Hello all,
Great site you have here I've been lurking for awhile and decided to join.
I'll give you a little background before I start.
I have been keeping fish for 4-5 years in my 35 gallon long tank.Presently I have 2- 5 inch Kenyi's and 3-3 inch Yellow labs.
I read the posts about tap water quality and test kits and wanted to give my experience.When I first started keeping fish I used a water conditioner every time I made a water change.One long weekend with the stores closed and no conditioner left I did a water change. I had hoped my fish would be fine and they were.When I got back there colour,breathing and activity was fine.
I have never used a test kit in my life so I don't know what any of my water levels are at. Judging by the 1 inch of fish per gallon of water "rule" I am obviously no where near over stalked. I suspect this has much to do with my "luck" in not conditioning my water.Perhaps seeing as my tank is fairly understocked the old water in my tank is "cleaner" and therefore the shock of the untreated fresh water isnt so bad?!?
Now for the other side of the story........I have noticed when I change the water my Kenyi's seem to lose their appetite for a day or two....because they are stressed ?
Also due to illness (Don't worry it was just me that was sick not my fish ) I slightly neglected my regular water change.
Well as the algae grew on the glass i figured I should change the water........what did i spot when cleaning.........a Yellow Lab fry.
Now my question is this....i realize just because my water is clear doesnt mean it is healthy for my fish.Should I actually leave it "dirty" for these fish to be happy? I would assume the labs had a baby due to the "dirty" water being ideal for them.
Are yellow labs live bearers? I only see one fry in my tank.
I am not willing to buy test kits as they seem expensive and I do not have a problem with fish dying.So am I doing ok?
i'm sorry for this post being so long and jumping around.......any advice is much appreciated.
Thank you,
Wayne
WAYNEBRUNET.FOTOPIC.NET
First off, I'd like to correct you on one thing... the "1 inch rule" doesn't apply to African Cichlids. These fish typically require much more space, given there territorial/aggression instincts. Some people will say that for rift lake cichlids, it should really be 5 gallons per inch. However, even that really doesn't work, because one 3 inch Yellow Lab will not be happy in a 15 gallon tank. Usually, people will say, minimum 40 or 50 gallon, then add 5 gallons per inch. However, as with any fish, the larger the space, the happier and healthier they'll be.
In reality, you are not understocked, you are overstocked. If I owned those fish, a 55 gallon would be the bare minimum I would consider putting them in, with a 75 gallon being preferred. Mbuna like there space.
As regards your lack of conditioning your tap water, while Ottawa has only the minimum levels of chlorine/chloramine required by law, there is still harmful chemicals in the tap water. More sensitive fish would probably succumb to disease and/or death if a tank was run with no water conditioners and a weekly regimen of water changes.
As far as your question about breeding: Yellow Labs are mouth breeders.
My recommendation to you would be to do some extensive research on the fish you have, the habitats they prefer and the water chemistry they need. After doing so, you might see the need to make some changes with your current setup.
Thank you for the reply.
I know that my tank is smallish for these fish and they have only been in this situation for a month and will only be in if for a month longer as I will be buying a 75 gallon in that time.
I have read in my research that a 55 gallon is the minimum size but I assumed that was when they were fully grown so housing mine in a 35 for now would be fine.
I don't understand why people must keep water qualities the same as in the wild when infact these fish are so far removed from the wild its rediculous.Would they not adapt like animals and humans do to different weather?I read they were hearty fish so I though they would be fine with untreated water.
The colouring of my fish matches everything I've seen online and isnt that the most obvious sign of health.....a colourful fish with no fin damage?
I understand most of you are diehard aquariests and my comments may madden a few of you who think I am ignorant but I am learning just like you did.
Not necessarily the case...
While most mbuna's are locally bred, some are in fact wild catches. Depending on where you got your fish from, you could have gotten bred stock that might only be 1 or 2 generations from a wild fish (not likely but bear with me).
Certainly, fish do adapt. So do most animals. But, they THRIVE when they don't have to adapt.
While your fishes couloring is okay, it doesn't mean that there overall long term health isn't being affected. You could be looking at (in the long term) stunted growth or shorter lifespans compared to fish being kept in larger aquariums where the water chemistry is more closely matched to their natural habitat.
If we take your analagy about everyone adapting...
Let's say you went to a zoo and saw a circus bear that had been born and raised by humans. This animal had then "rescued" from the circus. Would you consider it "normal" for this animal to be housed in a concrete enclosure where trainers came in and fed it what was required to keep it healthy? Of course not. There would be mass protests that this animal should be housed in an enclosure with lots of "forest type" vegetation, with fresh running water and lots of sunlight. To do otherwise, would be considered by most, inhumane. Even though this animal had probably never experienced its true habitat conditions in its capitive life prior to coming to the zoo.
Why should it be any different with a fish?
its unlikely that any species have 'adapted' to regular doses of chlorine, ammonia or nitrite.
but your tanks may be sufficiently cycled that the ammonia and nitrite dissappear quickly. Your fish are still suffer from the consequneces of chlorine though.
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals water conditioner is trivial in cost - i would definately recommend it.
ok, time for me to chime in with my thoughts on this, first of all I have had some tanks where I didn't have time, or it was at another house I didn't visit too often, or it was just not a good tank as far as accessability to clean often..and I always had good luck with these tanks, the fish seemed to grow faster for some reason, I even left a dead mother female in there and the fry ate her and grew exceedingly quick from that (due to bad tank design too hard to get her out)
as for the 1" per gallon rule, a better rule is 1" of the maximum size of the fish per gallon, bigdaddy was right in this doesn't really apply to african cichlids, now personally that's where the agreement ends, I think you can put MORE cichlids in then you would with other fish, and the only other common exception I can think of is goldfish where you would indeed follow more of a 1" per 3 gallons rule, but back to africans, because you have alot of rocks in an african tank, it acts as a 2nd filter (biological) especially when you have lava rock (very good biological filter media) you would however like adult cichlids to be in nothing less then 50 gallons or you do tend to have aggression problems, however in my 77 gallon I have upwards of 35 2-5" fish all living fine, as long as you have a good combination of fish you'll not have problems, I have seen people with 1 fish per gallon and have no problems!
a normal batch of yellow lab fry for a 3" female would have been between 15-25 fish, likely most got eaten by the other fish in the tank and the 1 was able to hide to a size they no longer wanted to eat it
Actually it is interesting question about water conditioneer.
I had one bad experience with tap water , when my stugerons died in few minutes (!) after I add the tap water. I was even unable to do something...
But this was the only one lost I had due to unprocessed tap water for a lon gperiod of time. And the water was not from Ottawa plant, but much worse. Maybe this is because I never changing more then 10-20% of water?
But for sure fresh water usually stimulates fishes, not old water. Sometimes it is just some % of changed water that produces the effect.