Questions!

[Renn]

All right, so I've been in love with fish since almost forever (since I was 7- I'm almost 16 now). My parents have FINALLY allowed me to set up my own tank, after devouring all the fish literature I can get my hands on. Problem? They'll only let me have a 10 gallon, which I was know is soooo small, but I'm willing to do frequent partial water changes, etc, etc. I just have some questions.

1a) I'm planning on stocking it with 5-6 Black Skirt Tetras, and about 3 Skunk Corydoras. I just want to double-check that that's not too much fish to live comfortably. I'd probably add the corys first after letting the setup run a couple of days, but I've been reading something about cycling with ammonia or shrimp??? That confused me, as what I've heard is to let the setup run with plants for a couple days, then add some of the hardier fish and let it cycle for a week or so, then add the rest of the fish... Was I mis-informed?

1b) I also am kind of in love with Golden/German/whatever Rams... Mikrogeoghagus Ramirezi? Would it be okay to keep a pair of those in a 10 gallon? Minus the fish mentioned above, of course. Well, maybe the corys, but only if they would get along. If so, what else would I need to know?

2) I bought my tank from a friend, and he threw in two hanging filters and a heater. The heater is in good condition, and I think I'll use it, but I'm not so sure about the filters... Would it be okay to use them? I don't know what kind of a setup he had in the tank before. Would it just be better to buy a new filter?

3) I'm at a complete loss over planting. I have no idea how I would grow the plants, or even plant them, and I don't want to even start to mess with the lighting. With my setup, do I even need plants? Or could I get away with just fake plastics?

4) What kind of substrate should I use? I'm trying to find something that would be easiest to clean, but I also know that the corys might need something special as they're bottom feeders... Which brings up another point...

5) What about feeding? The last fish I kept, I was about 5 years old and just dropped in a pinch of the flake food every day. Now I know that I need to do more than that, but there's so much information out there that it can get very overwhelming. Would I be okay just using TetraMin or something regularly for the tetras, some pellets for the corys, and giving something different as a treat once in a while? I know my parents wouldn't let me do anything with live food, or anything I'd have to keep in the fridge/freezer. So what else could I do to vary the diet?

6) Okay, this may be a minor question, but I was in the Bahamas on a school trip over spring break, and I have a ton of shells and sand dollars and sea biscuits, and even the remains of a sea egg... Would it be okay to put any of these in the tank? If so, would I have to do any kind of treatment other than rinsing them? I'm wary of using anything with any sort of chemicals on anything that would go in my tank.

Well, that's pretty much all I can think of for now... I'll probably have a ton more questions once I actually start setting all this up- I'm a little paranoid about messing something up. Thank you!

 

[soritan]

Point 1a, 1b I can't help ya on.

Point 2, re 'filters', I can. Used filters work fine. In fact, my Penguin Biowheel is a used filter, media and all. If I'd had the money at the time, I'd have bought new filter media, but I couldn't so I cleaned and reused the old media. It was not a colonized filter, so no good bacteria were harmed in the cleaning. lol It works great.

Point 3, Fake plants ore Real plants is kind of a personal call. In my opinion, with two filters, you'll be getting plants mostly for aesthetic reasons, not biological balance. www.plantgeek.com is a good source, as well as the plant forum further down the main index of the fishforums.

Point 4, I've used gravel and sand, and I've personally found a nice, large grit sand to be easier to clean than gravel. Others would say the reverse, it's kind of a preference thing.

Point 5, Lots of good brands out there, when I selected my food, I just stood at the shelf and read all the labels until I found one that contained the best stuff. Naturally, it was the most expensive. Beyond that, it really depends on the fish you wind up with.

Point 6, natural things from a saltwater ocean don't really belong in a freshwater tank. Things like sand and whatnot never really lose their saltiness, and often have a way of altering your water chemistry.

That's about all the help I can offer you. Hope it helps.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Hi and congrats on the new tank. 10 gallons is not massive, but there's still good things you can do with it.

I am not an expert on black skirts, but I think a 10 gallon might be on the small side for them as they're quite active. Maybe some smaller tetras instead? But I'm not much of a tetra person, so will leave that to others. Also, 5 black skirts and 3 corys seems a bit on the heavy side.

