Hi All
I'm new to this list and somewhat new to fishkeeping in general. I realize
I'm going to get alot of negitive responses to my fishkeeping practice but, I
guess I need some advice to get things working in the right order. I
originally started with the idea that I was going to have a dwarf cichlid
aquarium only but, have strayed from the premis. I have a 55gal tank which I
started with some danios for cycling purposes. Of coarse I couldn't wait. so
two weeks into the cycle I used turbo start (fritz-zyme) in my quest for fish
I started looking around mostly at fish only stores some with old established
fishkeeper type people. I've found that these people are like doctors they
know alot but have different opions. Well anyhow my tank is somewhat well
planted has small flower pots as caves and natural type gravel which I used
laterlite afterwards to use as fertilizer-what a mess-. Anyhow the few
apistoes I could find were going for around 50.00 a pair. My water wasn't
perfect yet so I didn't want to take a chance on them yet. I ended up getting
some angel fish which I have 5 med to lg. I also ended up with 2 gold severum
and 2 green severum I also have a couple clown loaches and still have 8 of
the danios which were there from the beginings. Last week I saw a couple pair
of what I thought were aggazii(sp?) for 20.00 a pair. I was told they are
double red cauctoids(sp?) Well needless to say they are doing well or at
least they appear to be. The male is very colorful and acts like the king of
the tank even with the sm 2-3" sevrums. The female has actually changed color
from a gold color to a color which ressembles the males. (bluesish body with
orange red tail). I purchased a new lighting system the other day JBJ 220
which has half blue tubes and half white. I am now experiencing a green
tinted water which I suppose is algae. My ammonia is up between 2. and 3. my
nitrites are also at peak and my nitrates are the highest ever the top of the
scale on my dry tab test kit. I know I have a mess but, after everyone gets
done telling me how stupid I am could I possible get some advice to change
this situation. Oh yeah yesterday I had a feeling that there might be a O2
problem so I bought a kit which confirmed my feeling. I've added a powerhead
and an airstone to hopefully better this problem. I've also added nitra-zorb
to take care of nitrites, ammonia, and nitrates and I've added phos-zorb to
the other chamber to hopefully take care of the algae bloom. I am using an
Emporer filter which is rated at 400gph.Thanks in advance for any infor or
advice and don't mind be told I did a stupid thing. I'll try to do things
differently next time.
Thanks JerryB