Fresh Start....

[kev_bo]

ok so i had my tank for well over 2 years learned alot in those two years.......

but lost intrest and as my cousin got a new tank, I decided to allow him to cycle his new tank and then introduced my fish to his fresh new home (all still alive and well)

as it was my first time last time i made quite a few mistakes that after reading this site i now know why they went wrong

my tank as never been out of cycle only not had fish in for a couple of weeks just now got new filter re-used old media to get the cycle in mine goin well all PH levels and everythink is good. What im just thinking now is what fish and how many?

As this is the only thing i get stuck on i know you do it by how big your tank is but i have no clue how to convert my tank to US gal as this is how you conclude how many fish you can have or so ive read

CM: 30x30x60 (so not to big as it was a first time tank)

i believe it is a 60 litre tank not 100% sure on that

but just wanting to know whats a decent amount of assorted fish i can have for it to go well

hope someone can help

Kev_bo

also my cousin's fish just had babies well

 

[kiriyama]

ok so i had my tank for well over 2 years learned alot in those two years.......

but lost intrest and as my cousin got a new tank, I decided to allow him to cycle his new tank and then introduced my fish to his fresh new home (all still alive and well)

as it was my first time last time i made quite a few mistakes that after reading this site i now know why they went wrong

my tank as never been out of cycle only not had fish in for a couple of weeks just now got new filter re-used old media to get the cycle in mine goin well all PH levels and everythink is good. What im just thinking now is what fish and how many?

As this is the only thing i get stuck on i know you do it by how big your tank is but i have no clue how to convert my tank to US gal as this is how you conclude how many fish you can have or so ive read

CM: 30x30x60 (so not to big as it was a first time tank)

i believe it is a 60 litre tank not 100% sure on that

but just wanting to know whats a decent amount of assorted fish i can have for it to go well

hope someone can help

Kev_bo

also my cousin's fish just had babies well

54 litres or 12 gallons.
Up to you on what fish , would it be small tetras and corys?
Cherry Barbs?
Shrimps?
Or a couple of bigger fish?
Think that's the volume of your tank......
I think you could have a couple of small shoals of tetras and a couple of feature fish would be nice , dwarf cichlids or something, im only suggesting that cos thats what im aming for myself.
I think your stocking level is about 65cm of fish , but thats full grown sizes and in a tank thats been up and running for six months.
Hope this helps a bit , let us know how you get on

 

[kev_bo]

ok so i had my tank for well over 2 years learned alot in those two years.......

but lost intrest and as my cousin got a new tank, I decided to allow him to cycle his new tank and then introduced my fish to his fresh new home (all still alive and well)

as it was my first time last time i made quite a few mistakes that after reading this site i now know why they went wrong

my tank as never been out of cycle only not had fish in for a couple of weeks just now got new filter re-used old media to get the cycle in mine goin well all PH levels and everythink is good. What im just thinking now is what fish and how many?

As this is the only thing i get stuck on i know you do it by how big your tank is but i have no clue how to convert my tank to US gal as this is how you conclude how many fish you can have or so ive read

CM: 30x30x60 (so not to big as it was a first time tank)

i believe it is a 60 litre tank not 100% sure on that

but just wanting to know whats a decent amount of assorted fish i can have for it to go well

hope someone can help

Kev_bo

also my cousin's fish just had babies well

54 litres or 12 gallons.
Up to you on what fish , would it be small tetras and corys?
Cherry Barbs?
Shrimps?
Or a couple of bigger fish?
Think that's the volume of your tank......
I think you could have a couple of small shoals of tetras and a couple of feature fish would be nice , dwarf cichlids or something, im only suggesting that cos thats what im aming for myself.
I think your stocking level is about 65cm of fish , but thats full grown sizes and in a tank thats been up and running for six months.
Hope this helps a bit , let us know how you get on

thankyou

i plan on having all small fish TBH........ as its a very small tank i would prefere to have alot of little ones then 1 large and then not have anythink else the tank would look empty

i was trying to find somewhere that did like caving but ive just read up on that DIY slate cove thing think im goin to give it a try tomorrow

thankyou for sorting my gallons and figuring out the CM of fish i can have

 

[K-Holed]

If you've had nothing in the tank for a while, the bacteria in your filter will have died. Like all living things, bacteria need a source of 'food'. It is likely that you will be starting the cycle from scratch again. If you can get a small amount of filter medium back from your friend, maybe thta you could swap for some of yours, that would start the process nicely.

As for your tank looking empty, much of this ican be down to poor fish choice. IMO a tank should never look full. You don't want to be looking at a bare tank, but nor should it look like the tanks at your LFS (they are temporary homes). If you get a good combination of fish, that inhabit all levels of your tank, it will look balanced. I think that is the key here, balance. Balance and interest. You could maybe have a small school of smaller fish, such as tetras. Then add to this a coulple of fish with personality (I've always like Apistos). Then maybe something for the bottom of your tank, a shoal of Corries might be nice or one of the small plecs or a bristle nose. If you can manage to get a good balance of tank mates that get on and are active at all times of the day (not necessarily at the same time) then you can have something that looks really special.

Another thing to note is decor. If you're worried about your tank looking empty, produce a nice aquascape. This doesn't need to be a planted tank (although these can look stunning) But a good hardscape that incoporates plenty of shelter for your fish, should help to break the tank up and give the impression that it is fuller than it is. Your fish will also love you for it. Fish that have hiding places, don't always hide. In many cases, just having the security of shelter will make them more confident and you will see them more often and at their best.

