On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 17:35:19 GMT, "T" <tor_ent@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>"Elaine T" <eetmail-aquaria@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>news:aONTd.9406$Pz7.2117@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Timothy E. Raborn wrote:
>>> "Dr Engelbert Buxbaum" <engelbert_buxbaum@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
message
>>> news:cvhrlm$min$04$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>
>>>>Timothy E. Raborn wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I'm having problems adding new fish to my 30 gallon freshwater tank.
(I
>>>>>typically keep guppies and neon tetras in my tank with a pleco or
two).
>>>>
>>>>Guppies need hard, tetras soft water, so this combination is not very
>>>>good. Depending on your water params, you should decide on a matching
>>>>set of fishes.
>>>
>>> You're the first person I've ever heard say that guppies and neons
were
>>> not compatible.
>>>
>> In an ideal world, guppies like hard water with some salt and neons
like
>> soft water, as Dr. B mentions above. Your water sounds better for
guppies
>> than neons, but I wouldn't worry too much.
>>
>> I started thinking - many guppies and neons are sickly when they come
to
>> the stores. Both of these species are mass bred for the hobby, ****pped
>> too small, and often have poor genetics. This may be why you're having
>> tank wipeouts. For neons, watch the tanks of neons in LFS and buy
from
>> tanks with big neons that have been in the store for a couple of weeks.
>> Avoid the tiny ones as they tend to be sickly. As for guppies, see if
you
>> can find a source for locally bred fish. My LFS in Baltimore used to
get
>> tanks of huge, healthy locally bred guppies from a hobby breeder. Your
>> local aquarium society may also have someone who needs to find homes
for
>> healthier guppies.
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> Oh brother... Plants would be an entire other topic for me to post
on.
>>> I have had terrible luck with plants. They look good for about two
>>> months, then slowly wither away. The only plant that would grow was
>>> Cobomba(sp?). But I swear it must have grown about an inch a day and
the
>>> more it grew the more "stretched out" the limbs got and it wasn't very
>>> pretty. For the first two years of tank owner****p, I spent a small
>>> fortune buying new plants every couple of months and did quite a bit
of
>>> research on how to be successful with it. I tried all kinds of
>>> techniques to be successful and nothing worked. I had even added two
>>> Nutrafin CO2 tanks to the tank and that helped a little, but not
enough.
>>> In the end, I decided that I may not have enough light. The hood that
>>> came with the tank will only take up to a 22W, but I can only find 15W
>>> lights (fluorescent) to fit it. A calculation I found somewhere on
the
>>> internet indicated that I need about a 60W (was based on the depth of
>>> the aquarium). It wasn't feasible for me to change out the hood, so
that
>>> was the point I gave up and stocked up on the fake ones. They look
ok,
>>> but regardless of what the real plants do for the fish -- I wanted
them
>>> for aesthetic reasons. They look so much nicer.
>>>
>>
>> You're right - 15 watts is nowhere near enough for live plants in a 30
>> gallon tank. The legginess of the Cambomba is your first clue. And
CO2
>> doesn't help under low light conditions. Your research is right that
60
>> watts of full spectrum fluorescent light would give good growing
>> conditions for most plants. However if you can get even 30 watts you
>> could grow low light plants like Anubias, Cryptocornes, java moss, and
>> java fern.
>>
>> --
>> __ Elaine T
My plants were not doing well in my 26g for a long time. So with some
advice from the ngs and some browsing I:
- took my plants out of the black pot and straight into the gravel
- started to add liquid CO2 (couldn't keep up with the DIY 2L)
- added iron (what a difference)
- more water changes
- and the biggest thing was an 18" canopy with a 56w output.
Now my scissors are getting a good workout and the algae problem is
slowly being one.
Best of luck,
Larry
|
