First Fish....

[ncjharris]

Hi y'all!

This is our first venture into tropical tanks, so would appriciate a little help.

We have set up the tank, all ok, and its been cycling (fishless) for a week or so, tested the water yesterday, and all readings are hunky dory.

Now, we have to decide what fish to put in first.

We obviously want something hardy to get the filter really going, but am having trouble finding out what we can stick in.

We'd like something colourful and thats best in a shoal, so we can at least have a few fish in there for a week.

Tank is around 20 galls and we have a pH around 6.5 - have lots of hiding places and 5 plants, substrate is gravel.

Any suggestions from you seasoned pro's would be much appriciated.

 

[kev_kb]

Are you fishless cycling by adding Ammonia to the tank? If so it should take longer than a week and once thats down you should be ready for a small number of fish and you wouldn't need to look for hardy species and the filter is already established.

If you've just left the tank to sit for a week it wont have started cycling, you can cycle it by adding Ammonia or by adding fish. If you cycle with fish you will need to keep the Ammonia & Nitrite level under 0.5ppm by doing as many water changes as needed. Start of with a small number of fish, then when your done cycling after a month or so you can slowly add more each week if your levels ok.

I have cycled tanks with Neon Tetras and Peppered Cories, but I think most members on here would suggest hardier species.

Either way the cycle is complete when you have 0ppm Ammonia & Nitrite and readable Nitrates and will take around a month on a brand new tank.

Hope this helps...

 

[ncjharris]

Fishless cycling was carried out with a maturing chemical for the filter.

Water test yesterday showed that ammonia was zero, nitrite was negligable (around 0.5 ppm) and nitrate was acceptable (can't remember off top of my head).
This has only been after a week of cycling - are readings wrong, or have I just been lucky!?!?

Would like neon's, but was recommended else where they're not too good - what would you say is a hardier species?

 

[Fishy Fishy Man]

I cycled my tank with neons and it all turned out fine. Just be prepared to have a few casualties (see sig) and wait a while since im pretty sure they dont add much bioload. You could do what our lfs recommended and after a week or two start adding platies or similar hardy fish to speed up the cycle a bit.

FFM

 

[sylvia]

When you say 'maturing chemicals' do you mean one of those things that claim they contain the necessary bacteria? I don't tend to trust those much and if you have nitrItes your tank it is still not fully cycled. However, once you do get it cycled (and you can do a fishless cycle with fish food or by adding a prawn or pure ammonia) I would suggest zebra danios as your first fish. Not only are they INCREDIBLY hardy, they are also beautiful and active and there is a lovely long-fin variety too. They may not shoal while alone in the tank but adding new fish later on will get them to. They also have great personality for a fish so small and I preffer them over fish like neons that don't realy act much like individuals IMO... Other similar danios are also quite nice... like leopard, pearl and spotted danios. If you have softer water, you may try harlequin rasboras though they are not as hardy IME. For harder water, platies are a good choice and colorful but wont school. You could also try guppies but will be limited to very peaceful fish later on or their long tails will get nipped. Generaly avoid bottom-dwelling species in the beginning as this is where most ammonia/nitrites/nitrates are and will harm your fish.

 

[modernhamlet]

Hi, ncjharris... Welcome to TFF!

I have a couple of questions to ask if you don't mind. They might help us help you better.

What "maturing chemical" did you use for the filter?
Did you add filter media from an established tank?
Are you testing ammonia and nitrites each day?
How much ammonia are you adding each day?
Did the Nitrites ever "spike" above your test kit limits?
What type/brand of filter are you using?

I know it's a lot, but it doesn't sound like your tank is really cycled and hopefully with a little more info, we can get to the bottom of the situation and get you on the right track. For now, I would hold off on getting any fish.

(When you do get them after sorting out the cycle, let me suggest harlequin rasboras. Colorful, active, and among the tightest, best schooling fish you'll find.)

Happy to help and good luck!

 

[ncjharris]

Thanks for the advice - thats a list for us too look through and see what we fancy!

I realise that there is no better way to cycle than to wait - I used chemical as an addition rather than as a subsitute. Pure ammonia isn't very easy to come across where I am.

As a side point, is there a definitive positive to having real plants in from the beginning? Do they aid the cycle?

 

[sylvia]

Plants will directly use ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and will help keep the tank from having too much nitrates present later on. However, I have found that a tank *may* take longer to cycle with plants because they take the nutrients away from the beneficial bacteria... this is only my experience and it may depend on the plants you have. I think it is actualy best to add plants after cycling just in case but it probably doesn't matter much. Live plants are deffinately good for your fish though.

 

[ncjharris]

Hi Hamlet - thanks for the welcome!

Happy to answer the questions -

Maturing chemical - not so much a chemical perhaps - a maturing culture. Forget the name (im at work at the mo), bio-mature perhaps?

Existing Media - have coldwater tank and added a little (litre?) of the water at the start.

Testing - Not everyday, but at least every other since set it up (latest test yesterday)

Ammonia - Haven't added any.

Testing - First 2 tests nitrites were off the scale of the test.

Filter - Hagen Fluval Plus 2 (and very impressed too!) - Media standard sponge and extra fine in additional space.

Substrate is gravel (2 inches at back - 0.5-1 at front), also five live plants and one big plastic one, two logs.

We've had a lot of fun setting it up - imagine the fun with the fish will be immeasurable (does that make me sound sad.......?!)

 

[sylvia]

lol - that doesn't sound sad at all! I love getting a new tank, setting it up... and the fish are always great! maybe we're both sad

 

[modernhamlet]

I'm fishless cycling a 75g right now and have spent hours staring at just rocks and sand. I totally understand where you're coming from...

It still boggles the mind that ammonia isn't readily available in the UK. But since you have the coldwater tank running successfully, I would suggest the following course of action:

1. Decide on your fish. (Yay!)
2. Determine which small group of fish to get first.
3. Do a large (80+%) water change
4. Make sure the temperature is stable.
5. Add as much filter media from your coldwater tank to the new filter as you can.
6. Purchase and add just the few first fish from step 2.

After that, it's regular water changes and careful monitoring of parameters.

So getting back to the original purpose of your post... what fish are you interested in?