Hey how does everyone keep there feeders, Tank size, temp, etc. and does any one else have a hard time keeping them alive for the first couple of days i seem to lose at least half of what i buy i only put about 20 or 30 in a 10 g tank, i have a 30-60 whisper on it, it was just laying around so i decided i would use it lol, is this too much?? i seem to come home every day and find a few fish stuck to the intake tube to the filter, the first night i had a proby 10 fish stuck to it . any advice ?? Thanks in advance
Keeping feeder fish
- Thread starter kildragon6
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do you test your water parameters(please tell me you atleast do this on your main tank)?kildragon6;3300602; said:Hey how does everyone keep there feeders, Tank size, temp, etc. and does any one else have a hard time keeping them alive for the first couple of days i seem to lose at least half of what i buy i only put about 20 or 30 in a 10 g tank, i have a 30-60 whisper on it, it was just laying around so i decided i would use it lol, is this too much?? i seem to come home every day and find a few fish stuck to the intake tube to the filter, the first night i had a proby 10 fish stuck to it . any advice ?? Thanks in advance
you probably have huge ammonia and nitrite spikes from the sudden increase in bioload when you buy a new batch.
just dumping 20-30 fish in a tank will cause a huge ammonia spike. And that is what is killing your feeders.
The best way to do it is to have a running amount in the tank at all times. And only after you have successfully cycled the tank to handle a lrage bio load.
I have a 55g with a 10g sump. No heat and about 15 turn overs per hour. I keep a running amount of between 300-400 feeders in the tank at all times.
I feed around 100 a week and i buy 100-125 a week. I get about 5-8 dead fish a month on average.
Get ready for everyone to tell you a bunch of nonsense about using feeders.
The best way to do it is to have a running amount in the tank at all times. And only after you have successfully cycled the tank to handle a lrage bio load.
I have a 55g with a 10g sump. No heat and about 15 turn overs per hour. I keep a running amount of between 300-400 feeders in the tank at all times.
I feed around 100 a week and i buy 100-125 a week. I get about 5-8 dead fish a month on average.
Get ready for everyone to tell you a bunch of nonsense about using feeders.
you gotta let the tank grow some bacteria in there first. which means put only a few fish in and give it a few weeks to grow "crap eating bacteria" in simple terms.
in even more simple terms, crap releases toxic called ammonia. so crap= ammonia. ammonia in high levels kills all fish. BB = ammonia eating bacteria. nitrates, nitrites etc. are nutrients blah blah... so anyway. your tank had no life in it before. then you added water.
no life + water = h2o. tank = h2o and nothing else...
then you added 30 fish.
tank = h2o and 30 fish...
your 30 fish all take a crap.
tank = h2o + 30 fish + crap = Ammonia.
you had no BB in any of those equations to take on all that sudden ammonia and your fish ODed. the end.
in even more simple terms, crap releases toxic called ammonia. so crap= ammonia. ammonia in high levels kills all fish. BB = ammonia eating bacteria. nitrates, nitrites etc. are nutrients blah blah... so anyway. your tank had no life in it before. then you added water.
no life + water = h2o. tank = h2o and nothing else...
then you added 30 fish.
tank = h2o and 30 fish...
your 30 fish all take a crap.
tank = h2o + 30 fish + crap = Ammonia.
you had no BB in any of those equations to take on all that sudden ammonia and your fish ODed. the end.
i have had this problem for awhile now, i know that the bb has grown enough, it may be that i am spiking the tank, dunno, and yes i test my main two tank but i have never had the feeder tanks tested only because i do not own a kit( Which i need), i first set it up about 3 weeks ago put 10 feeders in it and left them but only 5 surived the weekend, i then decied to get 10 more, again half died off, i have never even fed any of the feeders to my fish yet!! and now im lost
You will never get any healthy feeders for your fish with what you are doing.
You are bringing home a bag full of feeder fish and dumping them into a tank full of toxic poison. Ammonia is highly toxic to fish as well as nitrite but you are not anywhere close to getting nitrite yet.
You need to read up on ways to cycle a aquarium. There are many ways to do it. With fish and fishless cycles. There are also things you can buy that will cycle your tank in a few days.
Since you did not do any research and get a established feeder tank started way before you bought a predator. Now you are stuck with a fish that needs live foods and you have no way to provide healthy ones.
I would suggest you do a big water change to the feeder tank around 80%. and then go to your lfs and buy a bottle of SAFE START by aquasafe. And get 10 feeders and a ammonia and nitrite test kit.
Come home and put the feeders in the tank. Wait about 6hrs and dump the whole bottle of safe start in the tank. And in 12hr check the ammonia and nitrite. Wait atleast 24hrs before doing any water changes after the safe start is in. After 24 hours start checking the param's daily for a couple of weeks. And at any time you get a reading of .5ppm of ammonia or nitrite, you need to do a 50% water change.
After you have seen the readings are zero ppm for a week. Then slowly build your supply of feeders up. Adding 5-10 feeders per week. And do a water test 24hrs after the addittion. If you see any ammonia or nitrite greater than .5ppm then do a water change.
Once you get your stock built up then you can start to feed from the feeder tank. Just remember to resupply the tank every week. And allways keep twice to 3 times as many feeders in there then you will use in a week. So that there is a large bio load on the tank at all times.
You are bringing home a bag full of feeder fish and dumping them into a tank full of toxic poison. Ammonia is highly toxic to fish as well as nitrite but you are not anywhere close to getting nitrite yet.
You need to read up on ways to cycle a aquarium. There are many ways to do it. With fish and fishless cycles. There are also things you can buy that will cycle your tank in a few days.
Since you did not do any research and get a established feeder tank started way before you bought a predator. Now you are stuck with a fish that needs live foods and you have no way to provide healthy ones.
I would suggest you do a big water change to the feeder tank around 80%. and then go to your lfs and buy a bottle of SAFE START by aquasafe. And get 10 feeders and a ammonia and nitrite test kit.
Come home and put the feeders in the tank. Wait about 6hrs and dump the whole bottle of safe start in the tank. And in 12hr check the ammonia and nitrite. Wait atleast 24hrs before doing any water changes after the safe start is in. After 24 hours start checking the param's daily for a couple of weeks. And at any time you get a reading of .5ppm of ammonia or nitrite, you need to do a 50% water change.
After you have seen the readings are zero ppm for a week. Then slowly build your supply of feeders up. Adding 5-10 feeders per week. And do a water test 24hrs after the addittion. If you see any ammonia or nitrite greater than .5ppm then do a water change.
Once you get your stock built up then you can start to feed from the feeder tank. Just remember to resupply the tank every week. And allways keep twice to 3 times as many feeders in there then you will use in a week. So that there is a large bio load on the tank at all times.
ok so, your right partly, i didn't cylce the tank proproly but i figured the feeders would cycle it by themslefts in 3 weeks?? also ive done waterchanges whenever i lose a fish,so recently its been almost daily 30 to 40% and all my fish in my main tank eat other things than live food, but id like to try live food for my fish , saftly tho so i should try safe start??
also, is a 30 60 gal filter too much for a 10 gal tank?? and also how many feeders is saft to stock in a 10gl tank thanks
3 weeks will not cycle a tank exspecially since the bio load is over welming.
Safe start will give you a much needed boost in bacteria.
If these are treats thats even better for you. Cause you can keep a running amount of feeders in the tank more easily. Because they are only fed every so often.
Safe start will give you a much needed boost in bacteria.
If these are treats thats even better for you. Cause you can keep a running amount of feeders in the tank more easily. Because they are only fed every so often.
