Fish Recommendations For Fluval Edge 23L Tank

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mattyydunn

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Hi guys

I'm looking for some help to decide what tropical fish I should put into my tank.

I'm new to fish keeping apart from a small gold fish I had when I was 6. I have everything for the tank to use for tropical fish and it will be ready in the next few days and a need some help picking some fish out for it, with it been a fluval edge tank it has limited space but I want a nice coulourfull selection of fish in there can anybody help out?

Thanks In Advance :)
 
First recommendation is fish-less cycle your filter.

Second is get a standard shaped tank, it's much easier than that little thing.

Third, 6-8 Boraras or ember tetras or ruby tetras or neons or galaxy danios or emerald danios (pick only one species) and some cherry shrimp.
 
First recommendation is fish-less cycle your filter.

Second is get a standard shaped tank, it's much easier than that little thing.

Third, 6-8 Boraras or ember tetras or ruby tetras or neons or galaxy danios or emerald danios (pick only one species) and some cherry shrimp.

Thanks :)
Av had the tank on a fishless cycle for about 2-3 weeks now done water tests and its ready and got that tank for the limited space I have and it looks good :)

But that's a will take a look at them fish and decide from there :)
 
First recommendation is fish-less cycle your filter.
Av had the tank on a fishless cycle for about 2-3 weeks now done water tests and its ready
Have you been adding household ammonia or another source of ammonia regularly, to feed the bacteria?

..that doesn't sound like a fish-less cycle.. that sounds like you've just sat the tank full of water for 2-3 weeks, which does not do anything..
 
Cherry shrimp are great for small tanks as do the job of your bottom feeders in a bigger tank. Very fun to watch too.

I blab on abt these fish, but have a look at some endlers. Stay very small and are beautiful! Kinda like a dwarf guppy. Maybe a batchellor group of them?
 
Kitty Kat - the ammonia came from the pet store I got the tank from it came highly recommended by the shop and they do free water tests if u take a sample of the water to them. They have said it is fine and safe to use. Any input is welcome if you have any suggestions on what I can do to make the tank ready etc.

Crazycat lady - thanks for the input I will take a look at them and see what they are like :)
 
Thumbs up for being a newbie and looking into a fishless cycle! I had no idea even about normal cycling when I started!

I only discovered these endlers a few months ago and are closely becoming one of my favourite fish. Most of them available in shops have been hybridised with bigger sized guppies to make them brighter colours but a few ppl on here breed the pedigree ones. They are tiny fish, so great for little tanks. Most will stay much smaller that your average neon!

http://www.tropicalfishandaquariums.com/Livebearers/Endlers.asp
 
Kitty Kat - the ammonia came from the pet store I got the tank from it came highly recommended by the shop and they do free water tests if u take a sample of the water to them. They have said it is fine and safe to use. Any input is welcome if you have any suggestions on what I can do to make the tank ready etc.
Hmm, can you elaborate? I have never heard of LFS selling ammonia, I would imagine that it would have been some sort of "bacteria in a bottle" at an extortionate price? Unfortunately, practical evidence shows that they do not work. I hope you will not mind if we try to verify that you really did cycle before you get fish because if you did not, you will have a lot of work ahead of you..

So, a standard fish-less cycle consists of setting up the tank with dechlorinated water, then dosing ammonia to 3-5 ppm. Once it reaches 0 ppm, we redose again and so on. When we notice that ammonia and nitrite are both processing from 3-5 ppm down to 0 ppm in 24 hours, we start testing at 12 hour intervals. Once both are processed in 12 hours, we keep dosing at 24 hour intervals for 7 days, to make sure that the ammonia really is processed consistently. Throughout the whole process, one can expect to dose ammonia at least 10, and more like 15-20 times. It takes about 4-8 weeks for the bacteria to establish.