As always, this is only my opinion and I'm sure other people will have their own to add.

Kind regards

Jimi

 

[kev_bo]

thankyou jimi i have got some media from his established tank and its been in cycle for over a week now and amonia levels and everythink are all good checked earlier today

at the moment i have 2 larger silk plants 2 smalleri smallish rock in the corner but not giving any shelter as this is the reason for me planning to build a slate cove now and still let it setlle and check PH after ive put slate in just to be sure

could i introduce tetra's as a first batch of fish ..... of should i wait until the tank has matured a couple months?

 

[kiriyama]

Hi just reading k-hole comments , its true about the plant / security thing , I have tons of silk plants but the fish only use them a very small amount of the time , mostly they are out in the open space , probably because they feel safe, igot a very small floating log and spread a very small clump of java moss from it, they hide under it.
One important thing though , if you are purchasing small tetras , they really need to be kept in shoals usually a minimum of sx. I have eleven lemo tetras, very good to watch , corys are always fun and apistos are very beautiful and would make an excellent feature fish. Its always good having plenty of space for them to swim in to , don't overstock, i made the mistake of letting the shop sell me tons of fish and i have only had the tank a few weeks. Just have fyn with it....

 

[K-Holed]

Okay kev, let me clarify. you say you've had the tak cycling for the last two weeks. Have you actually been adding anything to the tank in that time (ammonia, fish food etc.) or has it just been running on an empty tank?

 

[kev_bo]

started fishless cycle but with borrowed media from cousins established tank also all stones and plants was reused i understand that some bacteria would have died but im just hoping it gives it a jump start

i dont plan on adding fish anytime soon just going to do research of what i want need and keep an eye on levels and stuff in process

this is one reason why i joined this site ask quastions i have floating around in my head seem to get answered

also thankyou for the advice kiriyama

 

[K-Holed]

Okay I think I understand now. Basically what I'm getting at is this. Without a source of ammonia bacteria will quickly die. You can leave a tank running indefinately with no livestock in it and you will get perfect readings every time you test it. The only time you will start to see a rise in ammonia is once you put it in (whether that be by adding fish or from a bottle) Only then will the bacteria start to mutiply and bring the ammonia levels down again.

If I was to get a fully cycled filter and put it on an empty tank, I will get a perfect ammonia reading from that momment on, indefinately. The only difference is, the longer I leave it the more bacteria are dying. I won't see this die off when I test, because there's no ammonia entering the system. However, once all the bacteria are dead (relatively quickly) and THEN I add fish, I would see a rise in ammonia, that would not come down quicky because there would be no bacteria left alive to deal with it.

 

[kev_bo]

so once i start adding fish i should again keep an eye on my ammonia levels ......

see this is all new to me thanks to this wonderful site

 

[K-Holed]

so once i start adding fish i should again keep an eye on my ammonia levels ......

Yes, absolubtly. Unless by some fluke, you have a fairly robust group of bacteria hanging on for dear life you will see a rise in ammonia. If you are dead set on putting fish in relatively soon and don't want to go through a true fishless cycle, go and buy a small number of fish and once you've added them to your tank go and pay your friend a visit. Get some of their mature media and get it back to your house ASAP in some of his tank water. Add that media to your filter and it should be enough to deal with the ammonia that your new tank mates will produce. Test your ammonia levels for the next week, to make sure that all is well and the transfer has been a sucess. After that you can start adding a few more fish at a time over a period of time. It's always worth testing your water before adding new stock, just to make sure all is well.

 

[kev_bo]

got ya

i already have some old media in the tank im guessing this has started the bacteria but because there is no ammonia i will just be getting clear readings .....sorry for my stupidness lol

i dont want to introduce fish if its not ideal ATM i would rather wait and not have a death of a fish TBH

 

[K-Holed]

If you don't want to add fish you're going to have to add ammonia from a bottle (you could also add fish food to the empty tank and this will break down into ammonia, although this can cause another set of problems that i can go into if you want)

Waiting alone will do nothing. As I've already said you need a source of ammonia in the tank to start your bacteria going again.

I know I've probably laboured the point already, but I'll draw an analogy.

If I take a room (this is the equivelent of your tank) and I plumb a toilet into there (that's your filter) and then I put you in there (you're the bacteria). Now Every day I flush the toilet (this is your filter working). I think you'd agree that it's pointless me flushing the toilet, there's nothing to flush away. After waiting a few weeks it's likely that I'd go in to flush the toilet and find you dead. The missing element here is the toilet is redundent, because you've had no reason to use it. If I'd put a hamburger in the room every day then there's a good chance that I'd have walked into the room to find you still alive and I would't have been wasting my time each time I flushed that toilet.

If I start putting hamburgers into the room once you're dead, that's equally pointless. All I'd end up with is a room of uneaten hamburgers, until someone else got enticed into the room by the smell of those hamburger and started eating them (which would take them some time).

Sorry if that made things less clear.

 

[kev_bo]

ive been adding ammonia ( adding fish food ..could you go into this are there any pro's or are they all cons )

but yes indeed you made it clear thankyou could i borrow some fish from my cousins tank introduce them to mine to help speed up the cycle or should i just keep adding ammonia and keep an eye all all my levels and let the tank mature for a few more weeks until introducing more fish .........

K-holed you have helped and cleared up alot thankyou so much

 

[K-Holed]

With reagards to using fish food (or some people have been known to use shrimp/prawns), there is a certain chance of introducing a Saprolegnia infection into the tank. This can cause sickness in your fish further down then line. It's often not an issue, but is somehting that you might want to be aware of.