Setting up aquarium?

Question

I have asked so many questions lately, but I hate having pets die, and I am trying to avoid it happening again.
As many of you know I have a 1 and a half gallon tank with a heater, thermometer, live plant, and an apple snail. I plan on getting 2 new african dwarf frogs. The heater is made for small tanks and is set to around 78 degrees. The thermometer reads 80 degrees. The snail seems fine but will 2 extra degrees be too warm for the frogs? The water has dechlorinator in it already. When I get the frogs I am also getting a small filter made for mini tanks.

Any info you can give me will be greatly appreciated. I have basically no experience with aquariums or filters so I am so confused!

What does it mean to cycle a tank and how do I do it?

Answer 1

Cycling the tank refers to the nitrogen cycle that the tank goes through. Waste produced in the aquarium breaks down into ammonia and bacteria develops that breaks converts this intro nitrite. Other bacteria develops to convert the nitrite into nitrate. All of these are toxic to the animals in the tank with ammonia being the most toxic, nitrite being less toxic, and nitrate being even less toxic. This whole setup is called bacterial filtration and you want it in place before adding animals to your tank.


Here's a link with information on cycling:

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=113


As for the temperature for the frogs - they should be fine at that temp.

Answer 2

Last time I had an apple snail and african frogs together the frogs kept nipping at the snails tentacles (I think that's what they're called). That tank is too small for most fish. Either try to get a betta, or get a larger tank (10 gallons should do it).

Cycling a tank is easy. Setup the tank and add a product called Cycle. This product, within a 2-4 week period, will cause nitrate and nitrite levels to peak, and then fall back to a safe level for your fish to live in.

Without cycling the tank before adding fish, the nitrites and nitrates will peak with the fish in it, causing them to die. Only a few, very hardy fish may be able to live through it.

After 2 weeks, I'd suggest buying a hardy fish, such as a cheap zebra danio, to make sure the water is cycled.

Answer 3

Cycling a tank is important to gill breathers. Because they take the air from the water to live. Living in their own waste and breathing it can become difficult. I am not sure about frogs. You may want to get a book on them.

Answer 4

Here is a site that talks about cycling the tank

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html

here is a site all about african dwarf frogs
http://www.petco.com/caresheets/fish/Frog_AfricanDwarf.pdf
http://thegab.org/Articles/ADFCareSheet.html

Hope this helps answers your questions
Good luck