Ammonia Again?

[waterdrop]

I can tell you right now that a group of zebra danios and a group of rasboras are a great subset to start off a newly cycled tank!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[D3m]

Ok if I got 6 Zebra Danios and 6 Rasboras that would be a good starter. How long would I be looking at waiting for some more?

I was also under the impression from when I first read into fishless cycling that you could almost fully stock your tank because it would have enough bacteria to cope with all the fish, which is what I was hoping to do.

 

[waterdrop]

ok, here's why I answered that:

First of all you're right, the filter is technically ready for *more* than a full stocking, BUT, then comes the totally different problem that some fish (many fish!) carry this extra little warning from the experienced folks here on TFF that you're just better off waiting and giving them a more mature tank, the usual being 6 months total time, but it can also vary with each species, the more you read here the more feel you get for it. Be aware I'm just passing on stuff from reading here a lot, only some of my agreement is from direct experience, like for neons and angels and dwarf G's...

ok, so here's my thinking: pygmy cories and neon/cardinal tetras definately fall into this mysterious category of wait 6 months, we don't know why but many agree it seems to really work better! (I just got neons yesterday, I waited about 7 months, maybe more.. I'll let you know if they make it!)

Angels often get the same wait recommendation but sometimes I feel its more that they are a centerpiece fish, requiring more research and searching to find good ones. You usually want them young and they are indeed more delicate when young I just feel and they are generally more expensive, so you want more "tank stability insurance" is how I would put it.

Dwarf G's are actually pretty tough, its just that its hit or miss whether they will have the new DG disease that gets many and so maybe that makes people wait longer on these too, but here you might think 2 or 3 months instead of 6.

Killifish I just do not know at all what the scoop is on them as far as new tank hardiness is.

Guppies you could get right away, I just hate to see beginners getting any kind of livebearer unless they fully understand that these are likely to start having babies immediately and continuing and it will multiply the stresses on you as a beginner much more than you can know, usually. Its just my personal quirk that I feel its better with discussion here with other people first.

There! I got them all in! Yea! Now I'm leaving on errands before you can ask another question
~~waterdrop~~

 

[D3m]

Yep you definitely covered it all

Go do your errands, good luck with the tetras and THANKS once again

 

[D3m]

One more question and thats it I promise

How many fish maximum should I put in to start off?

 

[waterdrop]

I think you have a 180L/46.7G tank, so as a beginner getting used to your tank for the first year or so it would be wise to think of maybe 45 inches of fully grown fish body as your maximum. I assume you've seen threads or articles about this. You look up the description of each species in the TFF guides and/or other sites and you always use the max the fish can grow to as your inches to multiply times the number of fish you hope to have of that species.

Anyway, the fishless cycle will ready your filter for that entire 45" load, so its not a matter of the tank not being ready to handle whatever you decide on. Rather its a matter of their so rarely being anyone who chooses all "very-hardy" type fish! Not many people choose to have 45 zebra danios and nothing else in their 180L for instance! Instead you have this thing of picking and choosing your various species and thinking about what minimum shoal sizes each species needs, how many months of stabilized tank people recommend (I'm not necessarily the best at this!) and very importantly what species will get along with each other.

So for you, you already know you could start with the zebras and rasboras and the decision is whether you might also find the killi was ok and that yes, you still want guppies (despite my warning!! or maybe you will be sure to get all males, lol) and maybe you would decide to risk it and just try the dwarf G's at the beginning (or maybe you'd find that you like some little golden or chocolate gouramis, but for now probably stay away from 3-spot, blue, opaline, kissing etc.) You've got such a big tank, maybe you'll want some other little schools of different tetras which would be great starters like rummy nose, or glowlight tetras or black neons (well they might need to wait like other neons) or maybe investigate cherry barbs (I'm not sure but people may say they are less aggressive than other barbs which you probably definately don't want (like tigers which can be pretty vicious.)

