First Fish Questions

[Tropical_Fish]

I'm going to get some fish in a couple of hours to put in my cycled tank.

I'm probably going to start the tank with 5 male guppies - I've put the wife off the idea of males and females after I started telling her how we would be overrun even leaving the fry in there to get eaten (so unless anyone can advise otherwise, I think I'll stick to males)

So when I get them they will come in a bag of water, which I will sit in the water for half an hour, then introduce some of the tank water into the bag, then eventually let the fish swim out into the tank.

Is that correct?

Following this when do I first feed them? and then how often after? I've only got tropical fish flakes at the moment - is that OK for guppies and how often do I feed them?

I would also like some neons or similar to swim in a group in the middel approx 6 - but will wait 6 months for those.

I would also like some kind of bottom feeders, but am told to wait for a mature tank for those as well.

Any ideas for a couple of other fish I can add at the same time as the guppies - or am I best sticking with just the guppies? Or perhaps some alternatives to the neons which I could add straight away?

 

[arobinson1984]

Was it a fishless cycle?

Other fish that you can add at the same time could be zebra danios, platies, swordtails just to name a few.

An alternative to neons could be harlequins as these are quite hardy.

Some species of corys are sensitive whilsts others are not so bad, I would still wait a few months before adding any.

The routine I use when adding new fish is as follows:

1. Place bag on top of water and open bag, roll down the sides which creates air so the bag will float whilst open.
2. Leave the bag for about 15/20 mins to acclimitise to tank temp then add a cupful of tank water to the bag.
3. I add a cupful of water every 15 mins for about an hour.
4. When releasing the fish, use a net to get them out the bag and into your tank and throw the bagged water away, NEVER tip all the water out of the bag into your tank incase it contains any sort of disease from the lfs tank.

Leave lights off for an hour or two when first adding the fish to let them settle (they will more comfortable in the dark)
I dont feed until the next day because you wont know your lfs feeding schedule so they could have been fed 30 mins before you bought them so wait until the following day.

Hope this helped a little

Andy

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Yes Andy it was a fishless cycle,


and yes that has helped - cheers