# 1st water change



## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

How soon after your tropheus arrive can you do the first water change? I stocked my tank with 25 F1 Muragos yesterday, fed them for the first time today and am thinking of doing the first water change either tomorrow or the day after (I'm also soaking their food in Metro initially). My hesitation is about stressing the fish.

Thanks.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

How big is your tank? Was it fully cycled? What are the parameters now? If ammonia and nitrite are both 0, IMHO try to keep nitrates under 20 ppm. You are correct in trying to avoid stress, if parameters are good let them settle in a while longer... again IMHO


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

It's a six foot long 110 gallon tank. The tank was fully cycled. Nitrites and ammonia were 0 yesterday and the tank was processing between 1-2 ppm ammonia within 24 hours. I didn't check the nitrates yesterday but did three 30% water changes in 24 hours before adding the fish (no ammonia added in the last 48 hours before fish added).

I'll check nitrates tomorrow and use them as my guide to the first water change as you're suggesting.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Sounds like a plan :thumb: ...


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Since it's a new tank with new stocking, I'd be inclined to test daily and log nitrates, to get an idea of what kind of increases you're likely to see daily, weekly.
That'll give you a good indication of how often you'll be looking to do water changes. Testing after said water change will give you another good indication of how much you'll be looking to change.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestions. I checked my nitrates this morning and was kind of surprised that they were still only at 5 ppm. I'll keep monitoring daily to see how quickly they rise.

Would the anubias in the tank have much effect on lowering nitrates?


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## JustusAugustus (Mar 13, 2011)

zimmy said:


> Thanks for the suggestions. I checked my nitrates this morning and was kind of surprised that they were still only at 5 ppm. I'll keep monitoring daily to see how quickly they rise.
> 
> Would the anubias in the tank have much effect on lowering nitrates?


I wouldnt think the anubias would have much of an effect on lowering the nitrates seeing as they are extremely slow growers, *** also heard that plants absorb ammonia much more readily. So while the impact on nitrates may be negligable it could help in keeping ammonia at 0 ppm.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

How are your trophs doing? Any pics?


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

eeztropheus said:


> How are your trophs doing? Any pics?


The trophs seem do be doing fairly well despite my having screwed up a couple of times with mismeasuring their food (and giving them too much). I've been doing water changes every few days despite nitrate levels being under control. Every time I do a change the fish somehow seem perkier. I have to be careful when using the python to suck water out of the tank because they get very curious about the hose and I have to pay attention to not suck them up.

Here's some pics:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Nice fish, zimmy. :thumb: The fish are still small, so you won't see nitrates climbing very quickly at this point, that's normal. But, hey, if they respond well to the water changes, then why not?


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Looking good :thumb:!

Don't worry too much about overfeeding fish that small as they seem to be able to handle much larger quantities of food in proportion to their size. Although you do not want the uneaten food to throw your water quality off.

My trophs love wc's too. After a wc the sub doms (referring to my fish only) start to act up and challenge the dom fish. Lots of posturing and flashing and ocaisional lip locking.

Sounds like you are off to a great start. Keep the updates coming.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

Thanks for the compliments!

I actually wonder now if I did overfeed them as badly as I thought on the occasions I referred to. I was basing this assessment on how long it took them to eat. I watched them more closely at the last feeding and noticed that although they are chasing and darting for particles in the tank for several minutes (beyond the 1-2 minutes feeding time generally recommended), the particles being chased after the first minute or two are not food. I hadn't noticed this previously because I was standing several feet back from the tank and just assumed that what they were chasing was food. A feeding portion of a little less than 1/8 of a teaspoon of NLS twice per day seems to be the right amount for now.


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## marrylee (May 18, 2011)

Testing after said water change will give you another good indication of how much you'll be looking to change............


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## des (Mar 30, 2011)

Your fish are spoiled to have such a nice tank for a home. Any updates on how they are doing? I curious to know where you got your Muragos from. PM me if you are not allowed to advertise here. Thanks.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

Thanks for the compliment.  PM sent about the source for the Muragos.

The fish are doing great so far. I've struggled to keep the large anubias alive though and recently replaced one of them with java fern. I'm a bit overzealous about keeping the tank clean and probably strip it of the nutrients the plants need to keep alive. I'm going to try cutting back to 30% per week and see if it's enough to keep the nitrates in check.

Here are some recent photos.


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## des (Mar 30, 2011)

Really nice algae growth you have going on, on those rocks. I'm surprised your fish hasn't eaten it all. Thanks for the update.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

des said:


> Really nice algae growth you have going on, on those rocks. I'm surprised your fish hasn't eaten it all.


They didn't touch it for the longest time. In the last few days I've noticed that a couple of large ones (presumably males) have staked out each side of the tank. They occasionally nibble on the algae on the rocks on their respective sides but quickly chase away any other fish that tries to get a snack. opcorn:


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## des (Mar 30, 2011)

What are the details of your lighting?

Since you have live plants are the lights on all the time or on during the day and off at night? Assuming you would try to imitate the real day/night cycle. I don't have experience with live plants so I want to learn.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

des said:


> What are the details of your lighting?
> 
> Since you have live plants are the lights on all the time or on during the day and off at night? Assuming you would try to imitate the real day/night cycle. I don't have experience with live plants so I want to learn.


I have two 36" Marineland Doublelight (LED) units on the tank. This is adequate for my set up because the tank is only 20" in height. On a taller tank, the lighting might be too dim (it's pretty low key for my tank too but I don't like bright light). The lights are on a timer so they come on starting at 7:00 AM till noon, are off till 5 PM and then back on till 10:00 PM for a total of ten hours per day. This lighting pattern (known as the Siesta Regimen) is not natural but is useful if you're keeping plants because it allows CO2 to regenerate while the lights are off mid-day. When the lights are on, plant photosynthesis causes the CO2 to become depleted. Algae is better than plants at competing for limited CO2 so there's a risk of it taking over. By turning the lights off, the CO2 regenerates and the plants have a fighting chance to compete for it when the lights come back on.

I'm no expert on keeping plants (I've had a few die) but like anything else you learn as you go along. I think anubias and java fern will give you the best chance for success with tropheus. Some people find though that even these ones don't survive.


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## Jolly cichlids (Jun 19, 2009)

My favorite plant that i have had sucess with trophs is crinum. Weather it be thaianum, natans or calamistratum. Heres 2 types

thaianum








calamistratum









glad too see the muragos are doing good for you :thumb: .


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