Hello - Guess What? I'm A Tropical Keeping Newbie!

[leannethenewbie]

Hi everyone!!

I was given a tropical tank and all the equiptment as a moving house gift! It's lovely because I have always wanted to keep tropical fish!

I set up the tank as per the instructions - but I have a few questions... perhaps you can help me?

1. It's an open-top tank, and the halogen light is fixed in the centre, sort of on an 'arm'.
Should I perhaps try and fashion some sort of cover for it? I'm a bit worried about dust particles getting in the water etc? or do I not need to worry?

2. When I put my filter together - I followed the instructions, which showed to run tap water on the little filter block before putting it in the filter device. Is that right? Because once I plugged it all in and plugged it in some black stuff came shooting out into the water!! *eeekk*

3. Can you suggest some nice pretty fish to begin with? I intend to have the tank fully running for a week before shopping (it's been 3 days) and I would just like to get a little lot to begin with and some live plants. The tank holds 24 litres and is almost an exact cube

Thanks for any help in advance fellow fish keepers

xx

 

[james_fish]

First question: The thing you need to worry about most is the fact the fish could possibly jump out of the water and the tank (believe it or not) Although many species do not do this.

Second question: Your not supposed to wash filter under tap water as it contains Chlorine which kills beneficial bacteria. So another member will have to suggest what you need to do about that.
EDIT. (SchottayB is right here, I was wrong. But yeah once there are bacteria living in your filter, do not wash it tap water as like i said it will kill them)

Third question.: In my opinion Zebra Danios are the best fish to start with. But for colour, the best options as a starter fish are either Guppys, Platys or Mollies.

If you need anymore information before setting your tank up feel free to ask or obviously you can post on the forum

James.

 

[SchottayB]

Befor putting your new filter in the tank, it's fine to run it through tap water to clean any dust etc off from packing, transit etc.


But when cleaning the sponge in the filter after you tank is setup and running, just give it a little squeeze in TANK WATER that you have taken out of your tank for doing a water change.

Remember to add tap water conditioner to the new tank water every water change, and try get the new water roughly the same temprature as the tank water so it's less stress on the fish

Hopfuly a pro will come along and make it clearer for you

Goodluck fish keeping!

 

[leannethenewbie]

All sounds like good stuff to me guys Thanks

I'm making notes as we speak!!

Oh and I've worked out 24 lts is roughly 6.34012 gallons(US Liq)

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum!

You have come here at the best time to learn, the beginning!

With your filter cleaning so far dont worry about killing any bacteria as you wont have any the black stuff could have been alsorts really left over from the factory just dust etc I imagine. But just make sure its all out by then.

24 liters is quite a small tank really but still manageable, what brand is the tank and or filter?

Right first things first, fishless cycling is the best way to success As the name says this means by passing the fish to build up a colony of bacteria in the filter that will be able to support the fish you want to keep. So we do this by using pure household ammonia which if your in the UK you can get from homebase. You then add a small amount of ammonia each day and use a liquid test kit which is available from all pet shops usually the API one is the best IMO so try and get that its about £15 for all the tests you need. The cycle is like a scientific cycle of chemicals that build up when we have fish in the tank, the cycle goes like this

Fish poo -> Ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate

So to explain, fish poo creates a chemical called ammonia which is just poison to fish and will kill them, or make them ill at the very least. Luckily there is a bacteria present in water that will colonise in your filter that will convert the ammonia into nitrite which is a lesser poison to nitrite but still a poison with the same effects as ammonia. So then a different type of bacteria will grow and change your nitrite into nitrate - nitrate is harmless in small doses then it is our responsibility to control this chemical with regular water changes.

So as you can see in the early stage of every aquarium there is a lot of what is essentially poison to the fish living there. The fishless cycle basically starts at ammonia rather than fish poo and because of that the fish do not suffer the poison and you will be able to stock your tank from after the cycle with 0 problems caused by the cycle, the cycle is what happens naturally in streams and rivers etc when there is a source of ammonia this bacteria will become present to live off it.

Hope thats made sense for you but just to add if you start off with fish in rather than fishless all of the above happens either way and will effect your fish from the start. However if you do start with fish it is manageable with daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite down to a minimum. Both ways take about 6ish weeks sometimes more sometimes less and its much easier to add a few ml of ammonia that water change each day.

