Advice Please :)

[MaddieJ]

Apart from my three gorgeous Goldies, Ive not kept fish before and recently bought an 'aquamagic' setup. Im aware it isnt fantastic, but I dont want anything too fancy untill I have some knowledge under my belt The kit included the following: EHEIM Pickup 2006, 10(uk)Gallon Hexagonal tank. Jager heater, EHEIM filter, light and net. When we were there it was suggested we do a Fishless cycle using the followingtress coat and Stress zyme. We were told to set it up and have the pump running and it was suggested we take a water sample to them 7 days later (four days from now). Now, we werent told about home testing kits (for ph etc) so how do we (myself and bf) find out if we are doing anything wrong? By taking a sample of our tank water to them, wont it be 'contaminated' by bacteria in the jar/pot we use to get it to our lfs? Therefore giving incorrect results

We were also told that should everythig be fine after that one week we could take our pick of any fish we liked as the tank will hold up to an 8inch fish. Now even I know itd be a bit silly keeping a fish that size in a tank that isnt so big..

Ive looked around on the info here and compared it with info from our lfs and am now totaly confused

My plan was to originaly get some Tetras, then was told by my lfs that something bigger would be fine..then read (and thru common sense knew) not too..meeep

 

[samyboy]

im quite new and havent done any home tests yet, just start off with some known hardy fish rember not to add loads at the same time

 

[Snick]

I would go with small fish, as a 10 gal. really isnt made for big fish. a big fisg can live in it , but it will defenetly not be happy in there. i will go with some tetras like you initally though, perhaps some schooling neons (about 6 or 8), or some colorful guppies or lifebearers of any sort. Some guramis wil be nice, but not so many or they will get croweded.

 

[samyboy]

cant go wrong with wcmm's and cory's

 

[SamUK]

Apart from my three gorgeous Goldies, Ive not kept fish before and recently bought an 'aquamagic' setup. Im aware it isnt fantastic, but I dont want anything too fancy untill I have some knowledge under my belt The kit included the following: EHEIM Pickup 2006, 10(uk)Gallon Hexagonal tank. Jager heater, EHEIM filter, light and net. When we were there it was suggested we do a Fishless cycle using the followingtress coat and Stress zyme. We were told to set it up and have the pump running and it was suggested we take a water sample to them 7 days later (four days from now). Now, we werent told about home testing kits (for ph etc) so how do we (myself and bf) find out if we are doing anything wrong? By taking a sample of our tank water to them, wont it be 'contaminated' by bacteria in the jar/pot we use to get it to our lfs? Therefore giving incorrect results

We were also told that should everythig be fine after that one week we could take our pick of any fish we liked as the tank will hold up to an 8inch fish. Now even I know itd be a bit silly keeping a fish that size in a tank that isnt so big..

Ive looked around on the info here and compared it with info from our lfs and am now totaly confused

My plan was to originaly get some Tetras, then was told by my lfs that something bigger would be fine..then read (and thru common sense knew) not too..meeep

most LFS jus want your money as youve already sussed. theyve got you coming bak to spend more money so thats good for them.


read these links

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=88643

and youll kno all you need to kno and not what the LFS has told you. jus try to forget that lol.


as for stocking the tank, im not sure if youd be pushing it but i think id try go for a pair of honey gouramis, 4 neon or smilar sized tetras and a couple of corys/ottos.

youd have to keep up the maintenance tho.

 

[dwarfgourami]

For a fishless cycle, you want to add ammonia, according to the instructions in the link provided by Sam above.

I would stick with something small in this tank. Possibilities include: tetras (remember they are schooling fish, so at least 6), the smaller corydoras (also in groups), guppies, platies, endlers (for these last three see livebearer forum for gender ratio), pair of honey gouramis, 1 dwarf gourami, shrimps, a betta (Siamese fighter- though this limits choice of companions), khuulie loaches etc.

