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Anonymous
Hey /an/, I need some help with my aquarium.

First off half of my fish aren't eating anymore. My Pleco and my senegal bichir gobble up EVERYTHING, but my new delhezi bichir, baby tiger shovelnose and my rocket gar just don't seem interested.

I'm trying to encourage them with food and at the same time trying my best to not overfeed. I'll usually take out something if it's been ignored but I don't want them to die or anything... I've been using all sorts of things - frozen blood worms, dry worms, feeder guppies, arowana sticks (my gar used to love them), algae wafers, shrimp pellets, cichlid pellets, cocktail shrimp, brine shrimp, etc. but really the only one who seems to notice is my senegal bichir.

I figured maybe somethings up with the water and apparently my nitrites are high. What can I do to lower it besides water changes?

My tank's setup is 30 gallons with a 40 gallon whisper filter. I've been doing about 10% water changes a week and the 5 fish I have in it aren't much bigger than 5". They aren't stressed at all in fact I've got plenty of cover in the tank and they all seem pretty happy but they just don't seem to wanna eat. Here's some pictures.
>> Anonymous
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My Rocket Gar 5", had it for about half a year now.
>> Anonymous
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My Alligator Pleco, about 5.5" he's pretty active but doesn't get aggressive with the other fish. The Bichirs seem to like him.
>> Anonymous
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Here's the Tiger Shovelnose, he's only about 2". Yeah I know he gets big along with the others. I have a big 100 gallon+ tank I'm setting up for them in the future so no worries.
>> Anonymous
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This is the Delhezi Bichir I have, she's pretty active and gets along with the Senegal from time to time. She's at almost 5". (Sorry for the shitty picture, she was camerashy.)
>> Anonymous
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Here's my Senegal Bichir. He's grown a lot since I got him, about 2 inches in about a month and he's getting close to 6". He's an eating machine.

Anyways, that's about it, anybody know how to reduce nitrites? Or is my tank too filled up? Also, how could I get them to eat again?
>> Anonymous
The general rule is 1inch of fish per gallon of water in your tank. And if you have that limit maxed, you should be doing 25% water changes weekly, and clean your filter too

Firstly, if you are using those shitty overpriced carbon/ammonia packs, stop using them. Fill your filter with those little ceramic rings, and sponges. The rings you can usually buy in any decent petstore, and allow space in the filter for TONS of good bacteria to grow that will do the job that those packs do and more, for less space. The sponges grab them at your ocal hardware store. I bought a pack of large sponges for cleaning floor tiles, and cut them to fit perfectly into mine. Try to find something to coarse, and not too fine hole wise.

Too large and your water will have little chunkies oif stuff floating around. Too small and it will clog up your filter really fast.

If youve already done this to your tank, YAY! Itll save you TONS of money in the long run, as those fucking packs are like $10-$15 a box and you gotta buy one for ammonia and one for the carbon shit and they only last you a month.
>> Anonymous
>>196583

Also always remember when cleanign your filter to only rinse the sponges/filster in some tank water. Cleaning them under tap water kills all your good bacteria that eat all the ammonia and shit, since tap water is full of chlorine and other chemicals.

If you can buy some Prime tapwater conditioner made by SEACHEM. Shits $20 for a large bottle, and half a capful(5ml) will do 50gallons of water, and it works fucking great. Best stuff you can find out there right now. Removes chlorine, heavy metals, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. But dont be a fucking moron and dump it into your tank thinking you wont have to water changes since it eats up the nitrites and stuff. It doesnt remove it, so juch as it just detoxifies it, but it can only do so much, so youll have to still do water changes.
>> Anonymous
>>196584

If youve got all that done, or have already got a setup pretty close to it, consider adding a little salt to your tank water. DONT USE TABLE SALT. Table salt is iodized, and will cause your ammonia levels to spike like a mother fucker and kill all your fish. You can usually buy over priced "aquarium salt" at pet stores, or if you know what your looking for you can find plain salt that isnt iodized or anything. Be very careful on what you decide to use, and research how much to add to your tank size, and what for.

Small levels of salt in the tank can help overall fish health, and it prevents alot of infectios and sickness, and helps heal wounds. Bad bacteria dont like salty water. But be warned. If you constantly keep super high salt levels in your tank, you can breed "SUPER BACTERIA", that are immune to salt treatment, and can become hard as fuck to kill without using harsh medicines that can hurt you fish and good bacteria.
>> Anonymous
>>196574
lulz cathy griffin on the tv reflection
>> Anonymous
>>196588
Lol yeah she's awesome.

>>196583
I should really try using what you said, I've basically been using the shitty basic Whisper filter with the carbon packs and the like.

Ceramic rings? I'll have to look for those because I've never heard of them really. I'll check for the sponges too.

>>196584
Ugh, I used to clean them under tap water... Luckily this is a new tank, I just finished cycling it about 2 weeks ago so I'm just in time to fix up the inside of my filter!

>>196586
Yeah I've been using some aquarium salt for a while now, the ones that come in the little blue cartons.