Right so thats cycling coverd, dont get me wrong it is a complicated thing to work out there are some more articles on it in the begginers resource section which goes through it step by step well worth a read in there


As far as what fish to go with, in a tank that size your options are quite limited but you do have options. The obvious one is a betta fish a lone male with some cherry shrimp would be a nice set up Or you could do whats called a micro community which is a collection of very very small fish, now in a 6 gallon tank its only going to be 6 of these fish and they are sometimes a bit hard to track down but through this site people in your area might be able to point you in the right direction of good shops. Where abouts are you from btw people might be able to suggest good shops like I say. But yeah micro community would be a small feature fish like a sparkling gourami or a badis fish with a group of 5 small schooling fish like micro rasoba or pygmy corydoras. Some names to google for the micro rasbora would be sparrow rasbora or chilli rasbora. You would be able to do 3 or4 cherry shimp in there as well

Personally if its your first tank I would go for the betta and the shrimp as they are easier to source and a littler hardier than the other fish though if you go the fishless cycle route the tank will be stable enough for either option

Hope thats helped Wills

 

[leannethenewbie]

Hi Wills

Thanks that really helpful - I've printed all this information out.

I'm based in weston-super-mare, near Bristol in the southwest (England).

It's funny because I didn't think 24 litres was much but the tank itself looks really big to me ( perhaps because it's a cube.)

All of my chemicals are API, but I'm not sure what make my fish-tank and equipment is. I'll get back to you. I got given the ' Starter Pack' which has the product to de-chlorinate the water and another to promote a clean tank.

With regards to the ammonia - I saw a product called 'API ammo-lock' and also 'API Stress Zyme' could I use these instead to begin with and then at every water change?

I do know I have a 'double' internal filter so when I put the filter together I can fit 2 filter blocks in on top of eachother in seperate sections, then the third section at the bottom houses the black carbon bit. (sorry I haven't got the terms right)

Does that makes sense? I hope so

 

[Wills]

Yeah that makes sense is the filter like a rounded black box? Possibly a fluval? Is that tank quite modern looking? Perhaps called a fluval edge? The tank might look big for what it is but in terms of what a big tank is usually considered at 55 gallons so around a 4 foot tank.

With the stress zyme and the ammo lock, stress zyme is a bit usless really it claims to hold bacteria but with an unregulated supply chain to the customer its impossible to know how much bacteria is still alive if any. The ammo lock in theory is perfect for what we need but all it does is change ammonia to ammonium but its very difficult to work out how effective it is 100% of the time.

If you want to add fish quite quickly you could perhaps consider a fish in cycle dont get me wrong it will need daily water changes but in a tank of that size you wont need to do massive changes its only like 10 liters per day so with a bucket you will have no problem but dont forget to use a product called API stress coat on the new water going into the tank to remove chlorine. There are a lot of cases where fish in cycles go 100% smooth but there is a risk involved in this process, even exposure to the low doses of the chemicals can be fatal to the fish the cycle is just unavoidable really. Its often why you hear of people having a fish tank for a month or so and then all their fish die and they give up, patience at this stage of the hobby will pay off in the long term.

The API chemicals I was on about are the test kits so you can monitor the ammonia, ph, nitrite and nitrate levels in your tank like this one http/aquariumpharm.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductID=67 this one is the one most people on the forum uses so the results are easy for us all to discuss and know what they mean there are other test kits but I would always go with the liquid drop ones like that, you can get test strips that you dip in the water but they are often inaccurate and can lead to complications....

I think there are a few members from bristol on the forum so they should be able to help out with good shops etc

Also in the filter I would take out the carbon, its used to take out impurities in the water like medicines you might need at some point which you dont have right now so I would take it out and save it till you need it

Wills

 

[leannethenewbie]

Good Stuff - Thanks again Wills.

I have found out that all my stuff is Rena. The filter is: Rena Filstar i1 Aquarium Volume 10 - 50 litres . Airflow 300 litres an hour. (and then it has an extra bit so it's bigger)

The tank is also Rena - it's square and has this groovy purple pattern up the side. It was never for sale in UK, which is prob why I can't find a pic of one anywhere.

Please don't tell me thats not a good brand?

Yeah - unfortunatley I have read that it may take a few months for me to really get a productive tank up and together, and that I may loose some fish in the process.
Like you said - it's a relativley small tank, so daily water changes won't bother me much ( I like to keep busy )! So perhaps I'll try it (buckets at the ready!) and I will certainly let you know how I get on. I will take the carbon out when I get home.

I will leave everything going the way it is for a few days, and then go get some fish! The auquatics shop I am going to will test my water free of charge for me, before we decide to put any fish in there - but I will certainly be investing in the water test kits!

