Got A Tank, Curious On What Fish To Start With.

[Schnfsh]

Hi,

I have a 125 L tank, planning on having it planted/community as I have flourite gravel. So my starter fish to start the Cycle I assume would be 5 or so schooling fish right?

I'm thinking of Cardinals from the get go, but probably will go Neons as they're cheaper in case something goes horribly wrong.

Good idea?

Also in the long run I plan to have

5-10 Cardinals/Neon Tetras.
3 Dwarf Gourami (Metallic Blue/Cobalt)
Either Bristle nosed cats or otticinclus. probably bristle nosed. My tank is hopefully big enough for its largest size.
Loaches, probably dwarf chain. Clown loaches might be a bit too big/aggressive for my tank.
And a pleco! one of those collector ones. Just need to set my eyes on one at the local fish store (LFS?) in a few months once I'm mostly set up.

Think I can get more than that as a total capacity?

Cheers!

 

[youngfisher]

Why dont you do a fishless cycle, its a lot easier

 

[indigoj]

Yep go fishless. Why intentionally harm fish?

 

[youngfisher]

They way to look at it IMO is:

Fish-in cycling (what your planning):
2-3 Water Changes EVERYDAY!
High chance of causing harm to fish
Alot more stress

Fishless Cycle (what we recommend):
Only 1 water change at the end
Harming no fish
So easy!

I started off thinking "I'll do a fish-in cycle it will be ok, these guys don't know what there talking about", two days later the fish was back in the pet shop and I was starting my fishless cycle.

 

[minxfishy]

Please do a fishless cycle, there is a link in my signature or look around the pinned topics in this section.

If you insist on doing a fish in cycle, then cardinals and neons are a definate no no, they are not at all hardy and you will lose them quickly to ammonia and nitrIte poisoning.

If you really must use fish, then platies or danios are your best bet, but again, you need to do a proper fish in cycle, again link in signature, to ensure the fish do not go thru the pain and stress of ammonia and nitrIte poisoning, this would reqiure you doing daily, sometimes 2/3x daily water changes to keep levels below 0.25ppm.

Alternatively you could try to source some mature filter media either from a fish store or members on here are willing to donate some, that way you can stock slowly without harming the fish.

 

[Schnfsh]

Just read the fish-less cycle. I'll follow all of your advice and go with that. I'll try and get some pure ammonia tomorrow though I would have no idea where to get it from.

So with my size tank would the fish I listed be alright?
And are plants okay in the fish-less cycle? I don't see why they wouldn't but better safe than sorry.

 

[minxfishy]

Good for you Where are you, US/UK/AUS etc? In the UK, homebase or boots is the best place to try and find ammonia

Yes to the cardinals/neons, gouramis and a BN plec is fine. Ottos are not the best things to try, but once the tank has matured 6 months minimum you could try.

No to clown loaches, they arent aggressive but they do grow very large and your tank is far too small for them. Dwarf chain loaches, provided they stay under 6" (I know nowt about them) would be fine, or kulli loaches would be good.

Plants are fine in a fishless cycle, they will help to use up some of the ammonia etc.

 

[mwood2]

In the US I have searched every Hardware store (Lowes, Home depo, Ace, Safeway. Albertsons, Fredmeyer, etc) and never found it at any of them. Ironically I found it in the most surprising place: A Dollar Store. I got a large jug of it for a buck. If nothing else try one of those dollar stores.

 

[Schnfsh]

I'm in NZ so there's most likely no one who can donate some mature filter on the forums. But id rather experience the whole process myself, great learning curve.

Ottos were more of a replacement for the BN.
Was thinking of Dwarf Chains for slight snail control. But I'll probably end up doing the lettuce in a jar trick anyway.

PH is at about 7.5 - 7.6

 

[mwood2]

Oto's have worked out fine for me. I placed them in a tank thats been set up for 1-2 months (after cycle) and they are still here with me right now.

 

[ALW]

You can do a Fish in cycles with very hardy fish (Danios), althought we do recommend doing a fishless cycle sometimes its not practical to do one. If you go for a fish in cycle then please go for hardy fish like the Zebra Danio, and follow these steps

1. Get arround five fish release them into the tank feed them a pinch a day this way it will reduce the poisons in the water as you will be only feeding them enough to survive.
2. Buy a test kit at the same time as the fish
3. After 3 days test the water, if stats are very high then change 25% of the water
4. After 3 more day test again if stats are lower then before the bacteria in the fillter are starting to grow. If not then do another change and test again in 3 days.
5. After 7 more day and Once the stats are starting to lower then you are ready to add another 5 Danios
6. After 3 days test the water, and change 25% of the water
7. After a week test the water again and if the poisons are high then change another 25% of the water
8. Once the stats are coming down to 0 you are then ready to add more fish, dont add too many at once as the filter needs time to adjust to the new fish once you have added them to your tank.

Hope this helps!

 

[waterdrop]

I'm in NZ so there's most likely no one who can donate some mature filter on the forums. But id rather experience the whole process myself, great learning curve.

Ottos were more of a replacement for the BN.
Was thinking of Dwarf Chains for slight snail control. But I'll probably end up doing the lettuce in a jar trick anyway.

PH is at about 7.5 - 7.6

I think there were at least a couple of active NZ members in '08 that commented in my threads. I love your sentence about experiencing the whole thing! That's a great turn-about! I actually think one of -the- most valuable things about a good intense fishless cycle here in the beginner section is all the interaction with members while its going on. Its a chance to gain a lot of info and ideas from everyone. Its great because you get a mix of people who have lots of info and others who are doing things that are similar to what you're trying to do.

Its actually kind of fun to make a bit of a detective game out of finding the ammonia. People get interested in where you eventually find it. The mop&broom sections of grocery stores, hardware stores and the like are the most common. It needs to not have dyes, fragrances or surfactants. When you shake it, it should not foam but instead just create bubbles for 2 or 3 seconds like water. And it fact what it is is about 90, 95% water with 5 to 10% ammonia in it. Be careful sniffing it!

The other key thing you'll need is a good liquid-reagent-based test kit. Many of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, which can usually be had easily over the internet if you can't find it at your LFSs. The core tests are for ammonia, nitrite(NO2), pH and nitrate(NO3). Paper strip tests are useless and not recommended.

Other important things are that you discuss the media in your filter in detail with the users. Many get tripped up by that as the supplied initial media packs are often not what you want. Also you'll want to post up your tap water test results after you get your kit so that can be discussed if necessary.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Schnfsh]

I already have an API water test kit, so that's good.
My tank's a Juwel Rio 125. I can't find out what exactly the media is but there's 3 blue sponges, a green, a black(Carbon?) and some bio nuggets. I've looked around on the web but couldn't find an exact name of each of them.

 

[Johng89]

There is a very active member from NZ who could assist you

she was setting up a website and asking about fish directories eyc a couple of weeks ago

have you thought about corys and an apple snail instead of otto's /plec ?

 

[waterdrop]

Carbon is not needed on a regular basis in a filter, so perhaps you could buy and add more "bionuggets" in place of that one. I think the green sponge is supposed to be a "nitrate" sponge, which is also not needed but is harmless and I believe will just work as a regular sponge. Hopefully some members who have this same filter will comment.

~~waterdrop~~