My Tank 150ltr

[Lambi]

Hi everyone,
My girlfriend bought herself a digital camera so of course iv borrowed it They arent the best snaps ever but not too bad. Iv had my tank now for i guess about 8 months. Finally i think iv mastered the basics and have a nice little community set up. Health seems to be good and all my fish appear really happy.
My only issue with the tank currently is that the pipes for the manifold system have pushed above the sand, i will see to this next weekend.
Went to my LFS today for some new food to try, i am currently only home at weekends as im working in Glasgow, Scotland. A good 7 hour drive from my house, ha. So anyway i wanted a food that would work well in my eheim automatyic feeder, i settled on Nutrafin Max sinking food tablets. I dropped a couple in earlier and they all went mad for it, making very audible clicking noises. Also whilst in the lfs i notice two zebra loaches, i instantly adored them and the assistant offered them both to me for £8 so in snapped them up. They have come to live with my 8 clowns, 8 zebra danios, 4 lemon tetras and 5 golden barbs. The tank is very harmonius currently and i dont enjoy much more than watching it for what can sometimes be hours on end!
Iv tried really hard to keep the standards up because i love to see my fish thrive! Hope you like photos

[starsplitter7]

That's a lovely tank.

The B. striatas look a little thin, but that's probably from living at the store. I am sure under your care they will fatten up and look lovely. If they don't fatten up under your care, you might need to treat them for internal parasites. I would keep an eye on them for a month or two. Nice they went home with someone who keeps loaches.

[Lambi]

Thankyou starsplitter like I said I'm no expert but I'm certainly trying my best for the fish. Everything that I have implemented I have learned from these forums and the main site. It's really been a big help.

I see what you are saying about the b.striatas, I will def keep a close eye on them. They are skinny indeed compared to some photos that I have looked up, but they seem to be enjoying their food already on day 2. Nibbling at the sinking tablets, which I must say I'm very pleased with. The clowns love them and they don't seem to pollute the water at all. The striatas have also just lapped up a frozen mix that I use which includes daphnia, bloodworms and mysis. Hopefully they will be up to strength in no time at all.

Forgot to mention that I also added two bags of fluvial clearmax to my filter yesterday, I may be imagining it but I swear the water is looking clearer than ever. I tested my water using the nutrafin kit I purchased a few weeks ago, showing no nitrite,nitrate or ammonia. Although wondering what kits are most popular, as I see people giving exact values on this forum which seems impossible to do with this kit?! I just mix the chemicals in a test tube, and compare the colour with the information on the back of the instructions? I'm not sure how accurate this is..

[Diana]

Test kits are not always very accurate. There are ways of calibrating them. I have seen a post from someone who calibrates their test kits then tested the same sample with 2 styles of testing equipment, and one method reported values that were twice what the other was telling him. For example, one test result was NO3 10 ppm (same as mg/l) and the other said 20 ppm.

Always quarantine new fish.

I would begin treating right away for internal parasites. The Zebras might be skinny from being offered the wrong sorts of food at the store.
But, so many Loaches are wild caught, and bring with them a load of parasites. Then the stress of the initial capture and transport through selling will have allowed the parasites to multiply.

[Lambi]

Always quarantine new fish.

I would begin treating right away for internal parasites. The Zebras might be skinny from being offered the wrong sorts of food at the store.
But, so many Loaches are wild caught, and bring with them a load of parasites. Then the stress of the initial capture and transport through selling will have allowed the parasites to multiply.

Thankyou Diane for the advice, I will certainly commence treatment if you think it best. I must admit I didn't know a lot about b.striata when I saw them and I guess just assumed they were 'normal '. Hopefully they will pull through and start getting up to size. They are active and eating so I guess thats good.

On the quarantine tank issue, I have set one up. I actually done it the night before the purchase, but I am waiting for a fluval1 filter to arrive from ebay. I know I should of waited until this was up and running, but I guess like an amateur I just felt sorry for the two little zebras left on their own...my mistake. Il do my best to get them healthy and fattened up.

[NancyD]

What size are your striata, they look small? I eventually bought some sidthimunki that had the big head/skinny body & all were fine after deworming & good feeding. Yours may be fine after similar treatment...a quarantine tank is always good.

[Lambi]

What size are your striata, they look small? I eventually bought some sidthimunki that had the big head/skinny body & all were fine after deworming & good feeding. Yours may be fine after similar treatment...a quarantine tank is always good.

Hmm I'd say that they are probably about two inches long, maybe two and a half. I am currently in Scotland working but I have asked my girlfriend to start treating them with internal bacteria just to be safe like Diana said.
My new filter for the QT should arrive Friday when I get home, then I can start getting the tank cycled. I'm thinking of just scraping some muck off of my sponges from my other filter to get the process going.. Will this be enough to cycle the tank? Obviously I know itl take a few weeks but I certainly don't plan on getting any new fish now until I upgrade my main tank for s larger one. Just wanna get it set up incase I get any sick fish