*fingers crossed*

Thanks for putting my mind at ease

I'm off to google the fish species you talked about. I like the idea of a nice small community like you described, I don't know what I'll do if they all start having babies though!!

 

[Wills]

Cool but it is important you keep up with the daily water changes its not ideal but you want fish asap like I said its managable.

None of the fish I listed should give you babies and in a tank that size I would avoid fish tht breed easily like guppies, platties, mollies and swordtails the last 3 get too big for the tank but some male guppies would be okay in there maybe 3 or 4 or you could do 6 male endlers which are like mini guppies but make sure they are all male as they breed like rabbits and in that smaller tank its just not feasable.

Wills

 

[Assaye]

Leanne, have a look at the stuff here. Wills is doing an excellent job - this is just all the newbie stuff in one place!

The most important bits are the sections about cycling and the sections on how to set-up and maintain a new tank.

One thing to remember is that here we have a very modern, scientific approach. Having the internet and the ability to talk to hundreds of other fishkeepers means we keep really up to date on new discoveries that a lot of other people (often fish shop owners and friends with fish) just don't know. Some of it, like the information about ammonia toxicity is very important.

This is just to make you aware, as some people who've kept fish before and some shop owners will tell you different things and might say that the information we give here isn't that good.

In terms of fish, try these stocking ideas on for size:

1) 1 male betta splendens/female betta splendens/male betta imbellis and 6 cherry shrimp/2 apple snails/2 african dwarf frogs

2) 6 chilli rasbora/ember tetra/celestial pearl danio/endlers liverbearer and 6 cherry shrimp

3) 3 sparkling gourami and 6 cherry shrimp

4) 4 male guppy

5) 1 dwarf puffer fish

 

[leannethenewbie]

Hi LOTF

Thanks for the link - I thought I was probably posting a thread that had been posted a 100x before !

Thanks also for the fish suggestions.

I have done a bit more research and I bought some ammonia and a test kit from the aquastore - so I am going to do things properly. I will hopefully have things ready for fish in the next 10 -14 days or so (apparently) but the important thing is to keep testing and keep an eye on things.

Do you know of any threads about having a an open top tank?

Whilst I won't buy fish that like to 'leap' I am worried about it developing a layer of dust across the top of the water .... or does that just make my house sound dirty! Ha!
I intend to do weekly water changes, but I'd hate it if it upset the fish!
What do you think?

Thanks again for all your help

 

[Assaye]

Hi LOTF

Thanks for the link - I thought I was probably posting a thread that had been posted a 100x before !

Thanks also for the fish suggestions.

I have done a bit more research and I bought some ammonia and a test kit from the aquastore - so I am going to do things properly. I will hopefully have things ready for fish in the next 10 -14 days or so (apparently) but the important thing is to keep testing and keep an eye on things.

Do you know of any threads about having a an open top tank?

Whilst I won't buy fish that like to 'leap' I am worried about it developing a layer of dust across the top of the water .... or does that just make my house sound dirty! Ha!
I intend to do weekly water changes, but I'd hate it if it upset the fish!
What do you think?

Thanks again for all your help

Lol, LOTF isn't my username, it's just a user-titled based on how mnay posts I have. My Username is Assaye =)

Open-topped tanks - I wouldn't risk it as I would be heart-broken if I found a fish on the floor, but I know many people do do it and doesn't constantly lose fish. Where I used to work we had a 100 gallon marine tank that was open topped and had some very expensive stock in there - nothing ever escaped. You might be able to get a piece of glass or acrylic cut to act like a lid while still retaining the open-topped look of rht ank. Just make sure it has loads of air holes.

Water changes - weekly is good. Probably about 10-25% - it's pretty much up to you. If you have a lot of fish, change a bit more. It won't stress the fish if you do it carefully and don't shock them with freezing water or something like that. Most fish like an injection of fresh water and you might see them playing in the bubbles and currents created.

 

[walkers101]

for the open top problem just get a condensation tray

 

[leannethenewbie]

Thanks Assaye

Apparently I had only the one eye open when reading your post *d'oh*

I was staring at an empty tank for 10 minutes yesterday *sigh* - it will be worth it in the end!

Thanks Walkers101 - I have never heard of one, but I'm off to google it now

 

[walkers101]

http/www.google.co.uk/products?q=fish+tank+condensation+tray&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=n07DS7D3MZfKmgPvl5ToBg&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=image&resnum=3&ved=0CBoQzAMwAg

your LFS will sell them