Archive for the ‘Freshwater Tropical Fish’ Category

We just posted two video tips on the correct way to feed tropical fish. This has been posted on the Freshwater Tropical Fish Tanks website. The site hosts both the video tip as well as the transcript of the tip as well.

Feeding Fish – Feeding Tip 1

How do I Feed Fish – Feeding Tip 2

I apologize for not keeping this blog as current as it really should be. It is not because I have abandoned the beginning aquarist, on the contrary, I have been busy building the content for my flagship website, http://www-freshwater-tropical-fish-tanks.com. I realize that most people believe that the WordPress blog is the way to go, and it is, if all that is being developed is a blog on a lot of topics that can stand on their own.

But for the past few months I have been developing a fully integrated massive website to deliver the aquatic information you need, all in one place, It is easily navigable by topic, nd you have the ability and hopefully yhe energy to giveme feedback in quite a nuberof places. We sure would like your input as to what is good and what needs to be fixed.

Take a look at it, I have just added three new pages of the response I gave to previously asked questions from people who had unique problems. I will continue to poll the questons asked from this blog, and promise to answer them when they arrive. But, I wanted everyone to know I also have a much better system over at the main website. It asks a bit more information on the tank you are worried about, and as such gives me a much better chance of giving the best possible answer the first time.

In addition, the first 11 video tips were posted a while ago. These FAQ syle videos that were developed on the various important aspects of water in the new aquarium and the changes that can occur over time as the aquarium matures. They are held on the Blueram86 Youtube channel as well as the part of the set-up series of videos found on the BlueRam Groups video channel:

http://www.tropicalfishaquariumvideos.com,

Thiosis a dedicated video site for all aquarists and the place to view a categorized collection of aquarium related videos from all public sources in a single place. You don’t have to look all over the web or even search YouTube for your preffered topic in video, they are concentrated on the pages of the Tropical Fish Aquarium Videos site.

But we are far from through. True, there are eleven water tips there, now, but the series has been outlined to offer more than 80 short videos when the we are finally finished with the set as a complete project. We encourage you to join our Facebook Page or subscribe to the YouTube channel so you are the first to know when the next set of videos arrives. They are written and will be posted in the next coming days and weeks.

I have been building a few sites recently, all have to do with my dearest passion, keeping fish alive. This blog is designed to provide a place to discuss the various changes I am making to those sites, as well as promote information to the new aquarist who needs help getting their new tank set up correctly and running without problems.

When I first decided to tackle this problem , a couple of years ago, I took a vacation and made a series of videos to show how I set up my small community tank. Unfortunately, until I found the system that is providing all the tools I need to get my main site up and running, SBI, I was unable to efficiently get those videos up and available for the people who need them.

Well, I am happy to say that I have been able to format them into flash (flv) and mount them on my video site:

TropicalFishAquariumVideos

The series includes 30 videos on the topics important to the new fish keeper interested in installing an aquarium system for the first time.  You can see these videos under the Aquarium Set Up category and in the group Beginner’s Tips.  Just the videos are there. But, if you want some written explanation of the steps that are needed, you can follow the written and embedded videos on my flagship site:

Freshwater Tropical Fish Tanks

The process is broken into a series of steps and I have entered the appropriate videos where they are required in the actual step where it is most relevant.  For the serious hobbyist, this would be the best way to understand what is happening and what to expect as the tank matures.  This is by far the most complete site and offers a small listing of freshwater tropical fish species with photo and description.  The fish list wil be growing over time, and as the species are added, I will report them here.

For those of you who want to discuss your experiences with the fish you are keeping and breeding, there is a contact form attached to every fish species.  We welcome you comments and stories about the fish you have kept.  You can add up to four of your own pictures to the area, so everyone can benefit from our shared knowledge.

Besides these two sites, there is a third site that is designed to offer social support for aquarists of all levels.  <a href=”http://www.tropicalfishaquarist.net”>TropicaFishAquarist.ne</a>t offers the ability to form networks and communities of like minded enthusiasts.

Between the three approaches to your fish tending needs, we hope that we can help everyone understand their fish and their unique needs. If we do our job right, far fewer fish will die and the strength of the hobby will build to levels of success never before seen.

