Fresh-Water Newbie

[King]

i like columbian sharks but they apparently get too big. i like red lobsters which i have read help clean and are too slow to kill fish but people say they will. clams were just to add something different. i wanted a school of glowfish and neon tetras for show/color. a few small plecos, and a red swordtail (i read more than one male will fight). i wasnt looking at cichlids or bettas or anything aggressive. everything i looked up was docile and easy to maintain. like i said, still planning, not gonna just throw a bunch of stuff in here together like the previous owners did.

 

[KittyKat]

i like columbian sharks but they apparently get too big. i like red lobsters which i have read help clean and are too slow to kill fish but people say they will. clams were just to add something different. i wanted a school of glowfish and neon tetras for show/color. a few small plecos, and a red swordtail (i read more than one male will fight). i wasnt looking at cichlids or bettas or anything aggressive. everything i looked up was docile and easy to maintain. like i said, still planning, not gonna just throw a bunch of stuff in here together like the previous owners did.

Yeah, the sharks and lobsters really will eat everything else, also lobsters don't do anything to clean up.. that's your job

Glowfish, neons, small plecos and swordtails would work together. And no, the swordtail males will be fine in a tank your size, the resource must have been making a generalisation which only applies to small tanks (where males might have a go at each other).

 

[King]

ok so i got 6 glowfish, 12 jumbo neon tetras, 2 plecos that wont get more than 5", 2 albino cory cats, and 3 "red mollies"? tank still looks empty lol. gonna see how this goes for now. oh and the angel fish spent about an hour chasing all of these things but are too slow lol. now they seem to have chilled out.

 

[Randi]

Random thought - you really could put your goldfish in a pond. I live in Colorado and many people keep outdoor fish here. The pond just needs to be deep enough that there is a decent layer of liquid under the ice in the winter.

The main problem with this arrangement is always neighborhood cats.

 

[King]

i have entertained getting rid of the gold fish but right now they help "fill" the tank. i just got a bunch of small new fish, trying to get it filled up and decide what "bigger" fish i would like to get.

will columbian/silver tip sharks eat the neon tetras and glowfish??

 

[KittyKat]

ok so i got 6 glowfish, 12 jumbo neon tetras, 2 plecos that wont get more than 5", 2 albino cory cats, and 3 "red mollies"? tank still looks empty lol. gonna see how this goes for now. oh and the angel fish spent about an hour chasing all of these things but are too slow lol. now they seem to have chilled out.

Corys are schooling, if your nitrite and ammonia remain the same, you should get another 4-10 of the same species. Also glowfish would do better with another 6 too.

Random thought - you really could put your goldfish in a pond. I live in Colorado and many people keep outdoor fish here. The pond just needs to be deep enough that there is a decent layer of liquid under the ice in the winter.

The goldfish are fancy, not common. Fancy usually do not to that well below 5-10 C.

i have entertained getting rid of the gold fish but right now they help "fill" the tank. i just got a bunch of small new fish, trying to get it filled up and decide what "bigger" fish i would like to get.

will columbian/silver tip sharks eat the neon tetras and glowfish??

Yes, the shark will eat all your other fish and your tank is not big enough.

And while the shark would be at that, the goldfish would help it along by eating your new fish too. Yes, goldfish will eat any fish which will fit into its mouth and that it can catch.

 

[Randi]

I think your first step should be to add more plants to the tank (either real or artificial). Your little fish are going to be better off if they have somewhere to hide.

 

[King]

i know its only been 24hrs but everything is still alive and the angels/goldfish arent paying any attention to the small fish anymore. i do plan on getting more of these fish. prob go get more of the tetras and red fish today actually.

 

[dafrnhm]

you shouldn't add too many fish in 1 go, let the others settle in first and then add a couple every few weeks.

 

[King]

i can understand that, i would like to put another dozen neons in there for now. that would prob be ok i would think.

 

[KittyKat]

You just at least doubled your bio-load, probably more like quadruped it. You're likely to see minor ammonia spike in about 5-7 days, maybe a bacterial bloom if not a spike. Adding more fish now increases the chance of that happening in the first place and if it will happen anyway, would make it noticeably worse. Don't know about you, but I hate doing daily 50-90% water changes. Wait at least one week.

 

[King]

water is staying super clean "so far". i have a PH kit but nothing for ammonia =-/ should i just be changing like maybe 20% everyday for a while or something to help??

 

[KittyKat]

Erm, it would be a lot more beneficial to actually buy an ammonia and nitrite (and nitrate) liquid kits or you could be in trouble in a few days. No, it is impossible to guess what your readings are.

Regular water changes won't harm the fish, so it's probably a better idea to do them, rather than not, until you can get hold of the kits. When you have the kits, make sure ammonia and nitrite never reach 0.25 ppm, but apart from that, water changes once per week work quite well usually.

pH kit isn't much use if your don't know the other three as those will affect most fish a lot more than pH.

 

[King]

i didnt notice an ammonia/nitrate kit. i will have to look again. i am really liking the tank so far

 

[King]

when i read descriptions of fish online it says the temp, ph, and KH. what is KH???