Hello New To The Forum

[Blondielovesfish]

Hi I have just joined the forum and have a few questions.
Firstly I currently have a 21L coldwater tank with just 1 pearl danio (I have had it with other pearl danios but all of them kept on dying except this one) and I am upgrading soon to a 130L tropical tank (AquaStyle 620T) and I was wondering if I would be able to put this pearl danio into the tropical tank? I am going to use my current tank as a quarantine tank and I was thinking that maybe if I turned the heater (I will buy this soon) up in temperature by 1 degree Celsius per week until it was at the temperature I would have my bigger tank at if this would climatise my fish enough to be able to be tropical? Would this kill it?

I am looking for some ideas also for the fish to have in my bigger tank. I am thinking of getting some pearl danio (8 in total?), some dwarf gouramis (4 - 1 male and 3 females?) some cory catfish (4?) and some neon tetras (8?) are these good fish and will they do well together and in a tank this size? Is there any other fish I could have with the above?

Is this tank (AquaStyle 620T) a good tank? Is there any other tanks of the same size (130L) that I should consider?

My final question is that when I cycle my tank I was thinking of doing it the silent way (with plants) is this a good way? What would be the best way to carry this type of cycling out? Also what type of plants should I use for this process and to have in my tank with my fish?

Sorry about all the questions I am just really anxious and want to do this right! Any answers would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you
Blondielovesfish

 

[Baccus]

G'Day Blondielovesfish and welcome

to the forum.
Pearl danios should be ok as long as you keep your planned tropical tank at the 24 degrees or even 22 degrees mark, any warmer and the danios will suffer and more than likely so will any corys you get unless you get strebia which can tolerate warmer water.

Corydoras are a fantastic fish, so very peaceful and never a bother to other tank mates but rather than just four of them, to see them at their best I would suggest 6 or even better 8. They are a very gregacious species and love their own company. If you can get some pygmy corys you could have an even bigger school, some pygmy or dwarf corys also like swimming around mid water more than standard corys and will happily interact with other shoaling fish. I would also strongly reccomend that you give the corys sand as a substrate rather than normal gravel. They do ok on smooth gravel, (but sharp gravel damages their barbels and allows infections to take hold), but to see a cory with its face jamed into the sand snuffling around seeking tidbits is the sign of a truly happy cory

. To stop my corys uprooting my plants I do a smooth gravel sand blend where the plants are, otherwise the base is sand for the corys to nose about in.

Neon tetras are nice but they will feel better and safer in a lightly larger group than 8, 10 is usually the suggested minimum for these guys. They should work with dwarf gouramis (since they like similar water temp etc), and they are all relatively peaceful, although some tetras can be bad for fin nipping, but kept in a good sized shoal they should be well behaved.

When you say that your cycling the tank using the silent way, I am guessing this is another name for fishless cycling? Unfortunately when cycling a tank you need to add an ammonia based food source (this can be either bottled ammonia or adding fish food to the tank, other people have cycled filters using prawn heads/ shells) in order for the desired filter bacteria to grow/ develop and having plants in straight away the plants will want this same ammonia to convert to nitrogen for their own growth. This in turn could give you false readings for a cycled filter, and once fish are added the whole system can go into a mini cycle again.
Just did some quick reading and online sources do say you can however try using fast growing stem plants like Elodea, or even floating plants like water sprite and add hardy fish like damios almost straight away provided you can also get hold of some mature media from an established tank. The theory is that these fast growing stem plants will utlilise any ammonia produced by the fish quicker than filter bacteria can establish, while the mature media will seed the new filter. From what I have read using these fast growing nutirent hungry plants can apparently speed up the "cycling" process and a few months down the track the plants can be traded out for slower growing plants like Anubis and swords. I have read the theory behind this silent cycling but I would still be weary of it actually establishing a bacterai colony in the filter for your eventual desired number of fish. Let alone getting rid of the fast growing plants and replacing them with slower growing not so nutrient hungry plants, could be hazardous if the filter colony has not established.
I wish I could help you more on what types of fast growing plants to use but I don't know what true aquarium plants are allowed into NZ.
Persoanlly where possible I like to get mature filter media and use it to kick start my bacteria colony in any new filters/ tanks.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Thanks alot for everything above. its is greatly appreciated!
I will put my neon tetras up to 10!
I was thinking about the temperature of the tank being 24 or 25 because the gouramis are supposed to like the temp at 25. I have also added a bristlenose pleco to my list of potential fish as I need 1 for algae control.
I'm not sure what plants I can get either because I've never paid much attention to the plant section at the pet store so I will have to see when I next visit one and trust the staff on there advice.
I'm not so sure of the sand as I've read that it can be hard to clean and get in the filter. I will however check my gravel for sharp edges.
The silent cycle is using plants and I was thinking about carrying it out using some fish flakes and plants. I did want to do the fishless cycle but was having trouble finding pure ammonia.
Thank you for all of you advice
Blondielovesfish

 

[Baccus]

Bristle noses are pretty good, but as they get older they can become lazy, also bristle nose catfish are not pure algea eaters they do like and need some protien in their diet. If you can get them in NZ easily I would perhaps look at getting some otocinclus, they are another peaceful small fish and are true algea eaters. The only problem is I would only get these guys once you have a nice healthy algea growth, because otocinclus can be hard to get to take prepared foods and can easily starve.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Hey thanks not sure about the otocinclus as I'm pretty sure they are rather expensive but I will have a look in the pet store next time I'm in town.
With my substrate could i possibly mix sand and dark gravel together? I will definitely get some dark gravel as I know the fish's colour shows up better with dark gravel.
When I next go to the pet store I will have a look at ALL of the fish stuff and go from there on what fish I want that I can actually get as well as the plants!
With the test kits do you need to have all of the tests? They are like $70+ here most of the time so looking for a cheaper option (Maybe test strips?) and I was thinking about maybe just ammonia and nitrate. I would test the pH occasionally using the pool pH tests (would this work?)
Thanks for all of your help
Blondielovefish

 

[the_lock_man]

Don't use test strips, they're notoriously inaccurate. The essential tests are for ammonia and nitrite, and nitrate and pH are both highly recommended.

Have a look on Ebay for the API freshwater master kit, I had a quick look on the Australia, NZ and Sth Pacific version, and these kits are around $25 (don't know if that's Aussie or NZ or what).

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Hey thanks I have looked on eBay but couldn't find the website for New Zealand. EBay is mostly for America and we have trouble using it as most if the products aren't in NZ so we have to pay expensive shipping rates!
All of the NZ online sites are selling the master test kits for around $70 which is why I wanted to try a cheaper option.
Okay well next time I go to the pet shop I will look around as some brands are cheaper than others!
If you want an idea of NZ pricing then go to this link: http/www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/
Thank you for all of your help
Blondielovesfish