Adding New Fish

[alexdallimore]

Hi

I have got a 4 foot rena prism fish tank (250lts ish) with ext. filter with all correct media etc etc. I bought the tank which came with a variety of fish

1x red tail shark
2x tiger barb (small)
1x clown loach
3x ruby barbs
5x flying fox (maybe wrong but not sure)
3 algea eating small white/yellow ones.

I didn't know that much when I got them and just knew enough to keep them alive. I kept some of the old water and the fish have all suvived the move and are living happily for last 4 weeks. I now want to add some fish that don't want to live in the bottom half of the tank so am thinking of 3 spot gourami's.

I have tested the water over 2 week period and the Amonia is zero, Nitrite is zero but Nitrate is between 10 and 20. The pH is normal. Even if I do a water change the Nitrate never goes below 10. I thought that it had to be zero--ish before I could add fish but I tested the tap water yesturday and found that it has nitrate of 5ppm anyway. Can I add fish and just make sure Nitrate doesn't exceed 40? Is it ok to add as long as Amonia and nitrite are zero?

What is the safe amount of gourami's to add in one go without making the amonia/nitrate cycle difficult and unsafe?

Any other suggestions for suitable middle to top swimming fish?

Final question is how much food should I be feeding. I am using flake and give a small pinch a day. Is this too much considering most of them feed off the bottom as well. All the food gets eaten in about 1 minute with non left.

Sorry this was long but wanted to paint a whole picture to get best advise.

Cheers


Alex

 

[Silverlady]

Don't worry about the Nitrate, it wont hurt the fish.

 

[Jules H-T]

am thinking of 3 spot gourami's.

A good idea. I prefer lace gourami personally, but 3 spot would be good. Not sure how many go well together, a pair would be good, not sure about larger groups. You could consider some danios (maybe 6), not necessarily instead of, but as well.

I have tested the water over 2 week period and the Amonia is zero, Nitrite is zero but Nitrate is between 10 and 20. The pH is normal. Even if I do a water change the Nitrate never goes below 10. I thought that it had to be zero--ish before I could add fish but I tested the tap water yesturday and found that it has nitrate of 5ppm anyway. Can I add fish and just make sure Nitrate doesn't exceed 40? Is it ok to add as long as Amonia and nitrite are zero?

Yes, don't worry too much about the Nitrate. I don't even test TBH, just make sure I change out 25% of the water weekly.

What is the safe amount of gourami's to add in one go without making the amonia/nitrate cycle difficult and unsafe?

You should be fine adding a good few fish now the tank has settled down. Maybe the gourami one week, the danio (or whatever else) a week later. Once the cycle is going, it can adapt quickly.

Any other suggestions for suitable middle to top swimming fish?

As above, danios go well. There was also another thread very recently about top dwellers, see what you can find. Further to this, you need to consider the rest of your stocking in some detail, it's inappropriate at the moment:

RTBS get very territorial as they get older, particularly with fish of a similar shape. You need advice from someone experienced as to whether they will tolerate clown loaches.

Tiger barbs will not be happy in a group that small. Either get rid, or boost to 6+. Bear in mind that if you boost these, they will take up a lot of middle water. I do not know how they get on with gourami- gourami are peacful and like placid tanks, tiger barbs are little nutters. You may have a conflict.

Clown loaches do not cope very well on their own. Either ditch or boost to 5+. Bear in mind clowns live for 20+yrs and grow to a foot long over that period.

I don't know anything much about the other fish, so you need advice. You should identify the small white/yellow ones.

Final question is how much food should I be feeding. I am using flake and give a small pinch a day. Is this too much considering most of them feed off the bottom as well. All the food gets eaten in about 1 minute with non left.

You need more variety. For starters I always have two brands of flake. Then you need to be feeding frozen food- blood worm, brine shrimp etc. etc. Live foods (as frozen, but still alive) also go down well. Consider vegetables too. Algae tablets either whole or crushed won't do any harm either. Chopped prawn/mussel. Search on here for food/vegetable/frozen/variety and you'll turn up loads of stuff.

Sorry this was long but wanted to paint a whole picture to get best advise.

Glad you did, makes it worth spending the time on a decent reply, for me.

To give you some sort of idea of options, my tank is 6" wider and taller than yours and contains:

1 * rescued BGKF (who is getting too big- don't follow me there!)
5 * Red Line Torpedo Barb (see avatar)
5 * Clown Loach
3 * Yo Yo loaches
6 * Khuli Loaches
2 * Lace Gourami (MF Pair)
5 * Leopard Danio
2 * Kribensis (MF pair)

Were I in your position I'd consider something like:

8 Tiger Barbs
1 RTBS
5 Flying Fox
6-8 smaller loaches (yo yo or zebra)

Leave the algaes and the ruby barbs unless anyone has anything to add.

Sure someone more expert than I will come and assist on the stocking advice.