Dan-Cr4 Fishless Cycle

[Ryefish]

*cough* pictures *cough*

 

[Dan-CR4]

what im gonna do is do a video tomorrow of the fish, will be better than pictures as every picture i have taken they have moved.....anyone know how to get a fish to say cheese

just got back from pets at home, the one nearest to me has been modernised and a lot of money has been spent, the tanks are beautifully clean, the fish look really well. I would say they look healthier then some of the LFS near me and they sell Bolivian Rams and Keyhole Cichlids, could not get any tonight as they were just closing so im gonna go back tomorrow to get some.

The Bolivians are only £4 each (2 for £8) and the Keyholes are the same price, thats the cheapest I have found them, i know price should not really make a difference when choosing fish as health should be the first thing you look at, but all the fish looked happy and healthy and not one dead fish in a tank, now i cant say that about My local Maidenhead Aquatics or Wildwoods. I never thought Pets At Home would have such a wide variety of fish, I thought they would just stock stuff like guppies/mollys/platys and coldwater. I was well impressed with them. Dont know if all Pets at home stores have been modernised but this one is rather nice.

 

[Ryefish]

I went into my local P@H a few weeks ago and was also really impressed with the make-over
It makes you spend a fortune though i ended up buying my rats toys that they didn't even need and then browsing fish tanks that i dont need! eek!

 

[waterdrop]

Congrats on first fish Dan! WD

 

[Dan-CR4]

Thanks WD, the fish seem to be doing really well, even the shy keyholes are coming to the front to greet me this morning. The bolivan rams are doing well also, they are a lot braver than the keyholes and spend a lot of the time at the front of the tank. I have been doing tests on the water every 24 hours and the water is staying stable, all results are great (just a bit paranoid that i might get a spike as my cycle seemed to go quite fast). I may be putting me bogwood in later so dont know if it will affect the ph or not, I read it can make it drop a little. Got to say though that its a real good feeling to goto the tank in the morning and see fish and not just do a water test.

Again I would really like to say thanks to you and Oldman47 for getting me though the cycle with some great advice and tips, not just what you wrote on my thread but all the the other members threads you have helped out on, reading all the advice you have given people, gave me a bit more knowledge and got me through the cycle. I just like giving praise where its due

 

[waterdrop]

Well you're welcome Dan, thanks for the nice thank-you! It was a pleasure working through the fishless cycle with you and I've appreciated the help you've given on some of the other beginner threads lately. Please come back whenever you can!

I'll be interested to hear periodic tidbits about your cichlids. I'm interested in continuing to learn more about them and I really value hearing anecdotes from our own beginner section members. I would sure like to have a well sorted hierarchy in my mind of smaller cichlids that would be colorful, interesting and not too aggressive for beginners and know which water types they belonged in such that we could just readily advise on the right ones for our newcomers.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Dan-CR4]

Well, the water in the tank is still doing well, im testing everyday just to make sure that the tank aint getting any spikes, I will continue like that for a while, cant believe that a week will be up soon already since i added me first fish.

Today i gave the fish a treat of a Beef heart + Bloodworm mix, that mix was suggested for the species of fish i had. All fish seemed to love it. The Bolivian Rams were a bit unsure at first but soon got down to munching on it. The Keyholes really loved it and got in their straight away and the Mollies loved it as well, so it seemd a success

The Mopani wood i got in there has not seemed to have discoloured the water yet, and the wifes happy as she can now use the bath again rather than just the shower, me im a shower person so not having the bath available was ok with me.

I saw a nice ND Aquatics aquarium today, it was 5ft, already im thinking of a bigger tank but that will have to wait til next year, also the wife dont know about my visions yet so it will take that long to convince her that i need a bigger tank.

sorry for rambling on, but im just happy that the fish are doing well so far and my cycled tank is staying cycled, so one happy chappy here and when im happy i will just ramble on and on


Danny

 

[waterdrop]

All sounds great

 

[Dan-CR4]

got round to taking afew pictures. got rid of the few bad plants that did not survive the ammonia during my cycle, the rest i thined out, as they were free i think they are doing ok. hopefully tey will strart to grow a bit now.

Full Tank Shot.

One of the Bolivian Rams near the Coconut Cave.

Silver Molly swimming with Bolivian Ram

2 Baloon mollys, 1 Silver Molly and 3 Bolivan Rams

Keyhole Cichlid & Silver Molly

Those bolivians get everywhere.

 

[PDSimon]

Looks awesome

Jealous!

 

[waterdrop]

Great shot of the little fella down by his cave!
Thanks for the good pics!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Ryefish]

awesome set up
i really like your tank. its a lot taller than i imagined it to be. very nice

 

[Dan-CR4]

thanks guys. the water looks a bit warmer now since the wood has been in there. I got some Malaysian Trumpet Snails helping me with the sand as well now. All is going well, did my first weekly clean yesterday with a 25% water change and a quick bit of sand cleaning. All the water stats are staying steady which im really happy about. The fish are really coming along fine and getting along fantastically.

I am looking into getting a co2 Fire extinguisher setup for the plants, I won a FE on ebay but the seller did not go through with the sale, waste of time that was, so still on the lookout for an FE. Im also looking at getting a small plec like a Bristlenose. so still got a few plans in mind

 

[fishy55]

Your fish look lovely. Well done.

Fishy 55.

 

[waterdrop]

So I'm probably forgetting from way back but you had high mineral content (good hardness and high pH) all along coming from the tap and this is what's allowing all those mollies? I don't follow mollies well enough to remember which types are more extreme about the need for hard water but I know there are different grades of need.

Wow, power to ya for moving on to thinking about an FE CO2 system so soon, that's pretty neat!

~~waterdrop~~