Hey Hey

[Reid.]

hi there,

im Sam Reid, im 21 from glasgow and i got a pretty big tank (about 160ltrs) from a family member who was moving house and didnt want it in the new place.

ive never had fish before so i pretty much just gave it a go, its only now i want to start maintaining the tank the way i should and learning a bit more about what types of fish i can keep and how to treat them.

i setup the tank, filter, heater etc and left it for about a week and then stuck in some neons. i then left them about a week and put in a pair of male and a pair of female guppies (all these fish are still living!). i then left it a while again and found a new fish shop who seemed a bit more helpful and tested my tank for me - all my levels were pretty low so he asked a few questions and told me how to make things better (adding an air stone, fitting a snorkel to my filter so it puts air into the tank, water changes etc) and then told me i was pretty much free to add a few fish.

now i have, 4 females (2 are pregnant!) and 4 male guppies, a bronze algae eater, a pleco, 18 neons, 2 blue emperor tetras, and a black and a dalmation mollie but i want to start putting in different fish.

how many fish will i be able to put into the tank? ive read about feeding bloodworm to some fish, will it help mine? is there anything else i could do to help my setup?


any help would be much appreciated.

pic of my tank

 

[pauly]

Hi Sam,

I would suggest that you learn about the Nitrogen cycle (see sticky threads) and get yourself a liquid testing kit (about £20). Your Ammonia and Nitrite levels should always be ZERO, not just 'pretty low'. Anything above zero, and there is something wrong.

Don't add anymore fish until you're confident about your water quality.

Paul.

 

[Reid.]

Hi Sam,

I would suggest that you learn about the Nitrogen cycle (see sticky threads) and get yourself a liquid testing kit (about £20). Your Ammonia and Nitrite levels should always be ZERO, not just 'pretty low'. Anything above zero, and there is something wrong.

Don't add anymore fish until you're confident about your water quality.

Paul.

aye the fish shop guy advised me to buy a kit and test it for myself, but i like double checking before buying anything - the last shop i used told me i needed about £80 worth of things i didnt need. i'm gonna go buy a testing kit today then, thanks for the reply!

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Sam and welcome!

For a beginner, you sure have a nice looking tank! If my son sees it he's going to want decorations like yours.

The fish store advice is not as good as what you will get here but as it goes, your store was not too bad for a change! It is also probably a tiny percentage of new hobbiests that seek out information and want to learn from others who have done it. If you have the time and interest, my opinion is that you have come across a great way to learn by finding this particular forum. There are lots and lots of great articles to read: some are pinned at the top of the forums and others are there to be found by doing searches with the search tool in the upper right corner. Simply reading threads of discussion with their answers and comments is a great way of learning, plus people will enjoy you joining in.

I completely agree with Paul, test kits, water chemistry and how your filter gets cycled and good water change techniques are important starting points. Be patient and learn those skills first and you will be rewarded with healthy fish and will have time for better fish-choosing decisions down the road. There are "one inch of fish body (not fins) per one US gallon of volume maximum rules" out there but again, if you are patient you will find there are complicating factors and you can enjoy your current fish while learning them.

Have fun! ~~waterdrop~~

 

[Reid.]

thanks for the welcomes.

i bought a master test kit today and just did a test there.

Ph - 7.6
no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate at all.

from what ive read thats good?

 

[murphyk32]

sounds good to me (although i am not huge when it comes to being knowledgable with testing and stuff).. like said above, be patient when adding fish, and prolly best off to ask on this forum first. will save you from overstocking, uncompatibilities, etc.. But other then that have fun with ur tank and personalize it to be your own. Worry about details to ensure survival, but dont take the fun out of the hobbie by always being too worried. You get the point im sure.

Congrats on the tank and gdluck with it eh

Murph

 

[waterdrop]

thanks for the welcomes.

i bought a master test kit today and just did a test there.

Ph - 7.6
no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate at all.

from what ive read thats good?

Good. Great first step to get a liquid test kit. Is that reading for your tap water or your tank water?

You want to know (and tell us) your tap readings so you will know what it can accomplish for you when you do water changes. The two most common things to know are what pH it will have and whether it will be adding Nitrates. Its extremely rare for a water system to have ammonia or nitrites I think because that begins to be more unsafe for humans.