I know, it has been a while since I posted anything to this blog.  It is not like I have been ignoring the aquarist’s interests, far from it.  I found a great  website development system that has had me working every day in generating brand new fresh content. I never have used other people’s words to start with, but so far I have over 100 pages of newly written content at the site:

http://www.freshwater-tropical-fish-tanks.com

It is directed to the beginning aquarist and has loads of information on the proper set-up and installation of the equipment.  These are headings such as Set up, Equipment, Care, Water, Tropical Fish, Problems, Glossary and Resources.   It is a big site, and wil get much bigger as time goes by.  I love working on it, it is clean and easy to manage.  The block by block construction is pure dynamite.   I can’t say enough about the system. Click the link and have a look for yourself.  Only wish that I had found this site with all its web building tools when I decided to offer my knowledge online.  I would never have wasted the two years and many thousands of dollars  looking for the right methodology to get my message across.

The other project I have been working on is:

http://www.tropicalfishaquariumvideos.com

We all know that a picture is worth a 1000 words, so what is a video worth. I took some time and went through the videos on the web and organized the best into a coherent structure. Whether you want to look at some of the information on new styles of filtration, or just wonder what the actual habitat may be for some native South American Tetras, the whole range of aquarium interests is offered for free on the site.  It may sound like Youtube, and in a way it is, except the content is devoted exclusively to aquarium keepers. You can even mount your own videos up there as well to give us all a good look at what you are doing.

If you want, visit my Facebook fanpage and give me a like. This post should be automatically posted there and its is a good way to be notified when I add new content. The next planned set is a large bunch of FAQ style answers on all types of beginner aquarium topics

I know, it has been quite a while since last I wrote.In the meantime, I have written a long series of Aquarium tips for beginning aquarists who need some basic information on their new tanks. I am also going to do each as a video and put it up on the video site for aquarium videos as well.

http://www.tropicalfishaquariumvideos.com

If you prefer to see these entries on your Facebook account, I have set the RSS feed to update my Page there for Tropical Fish Aquarist enthusiasts.

Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquariums for Novice Aquarists

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Freshwater-Tropical-Fish-Aquariums-for-Novice-Aquarists/162636910441898?v=app_112493455447504

Sure would like to have a lot more friends who enjoy the aquarium hobby. Take a look at the above Facebook page and the resources offered there. If you Like the pages, please give me your vote of confidence.

The Fluval-G 3 filter was installed on a Tropiquarium 88 that has been installed and operating for well over a year. It is holding a variety of Lake Malawi African Cichlids that have been in the tank since it was started in December of 2008.  The tank has dual filtration, an AquaClear Clip on filter with a Fluval 105 canister for filtration, a Fluval E 200 W and the double standard Linear Fluorescent lighting that is integrated into the Tropiquarium 88′s.

The plan was to move the Fluval 105 from the Tropiquarium to my medium sized Elite 60 community tank and use it to replace the Elite Hush 20 that came with the set-up when it was purchased.  This way, two important aquariums in the set will be updated simultaneously.  In the first part of this two part series, I talked about some of the benefits of the Fluval-G filters.  They are the reduced bypass of the water flow, the powerful chemical compartment that will accept almost any chemical media besides the Carbon, Phosphate, Nitrate and Tri-Ex media prepacked containers.    The most apparent advantage is the Hydrotech monitoring system that provides vital information about the  current state of both the aquarium and the filter.

The Fluval-G series can be installed quite rapidly, and it requires no tools to do it.  The filter comes with everything required for a standard freshwater tropical fish aquarium.  There are other cartridges use for saltwater, but the media that is supplied was just fine for the African Cichlid tank.    The polyester pleated mechanical first cartridge with the carbon chemical cartridge.  The biological filter media is provided in two sizes, this has been found to pack better in the trays for increased biological filter activity.

Fluval-G Package Contents

The first thing to do is open the cartridge cover to remove the two cartridges from their receptacle.

Fluval-G Remove Chemical Cartridge

Fluval-G Cartridge Particulate Support

Then I removed the motor head from the filter to reveal the plastic biological filter partition to allow access the biological filter baskets under the cartridges.

Fluval-G Biological Area with Baskets

The Chemical Cartridge needed to be removed from the assembly, the plastic packing material removed and the carbon rinsed of debris.  The Biological nodes also need to be rinsed of any shipping debris and half added to each basket, with a good mix of the large and small ones to make sure the system is efficient in offering places for beneficial bacterial to grow and thrive.

