Advice

[BronzeWolf]

Hi

Yesturday i bought my son and myself being a beginner a small fish tank its only 17 litres / 4.5 gallons. I'm very new to fish so i didnt want to be to ambitious.

I will be mantaining a coldwater tank and wondering what kind of coldwater fish i could put in it. I have been reading up alot on coldwater fish and ya well there dosent seem to be much variety.

I read somewhere that you should have one inch of fish per one gallon , that means to me that i would only really be able to have 4 fish in it then

I'm quiet interested in getting some zebra donia's but i think they have to be in a group of 6 or more, if they grow up to 2 inches that exceeds my tank capacity.

Well i have read that tetra's can be kept in coldwater, guppies or whitecloud but i dont know if they are compatible with eachother.

What i really would have liked is a few really small fish and then a one goldfish, but im worried now that my tank is too small.

I got my tank all ready today put gravel in it (after washing it about 1000 times, the water is still a bit cloudy, i hope that it will clear up) Got a filter and put Fresh Start in the water.

Anyway could anyone give me some advice as to what would be a nice variety to have in a small tank like mine.

Many thanx
BronzeWolf

 

[Fresh_Start]

I think 4.5 gallons is too small for one goldfish. The general rule is that each goldfish needs 10 gallons of water. You could try to get a few White Cloud Mountain Minnows.

 

[Rayne]

Don't get a goldfish trust me your tank is way too small. I have a 55 gal with 3 comets and a moor in it and I still can't keep it clean.

Stick with small fish!!!

 

[BronzeWolf]

Thanx for your advice guys...

I had a look at the whitecloud minnows but prefered the zebra danio's so I bought 6 of them, some bog wood, stones and pebbles and put in a couple of shells, got some plastic plants too, anyway i hope they will be happy and wont peg off in 4 weeks... keeping fingers crossed.

Actually i have another question, when starting off the tank where does the bacteria come from if the filter is clean (being new) and the gravel is all clean ??
How long would it be before my tank would have bacteria in it?

Thanx.... have a nice sunday B)

BronzeWolf

p.s You know the guy at the shop said they had a fishtank the same as mine on display and that they had 2 goldfish and 6 danio's in that tank.... go figure.

 

[ryan]

You could try White Cloud Moutain Minnows or Golden Minnows.

Have you cycled the tank?

 

[BronzeWolf]

I set up the tank, meaning i washed the gravel, put water in the tank (dechlorinated with FreshStart) and switched the filter on 16 hours before the fish went in it, the guy at the shop said that, that was enough time, that was why i bought the tank and equipment on Saturday and the Fish today ( Sunday)

Silly me when i fed the fish today i just put in 2 large flakes without crumbling it up i thought the poor fish were going to suffocate themselves with this huge chunk of flake, so i took the two pieces out and thought maybe what i should be doing is crumbling into the water, well i did that with 2 flakes and it looked like the fish were feeding off of it for 15 minutes there seemed to be so much food, yesturrday when i asked the guy at the shop how much to feed he didnt give me an indepth explanation (like crumbling the flake , i know it seems obvious but not to me a novice...haha) he just said feed once a day for a gold fish you would give a 5 pence piece but i dont know if he means a crumbled up flake the size of a 5 pence piece , the flake (whole) is about as big as a 5 pence piece u anyway.. If 6 zebra danio's feed for 15 minutes on 2 flakes how much should i be giving them then ?

BronzeWolf

 

[diVer]

I think you're only supposed to give your fish what they will eat in 3 minutes.

 

[Fresh_Start]

Don't ever trust what they tell you at the pet store. That seems to be the universal rule wherever in the world you happen to live!

 

[BronzeWolf]

I have another concern.. if i may

Well like i said before on Saturday i started up the tank and on Sunday i bought the fish, I bought the tank in a spontaneous moment and without prior knowledge, now i have read a few sites and to be honest i would have prefered to have done fishless cycling, i feel sorry for them now that im cycling the tank with them in it, I hope they survive the stress of poisening ... anyway... the guy at the shop told me that i should leave the tank for 4-6 weeks before i change the water (vacum gravel or clean the filter) and that only after 4-6 weeks i should then do weekly 20-25% water changes.
Is this correct it dosent sound right to leave the tank so long there will be so much toxin in it, should i do a change in a weeks time?



........

4.5 Gallon
6 Zebra Danios

 

[kaz petts]

Hi
do not take this advice that I am about to give as gospel as I am still a beginner,
as far as I am aware 4-6 weeks is too long if you have already put fish in the tank.
When I put my fish in my 3' tank I added them before cycling the tank so I was also cycling it with the fish in.
I had a big ammonia problem, all other levels were ok but ammonia sky rocketed to 8.0 the highest my reader reads to. Thankfully my fish survived this but I was doing regular gravel cleans and 10-20% water changes. My fish did show signs of stress so I just added a bit of stress coat after doing the water changes.
I have only just managed to get my levels to what they should be 0 ammonia and 0 Nitrite.
All my fish seem happy now and are swimming around quite merrily and feeding ok.
Before doing anything though I would advise that you wait until a more experianced fish keeper on here sends you some advice (someone like Cheese specialist, she has been a big help for me.)
Good luck
Kaz

 

[BronzeWolf]

Hmm i think the best thing to do is to buy / borrow a test kit and check the water in about 2 days time and do a water change if needed and just keep on checking the water, that way at least I'm ontop of it.



p.s Just wanted to thank all you guys and gals for your advice THANKS