Our Tank

[matt_in_syd23]

[Ged]

Welcome to ACE. You will find the the members here friendly and keen to give advice.

Now that is a lot of fish in the one tank.

It is very hard to keep fish that require different water parameters in the same tank. Have you had any difficulties with the setup and the current fish. The Frontosa is looking very distressed sitting on the bottom of the tank.

Can you tell us a bit more about your setup i.e tank size, filtration , etc?

[matt_in_syd23]

Hi Ged,

Im only new to fish keeping and have well and truely overstocked this tank.I've been off loading fish to mates and to the new lfs.

It's been difficult trying to keep all these guys happy,water change 25% each day.The tank is a 4x2x2 with 2 canister filters(ehiem 2217 & aqua one 1250 )chiller and a uv filter. The frontosa has been huffing for a while now he still eats and is sociable,i'v treated the tank with several over the counter medications as it was suggested to me it may be a parasite, last treatment was metronidazole.Im hoping that he is isn't suffering? Do you think i should euthanize him?

Unfortunately the wife won't let me get another large tank so for the time being im just slowly moving the fish on.My next step is to increase my filtration possibly to a couple of fx5's any suggestions?

Cheers Matt

I really didn't have any knowledge when i was stocking this tank and it appears i was misled by our old lfs.I was told that the fish would only grow to the space that they had and that it would stop aggression.

[Ged]

Have you tested your water at any stage? The Frontosa could be gasping due to an increase in ammonia. It would also check the nitrite and nitrate levels.

The next step is to identify what you currently have and what type of fish do you want to keep. You have some some aggressive species that will not be good for other more docile species.

I would off load some of your fish. You may like to apply to use the ACE Classifieds. See here for details

http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=30720

Remember you will need to send the email via a non-free account.

[matt_in_syd23]

water parameters

ammonia 0

nitrite 0

nitrate 0- 5ppm

ph 7.4

temp 25'c

roughly how many fish would you suggest to keep?

Thanks i will organise a proper email account,

[Link2Hell]

Hi Matt

welcome to ACE

for someone new to the hobby I'm glad to see that you realise you have had an experience most

will be able to share ............ you are a fish addict

I look at the set up list and say to myself why would a starting set up have a chiller and UV and can only

think it was a marine set up previous or you have been over sold to your requirements

the substrate looks like it has coral sand which is good as a buffer for fish that like alkaline water

unfortunaley you haven't listed the hardness values of the water so I'm guessing it will be of a

moderate to low level

As Ged said the tank is heavily stocked but depending on feeding and the 25% daily water changes

and filtration you have show as keeping the ammonia , nitrate & nitrite all under control

do you pre condition your water before you do the water changes or straight from the tap ?

you aren't the first to be frustrated by a fish that isn't right while everyone else is happy and or breeding

from the vid it does look bloated in the body, but it could just be the angle of the camera, while the other

Frontosa seem to look fine

does the Frontosa eat and if it does does it have white stringy poo this will let you know if has a protozoan

problem that needs Metro

the problem you face is not being able to isolate any sick fish

[cooder]

The tank looks really good, but that frontosa didnt... maybe going with a single biotype would be better, either americans, tanganyikans or malawians? or just mixed tropical fish without the cichlids?

im must be just a perfectionist....

as long as you keep up the water changes like everyone else has said it should be ok, not sure about those fronts tho