Fluval-G Biological Filter Media in Baskets

The filled baskets are put back into their filter area.

Fluval-G Baskets in Filter

Once the baskets have been replaced into the lower parts of the filter and the cartridge separator is replaced into the filter chamber, the silicone gasket needs to be put into place.  This is an important seal to ensure there are no leaks into the filter case.  It is very large and easy to place into the provided channel.

After the gasket is put into place., replace the motor cover and use the four Zama latches to secure it in place.  Then its time to replace the two cartridges. Insertion and removal is very easy, the cartridges can only be put into the sytem one way to prevent any problems, there is a notch at the top right of the Mechanical and top left of the Chemical cartridges, these notches face each other at the junction between the two units.

The cartridge is inserted into the cartridge holder and turned clockwise about an eight turn to lock it

in place.  The cartridge cover is put back in its down position and the unit is ready to be installed with the AquaStop and the hose system.

All hoses are held with a hose clamp that is twisted to hand tight, no hose clamp or tools required for the seal to be solid.  I inserted the hose into the input siphon and the output system – selecting the double diffuser rather than the spray bar systems, there is enough surface agitation with the AquaClear, so I opted to not to use the spray system and its possible added evaporation capacity.  The diffuser is surprisingly adjustable, so there still ius lots of current at the top to properly agitate the surface and exhaust carbon dioxide and adsorb oxygen at the interface.

Fluval-G Canister Lock

The AquaStop system on the filter is an effective way to allow disconnection of the hose system and maintain the filter from a distant location.  There are two levers on the filter that control the water, the silver lever controls water flow, it can adjust the water flow to a lesser amount for normal filter operation, but remember the filter will start alerting for low flow when the water processing is working at 30% or less.  I have always wanted to move as much water as the filter will pump, so this is never a consideration for me.

Once the silver flow control is in the full up or off position, the AquaStop lever parallel to the AquaStop must be lifted to release and seal it.  The attached hoses to the water delivery system need to be measured to the AquaStop in position on the filter to ensure the route is as straight as possible.  It is at this time that the final location of the filter is finalized, once the filter is in place, the hoses can be cut to proper length.  Extra length should be removed, kinks and dips are not the best installation.  Once all extra is cut, in my case, about a foot for each hose was removed, the system is pretty much ready to run.

Fluval-G Start Button

The filter is started by a few vigorous pumps on the push button on the top of the Mechanical cartridge.  The filter started right away and I plugged it in as the filter was filling. This is a trick I always use to start the 05 series of Fluval Canister systems to prevent any airlocks should the canister fill before the impeller is turning and forcing water from the system rather than allowing air to go backwards up the intake tube and airlock it.

Fluval-G Installed

Once the filter is plugged into to power, the electronics initialize, the only real decision needed is to define the language used in the screens, there are a number of choices, I only use English.  The system then will provide any alerts.  I found that the temperature of the tank was not as high as I had thought, and adjusted the heater slightly to maintain the temperature around 78 F.  It took a few hours to settle, but that alert soon stopped. The alert for conductivity was not so accommodating.  The recommended EC from the official Fluval Site is 200 – 500, the actual EC was over 1500, so I have a lot of work to get it in order…….

Fluval-G Alert - Conductivity

The new Fluval-G filter is making quite a hit with the advanced aquarist on a number of levels. The filter is one of the most technologically sophisticated filters I have ever seen (and I started looking and using filters when the inside air driven box filter was just about the only filter that was available!). With the steep pricepoint, well into a few hundred dollars, this is not the filter most beginners would even begin to consider, but intermediate and advanced aquarists who are looking for an edge in keeping their fish alive, and who want to have some casual recordkeeping done for them as time goes by will find this filter one of the most appealing.  I am including this topic in the Novice Aquarist because even though this filter is one of the most advanced systems presently available for the aquarist on a mass produced basis, many of the features would be expected to work their way into less expensive offerings in the future.

The Fluval-G filters come in two sizes, The smaller, the G3 is designed to filter aquariums up to 80 gallons (300 L) while the G6 is engineered to handle tanks as big as 160 U.S. Gallons (600 L). Other important specifications show that the G3 will process 185 U.S. Gallons (700 L) an hour. The G6 will run 265 U.S. Gallons (1000 L) every hour through its highly customizable media chamber.