 

[MaddieJ]

Decided to go with 6 or so neon tetras and a betta. All my ph etc is perfect and today is the day to pick up the fish! (God Im so excited!!! ) Ive read about how to pick out healthy fish and how to safely introduce them to the tank, getting them used to the water temp and ph levels. I will ask about theyre current water state when I go to pick them up.

My final question, however, is this. Will it be best to buy the neons and betta today, and introduce them into the take right away? Or buy the neons, get them in for a week or two and then go get our betta?

 

[diademhill]

Decided to go with 6 or so neon tetras and a betta. All my ph etc is perfect and today is the day to pick up the fish! (God Im so excited!!! ) Ive read about how to pick out healthy fish and how to safely introduce them to the tank, getting them used to the water temp and ph levels. I will ask about theyre current water state when I go to pick them up.

My final question, however, is this. Will it be best to buy the neons and betta today, and introduce them into the take right away? Or buy the neons, get them in for a week or two and then go get our betta?

Whoa!

Your tank is not cycled & if you buy fish today they may well die.
Please read the cycling link on the page linked above & check out fishless cycling. Neons won't survive a cycle & it is unfair to subject any fish to the process.
Your water sample today will be ok as there has been nothing added to the tank to give an ammonia reading.

The shop will #1 sell you fish,#2 they will get ill & they'll sell you meds, #3 then they'll sell you more fish.

Better to buy test kits & miss out the first two above, less stress for you & the fish.

 

[MaddieJ]

we have had ammonia being put in from day 2 of our cycle, it got really high on day four and from friday all our tests have shown a perfect reading, after speaking to lfs on the phone they said adding in some fish would be ok, since the ammonia has already peaked.



edit: we got a test kit on day three (day one and two our lfs tested for us) that tests nitrate, nitrite, ph, gh and carbonate.

 

[diademhill]

we have had ammonia being put in from day 2 of our cycle, it got really high on day four and from friday all our tests have shown a perfect reading, after speaking to lfs on the phone they said adding in some fish would be ok, since the ammonia has already peaked.



edit: we got a test kit on day three (day one and two our lfs tested for us) that tests nitrate, nitrite, ph, gh and carbonate.

The nitrites need to spike & be removed before the tank is ready for fish - unless you've added LIVE bacteria this can't have happened yet.

 

[Harif87]

Whoa!

Your tank is not cycled & if you buy fish today they may well die.
Please read the cycling link on the page linked above & check out fishless cycling. Neons won't survive a cycle & it is unfair to subject any fish to the process.
Your water sample today will be ok as there has been nothing added to the tank to give an ammonia reading.

The shop will #1 sell you fish,#2 they will get ill & they'll sell you meds, #3 then they'll sell you more fish.

Better to buy test kits & miss out the first two above, less stress for you & the fish.

Diademhill is without a doubt 100% right. Lfs's just want your money and will sell you any thing they can whether you need it or not...hell theyll sell dog food as gravel if they could!

You need to do the following if you plan on cycling your tank:

- Buy test kits for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate

- Add AMMONIA to the water, stress-zyme and stress-coat are NOT sources of ammonia which would render them useless for fishless cycling.

- Once you have the ammonia at desired levels in your tank (4 ppm)you need to have it for about a MONTH. When the lfs told you in a week eveyrhting will be fine they lied straight thourough their teeth.

-Once you find that the ammonia levels are at 0 ppm test for nitrite and wait till that goes to 0 ppm then youll have alot of nitrate which will mean that you will have to do a waterchange before the addition of fish.

-Then after all this you can introduce your fish to the tank.



...Read the pinned thread on fishless cycling in the freshwater begginers section

 

[fishboytoo]

I would agree with the fishless cycle advice. And your tank is not cycled after one week, guaranteed.

However, if you decide to complete the cycle with fish, make sure you perform daily water changes and I'd not recommend neons for the job as they are not a very hardy fish. Try zebra danios, they're bullet proof in my opinion.

Best of Luck.

 

[carrera]

first rule of thumb, we are right, lfs is wrong

you need to learn these things such as the nitrogen cycle yourself and stop going to the lfs for advice, 9 times out of 10 they are wrong.