he also eats that plant on the left of the tank- eats one of them every 3/4 weeks sometimes quicker....
also i fed him more when i first had him for 4 months and he got swim bladder and was a upside down fishy for a few weeks

long ways the tank is 60cm
height is 31cm
and towards the back of the wall is 31/30cm (not good which me mahs lingo) :(

the bigger filter was wayyyy to big to fit in me tank that was the best and strongest to fit in the tank i have,and its suitable for 110 litres of water it says on the box
x

ammonia is perfect no change

the others i cant test as i have misplaced the testing strips :S i used them last week to check tank and last weeks reading where fine, the No2 was a tiny bit above normal but always has been for 4 years and cant seem to lower it anymore with solutions etc

Quote:

This info is very important. Your tank comes in around 54 litres, less 10% for decor and gravel so about 48 litres. This is too small (I'm so sorry) for these types of fish and I would suspect water quality being the problem as opposed to GBD to strat with.

See linky here: http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... -size-life-expectancy.htm

Ideally fancies need 140 litres for the first fish and certainly given this bruiser's size, external filtration. In smaller tanks, they swim in their own waste and this causes all manner of illnesses.

Daily 25% pre warmed, pre treated water changes will assist and will only certainly help until you can upgrade his home if possible.

Apologies, you answered as I was typing and then I timed out!

Quote:

You may have found your own answer. Nitrite spikes occur following ammonia spikes are are usually a sign the filter is not coping with the amount of fish waste.

Even with small readings, nitrite is quite toxic to fish and if he has been dealing with this for 4 years it will certainly take a toll on his health. TBH this fishy needs an upgrade ASAP.

Paper strip tests are not very good really, most of us here use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit (about £20 on Ebay) but with over 800 tests it lasts for yonks. Would be worth the investment I'm sure. In the interim, the daily water changes will assist and make him feel more comfy I'm sure.

im pretty up on the water changes i do them every two weeks and i use a hoover thingy that takes out the bad water/poo from the bottom of tank...

i asked the fish shop owner where he came from/history etc before i bought and he said he lived for years in a small tank with a tiny pearlscale and had to give it up as moving etc. i told him the size of my tank and he said it was twice the size of the one he was living in so said it was pefect...
also he only swims around the filter and near the plant on the left so is not very mobile.( i used to just have him and just one little plant on the right as i thought it would be loads of room for him to roam but he never went over the right side of the tank at all so i filled it up with a few more plants )x

he has only had this filter in for 2 months as the old one stoped blowing out bubbles... i dunno if that makes a diference (fish man said my old filter wasnt as good as this one i got now) the old one had no carbon etc in just the black sponge
so this new one has got all the stuff it suppose to have,

so i dunno if its the new change in filter... (i did the proper change over) left both in together for two weeks etc

x

Filters should run for 4-6 weeks alongside one another to allow seeding and no bacteria loss, but that aside, fancies do need bigger tanks I'm afraid and as they mature you should be looking at 140 litres for just one.

FK wouldn't post such an article if not accurate and it appears you have been given a bit of duff advice previously

Water changes are usually recommended as 25% (sometimes a bit more) and should be at least weekly. Sometime keepers do this twice weekly given stock and water test results when keeping big fish or heavily stocked tanks.

Just catching up after a few days away - how's he doing now? He does make that tank look rather small bless him, quite a chunky chappy!