But I am not here to simply provide all the information that can be found on the official Fluval-G website Fluval-G.com, I am here to report on the actual installation I did with a Fluval-G used to replace a Fluval 105 filter on my Tropiquarium 88 – about 30 gallons of water, so it si much smaller than the recommended maximum.

I am used to filters like the Fluval Canister systems, starting with the original Fluval series all the way to the most recent versions, the 05 series. These leading edge canister filters have slowly evolved over time to move from a unit where all the filtration media was contained exclusively in the media stack; cleaning and purifying the water as it is pulled from bottom to top to be pumped back to the aquarium. This “single media stack” configuration was used up to the Fluval 403 (and the smaller models). The following generations, Fluval 404 and 405 changed the canister flow to force water through a foam frame straining the water of particulate matter before the active media stack is encountered. This captures gross particulate matter before it can enter the actual media stack.

The Fluval-G takes this concept one step further, replacing the foam screen frames with a much tighter controlled and managed water flow through the mechanical filtration cartridge. This is a pleated pre-filter cartridge which is designed to trap and hold a greater amount of debris and particles than the tradition foam inserts previously used. Although I am sure the actual usable period of the cartridge will not be able to match the actual foam pads for lifespan. The trade off advantage is to ensure minimal bypass of any particulate material and very little debris passing through the screen to contaminate and prematurely fill the rest of the filtration stages.

Since I am using this filter for African Cichlids, I have no problem with using the supplied standard weave cartridge. For those considering the filter for their salt water installations, there is a 75 micron screen cartridge available for those applications. In particularly dirty aquariums these 75 µm cartridges can be used for polishing the water to remove as much waste as possible before it can be solubilised and pollute the general habitat.

That seems tp be the main thrust of the filter’s design, prevent the problems before they happen, whether by eliminating more waste or notifying the aquarist when conditions are changing.

The water delivered to the remaining stages of filtration is clean and particulate free, allowing even delicate resins that can be filled easily wityh waste to be used in the second stage, the chemical cartridge. Folloing along the strength of the Fluval canister lines, the chemical cartrige area can be filled with any media that is required to perform a specific task in the aquarium. The cartridge accepts bulk media, so the actual choice is up to the indivual application and requirements.

I am not keeping plants in my African tank, so I simply used the supplied cartridge which was filled with carbon granules. The carbon will help remove any dyes or discolorants, and “polish” the water to crystal clear. The choice of cartridge is not so clear for aquarists who are trying to grow plants. Carbon will adsorb many micro-nutrients that plants require. If you are keeping plants in the tank consider an alternative cartridge, possibly the phosphate remover to reduce the chances of an algae bloom, or a nitrate absorber to keep the level of nitrate from continuing to concentrate after the aquarium has matured.

The filter comes with everything needed to get it installed.  The filtermedia is supplied as well as all the equipment needed to get it up and running.  What is even nicer, there are no tools required to put the system together, the system is desonged for easy and rapid maintenance and to provide as much information about the aquarium as possible.

In the case of a new aquarium, what is being described here is the phenomenon of “New Tank Syndrome”.  It is quite common and not particularly dangerous, but it is certainly unsightly.  Just like most other living organisms, the bacterial cloud consumes oxygen, so it is not a bad idea to elevate the oxygen content to ensure any fish are not oxygen deprived during this problem.  If they seem to be gasping, add an airstone to agitate the surface.

New aquariums start with sterile water, the municipal water supply is often treated with antibiotic compounds to kill any pathogenic organisms that might affect a human drinking it.  In effect they make the water “potable”.  Potable water is deadly to bacteria, but it is also deadly to fish as well.  In most cases the munipal water company uses compounds such as chlorine (in most cases) and chlorine when the water needs to be transported a great distance.  Although the two compounds require different doses of the same compound, once they are removed, the water is left with no living organisms alive, but the ability to support them should they arrive.  The first ones to arrive are bacteria that occupy the water column.  These are very rapid replicating bacteria that split in two on a reguular basis. This progression is termed geometric replication, one becomes two, two become four, four double to eight and so on.  Each generation roughly doubles in size.  Since the water is sterile, there are few predators or other dangers to this uncontrolled explosion at the lowest living level.

