Mikon77

Ok, I’ll keep an eye out. So far I’ve only fed him Xtreme Krill Flakes. I also have some Hikari bloodworms and vibra bites, but he hasn’t had those yet. I’ll try those next and see.

Update: He’s all better now!!! It was definitely just intestinal blockage. I woke up this morning and noticed the lump was completely gone, and a pretty big mess was left in the tank. Thankfully it’s my water changing day!

Ok, I’ll keep an eye on him and see what happens these next few days. Other than that, he is still swimming around normally and exploring.

Yes, his other side looks perfectly normal.

Ok, thank you! I’ll hold off on feeding him then. I’m just worried it may be something very serious, especially since the lump wasn’t there yesterday.

Hello! Just yesterday I added a dwarf flame gourami to my tank. He looked healthy when I got him and seemed to adjust well when I added him to the tank. He even ate last night. However, today I noticed he has a lump on one of his sides! He still seems to be behaving pretty normally, and has no issues swimming. What could this possibly be? Any help would be greatly appreciated! My water parameters are… Ph: 7.8 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 10 Gh: 11 Kh: 3 Temp: 76

That’s the main reason why I’ve been holding off on other plants. The sword in the middle was labeled a dwarf sword plant. The one in the far left corner behind the Java Fern was labeled as a true sword plant. It has yet to show any signs of growing. I’ve also added some frogbit and hornwort, and they are also growing extremely slowly, despite other people claiming they are fast growers.

I’m looking more on Aqua Huna and they definitely seem like the way to go! A group of 6 Pygmy Corys is really affordable! I’ll add some more live plants and wait a week or two before getting some pygmies! I’m just worried if they would adjust well to my water since they aren’t from local sellers.

It may not have been Dan’s, I was looking around and may have gotten them mixed up with another vendor. I’m just worried about spending that much on a fish that may not adapt well to my aquarium. While on the other hand my Petco has a 30 day policy on fish. If the fish ends up dying within 30 days, I just need to bring it and a sample of my water for either a full refund or a replacement.

I’ll definitely have to check them out! I was originally looking to get a honey gourami, but from the website I found, the shipping charge was around $60 for one fish!!! As for the plants, I’ll definitely be adding more then! I was just worried because the plants I have now aren’t really growing much. I’m worried that when they do grow, there won’t be much room left for the fish.

Awesome! I’m having to vacuum up excess food, so that shouldn’t be an issue. So do you think I should add more plants to my tank? I’m always seeing people say the more plants the better, but I’m worried about overcrowding them.

Hello! Today, I added a centerpiece fish to my very first aquarium, (a flame dwarf gourami I have named Heinrich). He is very curious and seems to be adjusting very well, and is even putting my black neon tetras in their place! I'm now looking for the final set of fish to add to my aquarium and I'm wondering if panda corys would do well in a 20 gallon high. The reason I'm looking into pandas is because my local Petco only carries pandas and emeralds. I heard pygmy corys are great, but I don't really want to order fish online and pay a massive shipping fee. Money is pretty tight. Would a group of say 4-5 panda corys be ok in a 20 gallon high tank, or is there another fish that would do just fine? Any help would be greatly appreciated! I currently have in my tank... 5 black neon tetras (I had 10 but they are very aggressive and have been killing each other.) 1 dwarf gourami 2 nerite snails

Mine have been nothing but aggressive! They will school for a little while, then go back to attacking each other. This morning I woke up to a third one killed. This one had slightly visible wounds. I’m now down to 7. I really hope it’s not because of my tank size!

I’m not sure what gender they are, my local Petco keeps them all together. They are the only fish in the tank. I’m hoping it’s not because I went with a 20 gallon high instead of a 20 gallon long. By the time I heard a 20 gallon long is better, this tank had completed its cycle. The Petco employee told me that 10 tetras would do just fine in a 20 gallon high, and no more. Here is my tank now. I’m worried now because I’d like to add some Amano shrimp and one dwarf gourami, but not if my tetras will kill them!