What often happens instead (and this is no different from setting up a tank and adding fish right away) is that LFS tell people to set up the tank, leave it running for x amount of time, maybe to add some bacteria in a bottle. The fish are then added and there are actually no bacteria in the water, so ammonia and nitrite spike, the fish die. The person goes back to the LFS, where they are told the fish were from a bad batch and to buy replacements. Same thing happens, replacements die. 6-10 weeks later, the filer finally finished cycling and the fish do not die any more, but by now, the person has gone through 15-30 fish because their filter was not cycled.

For any sort of cycle (if you do not want the fish to come to harm), you will need your own liquid ammonia and nitrite test kits, a source of ammonia and dechlorinator.
 
My son has three male Endlers (we could probably put a couple more in, but we don't see the need to cram in as many as possible) and two amano shrimp in his Edge.

It's planted with a couple of baby cryptocorynes, a couple of bits of wood (one with a tiny anubias and the other with some xmas moss) and a dwarf amazon sword (there's a cutting of Indian fern in there too; that's not doing so good though, and may have to come out if it doesn't perk up).

It's a really, really pretty little tank; the sort of tank where you spend half an hour with your nose pressed up against the glass so you can appreciate the details, so do think carefully about where you're going to site it; you need to be able to get up close to these tiny tanks for them to really be at their best.
 
Kitty Kat - the ammonia came from the pet store I got the tank from it came highly recommended by the shop and they do free water tests if u take a sample of the water to them. They have said it is fine and safe to use. Any input is welcome if you have any suggestions on what I can do to make the tank ready etc.
So, a standard fish-less cycle consists of setting up the tank with dechlorinated water, then dosing ammonia to 3-5 ppm. Once it reaches 0 ppm, we redose again and so on. When we notice that ammonia and nitrite are both processing from 3-5 ppm down to 0 ppm in 24 hours, we start testing at 12 hour intervals. Once both are processed in 12 hours, we keep dosing at 24 hour intervals for 7 days, to make sure that the ammonia really is processed consistently. Throughout the whole process, one can expect to dose ammonia at least 10, and more like 15-20 times. It takes about 4-8 weeks for the bacteria to establish.

Or cheat and nab some mature media from someone else!

shrimp are nifty a deffo for little tanks. when i feed my fish and the food is floating about in the tank, all 4 of my shrimp quickly climb to the top of my plastic plant (where they all live generally) and perch right on the end of a leaf filtering through all the food! is fascinating to watch
 
What about green microrasboras, they have great colour and only grow to about 1.5cm
 
so Kitty Kat if i was to start the whole process again from fresh what would you recommend i do?.... because you seem to know quite alot about it! :)


and could somebody tell me if i get a Betta Splenden (Siamese fighting fish) would it be safe to keep it with say 2 - 3 other fish? because i think these fish are beautiful and would really like to keep one.

Thank you everybody for the input you have all been a great help :) :good:
 
Yeah a betta would be ok, normally i would say you can keep them with a few different species but as its only 23l i would say cories are your best bet, possibly some shrimp too, tho amanos as others may be eaten
 
There's no way an Edge is big enough for cories; not even the pygmies.

I know the Edge doesn't have a lot of surface area, but there is some; more than enough for a Betta, if you really want one. I wouldn't try putting anymore fish in there though; I think that would be enough; just have some shrimp, or an apple snail or something.
 
thanks for the input about the betta's
i have actually just watched a video about them that had alot of info in it about the betta's

if anybody else is interested about the bettas heres the link

Betta Fish Info Video

info included in video ranges from feeding them, keeping with other fish, lifespan etc really informative

I know the Edge doesn't have a lot of surface area, but there is some; more than enough for a Betta, if you really want one. I wouldn't try putting anymore fish in there though; I think that would be enough; just have some shrimp, or an apple snail or something.

even though the edge is designed to be filled to the brim i cant see any reason to fill it all the way to the top a suppose you could fill it lower than top of the tank which will give it more surface area at the top, a air pump might be needed though to create more disturbance at the top to make more gas exchange :) :good:
 

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