Gr44's Water Problem + Stocking Help!

[Gr44]

Hi all,

My cycle is well under-way now and I need to start thinking about what fish I want to add to the tank, being a complete newbie and having a fairly small tank I'm not too sure what is around... most things I look at are too big for my tank, I'd be grateful for any suggestions!!

My current tank statistics are below, tested all elements in the past 30mins from the tank water (not tap)

Tank Size = 54L
Tank Dimensions = 600x300x300 (LxHxD - mm)
pH = 7.6 (Started at 8.2 but dropping due to cycle)
KH = 13 drops (off the scale - 12 drops = 214ppm)
GH = 22 drops (off the scale - 12 drops = 214ppm)

I'm a little concerned about the hardness of my water, there is a chalk quarry near by so lots of chalk in the ground water here! Is this a problem?

That aside... what fish can I house in my tank?

Many Thanks in advance,

Sean

 

[Gr44]

Oh, sorry... couple of other questions too;

* When shoving your hand in the tank to get water/move stuff etc etc... should you be careful what you wash your hands with before hand?
* What is the best way to suck out xx% of water each week to change it?
* I assume, if you take out 20L of water, you apply de-chlorine stuff to that 20L only, not the remaining water - and obviously do it in the bucket before moving it back over?
* A member gave me some mature media, while very helpful the gunk that was inside it has left residue all over my gravel/rocks and plastic plants.. whats the best way to clean this up?

Finally....

Can you offer advice on how much food/when i should feed the fish you suggest?

Mucho Thanks!

 

[Curiosity101]

Unless you can get exact hardness ratings on your water then I can't say much on that. However there are a few ways of lowering your pH (after the cycle has finished, IE ammonia isn't present) they are peat in the filter, or bogwood in the tank, or mixing a little bit of RO water into each water change.
RO = Reverse osmosis, it basically means it removed EVERYTHING from the water. Leaving pure H20.

To answer your questions...
* When shoving your hand in the tank to get water/move stuff etc etc... should you be careful what you wash your hands with before hand? Just make sure you don't have soaps/perfume on your arms/hands and you'll be fine.
* What is the best way to suck out xx% of water each week to change it? A Syphon...it is a plastic tube with rubber tubing attached. Available from most good local fish shops.
* I assume, if you take out 20L of water, you apply de-chlorine stuff to that 20L only, not the remaining water - and obviously do it in the bucket before moving it back over? Yep, add water conditioner (de-chlorinator) to the 20l in your bucket, not in the tank.
* A member gave me some mature media, while very helpful the gunk that was inside it has left residue all over my gravel/rocks and plastic plants.. whats the best way to clean this up? When you're using the syphon just use it like you would a vaccum cleaner to remove any debris. This applies to fish waste aswell .

 

[Gr44]

Thanks Curiosity101

From using a method I found else where (2.8 dKH/GH = 50ppm) then I believe my hardness ratings are:

KH = 13 drops = 232.14ppm
GH = 22 drops = 392.85ppm

 

[OldMan47]

You have water that is even somewhat harder than mine. There are lots of fish around that will do well in water like that. They include the common livebearers from the new world such as guppies, mollies, platies. Other fish that will do well in that kind of water are the African rift lake fish such as mbuna. For a small tank like yours, I would suggest things like guppies, endlers or platies. You could go to mollies but it would not allow you to keep very many fish that big. Fish that are seen less often but are delightful is the smaller Limias and goodeids. I seldom see any of them in a pet shop but they can be obtained from other hobbyists at your nearby fish club.

 

[Wills]

Small tank + Hard water = Shell Dweller tank - Where abouts do you live Gr44? If you are in the UK practical fishkeeping magazine has a good article on them this month and there is a lot of information about them on the web. There are some members on here with similar tanks that just look fantastic. Though you cant mix these with any other fish - but there are a good variety of species you could choose to house. Your tank would need a sand substrate with rocks as decorations as well as a variety of shells for the fish to live and breed in.

