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Need help with my 10 gallon!

573 views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  Oldfishlady 
#1 ·
So, I just got my 10 gallon tank through a local listing and my live plants are great so far, and filter works marvelously! I do, however, have two tiny problems! First off, I was given two infant kribensis cichlids to go along with the tank, and second being its currently also inhabited by snails! They're not mystery snails, thank god, but it still looks like I have a slight population problem on my hand!

I am currently giving the tank a new cycle because of how filthy and ill-managed the filter was, coupled with the tank I could not have a large volume of the old tank water brought in with it. :-? I've put some of Seachem's Stability product to help with cycling and added Prime to the tank. So far I have one of my females in the tank along with the others, haven't noticed any aggression between her and the kribenses, which is pretty amazing so far! My questions are: will they all be alright since I'm basically cycling from scratch? What can I do about my snail problem? And do you think it would be okay to house the kribenses until they grow a bit? I was actually planning to let the two little infants grow a bit before I try giving them away to someone who can properly care for them. I very well realize it will be near impossible to how the kribenses in the tank when they've fully grown, but I want to know if I should be expecting any trouble with them together for the time being. Also, they are young, but I'm pretty sure they ARE a male and a female, unfortunately. They are siblings, but I'm also worried that if I let them mature too much, I might have some cichlid breeding going on in my future sorority.
 
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#3 ·
Yeah. I kind of figured. :/ I think what I'll do is let them grow a little bit, then see if anyone can adopt them. They really are cute but I know I can't keep them in the tank.
Also, I am using Seachem Prime and their Stability stuff to help take care of all the dangerous stuff. Would keeping up with water changes at large volumes (50%) help keep the parameters under control? I was thinking of doing that amount weekly along with the gravel vacuum to keep things okay.
 
#4 ·
How many and what species of live plants, how are the plants doing...If they are doing well-thriving-they should be able to help maintain water while you are cycling. With enough of the right species of plants that are thriving/active growth-you will do the silent cycle.

What kind of lights, age of bulbs, kelvin, watts and photoperiod, type of substrate and how deep. How long has the tank been running at your house and how long at the other house.

The beneficial bacteria are sticky and adhere to all the surface areas in side the tank, in the top layer of substrate and the filter media-very little are in the water column.

If you didn't do a big clean or scrub down on the tank-you should have a lot of BB already to help with water quality while cycling-especially with a low bioload and live plants-even with the filter media being changed out.

You will still need to make 1-50% weekly water changes with light vacuum in all areas you can reach without moving anything or disruption of plant roots.
Filter media needs a good rinse/swish in the bucket of old tank water or dechlorinated water a couple of times a month to maintain good water flow.
If you don't have a test kit on hand-I would make a second weekly water change of 50% that is water only to error on the safe side.
If you have a test kit-make that water only change based on test results of Ammonia, nitrite 0.25ppm or greater.
Remembering that some additives can cause false/skewed test results.

Do you have a test kit, if so, what kind and what are your numbers on the tank, the source water-with and without additives for: Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

For the snails-you can bait them with lettuce or other greens and/or hand pick them on a regular basis. I like to use a little trap I made using a small glass jar with a bit of food in it. I place it in the tank at lights out and remove it at first light-usually full of snails...lol....

Kribs are a pretty small cichlid to start with and they should be fine in the 10gal for the time being. I kept a breeding pair in a planted 10gal for several years-but it was just them, plants, snails and shrimp.

Can you post a pic...
 
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