The only limiting factor to this unchecked population growth is the amount of food available.  In many cases the water from the tap has much more in it than just water and chlorine, it has plenty of dissolved organic material as well.  This is the food that the bacteria require and assuming there is enough of it available the bacterial population rises higher and higher.  In a new aquarium it takes about three days for the heterotrophic bacterial density to get so packed that the bacterial bloom can be seen by the naked eye.  It appears, as mentioned, almost as if someone had poured a glass of milk into the aquarium.  Depending on the amount of dissolved organics available for the bacteria to use, this can become quite dense and very cloudy. The unchecked growth of the bacteria in the water is termed a bacterial bloom.

As mentioned, this is a common problem for many new aquariiums where the water that has been added carried with it considerable amounts of dissolved nutrients for the bacteria to grow.  It is also the limiting factor, when the food finally runs out under the weight of biomass of geometric replication, the bacteria will die of starvation.  Depending on the situation in the aquarium, that might take quite a while if too much added food is available on an ongoing basis – the used foods can be replaced by the feeding regime of the aquarist and the the problem becomes perpetual.

The “New Tank Syndrome” will occur with or without fish.  The bacterial cells are much too small to be captured by any ordinary filter, so this is not the fault of choosing a bad filter.  If the tank clouds before you add fish, simply do nothing.  The cloud will dissipate on its own as the fight for survival at the bacterial level, one of the most fiercely aggressive levels of living organisms, occurs with each individual requiring food to survive.

Cloudy water can occur much later in the aquarium’s life cycle.  Here it is most like from overfeeding or excess organic materials accumulating in the aquarium.  Once again this is a case where the dissolved organics in the water column rise to a level where they are no longer a limiting factor, and the bacteria bloom out of control.  The most basic cure is to reduce the amount of organic material wastes in the aquarium.  Since the aquarist is ultimately responsible for what is entering the aquarium, the cure is to reduce the input.  Always examine the aquarium for dead fish or decaying material, perform a proper water change and use the exiting water to drive a gravel cleaner through the substrate to ensure the worst debris is being removed from the aquarium.

Once the aquarium is back into better hygienic shape, stop feedng the aquarium for at least three days.  Chances are the original cause was overfeeding, and this forces the fish to go looking for a meal rather than being handed one at the surface.  The fish will look harder if they are hungry and they will help clean the tank a bit.  As the three days pass, the bacteria will begin to remove the organic overload as the population continues to expand and hopefully die back again to invisible.

This is not the filter’s fault, the bacteria are much too small to be trapped by the filter media in most cases.  The only way to help the filter capture this small an organism is to make it clump together.  There are clarifier products on the market that ionically force the bacteria to coagulate into large clumps that the fiter can trap.  The problem here is that the result is a gooey mess that is quite difficult to clean away.  Whenever you decide to use a floculant – a product that clumps all particles together, you should not use standard filter materials.  The best to use if Poly Wool, Filter Floss or sometimes it is termed Angel Hair. This is a very fine threaded product that is quite cheap and is purchased to be disposed once it has been used.  It will trap the clumps quite readily, and is easy to dispose.  Don’t use expensive standard media or cartridges, you are only going to have to throw them away right after use.

One final word of warning, if you do decide to use a floculant, be very careful in your doses.  This is one product where more is definitely not better.  An overdose reverses the ionic effect and the water gets even more cloudy and difficult to clear.  It is a one time thing, not something you can depend on often.  Reducing the amount of food going into the aquarium and ensuring anything that dies is removed as fast as possible will help keep the tank clear and cloudless better than any medication or chemical treatment.

