first fish to new aqurium?

[kevfiz]

hi I am in the Process of setting up my aqurium, and I want to introduce fish on Saturday. what are good first fish to introduce to an aquarium?

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

What size is the tank? Is
It fully cycled? If it's 10
Gallons or above I'd reccomend dainos or guppys, if it's 5 gallon or lower a Betta should do fine

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there

Before we could really recommend fish, we need to know;

the dimensions of the tank
that hardness and pH of your water
what ppm of ammonia you've cycled with

All those things have a huge bearing on what fish species would be appropriate

 

[Byron]

hi I am in the Process of setting up my aqurium, and I want to introduce fish on Saturday. what are good first fish to introduce to an aquarium?

I would suggest you may be going about this the wrong way. I'll try to explain.

First, the tank has to be cycled in some manner if you don't want dead or suffering fish that will not live long. There are many ways to achieve this. It would help to know the tank size (volume and dimensions as length can be important in spite of volume). Also, your source water parameters (GH and pH particularly). Do you intend having live plants? Last, what sort of fish do you want permanently?

There are no fish you can use to get a new tank cycled and established without serious harm if not death to the fish. There are sometimes better fish to put in to a tank once cycled but not established; the latter takes a few months after the cycling is done.

Byron.

 

[kevfiz]

I have water from a tank that has been on the go for 40 years now I also had a filter running in that tank and have transfered it to my tank

 

[Byron]

I have water from a tank that has been on the go for 40 years now I also had a filter running in that tank and have transferred it to my tank

I'm not following this...are you thinking this will "cycle" the new tank so fish can be added? Because it will not. There is nothing of value in old water.

We still cannot respond to your initial question without the data several of us have asked for. We will help when we can.

Byron.

 

[kevfiz]

this is how I was told to do it in the fish shop since my father has a tank already, I was told it would work fine

 

[Byron]

this is how I was told to do it in the fish shop since my father has a tank already, I was told it would work fine

Well, it will not work at all, as I'll explain.

The ammonia produced by fish (through respiration in the gills) enters the water. This is the start of the nitrification cycle. Nitrosomonas bacteria use this ammonia as food. In doing so, they produce nitrite, another form of nitrogen. Different bacteria, Nitrospira, use the nitrite as food, and produce nitrate, yet another form of nitrogen. The nitrate is relatively harmless, compared to ammonia and nitrite, both of which are deadly.

The two types of bacteria appear and multiply to handle the level of ammonia adn nitrite being produced. It takes time for these bacteria to appear. They live on surfaces covered by water, and this is primarily in the filter but there can be some in the substrate too. They do not live in water, so the only thing you are going to put into the tank with water from an existing aquarium will be pathogens and ammonia. I assume that eventually this minimal amount of ammonia might start the colonization of the bacteria, but I wouldn't rely on it.

We can "seed" a new tank's filter by adding bacteria from an existing filter. This requires moving the filter media like pads, sponges, etc, on which bacteria will be living, hopefully. There are other ways to cycle, as set out in the article another member linked previously. Whatever method you decide on, it has to be completed before any fish can go into the new tank.

Byron.

 

[NickAu]

this is how I was told to do it in the fish shop since my father has a tank already, I was told it would work fine

If a fish shop told you that my suggestion is that you never have anything to do with that shop again, They do not care about you or your fish all they want is your money.

 

[kevfiz]

just of the phone and they told me I can do what I am doing and add stuff called stability for 8 days with a few Hardy fish and it will be fine

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

Shops don't always have the best advice, just because you go to a fish store doesn't mean the people know what they are always talking about, to complete a cycle you must dose ammonia, using fish is extremely stressful to them, And the mortality rate is very high, why use hardy fish that could die off when you could just purchase pure ammonia? which is what the fish are producing.

 

[Byron]

just of the phone and they told me I can do what I am doing and add stuff called stability for 8 days with a few Hardy fish and it will be fine

At the risk of sounding like a broken record...this is cruel to any fish. And if this is how you want to keep fish, you shouldn't be in the hobby.

There are members on this forum with considerable experience. Some of us have biological training. Many of us have made similar mistakes, and when we net out fish that have died because we didn't know, or didn't listen, it is difficult. Please don't make that mistake.

I asked you back in post #4 to tell us the sort of fish aquarium you intend in the end. We can help you get there, without harming fish.

Byron.