Is my tank ok for my axies?

[JealousVixy]

Hey everyone
so i've had my two axies in tubs with 100% water changes for a long while now because my cycle crashed and it's finally almost up to scratch. i have some feeder fish in there at the moment and they have been in for a week with no sickness or death. but ammonia is still slightly showing on the tests. levels are:
ammonia - under 0.25
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 15ppm on average

i do 30% water changes weekly on the tanks. im just wondering if its safe to put my two axies back in the tank yet? because both them and i would love to see them out of their tubs.

thx

 

[auntiejude]

It should be OK, just keep a check on your water as there will likely be some fluctuations in ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levles when you change the bioload in the tank.

 

[JealousVixy]

oh that's awesome!! so i can put them back in their tank now? and if the levels get too high then just do a water change yeah?

 

[keiko]

Yes you can put them back in there. Just keep testing the water every day for a while because axies produce a lot of waste so there might not be quite enough bacteria to keep the ammonia and nitrite at 0 at first. And if you get any readings on those you need to do a water change. The bacteria will catch up pretty fast though.

 

[JealousVixy]

Aw thank you so much guys, im so happy ^_^ been waiting for ages and finally the tank is readyyyyyy is there any particular method you would use to put them back in? would you transfer them to a bag and float them like when you first get them, or would you gradually switch some of their water with tank water and then put them in with that, or would you just net them straight over??

 

[auntiejude]

If they are in tubs will the tubs float in the tank? This will equalise any difference in temperature, the changes in water chemistry will be negligible so you shouldn't need to worry about that.

 

[JealousVixy]

hmmm i'll have to lower the water level significantly in the tanks - they are in 26 L tubs - i could transfer them into smaller tubs?

 

[auntiejude]

Yes, that would work. TBH I doubt if there is any significant temp difference the way you get with transporting tropical fish, so you could put them straight in if you're confident there is very little difference between the tubs and tank temperature.

 

[JealousVixy]

Ok cool, there wouldnt b too much difference i think. They are kept in the same room, just maybe the tank would be sloghtly cooler because it is bigger?