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Mark Lederman

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Everything posted by Mark Lederman

  1. Just looking for opinions on how maxed out I am. I have a 36 Gallon Bowfront, medium planted at the following stocking levels: 11 Neon Tetras 5 Zebra Danios 6 Glofish tetras 1 Powder Blue Gourami 7 Otos 6 Cory Sterbai Fish look great. Swimming around nicely. Not a traffic jam situation in the open water. Peaceful community. Water changes are 2x per week at 30% (It takes about 4 days for Nitrates to approach 40 ppm). I am checking daily and have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. Do I have room for more or am I so fully stocked that I have crossed the line and am flirting with potential problems? I'm not considering adding any medium size fish. Just wanted to see if I could add in some nano fish: i.e. 2 more neons and/or 2 more otos. The otos and neons have such a small bio load. I know the 1 inch per gallon rule is just a guideline. So I don't want to get into that. I just want to know if most folks would say I am way way way maxed out. Thanks.
  2. Is this red plant an aquarium plant? I purchased this at petco from plants that were completely submerged underwater in a tank. But they also had lucky bamboo underwater for sale, which I have read is a bad idea. So now I am just curious if this red one is OK to keep. And I also don't know what it is called, sorry.
  3. Thank you Maggie! I love Corey's videos. He's super straight forward and pragmatic.
  4. Thank you so much for the advice. One of my danios jumped out late last week (with the tank lid on). So my first casualty. I hope it wasn't because of water parameters. I hope it was just due to an active / curious jump which I have read danios tend to do. Also i added an apisto last weekend -(somehow the lfs made just 1 male available without having to get both m & f). I took the unique opportunity and bought it. However, the appisto didn't take well at all. He didn't last 24 hours. So I checked my water parameters. (Note my existing fish were looking fine). I noticed some ammonia .5ppm last weekend, probably as a result of adding fish a bit too fast(I know it is a rookie error). So I have done a 75% water change, added more Searchem Stability, added chlorine remover, and ammolock and gone to feeding every other day and in smaller ammounts. I also added biomax to my canister filter, added a pre filter to the intake valve (learned that from Corey's youtube videos) and added a few plants. And I have done 50% water changes every other day this week. I am measuring water parameters daily. Saw some nitrite mid week with zero nitrate and then the next day some nitrate and zero nitrite. But amonia has not gone down at all the entire week - Remains at .5ppm. Hoping the tank adjusts fully soon. I am stopping the ammolock as I hear that slows the entire cycling process. Having lost this appisto has made me reflect.... For all the research I did, I still tripped on a basic mistake of stocking too fast. I feel kinda crappy about my over enthusiasm. The remaining fish are doing fine but are obviously hardier. But there are lessons learned for me here. I won't be adding any other fish for at least 4-6 weeks after I get these parameters under control. So might be a few months before I provide any more updates. Again thanks for all the advice. Mark PS: for other beginners out there...stock slowly. A cycled tank isn't an on/off swith or a green/red which I thought it was. It is on a spectrum. Meaning my tank was cycled enough to handle my 6 tiny danios. But then the next week, i went too fast and added tetras and the next week after that corydoras. I went too fast. I needed to give the tank time to adjust to the incremental bio load of each additional batch of fish..... probably 3 weeks to adjust to each addition of bio load or at least until the parameters showed the tank had fully processed / adjusted to the additional load. Lesson learned the hard way. Updated pic
  5. Update: Here is where I am w/ 36Gallon tank stocking. It's evolved differently than I planned. Forgive my lack of discipline. But at LFS I was talked into a different approach and made the game day decisions (gradually a few fish each week over the last month). I'm currently at: 6 gold long fin danios (Top Level) 6 glo fish tetras (Mid Level), 3 corydora sterbai (Bottom Level) Since I heard corys are best in a six pack, I probably will get 3 more corys at my next LFS visit (I'm enjoying watching them more than I thought I would). So...now I'm left with enough room for one signature centerpiece fish. (at least lets make that assumption): Since I already have a lot of yellow in my tank (6 danios & 2 glofish), I'm abandoning the Honey Gourami. note: I considered the red honey gourami - but w/ 2 pink glofish that are very bright, I have that pinkish/red color covered. And my LFS said the red honeys weren't as hardy as the yellow honeys. And I've got a heavy flowing cannister filter (which is good for my plants), so I am now thinking this isn't ideal for an angel fish. Plus I hear tetras nip at angels fins. So I think Angels are out. I'm down to deciding on my centerpiece fish: it's between 1 apisto male or one powder blue dwarf gourami female. Pros for the apisto: That flaming orange fin color I need more bottom tank action Cons against the apisto: risk of cichlid aggression My fish store is not letting me get just one. Pros for the Gourami: Get the Blue color which i don't have I hear they are bottom/middle level fish Cons against the Gourami: risk of the Gourami disease risk of gourami aggression - which is less in a female and is less than the apisto risk (correct me if you disagree) Open to thoughts/feedback/alternatives. Is this just about personal preference, or does someone have different lens to filter through worth sharing. Thank you all. PS: as I write this, I'm leaning towards ordering an apisto online....but not sure I want to ship a fish in the winter with temps as low as they are right now in the northeast...might be worth waiting until spring.
  6. Thank you this is helpful. I've upgraded my lighting. I didn't go fluval 3.0. I found a good deal on a fluval2.0. I believe that is still a meaningful upgrade over the stock light. Thank you.
  7. Ok, i have my first stocking issue in terms of retail/inventory. The local fish store (only place that carries apistos) will not sell me just one appisto. He is insisting i buy a pair. I dont want to deal with breeding. I am worried these guys will get aggressive and kill the other fish if they start protecting fry. How often does the breeding occur? Should i abandon this appisto idea?
  8. Thanks. Two follow-up questions: 1) What if I went to 9 glo fish tetras? Is that too many? 1 Angel 1 Honey gourami 9 Glofish Tetras 1 Apisto Cockatoo 2) And lastly, if you were to add a cleanup crew (btw: my daughter doesn't like the look of those things), what would work best here in this community tank? And does the addition of the clean up crew take the glofish # back down to 6?
  9. Hi, I am Mark in NJ. First time fish keeper. I have a planted tank that is in the cycling process now. 36 Gallon Bow front. I want a calm community tank with variety of colorful fish and type of fish that don't get too big. I don't want breeding. And I am in love with Angel fish - so that is my 1 centerpiece that I must have. Other than that - colorful and peaceful and different shapes and colors is what I am looking for. My daughter really likes glo fish tetras, so I want to work 6 of them into this tank as well. Would like to know if this stocking list would work (in terms of getting along - note: I've created sections with rocks and drift wood to block sight lines): 1 Angel 1 Honey gourami 6 Glofish Tetras 1 Apisto Cockatoo Thanks, Mark PS: Here is a pic of my aquascaped tank with no fish yet.
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