100% newbie who is on a steep learning curve

[Mikeymikerson]

Hi folks,

I have only been keeping fish for just over a week. My daughter wanted some fish and I fell into the pet store trap and bought a 24 litre tank and have 2 white cloud mountain minnows in it. Unfortunately I done my research once I bought the tank.

The plan is to get around a 58 litre tank as soon as I can afford it and cycle this tank then transfer the wcmm's to a better sized habitat.

In the mean time I am testing the water regularly and doing partial water changes once a week.

Do you think adding a java fern would benefit the water chemistry until a bigger tank is bought?


Cheers

 

[Rose of Sharon]

Hi, and welcome to Fishlore!!! So glad you joined!

Live plants are always good. Once you get the larger tank and set it up, you can always move the live plant(s), or leave it in the smaller tank and get something suitable for the bigger tank.

If you have any questions about the nitrogen cycle, or the process of doing a fish in cycle, there is a part of the forum for that. Lots of experienced members here to help!

 

[86 ssinit]

Welcome to fishlore and fish keeping! Your lucky 2 wcmm are much better than 2 angelfish. It’s a small tank and they’re small fish . Just continue to test regularly. I’d say to just keep it healthy just change 8l every other day not once a week. Any sign of ammonia needs a water change. What type of filter is on the tank.

 

[Mikeymikerson]

Welcome to fishlore and fish keeping! Your lucky 2 wcmm are much better than 2 angelfish. It’s a small tank and they’re small fish . Just continue to test regularly. I’d say to just keep it healthy just change 8l every other day not once a week. Any sign of ammonia needs a water change. What type of filter is on the tank.

Hi thanks for the reply.

The filter is a pump and it has 2 sponge blocks in it. (sorry dont know the correct term!) ive been doing a 10% water change every 7 days. Am i safe to change much more water more often? Im testing 0.5ppm for ammonia just now but 0 for both nitrites and nitrates. So im assuming no good bacteria are growing just yet. I have a bottle of seachem prime in case I get an ammonia spike. I just want to make sure I do my best to keep these fish happy and alive.

 

[ProudPapa]

Hi thanks for the reply.

The filter is a pump and it has 2 sponge blocks in it. (sorry dont know the correct term!) ive been doing a 10% water change every 7 days. Am i safe to change much more water more often?

Absolutely. I never do a water change less than 25%, and often larger, and you can do them daily if you want. The only restriction I can think of off the top of my head is that when doing larger water changes you need to be more careful about the new water being closer to the temperature of the water already in the tank than you do with smaller ones.

I have a bottle of seachem prime in case I get an ammonia spike. I just want to make sure I do my best to keep these fish happy and alive.

I would not recommend adding Prime if you get an ammonia spike. Do a water change instead to lower it. There are mixed opinions on whether or not Prime neutralizes ammonia, but there are no mixed opinions about water changes removing it.

 

[Mikeymikerson]

Absolutely. I never do a water change less than 25%, and often larger, and you can do them daily if you want. The only restriction I can think of off the top of my head is that when doing larger water changes you need to be more careful about the new water being closer to the temperature of the water already in the tank than you do with smaller ones.



I would not recommend adding Prime if you get an ammonia spike. Do a water change instead to lower it. There are mixed opinions on whether or not Prime neutralizes ammonia, but there are no mixed opinions about water changes removing it.

Excellent advice, thank you. I just thought I could maybe 'tamper' too much by changing the water too often. Ive been holding back but will maybe prepare a good 30 % water change tonight.

 

[ProudPapa]

Excellent advice, thank you. I just thought I could maybe 'tamper' too much by changing the water too often. Ive been holding back but will maybe prepare a good 30 % water change tonight.

You can definitely tamper with a tank too much, but that's mostly trying to adjust the pH, or throwing chemicals or medications into a tank when it's not needed.

 

[davidsaquanook]

Welcome! Java Fern tends to enjoy a gravel substrate, if that is the substate for your tank that would be a good fit. I would also recommend floating plants like duck weed (or even hornwort) if you can find those in your area. They will help the nitrogen cycle and are low maintenance plants.

 

[Mikeymikerson]

Welcome! Java Fern tends to enjoy a gravel substrate, if that is the substate for your tank that would be a good fit. I would also recommend floating plants like duck weed (or even hornwort) if you can find those in your area. They will help the nitrogen cycle and are low maintenance plants.

Excellent advice, thank you. Will look into this to try and give the cycle as much help as i can.

 

[ProudPapa]

I'd recommend caution with duckweed. It's usually a love or hate relationship when you get it. It's great for removing nitrates and helping with water quality in general, but once you get it can be very difficult to eradicate, or keep from spreading to other tanks.

I'm in the hate it camp. Hornwort, on the other hand, is as good as duck weed, or at least very close to as good, and it's much easier to deal with (although it does tend to pout and drop all its needles if it gets unhappy).

 

[davidsaquanook]

I'd recommend caution with duckweed. It's usually a love or hate relationship when you get it. It's great for removing nitrates and helping with water quality in general, but once you get it can be very difficult to eradicate, or keep from spreading to other tanks.

I'm in the hate it camp. Hornwort, on the other hand, is as good as duck weed, or at least very close to as good, and it's much easier to deal with (although it does tend to pout and drop all its needles if it gets unhappy).

I also have a love/hate relationship with duckweed as well due to having so many tanks and it spreading where I don't want it to. I just reference it as a possibility because in my experience it has worked fairly quickly if there is a spike or with cycling generally (hornwort is great too of course). You can also dehydrate it into fish food later if a person wanted to (my mollies love the stuff). I just mentioned as an option available- especially if there is an emergency. All my experience though of course.