Also agree with above that livebearers would do well in your hard water as well.

Wills

 

[Gr44]

The Shell Dweller idea sounds (and looks!) good... but I've already setup the tank with gravel and such... I don't really want the hassle this early on of changing it all around!

Those mbuna look awesome... I want!! I think they might be too large though?? http/www.tropicalfish4u.co.uk/Fish/Fresh...icYellowCichlid < I want that guy!

I'll try and stop off at the LFS this week and see if they have any Guppies, Endlers or Platies I like the look of - thanks!

Wills,

I live in the UK (Beds) so will try and pick up that magazine and have a read! thanks for the heads up!

 

[Wills]

Hi yeah im afraid the mbuna do get too big, most africans need big tanks - thats why i thought of shell dwellers as they get to about 2 inch similar shape and you can get some fantastic colour out of them if you swapped the decor around with no fish in i reckon you could do it in an hour

 

[Gr44]

I suppose I could buy some sand and just throw it on top of the gravel I have...?

Stupid question but, can you explain a little about these 'shell dwellers' it almost sounds like they aren't fish at all, but what I see I like...

I can't see them for sale on the 'tropicalfish4u' website I normally browse!

Cheers,

Sean

 

[Wills]

Yeah adding sand over the gravel will work well adding a height of sand wont matter with these guys as a lot of people keep them in shallow tanks and they like to dig. I think in a tank your size you could start with 1 male and 3 females and let the colony grow and rehome the young as needed either through members on here or to a local fish store (LFS). They are literally fish that live in shells and use shells for places to hide and breed.

This is a profile on this site http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=45557 and there are a few others in the species profile. I'm not from your area so cant recommend any LFS in particular but again there are lists of recommended stores near the top of the main page so you should be able to find one near you. If you have a maidenhead aquatics near you these are a national chain that have a good reputation and can often source more unusual fish like these.

 

[coldcazzie]

They sound pretty cool Sean - I'd go for them!! they'd probably mix the sand and gravel up but I don't suppose it would matter hugely...

Some of those plus some livebearers at the top of the tank would be awesome!

 

[Gr44]

Okay... so, if I get shell dwellers, I can have nothing else in the tank?

Seems a bit of a waste because I guess they always hover around the bottom so I won't see much higher up in the tank?

I've tried to do some research and look at the various types of shell dwellers but the information on them... is hard to understand for a noob.. I need a load of photos of small ones so I can see them and try and find ones I like!

I don't suppose anyone knows a website like that?

I'll try and pick up that magazine later and see if that is of any help!

 

[Curiosity101]

Just a note, the fish REALLY would benefit from having a sand bottom. As you don't have any fish at the mo it'd be very easy to do.

Remove all decorations into a bucket.

Get a small clean (pref new), dustpan n brush. Take the dustpan part and scoop out as much gravel as possible. You could use a plastic cup or similar as a scoop aswell.
Once you've removed as much as you can (into another bucket)

Dump pre washed sand into the tank. You can do this with a tank that's almost empty of water, or into a full tank if you're careful.

Give it a few hours to settle and then turn the filter back on. So long as it's an internal power filter, or external then the floating sand particles wont hurt it.

 

[Gr44]

Thanks Curiosity,

I'd be willing to change it all if I find some fish I like... but like I said I'm sturggling to work out what I could put in the tank

I'm worried the Shell Dwellers will just use the bottom 2" of the tank and the rest will be bare!

Would someone be willing to give me an example of the stock I could place in the tank (54L) with links to the details and photos of them please?

Mucho Thanks,

Sean

 

[Gr44]

@ Curiosity101

Silly question maybe, but having re-read your post you say the fish would really benfit from having sand at the bottom.

Do you mean ALL fish or shell dwellers only (if I get them?) - I understand the reason behind shell dwellers... if it's all fish can you explain the reason please?

If I get SD's I will convert to sand for sure, if it helps out all fish then I'll do it anyway!

Thanks and sorry for my barrage of questioning