Hi All

[DreS]

Hi there, this is the 1st tropical fish forum I found and looks like a nice place to hang out. Me and the Wife set up out 1st ever fish tank last Thursday so we are very new to everything and have no experience of keeping fish so its a bit scary.

We purchased a Jewel Rekord 800 (110 litres) and currently have 5 Platys (2 males and 3 females - we think) who are lovely. 1 is pregnant and looks ready to pop any day now so we are very excited and a bit scared at the same time. Our fish all seem to be happy and doing well at the moment so hope all carrys on the same. From reading up it sounds like most of the fry will get eaten by the other fish but hopefully 1 or 2 will survive. We have a few plants in all ready and are going to add some more tomorrow to give the fry more hiding places from the other fish but apart from that we are going to let nature run its course. Would be really good if a few survived so we have our fingers crossed.

Our plans are to introduce some Neon Tetras (8-10), as we both love looking at them, and a couple of Bristlenosed Catfish after 3/4 weeks. Does that sound ok and do you think they will all get along together?

Thanks for any advice you can give

 

[rob158]

to the forum

 

[Skins]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Keith.

 

[DreS]

hi again. my tap water kh is 240 and gh is 180. they are also the same readings that i got from our tank for the last few days. should i be concerned about this?

all readings from todays water test:

ph - 8
nitrite - 0.5
nitrate - 20
kh - 240
gh - 180

weve had the tank since last thursday and have 5 platys in there with live plants (i didnt know about fishless cycyling until after we already had fish in there). all of the platys seem to be doing ok at the moment but im worried about the water hardness as we intend to eventually have neon tetras, harlequin rasboras and schwatrtz's corys. ive read a lot about kh and gh and some seem to suggest it shouldnt be a problem but others suggest ways of lowering them so im confused.

any help you could give would be great. thanks.

 

[Skins]

Hello,
I would hang fire on getting your neon tetra's until your filter has matured for at least 6 months. As you are proberly aware you are in what we call "fish-in-cycle".
In my signature at the bottom of this post you will see some links which will give you some useful info on cycling and the nitrogen cycle.

Keith.