Newbie Questions - Stocking, Cycling, Feeding, Fish Behaviour, Breeding...

[QuantumBoy]

Evening all!

So I've just got my first tank and I've made all of the usual 'tank from national pet shop chain with poor advice' mistakes. Totally should have done more research before getting into this, but touch wood no fish loss so far, and I'm hoping you can help me keep it that way for a while.

I have a 55 litre tank that I'm trying to keep as temperate/subtropical as possible - there's a heater in but it's on the lowest setting, just to make sure the tank stays at 20C even in winter when I don't have the central heating on.

I have a bunch of questions to try and keep my fish babies happy in an uncycled tank, but didn't want to spam the forum with loads of different threads so I've put them all here. If that's not cool just let me know and I'll split them.

Cycling and Fish Behaviour
OK, I put the fish in without cycling (although I did de-chlorinate), which I now know is a mistake. I've bought a test kit and I'm doing my best to keep tabs on ammonia/nitrates/nitrites while the cycle is gets going.

Questions:

• I've added Evolution Aqua Pure balls to the filter to try and get some bacteria kick-started. Some reputable magazines gave good reviews, and this forum seems OK with them. Anyone get any experience of trying to get a cycle started quickly with this?
• When I got my platies they were really shy and nervous, and hid in the plants panicking whenever I even moved in the same room. Water test said ammonia was pretty high, so I did a 20% water change. They're now fizzing about all over the tank, and just rushed to meet me for a feed! They seem much more active and happy. Are they just getting used to the tank, or do high ammonia levels effect fish behaviour, too?
• I was to change filters, the internal one that came with the tank it taking up too much space. I'm thinking Eheim Aqua Compact 60. Will this do for a 55 litre tank? (Rate is about 350 litres/hour)
• Any tips on changing filters? I was going to run both for a couple of weeks, then put some of the media from the old filter into the Eheim canister when I change over. Thoughts?
• How long do I leave the lights on for? I've heard suggestions from 4 hours to 12 hours a day! Does it matter?

Feeding, Stocking and Breeding
So at the minute I have 4 variatus platies (2 male, 2 female) and a hillstream loach.

Questions:

• The poor loach should't be in there - there's no algae for him! There is an airstone and the filter is quite fast moving so he should be OK in the long run for oxygen and stuff, but I don't want the poor guy to go hungry and he won't eat algae wafers. I'm confident I could culture some algae from a puddle outside to grow on fish-safe pebbles in my house. I could then drop one stone in at a time to feed him. Would this work? I know adding algae to the tank is probably a bad idea, but this way at least I have a little control over how frequently a new 'algae stone' is added to the tank and how long they are left in.
• Do I need two more female platys? One was clearly pregnant when I bought her (I see that now), and I hear you should have 2 female for every male?
• When the platy gives birth, what do I do then?! Are the fry going to get eaten and/or mushed up in the filter? Or will one or two survive? I don't really want loads of platy babies, but a couple of free fish would be cool. I'm getting a 250 litre tank in April so there'll be room for them eventually.
• What other fish could I put in my tank? I know it's not very big, so I was thinking a few White Cloud Mountain minnows. Anything more colourful? At 20C it's too cold for most tropicals - I wanted something big and colourful, but I'm worried a paradise fish would be too aggressive, and the only other recommendation I've seen is an Argentine Pearlfish, but I've never seen one of those in a shop! Any ideas?
• I'm guessing the tank it too small for a dwarf pleco? There are some lovely L-numbers...
• Could I also get away with a few blue velvet shrimp? Or is his a no go?

Thanks for reading this far! Hope you can help me with any of the above.

 

[Gruntle]

Okay, I'll do my best, but I guarantee I don't have all the answers.

Ammonia - fish will not like it in the tank and will not display active behaviour. Unfortunately until you have a cycled tank you're going to have issues. Do you know a fish enthusiast locally? You may be able to beg some filter media from them, which will move your nitrate cycle along quickly (you can safely take about 1/4 of the media from an established filter without issues, so you might be able to arrange a trade - sponges, bioballs, ceramic rings, whatever is in the filter).

When it comes to filters, you want about a 5x turnover per hour minimum (so a 55 litre tank should require a minimum 220 litre per hour filter). I wouldn't bother running them simultaneously, just put your media in from the existing filter (and as it's uncycled it won't make any difference if you wait).

Lights - I'd suggest 8-12 hours per day. Depends on the natural lighting you have in your fish room, fish need a cycle of darkness for good health just like humans. It's a bit of trial and error, and if you see lots of algae growth, you might want to back your light duration down (and/or change how much you're feeding).

I'll leave the hillstream loach question, I don't know enough. I'd be hesitant to grow algae outside of the tank and add it via stone.

You should have 2 females for every male platy, but I wouldn't worry too much (the main worry is overstock by natural increase - I have Endlers which are also livebearers and they multiply like nothing I've ever seen before). Your platy will give birth, and the fry may or may not be eaten (if there are enough hiding spaces they will have a better chance of survival) and all things going well, you should have more females shortly.

In a 55 litre tank I wouldn't be looking for more fish. Definitely wait for your bigger tank. And while you wait, do some research on your water - pH, GH and KH (acidity and hardness) - GH and KH can be found out by looking at your municipal water supply website. It's far easier to stock according to your usual water parameters than trying to adjust them to the fish you have, and your fish will be far happier. Again I'm no expert, but others here will be able to help you find out what your water is like, and therefore what fish would be best suited.

 

[QuantumBoy]

That's really helpful, thanks.

I'll get onto local groups to see if anyone can help with filter media.

Looking forward to see how my platy babies got on - and will hold off getting more fish for a while.

I was using test strips and they said pH 6.5, KH 10, GH 30. I've got some liquid tests on order.

My local water supplier says the profile is a little different (not sure how much of this is useful for fish-keeping!)

Calcium	14.2	mg Ca/l
Magnesium	1.9	mg Mg/l
Residual chlorine - free	0.4	mg/l Cl2
Residual chlorine - total	0.48	mg/l Cl2
Aluminium	10.5	µg Al/l
Fluoride	0.05	mg F/l
pH	8.0
Iron	17	µg Fe/l
Nitrate	1.53	mg NO3/l
Nitrite	0.002	mg NO2/l
Sodium	7.4	mg Na/l
Copper	0.0097	mg Cu/l
Lead	0.13	µg Pb/l

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Thanks again, appreciate it.

 

[Essjay]

You need the hardness figure, not the water quality report. My son used to work as an analyst for a water testing company and he explained what hardness actually means. It is not the same as calcium in the water quality report. But your strip tester does indicate hard water which is fine for platies.

On the plus side, your nitrate is nice and low so should have no trouble keeping the tank nitrate below 20 ppm.








[Hardness is not the amount of calcium, or calcium carbonate, in the water. It is a measure of the amount of divalent metal ions. In practice, this means mainly calcium, some magnesium and trace amounts of other metal ions. But water companies add all the metal ions amounts together and give a figure for what it would be if all the metal ions were calcium, or calcium carbonate, or sometimes calcium oxide]

 

[Gruntle]

In one of my tanks I had 2 male and 4 female platies. I now have 4 babies (and either another platy or my Cherry Barbs have finally started breeding again). Looking forward to seeing what sex the young ones are.