Guppy/Endler Pabulum

[T Dawg]

So we now have 4 baby fish darting about the tank. Given the frequency of births we seem to be having and seem to be able to expect from the Endlers we are trying to be better parents. While the normal tank dweller diet is flake food and freeze dried blood worms we have feeding tried frozen brine shrimp. A day after the shrimp feeding we noticed a Nitrate spike. While my guess if over feeding I figured if this was a good time to ask if this was a good mix of items to be feeding and if Nitrates could be a sign of over feeding or an expected side effect of shrimp.

Feedings are twice a day, normaly flakes but occationaly instead of flakes we serve worms(once or twice a week) or brine shrimp (twice ever).

[Eddio]

So we now have 4 baby fish darting about the tank. Given the frequency of births we seem to be having and seem to be able to expect from the Endlers we are trying to be better parents. While the normal tank dweller diet is flake food and freeze dried blood worms we have feeding tried frozen brine shrimp. A day after the shrimp feeding we noticed a Nitrate spike. While my guess if over feeding I figured if this was a good time to ask if this was a good mix of items to be feeding and if Nitrates could be a sign of over feeding or an expected side effect of shrimp.

Feedings are twice a day, normaly flakes but occationaly instead of flakes we serve worms(once or twice a week) or brine shrimp (twice ever).

There's not much you can do to prevent nitrates from going up other than doing your water changes. But don't become too obsessive in that as pH balance is very important for smaller fish (pH measured in log scale, tiny change on the scale would be detrimental).

Maybe try adding some potted plants, can give your fish some cover and help soak up the nitrogenous compounds.

But I seriously wouldn't worry too much about a nitrate spike, as long as ammonia and nitrite is 0.

[T Dawg]

There's not much you can do to prevent nitrates from going up other than doing your water changes. But don't become too obsessive in that as pH balance is very important for smaller fish (pH measured in log scale, tiny change on the scale would be detrimental).

...

But I seriously wouldn't worry too much about a nitrate spike, as long as ammonia and nitrite is 0.

In general I am not too worried about minor level fluctuations. The concern is the link to the feeding of frozen brine shrimp, making me wonder if there is too much being fed or if it is normal with them.

[firestorm]

Most frozen foods will pollute the water more quickly than dried foods, but overfeeding definitely contirbutes to nitrates being high. If feeding 2x a day maybe decrease the amount of food just a bit then try testing and see if it makes a difference. I know it can be hard to judge how much food to feed, especially when trying to make sure everyone gets something.