"1a) I'm planning on stocking it with 5-6 Black Skirt Tetras, and about 3 Skunk Corydoras. I just want to double-check that that's not too much fish to live comfortably. I'd probably add the corys first after letting the setup run a couple of days, but I've been reading something about cycling with ammonia or shrimp??? That confused me, as what I've heard is to let the setup run with plants for a couple days, then add some of the hardier fish and let it cycle for a week or so, then add the rest of the fish... Was I mis-informed? "

Corys are not hardy enough to cycle a tank. Btw you want to read up the pinned topics on cycling. Basically, it's what happens when you put fish in a tank, while the colonies of bacteria are growing to deal with the fish waste. Potentially very stressful for the fish, which is why many fishkeepers these days recommend fishless cycling (pinned topic), where you simulate this situation by adding ammonia and don't put any fish in until the bacteria are many enough to handle the waste from the word go. If you are going to cycle with fish, you need to start with only 1 or 2 small fish, only a few hardy species are recommended (black skirts are actually one of them), and watch the water stats like a hawk. So your first purchase should be a test kit (the liquid ones are best) that tests for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Cycling with fish takes more than a week, more like 4-6 weeks usually. Just letting the tank sit is not going to do anything for the cycle. A massively planted tank may cycle almost instantly, but then we are talking serious plant growth.

If you are going to cycle fishless, you will need the test kit too, plus a bottle of pure household ammonia and water (hardware store). Once you've done a fishless cycle, you can add most moderately hardy fish; there are only a few that need a mature tank.

"1b) I also am kind of in love with Golden/German/whatever Rams... Mikrogeoghagus Ramirezi? Would it be okay to keep a pair of those in a 10 gallon? Minus the fish mentioned above, of course. Well, maybe the corys, but only if they would get along. If so, what else would I need to know?"

I am afraid 10 gallons is on the small side for territorial and potentially aggressive cichlids.


"2) I bought my tank from a friend, and he threw in two hanging filters and a heater. The heater is in good condition, and I think I'll use it, but I'm not so sure about the filters... Would it be okay to use them? I don't know what kind of a setup he had in the tank before. Would it just be better to buy a new filter? "

I'd go for it, as long as the pump is working.

"3) I'm at a complete loss over planting. I have no idea how I would grow the plants, or even plant them, and I don't want to even start to mess with the lighting. With my setup, do I even need plants? Or could I get away with just fake plastics? "

No need to do plants if you don't want to. Just make sure the corys (if you go for them) have plenty of hiding places.

"4) What kind of substrate should I use? I'm trying to find something that would be easiest to clean, but I also know that the corys might need something special as they're bottom feeders... Which brings up another point... "

Corys prefer sand, but lots of us keep them on gravel. If you do, it is essential that the gravel is smooth and rounded and that you do regular gravel vacs (I clean mine once a week, twice a week in hot weather)

5) What about feeding? The last fish I kept, I was about 5 years old and just dropped in a pinch of the flake food every day. Now I know that I need to do more than that, but there's so much information out there that it can get very overwhelming. Would I be okay just using TetraMin or something regularly for the tetras, some pellets for the corys, and giving something different as a treat once in a while? I know my parents wouldn't let me do anything with live food, or anything I'd have to keep in the fridge/freezer. So what else could I do to vary the diet?

"The diet you suggest sounds fine. If you want to give them an inoffensive treat, lfs sell frozen bloodworms, daphnia and brine shrimps; there is also (at least in the UK) something called TetraDelica, which is the same stuff jellied in little sachets, I find this works a treat, my corys adore it and it is totally inoffensive to other family members. Some fish, like livebearers, also like a bit of veg in their diet, but corys are probably less fussed.

"6) Okay, this may be a minor question, but I was in the Bahamas on a school trip over spring break, and I have a ton of shells and sand dollars and sea biscuits, and even the remains of a sea egg... Would it be okay to put any of these in the tank? If so, would I have to do any kind of treatment other than rinsing them? I'm wary of using anything with any sort of chemicals on anything that would go in my tank. "

Like soritan said, it can alter ph.