Green water is most often the result of an algae bloom.  It often has turned an aquarium into what appears a thick pea soup.  It is extremely unsightly in the novice’s aquarium, and is extremely difficult to eradicate, even for the advanced fish keeper.
Green Algae is a single celled plant that uses light to photosynthesize.  The plant itself is extremely small, only a single cell, and when conditions are right, will multiply quite rapidly.  Green algae reproduces either asexually by buds, or in a second step, it sexually combines with other cells to product new plants with full chromosome content. These in turn grow buds and the process starts all over again.  When this replication spirals out of control and overtakes an area, this is called a bloom.  The major problem is that the algae plants are so small they are rarely removed by any standard filter, and even those that are trapped tend to clog the materials, slowing the flow and allowing more algae to remain in the actual aquarium water since the intake suction is reduced to continue the bloom.
The right conditions for a bloom include adequate fertilizer and light.  In most cases in the home aquarium, even a new tank, the fertilizer needs are easily met.  The only limiting factor for plants is phosphate, and most aquariums have more than enough to support a massive bloom if the lighting is adequate.
The most important factor when green water occurs is light.  In my experience, in the great majority of the cases where a bloom occurs, natural light is allowed to strike the aquarium.  The actual time when sunlight enters the aquarium can be quite brief, ten to twenty minutes a day seems to be enough.  A very brightly sunlit room can also have the same effect.
Because of the size of the plant, and the very fast replication, eradicating an algal bloom is extremely difficult.
I do not advocate adding algicides, in many cases they may cause harm to the fish, I prefer a natural solution rather than employing strong toxic compounds.
A number of small water changes, about 10% per time spaced a day apart will dilute the cloud, but still leave it tinted green in most cases.  This can be combined with more homeopathic actions.  The most effective way is to remove the light source.  If the sun is striking the tank from the rear or side, use a background to cover and block the entry of light. If the room is very bright, draw the shades during a greater part of the day to reduce the amount of light the algae can use.  As a last resort, disassemble the aquarium and move it to a place that is much darker and use artificial lighting for the aquarium. Unless the tank is heavily planted with aquarium plants, the amount of artificial light the fish receive is not particularly important.
The above is the best way to control the problem for the long term.  Sunlight is extremely powerful, and is no friend to an aquarium.  The other area that can be manipulated and controlled by the aquarist is the amount of available phosphate in the aquarium. This chemical compound is considered to be a limiting factor, if there is not enough of it, the plants are not able to grow.  Just like reducing the sunlight limits the algae from photosynthesizing so that they starve and die back, limiting the phosphate will also inhibit the growth of algae from a metabolic constraint. At extremely low levels of phosphate, aquarium plants as well may suffer. Generally a balance exists between algae and live aquarium plants.  When standard plants are thriving, they are much better at competing for available phosphate and get what they need first, so algae often is overwhelmed.  A rooted aquarium plant is able to extract nutrients from the soil as well, so reduction of dissolved phosphates in the water column is normally not a handicap for standard aquarium plants, rather they are much better able to compete and win against free floating algae.
Introduction of phosphate comes every time the fish are fed, as it is a component of the food. Fish require some phosphate for their metabolic processes, but rarely as much as is provided in the food.  Some manufacturers have recognized this and consciously reduced the amount of phosphate in the foods they offer.  Careful feeding with low phosphate foods will reduce the amount available for algae to use for themselves.
If there is still too much, the use of a phosphate remover resin will help keep the concentration low and prevent sudden blooms of algae.  There are a variety of these products available on the market.  Most require that they be added to the higher flows of the filter and will remove a set amount of phosphate when they have been exhausted.
From a purely homeopathic viewpoint, I also use a biological sludge eliminator that helps break down the waste materials, from all sources, food, fecal mater and other decaying organic material.  These bacteria teams incorporate phosphate into their  biomass, thus preventing it from being available for free floating algae to exploit.
Sometimes the only thing that will do is a rapid fix, there are some floculants on the market that will help.  A floculant will attract the algae as well as any other suspended particles into larger diameters clumps to allow the filter to remove them thorugh its screens.  Use a polywool or filter floss in the filter rather than the regular filter materials.  It is cheaper and, believe me, you will need to discard the material immediately after use.  Poly Wool is the best trap for this treatment.  Do not overdose. The downside to these products is that the clumping action will reverse and it will be even harder to clear the tank if you do!
Algae is rarely ever totally removed from an operating aquarium, most of the time some variety is anchored to hard surfaces, but the types that produce green water are suspended in the water column.  They will gradually reduce to invisible populations when denied natural sunlight or enough phosphate to grow. Live rooted plants under artificial light have a better competitive advantage to grow and prevent algae explosions of any type.  It seems the two are antagonistic, and there is very rarely a problem with algae in a strongly growing live planted aquarium.