Subj : Re: New fishkeeper, advic
To   : All
From : Simon
Date : Fri Oct 24 2003 10:33 pm

I started keeping fish in August and one of the best advice sites I found
was http://faq.thekrib.com/begin.html

I feed my pleco Hikari's Sinking Wafers - he loves them - one most evenings
and he has almost doubled in size in 2 months!!!

Good luck

Simon


"Marksfish" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > The fish shop in question sold me a betta, pleco and small (approx 10
> litre)
> > tank three weeks ago. I went in believing that a betta was a delicate
> > tropical species and came out having been told it was a hardy 'all
> weather'
> > species which could breathe air and was used to a natural habitat of mud
> > ponds- dark and murky. Lies, I now know, but not in time to save my poor
> > betta who succombed to a fungal infection the day before we were due to
> move
> > him to a new home - a heated, lit and filtered 50 litre tank.
>
> Not really. Wild bettas do in fact live in little more than puddles in
their
> natural habitat. They have developed the ability to breathe atmospheric
air
> because of the lack of oxygen in these small patches of water. Also,
because
> the body of water is so small, there are quite considerable fluctuations
in
> temperature throughout the day.
>
> That said, it is no excuse for not looking after them properly in
captivity.
>
> > So now the pleco is in the tank with two plants, mod cons, shelter and a
> > piece of cucumber which he is ignoring. I want to cycle the tank fully
> > before introducing any new fish and I'm aware that plecos aren't an
ideal
> > species for this (ideally I'd be doing a fishless cycle but it's a bit
> late
> > for that). The question is, is a 2" pleco going to be ok in an uncycled
11
> > gallon tank while the bacteria get their act together?
>
> The fish you have in there will be safe enough so long as you don't
overload
> the filter with waste products.i found the best way to feed a plec was to
> cur a 2" circle of cucumber and put a plant weight through the rind. Put
it
> in the tank just before light's out and in the morning you should have a
> perfect circle cut out and the rind intact.
>
> > The tank has had AquaSafe chlorine treatment, "Stress Zyme" bacterial
> > supplement (though I've recently read that such supplements are pretty
> > useless) and a dose of anti-fungus, in case the pleco is at risk from
the
> > infection that killed the betta. The funcicide is phenoxyethanol based
and
> > claims to be "harmless to filters and all species of fish and plants".
>
> I have used StressZyme on a regular basis over the past 10 years. Not sure
> if it actually does a lot though. You may be better off getting hold of
> Waterlife's Bacterlife instead. It is a little more expensive but has a
> different conncentration of bacteria. Again, not sure how long they live
> once put in a bottle, but....
>
> > A small amount of water from the old tank will have made its way into
the
> > new tank while transferring the pleco, though I think the problem was
> water
> > quality rather than any virus or unusual pathogen. I still have the old
> > tank, in case I find out that I can speed things up by recycling the
> gravel
> > (after a good rinse) - perhaps I could test it out with a dose of
ammonia
> in
> > some fresh (dechlorinated) water?
> >
> This is one of the best ways to seed a new tank. Your gravel will have
> bacteria in it from your old aquarium. If it still had water in it, I
would
> say to rinse the gravel thoroughly in the old tank's water before
> transferring it over to the new one. You don't want to run it under tap
> water otherwise what little bacteria you have will die. That said, you
will
> need to clean it under the tap if the gravel has been sat in the tank and
> gone stagnant.
>
> > PS. Can anyone recommend a good fish shop in London?
> >
> I'm in Leeds so that doesn't help. But if you say whereabouts in London,
you
> may get a better response.
>
> Regards
>
> Mark
>
>
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* RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 10/24/03 9:33:27 PM
* Origin: MoonDog BBS, Brooklyn,NY, 718 692-2498, 1:278/230 (1:278/230)