Hello! About a week ago I added my first fish to my aquarium (20 gallon high) after the cycle was complete. I added 6 black neon tetras. The Petco employee told me to get 4 more after a week has passed. Fast forward to yesterday and I get 4 more and introduce them into the tank. I immediately notice some bullying. There was some head-butting and ramming, followed by some of the tetras staying away from the group. However, this morning I found one dead. I took it to Petco with a sample of my water and they said my water was perfect and to keep the school at 9 instead of 10. Unfortunately, as soon as I got back from Petco I found a second one dead. It was alive when I left, and I was only gone 30 minutes. Are they killing each other or is something else wrong? There appeared to be no signs of infection on either of the dead fish and they are all eating well. My water parameters are Ph: 7.8 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 10-15ish Gh: 10 Kh: 3 Temp:76.5

Ok, I probably do this to be safe. I’ll probably get 5 or so then the rest later. Thanks! I’m pretty sure I’m testing correctly. The nitrite has been at 2 since Tuesday I think. I just noticed nitrates on Wednesday.

Ok awesome! I just wasn’t sure how the slow stocking rule applied to schooling fish. Do you think a school of either black neon tetras or harlequin rasboras would do fine in a 20 gallon high? I saw the other day that a 20 gallon long is better, but it’s a little late now.

Hello! My first tank (a 20 gallon high) is almost cycled!!! | started a fishless cycle about 2 weeks ago using Doctor Tim's One and Only and their ammonia as well. I had about 4-5 ppm of ammonia on Monday, and it's now at .25. My nitrite is still high at 2.0, and my nitrate is at 10pm. My ph has been stable at 7.8 throughout the whole process. I know it's still not fully cycled, but it's nice to see it taking off! I've been planning ahead as to what fish to add first, but I'm pretty lost. I've heard you need to add fish a little bit at a time, but what about schooling fish? I plan on keeping 8-10 black neon tetras or 8-10 harlequin rasboras (if they do well in a 20 gallon high, I keep seeing mixed answers online). Would you add half of their preferred schooling amount? Wouldn't they be unhappy being in a small starting school? I also plan to add a centerpiece fish like a gourami and some amano shrimp at a later time after the smaller fish get settled. Here is a pic of my tank now. I currently have 3 different Java Ferns and a sword planted. I also added some Frogbit yesterday (will be building a corral for them today to prevent my filter from bullying them). I'll probably be adding another plant when I add my first fish. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I definitely want what’s best for my fish. I don’t want to risk ph swings harming them. I’ll be sticking with the 25/75 ratio. I think that is a pretty good starting point!

Wouldn’t a low Kh be bad though? I heard a low Kh would cause ph swings.

GREAT! I’m planning on filling it tonight and starting the cycle! It didn’t even cross my mind to leave a glass out. I’ll set one out now and test again tonight. Ya I’m glad I went the RO route because like you said, I now have more options! Now I just need to see how much those parameters change after adding some driftwood, plants, as well as lava rock and dragon stone.

Hello! I made a post a few weeks back about the hardness of my water and decided to buy an RO system to help cut it. I finally got a liquid gh/kh test kit to measure the tap water and it took 40 drops to get a result for the gh!!! I also got a TDS meter and it was showing 783ppm!! So this morning I tested a 50/50 (tap/RO) mix and a 25/75 mix and I’m not sure which if either to go with. The results for the 50/50 were ph: 8 / Ammonia: 1 / gh: 19 / kh: 5 / 430ppm The results for the 25/75 were ph: 8 / Ammonia: 0.5 / gh: 9 / kh: 3 / 230ppm I’m really not sure which to go with. I thought it was really weird that the Ph remained exactly the same. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I plan on keeping 1 gourami (either a dwarf or honey) 10 Harlequin Rasboras (or other type of Rasboras, or maybe a type of tetra), and 5 panda corys.

It wouldn’t surprise me. My city has no interest in improving our water. I know whenever we get a boil water notice, everyone jokes that it doesn’t matter because the water isn’t fit for consumption anyway.

Oh ok. As long as the risk wouldn’t be too massive haha. If it’s just proper maintenance in the long run, that’s not bad at all. I’m going to be doing a lot of thinking this weekend on which approach to take. I did test my tap water for ammonia yesterday and it was at 1.0, almost close to the next mark. Would this be something to cause an big issue?

I’ll do a bit more research and decide this weekend which approach I’ll take. I’m kinda leaning towards getting an RO system just to open up more options, and cleaner drinking water for my cats and dog would also be a massive improvement as well! Oh I’m sure if this first tank goes extremely well, I’ll be making room for a second no matter what!