 

[Blacksheep1]

Welcome to fishlore !

If you’re in the uk I can happily send you a handful of salvinia as a floating plant for free. Disclaimer - it may or may not come with duckweed , also free, dispite my best efforts !

 

[Mikeymikerson]

Welcome to fishlore !

If you’re in the uk I can happily send you a handful of salvinia as a floating plant for free. Disclaimer - it may or may not come with duckweed , also free, dispite my best efforts !

That would be awesome. Is it easy to maintain!

 

[Blacksheep1]

Yes !!! Great nitrate absorbers too . When you get to 50 comments to unlock private messages , send me your address and I’ll happily post you some !
Just reply to everything welcome threads are handy for this too haha

 

[FishyMcfish]

Excellent advice, thank you. I just thought I could maybe 'tamper' too much by changing the water too often. Ive been holding back but will maybe prepare a good 30 % water change tonight.

Water changes are your best friend and will help you knock down the ammonia! Only way you will get into trouble with water changes is by not matching water temps and not using dechlorinator when making new water.

 

[Mikeymikerson]

Yes !!! Great nitrate absorbers too . When you get to 50 comments to unlock private messages , send me your address and I’ll happily post you some !
Just reply to everything welcome threads are handy for this too haha

Perfect will do. Thanks

 

[Blacksheep1]

Hey Mikeymikerson im about to throw out a massive bunch of salvinia . I thought I’d offer it to you first before I just throw it out ?

 

[Mikeymikerson]

Hey Mikeymikerson im about to throw out a massive bunch of salvinia . I thought I’d offer it to you first before I just throw it out ?

Hi

Thanks for the offer but i got some from my local shop. Really appreciate the offer though.

 

[Blacksheep1]

No worries I always feel bad just throwing it away so just thought I’d offer.

 

[86 ssinit]

No worries I always feel bad just throwing it away so just thought I’d offer.

Yes I feel the same way. I now offer it on my local Facebook site. Funny thing nobody answers when you offer it for free. So put it up for a cheap price and somebody always answers.

 

[Mikeymikerson]

No worries I always feel bad just throwing it away so just thought I’d offer.

I can imagine as I had to throw a bit away when I moved to new tank and it just felt wrong putting it in the bin

 

[Fishfur]

Excellent advice, thank you. I just thought I could maybe 'tamper' too much by changing the water too often. Ive been holding back but will maybe prepare a good 30 % water change tonight.

There are lots of keepers who do much larger water changes - I generally change 50% and occasionally a little more and have done for decades and it’s always worked very well for me.

In a way, aquarists don’t truly keep fish so much as they keep water, since it is the quality of the water that matters most to fish.

Btw, even if you did jump into this hobby a bit hastily, kudos to you for everything you’ve done since learning what you need to know.

I’m sure we’d all prefer not to make mistakes but so long as we learn from them, they serve a purpose.

 

[Mikeymikerson]

There are lots of keepers who do much larger water changes - I generally change 50% and occasionally a little more and have done for decades and it’s always worked very well for me.

In a way, aquarists don’t truly keep fish so much as they keep water, since it is the quality of the water that matters most to fish.

Btw, even if you did jump into this hobby a bit hastily, kudos to you for everything you’ve done since learning what you need to know.

I’m sure we’d all prefer not to make mistakes but so long as we learn from them, they serve a purpose.

Wow thank you and I am humbled by your words. I lost my first fish today. It was not down to water quality but social hierarchy. The fish was the smallest and had its fins nipped, I had to euthanize as it was readily sitting on my finger in the tank. I am devistated. It was a small minnow and unfortunately fell to the way side. I am now hoping that my tank will thrive. Onwards and upwards easily said than done.! I am always making sure the water is good and will let nature do the rest no matter how hard it can be sometimes.

 

[Fishfur]

Wow thank you and I am humbled by your words. I lost my first fish today. It was not down to water quality but social hierarchy. The fish was the smallest and had its fins nipped, I had to euthanize as it was readily sitting on my finger in the tank. I am devistated. It was a small minnow and unfortunately fell to the way side. I am now hoping that my tank will thrive. Onwards and upwards easily said than done.! I am always making sure the water is good and will let nature do the rest no matter how hard it can be sometimes.

It happens sometimes, even to those with a load of experience. Fish aren’t like cats or dogs or even pups or kittens. Try not to take it too hard.

 

[Mikeymikerson]

It happens sometimes, even to those with a load of experience. Fish aren’t like cats or dogs or even pups or kittens. Try not to take it too hard.

Yeah it was hard, probably for me, but my daughter was very upset. I have so much respect for the knowledge that you have and hope I will prosper with my wee minnows

 

[Fishfur]

Yeah it was hard, probably for me, but my daughter was very upset. I have so much respect for the knowledge that you have and hope I will prosper with my wee minnows

It can be very tough on kids when fish die, no question about that.

Though at some point children must learn that death is an unavoidable part of life, it’s still very difficult for them, particularly the younger ones.

Hopefully all will go well from now on.

 

[ProudPapa]

. . . In a way, aquarists don’t truly keep fish so much as they keep water, since it is the quality of the water that matters most to fish.

Btw, even if you did jump into this hobby a bit hastily, kudos to you for everything you’ve done since learning what you need to know.

I’m sure we’d all prefer not to make mistakes but so long as we learn from them, they serve a purpose.

That reminds me of a saying about the cattle business: "We aren't cattle ranchers. We're grass farmers. We just use the cattle to harvest it."