Anyway thanks for the advice I'll get on it this week.
>> Anonymous
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this is the only answer
>> Anonymous
>>196600
I'm gonna use that as the background in the tank.
>> Anonymous
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>>196591

Get an Aquaclear filter. Shits got an ASSLOAD of room in the filter for w/e media you feel like using. If you have mature media/other filter running in the tank already, take out the useless carbon that comes with the Aquaclear and replace it with some bioballs or whichever other media you feel like. I use the ammonia remover it comes with, which sits underneath bioballs (those blue balls) which sits ontop of the sponge. SO much room. IMO, best HOB filters out there and coupled with another filter they work wonders. For your tank I'd get at least one designed for 60 gallons+.
>> Anonymous
>>196607
Ooo awesome, the filter I'm using IS a little old, I'll look for that too.
>> Anonymous
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Oh and for the hell of it, here's a better pic of my Delhezi.
>> Anonymous
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I recommend a good big pot filter like eheim professional or JBL or similar.
Easy to clean, lots of space and all the sponge you need is included.
Remember that a new filter will need at least two weeks before it runs properly.
>> Anonymous
I wouldnt recomend HOB filter for any tank bigger then 20g. Cannister filters (Fluval, Rena, Eheim are well known brands) are quieter, have more space, have better control over filtration speed and can be bought reasonably cheap.
What was the last fish you added? How long was that? It is reasonoble for fish to be unsetled after moving.
The fish that does not eat might be bullied. Do all the fish have a safe place to hide? Idealy there shoould be more hiding places then fishes, so every one of them could have a choice.
You said you just finished cycling the tank and you already have pleco, 2 bichirs and some other fish? Bold move. Have you been monitoring your ammonia nitrites and nitrates?
Also to reduce unwanted chemicals you might want to consider adding some live plants. They would eat escess of ammonia and other crap.
Have you tried not feeding your fish for day or too? It is wise to give one "fasting" day a week.
>> Anonymous
>>196649
Alright cool I'll keep an eye out for it.

>>196651
Gee I didn't think about the settling part. The last Fish I got was the Delhezi, got it on Friday.

As for the new tank part. The other fish were originally in a 20 gallon tank. Exact same dimensions except for height, and I had them in that tank running for several months.

I cycled this new tank for about a month and waited for algae to develop and all that stuff before I put anything in. I put the Gar in first to test things out, waited almost a week and then I put in the rest. For the Pleco's sake I would put at least 2 algae discs a day to get him going, believe me I wasn't trying to be bold. I even kept the drift wood he used from the previous tank but I believe he's doing fine and I really don't think I need to overdo it anymore.

As for the hiding places, theres plenty. That big rezin log in the tank is completely hollow, the Senegal likes to hide in it and I'm sure the Delhezi will too eventually. Underneath the log and behind the drift wood are a few hiding spots too as well as around the fake plants and what not and they seem fine with it.

Back to the settling part, the Delhezi did get along with the Senegal but I have seen the Senegal bite the Delhezi once, apart from that they won't do much besides be a little curious and rub up along side each other. Then again I haven't seen the Gar eat and nobody bothers him, the most that happens is that the Bichirs will happen to swim near him while gulping air from the surface. As for the Catfish, none of them even notices him because he's usually hiding between the leaves in the plants or trying to be camouflaged at the top of the log like in the pic.

I think I'm going to try the fasting thing though, I was always under the impression that they had to be feed every single day but that itself might be the problem seeing as I have 5 different fish to feed in the same tank.
>> Anonymous
Oh and I forgot, I did have live plants previously in the 20 gallon tank but they died because of the aquarium salt =\ so I'm a bit intimidated on buying new plants.
>> Anonymous
>>196669

Buy some java fern and root it to your bogwood, they're incredibly hardy and will be able to tackle the small amounts of salinity.
>> Anonymous
>>196666
>I was always under the impression that they had to be feed every single day
Healthy fish can live easily without food for about a weeks, more in planted tank as they can eat plants. On the other hands thousands aquarium fish die each day due to overfeeding. 1 day fasting is almost mandatory.

>plants... died because of the aquarium salt
Wait wat?
1. If you have a brakish tank then the best plant i Java fern - it can survive some salinity. However...
2. Why the fuck do you add solt in the first place? Salt is a poison for freshwater fish. You add salt only if fish cant live without it (marine or brakish fish), or as a temporary solution to treat some specific diseases and conditions. Its like drinking aspirin and tylenole each day - sure, there are a lot of people who recomend it, but dont forget that in 80% of population the former cause intestinal bleeding, and the later cause nephritis and interstitial hepatitis.
tl;dr salt does not belong in freshwater tank.
>> Anonymous
>>196797
>>tl;dr salt does not belong in freshwater tank.

lolwut
>> Anonymous
>>196797
why do people always argue like that? wrapping their points into a numbered list, it looks stupid as hell. stop it.

A small amount of salt in a fresh water tank(obviously not as much as in a brackish or marine tank) is good, but not absolutely necessary. It helps improve the fish's gill function, destroy excess algae and unwanted bactera, as well as helping your fish recover from disease.
>> Anonymous
Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.
>> Anonymous
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>>196797
This is what I use, I don't add the stuff daily, that'd just be retarded, I'll only add the recommended dosage after a water change or gravel cleaning.

This type of salt however IS made of freshwater tanks and does help out the fish as>>196824noted.

In fact, it helped me out before. Back on the day I first got my Senegal Bichir, he was having problems with his swim blatter and looked pretty lifeless, (I made a thread asking for advice about it but I doubt anyone remembers.). Anyway, quarantining him with some Pimaflex and the aquarium salt, the Bichir was able to recover and is now as happy and active as ever.
>> Anonymous
I remember, and am glad he's ok now