Since you put fish in after the first week, you have been doing a "fish-in" cycle. How many weeks has it been since these first fish were introduced? Your filter needs to build up the two types of bacteria and that can take up to 6 weeks. In your case your filter may be already cycled or it may have hardly started cycling at all.

So the things you would want to report here are this total time since start, whether and what size/type of water changes you are doing, any and all chemicals/products you are putting in the tank. All these will help the experienced people here get a feel for whether your tank will keep cruising along or whether its headed for trouble!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Reid.]

thanks for the welcomes.

i bought a master test kit today and just did a test there.

Ph - 7.6
no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate at all.

from what ive read thats good?

Good. Great first step to get a liquid test kit. Is that reading for your tap water or your tank water?

You want to know (and tell us) your tap readings so you will know what it can accomplish for you when you do water changes. The two most common things to know are what pH it will have and whether it will be adding Nitrates. Its extremely rare for a water system to have ammonia or nitrites I think because that begins to be more unsafe for humans.

Since you put fish in after the first week, you have been doing a "fish-in" cycle. How many weeks has it been since these first fish were introduced? Your filter needs to build up the two types of bacteria and that can take up to 6 weeks. In your case your filter may be already cycled or it may have hardly started cycling at all.

So the things you would want to report here are this total time since start, whether and what size/type of water changes you are doing, any and all chemicals/products you are putting in the tank. All these will help the experienced people here get a feel for whether your tank will keep cruising along or whether its headed for trouble!

~~waterdrop~~

again thanks for the reply!
that test was my tank water.

my tap water has a ph of 6.8, no ammonia/nitrate/nitrite.

ive had my tank running now for about 8weeks, the 1st fish were in about a week later.

atm im doing 20% water changes every 5 days, although i was doing it every 3.

 

[Gillymore]

Welcome Sam. Congratulations on starting and maintaining your tank so well...and that you are enjoying the fish that you have already stocked. Long may it last. I have just commenced a fishless cycle with my new tank...and to be honest I have feelings of trepidation. I just hope all goes well and I will be enjoying fish of my own soon. You will find plenty of folk on here with years of experience and knowledge who are willing to help us noobs.

 

[Reid.]

Welcome Sam. Congratulations on starting and maintaining your tank so well...and that you are enjoying the fish that you have already stocked. Long may it last. I have just commenced a fishless cycle with my new tank...and to be honest I have feelings of trepidation. I just hope all goes well and I will be enjoying fish of my own soon. You will find plenty of folk on here with years of experience and knowledge who are willing to help us noobs.

thanks for the reply.

aye i was exactly the same - still a little so now where im scared incase i wake up and theyre all gone! but seems to be going well now, hope yours does too!

i spent ages yesterday changing my tank from gravel to sand and IMO it looks much better - although you can see the poop alot easier so you have to clean it more.

took all the fish out and into a big container with a heater and took about 1/3 of the water into another container to go back in. then emptied the tank and cleaned it using the old tank water. went to Toys R Us and bout a 25kg bag of play sand, took it home and cleaned it, then cleaned it some more and stuck about 2/3s into the tank so the sand was flat between 1" and 1.5". i then put a fair bit of the old gravel inside a pair of gills tights and put them back in the tank to help it keep cycling, and topped up with fresh (dechlorinated) water.

added all my wee bits n bobs and left it to heat up to the right temp before nursing the fish back in, also added a few new fishes, and a frog!

tank now contains..
3 males guppies
6 female gupies (3 are pregnant)
a tiny little baby guppy - no idea where he came from but he was swimming about when i got back from NY, hence the bredding trap.
6 pearl danios
a pleco
a bronze algae eater
16 neon tetras
3 glowlight tetras
3 blue emperor tetras
3 silver tip tetras
2 wee rainbow things - cant mind the name lol.
2 other wee things - again cant mind the name but it'll come to me.
and a clawed dwarf frog!

think im getting close to the limit of fish i can go comfortably, but i may be getting a few baby angels tonight to keep until they grow a bit!

even after the change;
PH7.2
Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrates - none.

piccies..

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