u/mint_on

Currently setting up this 75 gal for a juvenile black ghost knife. Right now stocking plans are 10 congo tetras and the BGK. i’m looking into adding angel fish (once congos settle in and more plants arrive and grow in).

How many should I do? Should I buy juveniles or pairs?

hello! yesterday i rescued two blackskirt tetras in a 50gal tank. before cleaning the tank i took a healthy amount of the dirty gravel to use as filter substrate and try to maintain the bacteria that was already established. the tank was transported with around an inch of water and the fish were in a separate container. after cleaning and rinsing the tank at least 5 times (dish soap and sponge on edges, wipes on outside) then filling it up and filtering it with treated water, there were still traces of ammonia and nitrite (both less than 0.5ppm.)

they’ve had the lights off for more than 24 hours and i’m planning on keeping them off for now while they adjust.

they seem to have some fin damage so im about to set up a methylene blue soak for them while i do a partial water change to try to dilute the ammonia and nitrite more + add some driftwood and rocks so they have places to hide and chill. also adding some duckweed to minimize spikes in case i accidentally clear out too much good bacteria.

TLDR: injured fins, bad tank water, lonely tetras.

these are my first tetras and i’m looking for honestly any advice. i’m looking into getting them more friends of same background. feeding advice, tank advice, treating advice, all is welcome.

sorry if the pictures are bad!!

i recently renovated my boyfriends yard fountain into a goldfish pond to eventually start an aquaponics growing station for some herbs and get back into fishkeeping!

due to the current from the fountain water i went with two shubunkin and two comet/sarasa comet. it’s roughly 180-250 gallons but may look smaller in the pictures. i’m curious to tell the sex of my fish and if anyone thinks they can tell that would be awesome! i understand they may be too young though.

any tips/advice in general would be greatly appreciated! i’m currently keeping a spreadsheet of water testing which i do a couple times a day since it’s pretty new. i added the smoothest piece of driftwood i could find to break up the water flow and add more shade, trying to place it in a way so that they wouldn’t bump into it/it stays out of their normal swimming patterns and they seem to really enjoy it. this is in central texas so the water stays pretty warm and i’m looking for more options to add shade. the water is topped off everyday (i mix it in a bucket with the conditioner and occasionally test before just to double check) once or twice a day. i have a temperature gauge i check occasionally during top offs and during the day it usually sits mid 80s and drops to high 70s at night. i’m currently feeding them koi vibrance lozenge shaped pellets but break them up since their mouths aren’t big enough yet to eat the whole thing but i think i may swap their food so any recommendations would be awesome!

thank you all!! so happy to finally have goldfish