Anyone know if you will be able to keep the parameters in check long enough for a cycle to complete on a tank that small? It's a bit of an emergency. My fiance's mom has fry issues haha.
Basically what happened was that she now has a tiny albino african cichlid of some type (I'm thinking red top zebra hybrid maybe). He was supposed to be food for her anemone, apparently one got stuck in the sump and died and then this one survived. Shows you how tough these guys are even as fry haha! He has been living in a 1 gallon coffee carafe with a pothos plant and water chances from evaporation and from kitty drinking all the water. He's been in there for 2 weeks, there is some sort of cycle because the pothos has been putting out new leaves and normally it doesn't. The bottom has a nice biofilm forming so I will scrape some of that into the new tank. Gave him a 75% water change and he was fine. Kitty has a buddy and she just stares at him and can't catch him, so now his mom wants to keep the fish for at least a little bit until I can get him into a bigger tank. I want to get him out of there so I will be doing a fish in cycle on the bigger one. She just cycled the saltwater tank (35g uniquarium cube) successfully with one damsel fish in it and that special cycle starting sand and he seems healthy so I'm sure she would be able to do it with my instructions.
I won't be able to get the little guy into a breeder box on my 125 or put him in with the guys in the 29 until I move in in about a month or 2 or so. He's barely 1" now. The tank is a hex tank, dimensions are 4.25" on the 6 sides and it's about 9.5" deep. Used to be a betta or goldfish tank (oh lawd) when the fiance was little I think. It's about 15 years old and a bit hazy but still looked good enough when filled. She also had a 5 gallon in storage but wouldn't let me use it because it's 25 years old and "too big for the counter". I'll still try to convince her on that, the seals looked ok and I could practice resealing with it too since I have silicone. I also have a 3.5g bowfront I have no idea what to do with, I'll bring it over and see what she thinks. I'm putting my foot down on this being temporary until he maybe hits 2". I don't want him to get stunted. He is pretty friendly so once he gets big he should do just fine in my community tank or I can trade him for some saltwater things for her.
For sure I will be adding the pothos from the little dude's home (plus more) now and then adding some low light plants from the 20 I'm tearing down, most likely hornwort, crypts, and vals. I ordered her a small mingdak nano tank light. The room it's in has skylights so I told her she will want to grow lots of algae like she's trying to do in her salt tank now so she didn't seem too upset that the walls would be coated in it luckily. Gunna give her leaf zone I need to use up to get some nutrients in there. I'll give her a few ramshorns too.
She's also convinced she needs glofish (LMAO) but I've tried to convince her against it unless she gets the skirt tetras in a school in a 5-10 gallon (I do have a cycled 10 gallon that currently has a betta to give her once we move. I'll get a blacklight if she wants it.) I have 3 old neon tetras that my aunt gave me in the 20 also, would they do ok as the only fish once the tank has some type of cycle going? I also have a .5" convict or smaller ones I can put in there too as a buddy for the african fry haha.
The glass coffee carafe seems to sit right at 75 degrees. Seems kinda low but it is on the granite countertop. I put the small acrylic tank on the wood bar and it seems to hold at about 77. It's been hot out. I still need to find a mini heater that will look ok in the tank. The sponge filter I got takes up almost the whole bottom haha, luckily she was ok with it since I added crushed coral and some shells to block part of it. I told her if it gets too ugly I have a whisper 3i in storage and she can stuff that sponge in her saltwater's sump. I will be adding some plants and bacteria tonight when we stay over, gunna bring a dirty sponge from my 29 to squeeze in there too.
Thoughts? I'll get pics later.
Basically what happened was that she now has a tiny albino african cichlid of some type (I'm thinking red top zebra hybrid maybe). He was supposed to be food for her anemone, apparently one got stuck in the sump and died and then this one survived. Shows you how tough these guys are even as fry haha! He has been living in a 1 gallon coffee carafe with a pothos plant and water chances from evaporation and from kitty drinking all the water. He's been in there for 2 weeks, there is some sort of cycle because the pothos has been putting out new leaves and normally it doesn't. The bottom has a nice biofilm forming so I will scrape some of that into the new tank. Gave him a 75% water change and he was fine. Kitty has a buddy and she just stares at him and can't catch him, so now his mom wants to keep the fish for at least a little bit until I can get him into a bigger tank. I want to get him out of there so I will be doing a fish in cycle on the bigger one. She just cycled the saltwater tank (35g uniquarium cube) successfully with one damsel fish in it and that special cycle starting sand and he seems healthy so I'm sure she would be able to do it with my instructions.
I won't be able to get the little guy into a breeder box on my 125 or put him in with the guys in the 29 until I move in in about a month or 2 or so. He's barely 1" now. The tank is a hex tank, dimensions are 4.25" on the 6 sides and it's about 9.5" deep. Used to be a betta or goldfish tank (oh lawd) when the fiance was little I think. It's about 15 years old and a bit hazy but still looked good enough when filled. She also had a 5 gallon in storage but wouldn't let me use it because it's 25 years old and "too big for the counter". I'll still try to convince her on that, the seals looked ok and I could practice resealing with it too since I have silicone. I also have a 3.5g bowfront I have no idea what to do with, I'll bring it over and see what she thinks. I'm putting my foot down on this being temporary until he maybe hits 2". I don't want him to get stunted. He is pretty friendly so once he gets big he should do just fine in my community tank or I can trade him for some saltwater things for her.
For sure I will be adding the pothos from the little dude's home (plus more) now and then adding some low light plants from the 20 I'm tearing down, most likely hornwort, crypts, and vals. I ordered her a small mingdak nano tank light. The room it's in has skylights so I told her she will want to grow lots of algae like she's trying to do in her salt tank now so she didn't seem too upset that the walls would be coated in it luckily. Gunna give her leaf zone I need to use up to get some nutrients in there. I'll give her a few ramshorns too.
She's also convinced she needs glofish (LMAO) but I've tried to convince her against it unless she gets the skirt tetras in a school in a 5-10 gallon (I do have a cycled 10 gallon that currently has a betta to give her once we move. I'll get a blacklight if she wants it.) I have 3 old neon tetras that my aunt gave me in the 20 also, would they do ok as the only fish once the tank has some type of cycle going? I also have a .5" convict or smaller ones I can put in there too as a buddy for the african fry haha.
The glass coffee carafe seems to sit right at 75 degrees. Seems kinda low but it is on the granite countertop. I put the small acrylic tank on the wood bar and it seems to hold at about 77. It's been hot out. I still need to find a mini heater that will look ok in the tank. The sponge filter I got takes up almost the whole bottom haha, luckily she was ok with it since I added crushed coral and some shells to block part of it. I told her if it gets too ugly I have a whisper 3i in storage and she can stuff that sponge in her saltwater's sump. I will be adding some plants and bacteria tonight when we stay over, gunna bring a dirty sponge from my 29 to squeeze in there too.
Thoughts? I'll get pics later.