Anyway, there I go writing again since I finished some errands! gotta go do a water change myself now!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[D3m]

Thanks WD That cleared up a big question I could'nt find the answer too anywhere else on this forum.

I'll let you know, what I get soon enough!

 

[D3m]

Got my fish in finally and have to say Tri-Mar in Cambourne were fantastic, with delivery times, cost and quality of fish and would highly recommend to everyone.

In the end this was my selection:
5 x Harlequin Rasbora
6 x Zebra Danios
5 x Glowlight Tetra
4 x Black Phantom Tetra
2 x Dwarf Gourami

I have a couple of slight problems, The Black Phantoms dont seem to be eating at the moment and seem a bit timid, also one is a female and im sure pregnant.
One of the gourami's does'nt seem very interested in the other one and chases it off a lot.
And lastly, the who said get sand the bloody mess in the bottom allready is driving me mad, i wanna get the syphon in there allready. Apart from that im over the moon and cant stop watching them.

Lastly the Danios and Rasbora play with each other constantly its great to watch.

 

[pooloflight]

Got my fish in finally and have to say Tri-Mar in Cambourne were fantastic, with delivery times, cost and quality of fish and would highly recommend to everyone.

In the end this was my selection:
5 x Harlequin Rasbora
6 x Zebra Danios
5 x Glowlight Tetra
4 x Black Phantom Tetra
2 x Dwarf Gourami

I have a couple of slight problems, The Black Phantoms dont seem to be eating at the moment and seem a bit timid, also one is a female and im sure pregnant.
One of the gourami's does'nt seem very interested in the other one and chases it off a lot.
And lastly, the who said get sand the bloody mess in the bottom allready is driving me mad, i wanna get the syphon in there allready. Apart from that im over the moon and cant stop watching them.

Lastly the Danios and Rasbora play with each other constantly its great to watch.

 

[D3m]

Thanks for the reply Poolo lol

 

[Miss Wiggle]

nice little fish, yes trimar are excellent aren't they. always good to hear another experience of them, just reinforces it for us that we can be comfortable recommending them to others in your situation.

how long have the fish been in for now? it's normal to have some fish behaving slightly odd in the first few days or week while they settle in.

remember while dwarf gourami's are normally fairly peaceful you do get the odd agressive one, so just keep an eye on things and be prepared to re-home one of them if there are agression problems.

 

[waterdrop]

Wow! This is great news! First Fish out there on the island? Really happy for you. They sound really nice. Many fish are quite timid about a new situation, they vary a lot by species. You can see this in the contrast between the phantom behaviour versus your zebras/rasboras. Let's hope the phantoms and gouramis settle down, there's no reason to think they won't. Its true though that the Gs' vary a lot in personality by individual fish, so you'll just have to see how they play out as MW says. G's love to have some floating plants for a litte "hang-out" area to go in and out of, if you happen to be able to manage something like that. They mostly hang out at the surface in my experience.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[D3m]

they've only been in for a couple of days so far so im not overly worried at the moment, they seem to come out from cover when the lights are turned off i noticed aswell. Ive ordered some sinking fish food for mid section and bottom dwelling fish and frozen bloodworm for treats which will hopefully get them in the mood.]

regarding the gourami, most of the time they seem fine together but dont tend to stick together they just do there own thing in the tank, compared to all the other brands of fish which stick together like glue almost. Its almost like it chases the other only when its swimming away from it, I will keep an eye on them though.

 

[waterdrop]

Gouramis are independent minded fish. Not as much as cichlids, but still, not shoaling fish, so their behaviour may be pretty normal and you will just need to get used to it. Be very careful of the bloodworm and only feed the smallest bits of it and fairly occassionally I would say, as there are plenty of folks who run into intestinal problems in their fish from too much of this. Bloodworm can also leave quite a bit of protein (I believe?) in the water if it is being overfed.

~~waterdrop~~