Coldwater To Tropical

[clarkie]

So... I have kept coldwater fish for a few years now but more recently i've been getting bored wih the plain colours that inhabit my tanks, i know a few more colourful fish are available for coldwater but i'd like to try keeping tropical fish. I have moved all my fish into one tank now so i have a small 10g tank free to keep a few tropicals.
My question is this, because i have been using the tank and the filter is always on then do i have to do a cycle if i'm wantng to add tropicals? Also would it be possible to add some of the coldwater fish to the tropical tank if i was to slowly raise the temperature or would i just be best to start fresh and leave the coldwater fish where they are now in the larger tank? The fish i was going to put back in the tropical tank were wc minnows. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated as tropicals are new to me.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes you can add a heater and go tropical. The filter stuff is all the same. Gotta run, others will answer the other questions.

 

[denise31]

So... I have kept coldwater fish for a few years now but more recently i've been getting bored wih the plain colours that inhabit my tanks, i know a few more colourful fish are available for coldwater but i'd like to try keeping tropical fish. I have moved all my fish into one tank now so i have a small 10g tank free to keep a few tropicals.
My question is this, because i have been using the tank and the filter is always on then do i have to do a cycle if i'm wantng to add tropicals? Also would it be possible to add some of the coldwater fish to the tropical tank if i was to slowly raise the temperature or would i just be best to start fresh and leave the coldwater fish where they are now in the larger tank? The fish i was going to put back in the tropical tank were wc minnows. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated as tropicals are new to me.

I would personaly would leave the cold water fish out of the tropical tank and start a fresh with a tropical set up to do this you will need a to cycle and add a heater and a filter and check the water condition before adding your tropicals, I have known a few ppl that have done it with cold water fish never done it my self though. What type of tropical fish are you planning to keep?

 

[clarkie]

Thanks for help, not sure about what fish to keep yet. Was hoping to get some ideas from this forum. Any ideas what would be good for a starter?

 

[denise31]

Thanks for help, not sure about what fish to keep yet. Was hoping to get some ideas from this forum. Any ideas what would be good for a starter?

prob to start with a small community tank with no big fish. If your looking for colour u can have neons, gourami, guppie's nice colours but can produce babys regular, If you google tropical fish and search community fish that will give you a better idea of what you prefer and colours hope this helps

 

[denise31]

Thanks for help, not sure about what fish to keep yet. Was hoping to get some ideas from this forum. Any ideas what would be good for a starter?

prob to start with a small community tank with no big fish. If your looking for colour u can have neons, gourami, guppie's nice colours but can produce babys regular, If you google tropical fish and search community fish that will give you a better idea of what you prefer and colours hope this helps

check this out link recommended for 10g tank
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=116208

 

[OldMan47]

There is no reason not to put tropicals right into a well cycled cold water tank. As soon as the water heats up, the tank is ready to stock with tropicals. If you let the tank sit empty for a few weeks, you will get to start the cycle all over for a lack of keeping the bacteria fed. The first day or two probably won't affect the cycled filter much at all so you could wait until the weekend to add your new fish.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

There is no reason not to put tropicals right into a well cycled cold water tank. As soon as the water heats up, the tank is ready to stock with tropicals. If you let the tank sit empty for a few weeks, you will get to start the cycle all over for a lack of keeping the bacteria fed. The first day or two probably won't affect the cycled filter much at all so you could wait until the weekend to add your new fish.

yes how long has hte tank been running with no fish in now?

the problem being the bacteria will die off after a couple of days and the tank won't be cycled anymore. if it's just been a couple of days then pop the WCMM's back into it asap to keep it cycled, then do some research into trops and the day that you want to add fish you put the WCMM's into the other coldwater tank, add a heater and let the water come up to temp, when it's up to temp you can go get your fish.

 

[clarkie]

The tank has only been without fish for less than a day so i've just been and popped some danios back in there, i'm away to LFS now to get a heater and at the weekend i'll go and get some tropicals. Can't thank you all enough for your help, always thought looking after tropicals was very difficult but after reading this forum i think i have the confidince to give it a go and make it a sucess.

 

[Truck]

wait until the tank is empty then introduce a heater and fish(after the water is up to temp)

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no problem, there's no great secret to keeping trops, you've got a cycled tank which is half the battle really.

two top tips for sucessful fishkeeping

1 - research fish before buying them and stock sensibly, as you've a fairly small tank there's a lot of fish in the lfs which will get too big for it so you can't just assume that you can pick out whichever fish you like and away you go. Do a bit of research first and make some sensible stocking choices. There's a link in my sig 'guide to stocking lists' which will help you out with your research. Best bet is to pop to the lfs (without your wallet!!) and write down the names of all the fish you like, come back here and post them up and we'll work out a list for you of what you can get or make some suitable alternative suggestions once we know what you like.

2 - keep on top of the maintenance. it really takes very little to keep a tank clean and well maintained, but it does take something, again there's a link in my sig on weekly maintenance which will help you with this.

but yeah, cycled tank, stocked sensibly and well maintained. You'll have no problems!

 

[pippoodle]

i did this aswell
I sent all my coldwaters to grandads well established pond apart from the WCM
I left the WCM in the tank and added a heater tested the water temp and adjusted the heater to 1 degree warmer than the current tank water
increased the temp slowly over a few days up to 25 degrees then tested the water - all perfect so went and got some guppies and i haven't looked back

I would say that you should have a tank of at least 24" for the WCM as they are so active especially when spawning the colours of my WCMS have never been brighter since going in the 180ltr

The wcms are really happy at that temp (even though studies do say it can shorten their life span) and are always spawning - unfortunately all the fish eat the eggs lol

Good luck and dont forget to research your tropicals before you get them it's always worth waiting and knowing what you are getting instead of impulse buying without knowledge

Sarah xx

 

[clarkie]

Cheers again for help, i went and bought a 150w heater today and will put that in later. Would it be ok to keep a couple of weather loaches in the tank with heater ? Oh and i've decided to put the heater in my larger tank and put the other fish in the smaller tank which makes sense really when you see how much bigger the tank is.

 

[Jazzzz]

what coldwater fish do you have and how many a goldfish will get over 20cm long