The Quick Question Thread

[aokashi]

pull the females you want for breeding when you put the new girls in :)

[Hadoken Kitty]

Awesome. I'll do that tomorrow when I do my water changes. (:

[quietlythundering]

do you guys recommend a heater in a 2.5-3 gallon plastic tank? I want my Neil to be nice and cozy in his new tank (I ordered the heater online) but is it safe to use this kind of heater in a plastic container?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...F8&me=&seller=

I'd like to know before I purchase two more.

[Hadoken Kitty]

It should be fine. I have heaters in my plastic tanks without issues. I honestly think my plastic tanks have heated better than my glass ones, too.

[AyalaCookiejar]

Yes, Callistra told me that acrylic has better heating properties than glass, scientifically speaking.

[quietlythundering]

Awesome! Thanks everyone!

[finnfinnfriend]

If one or two pellets sink to the bottom during feeding and the fish doesn't catch them, is it okay to leave them until water change day? This would be in a cycled tank btw...

[AyalaCookiejar]

As long as the tank is cycling out the ammonia its probably not a huge problem if it doesn't happen frequently. I use a turkey bastor to suck up food that the fish don't eat before it sinks.

My blind boy lets food sink a lot because he's blind and it caused algae to grow on his decor so its probably best to remove it sooner rather than later.

[finnfinnfriend]

Originally Posted by AyalaCookiejar

As long as the tank is cycling out the ammonia its probably not a huge problem if it doesn't happen frequently. I use a turkey bastor to suck up food that the fish don't eat before it sinks.

My blind boy lets food sink a lot because he's blind and it caused algae to grow on his decor so its probably best to remove it sooner rather than later.

Oh yeah if I had a blind boy, I would probably keep him in a 1 gallon and just clean the tank with a turkey baster instead of a siphon...

But 1 or 2 pellets can sit in there for a week without causing problems or too much nitrate? BTW this is for a 5 gallon tank...

[AyalaCookiejar]

Just a few pellets probably won't hurt anything. I think the fish would produce more ammonia than the sunken pellets. If it were a lot of pellets sinking, you'd likely experience problems with debris and possible ammonia/nitrate spikes or an algae problem.

If possible, removing the pellets sooner rather than later would probably be best, but no, it should not cause a huge problem. The only big problem I've experienced with my blind boy letting pellets sink is the algae issue and then when I siphon the tank, the pellets disintegrate and its hard to get all the tiny little specs out.

However, I have noticed that New Life Spectrum pellets don't dissolve like other pellets do. I know they aren't as good at absorbing meds so maybe they don't break down as fast as others?