my post above, but you were way too fast

I had too high nitrates, sorry for the confusion.

oXo

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!! I think its cycled as it was nitrates and lucy is having a brunette moment,,,which usually is my job hahahaha( she will edit probably before I type this as shes fast!!!)...but what test kit are you using? could it be false? also, keep a good eye on the water parimeters as adding so many at once might throw you into a mini cycle as the bacteria might fall behind in the bio load


EDIT: hahahah it was eddited before I saw the nitrites miss lucy!

Lucy

Oh Lordy!!!

When I was typing my answer, I even re-read it to make sure it said nitItes. Thanks for telling me you editted it, I get confused enough as it is! lol

Shawnie

<---QUEEN of brunette moments!

sirdarksol

All three of you got some 'splainin' to do.

Anyway, high nitrates combined with a new environment can be stressing them out.
Also, watch your ammonia and nitrite (even though you don't have any right now) for the next week or so. Adding so many fish at once can overload the cycle (though it's less likely in a bigger tank).

To help make your fish comfortable, make sure there are plenty of hiding places across the tank, so they feel like they've always got something nearby to hide behind if they feel the need. Given time, they should come out of the corner.

Shawnie

[quote=sirdarksol;415955]All three of you got some 'splainin' to do.

QUOTE]

Ok ricky! ill let ethel explain ....take it away lucy!

Lucy

It was Ehtel's, I mean, Shawnie's fault, honest!

oXo

Thanks for all the welcomes

I'm keeping an eye on the ammonia / nitrates / nitrites (see if you type them all you don't have to worry about being confused :lol: ) .. so far so good. With the water change I brought down the ... emhh .. the ... Nitrates to 10 and it's been there for 2 days.

They were swimming around a bit more, but I did notice that out of the 5 glolight tetras, 2 seem a bit different. They are not as translucent as the other three and have a bit of blue along with the red. These 2 seem to keep together and are trying to school with the glo-fish (who are happy and swimming all over the place). The other 3 tetras seem to keep to themselves. Maybe the set of 2 are not rea glo-light tetras ? I'll see if I can post some pics.

There is enough hiding room ... since I've seemed to have "lost" the bottom feeder .... hehehe .. he is not outside the tank, thank goodness ... but I can't find him between the boat and the rock and plants.

I'll have some pics on later tonight.

Thanks again
oXo