Hi Guys

[Del-Boy]

Just thought i would post a little hello!

Ive become addicted to keeping fish (if thats the correct term) after years of watching my dad keep Marine and Tropical fish and i have had my own Tropical tank for nearly 2years, but after a rough ride so far i decided to get a better tank and start from the beginning again.

I set up the tank last week and put some fish in this weekend and will let you know how i get on.

Look forward to getting involved soon!

Thanks

 

[ox5477]

when you say set it up, did you get mature media so you didnt need to cycle? Cause if you put fish in after only a week, with new media, your tank def isnt cycled.... have a read at the stickies at the top of the "New to the Hobby" Forum about cycling. Your gonna have a fun ride ahead of you if you dont have mature media.

Ox

 

[Del-Boy]

when you say set it up, did you get mature media so you didnt need to cycle? Cause if you put fish in after only a week, with new media, your tank def isnt cycled.... have a read at the stickies at the top of the "New to the Hobby" Forum about cycling. Your gonna have a fun ride ahead of you if you dont have mature media.

Ox

Sorry i should have said the water was already matured in a seperate tank before the fish were added.

 

[ox5477]

well the water is not the problem... is the filter media mature? This is where the biological filtration occurs and what cycling is for

Ox

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if you have a read of the link 'whats cycling' in my sig it should explain a bit more about filtration and maturation.

it'll probably explain to you why you've been having so many problems thus far as well!!

Have a good old poke around in the pinned topics and feel free to ask questions, sure we can get you on the right road to good fishkeeping

 

[Del-Boy]

Cheers guys,

Been reading through a lot of the topics and although i do not know a lot of the proper terminology, i was aware of the cycle process etc...

One major thing i had been doing though was cleaning my filter in tap water!!! And will definately not be making that mistake again!

Apart from that the "rough ride" i reffer to was a bad case of white spot and putting fish i didnt know too much about into my tank.

I bought a knifefish and it looked very distressed and only when i searched for more info that i realised it had to be kept in a darker tank or a tank with plenty of cover for it to live in. I managed to build a series of caves etc and i looked a lot happier but sadly died 6months later.

My tank has been cycled and i used a tank starter kit when i set it up originally...last week i put some rocks and stuff in and let it settle for a week making sure the water stayed at the correct level.

I put 8 tiny neons in last week and at the weekend added some tiger barbs and 3 algie shrimps.

What i also wanted to know was....ive always kept smaller fish like tetras, neons, barbs, mollies etc but can any of you reccomend any bigger fish?

I dont think my tank is tall enough for an angel fish unless i get a very young one...

Any help is much appreciated guys!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Don't worry too much, I made that same mistake for the first year or so of fishkeeping myself. We're all learning so no one will look down on you for making mistakes.

So is your tank cycled then? Have you got some mature filter media in there or is it all brand new?

 

[Del-Boy]

Don't worry too much, I made that same mistake for the first year or so of fishkeeping myself. We're all learning so no one will look down on you for making mistakes.

So is your tank cycled then? Have you got some mature filter media in there or is it all brand new?

Yes the tank is cycled and the filter media was taken from my other tank and was cleaned in the tank before being added to the new one...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Brilliant

How many tiger's did you get, you know how nippy they can be, our experience is that the larger the group the less nippy they will be, they'll always squabble amongst themselves but agression should be confined within the shoal if you get a really big group (like 10+).

What size is the tank? Then we can advise on suitable tankmates, again the link in my sig 'guide to stocking lists' will help you out a bit, it explains how to determine if tankmates are suitable for each other. Doesn't tell you which fish are conpatible, but tells you how to work it out for yourself.

 

[Del-Boy]

Brilliant

How many tiger's did you get, you know how nippy they can be, our experience is that the larger the group the less nippy they will be, they'll always squabble amongst themselves but agression should be confined within the shoal if you get a really big group (like 10+).

What size is the tank? Then we can advise on suitable tankmates, again the link in my sig 'guide to stocking lists' will help you out a bit, it explains how to determine if tankmates are suitable for each other. Doesn't tell you which fish are conpatible, but tells you how to work it out for yourself.

Hey,

My tank is roughly 160L give or take 5L...im at work just now and im 90% sure thats the size of my tank, will confirm when i get home.

Yeh i read up on tigers and heard they can be nippy...i got 6 and so far they are looking fine. There is one dominant fish that is slightly larger than the rest and the fish follow him around, they do seem to squabble amongst themselves but as you said its confined at the moment...do you think i should maybe get anouth couple?

The only reason i asked advice on the type of fish to get is my knowledge of fish is very limited and i would like to have a couple of larger fish as well as my little neons and barbs...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I would just give them a few weeks to settle and see how you go with them, if they are fine in a group of 6 then there's no reason to increase the shoal, but it's just a little tip for the future if you do start having problems you can try putting a few more in and it may even things out.

Another tip with agressive fish is when you want to add new fish to the tank immediatley before adding the fish re-arrange the decor in the tank, this effectivley removes all the territories so the fish start from a level playing field.

So assuming the tank is near enough 160 litres that works out to 43 gallons, a good way to work out stocking is to have 1" of fish per gallon so 43" of fish. It's not set in stone and there are plenty of exceptions, but it just gives a rough guideline of the numbers you are looking at, so you have this so far

6x tiger barbs - 12"
8x neon tetra - 8"
3x amano shrimp - 3"

So the tank is only about half full so plenty of room to play with.

I wouldn't suggest any really big fish for the tank but something like dwarf cichlids could work well, look up kribensis, apistogramma and nannacara and see if there's anything you like the look of. They'd all be fiesty enough to handle a little bit of agression from the tigers if they get shirty but because the cichlids stay near the bottom of the tank and the tigers are more mid-top water swimmers they shopuldn't be fighting over territory

 

[Del-Boy]

Yeh i will keep an eye on them and see how things go...

The only thing im a bit concerned with is my filter,

In my tank the filter, heater etc is kept in a compartment seperate from the fish which is fine and its an ideal set up IMO but the water comes flying out the filter and the fish look as if they are struggling to cope with the flow?

Ive seen this happen before and the fish manage fine once they are used to it but im a bit wary of putting more fish in or changing the layout of the tank until they get settled.

Should i be concerned? the fish dont seem to mind and they seem to be happy and healthy but i dont want this to effect them....

I am going to get a bottom feeder(again i dont know the proper name ) and some more plants for the tank(atrifical ones).

Are live plants hard to keep and are they expensive?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

none of the fish you have are particularly sensitive to flowrates, it's just a bit of common sense really, you can generally tell if they are really struggling with the flow and if they are then you can try to turn it down or deflect it a bit. Some filters have a flow rate adjustment so you just flick a switch which is nice and easy, some filters you can fit a spray bar to them which calms things, sometimes just adjusting the output so it's pointing at the tank wall will spread things out, if none of those are an option you could put something infront of the output to deflect it


depends on the type of filter really, if you can get a pic of it from a few angles then we can make some suggestions.

Do you mean a Plec? If so then hop over to the plec forum, there's a pinned topic there with a load of plecs under 8" which is suitable for your tank, some plecs can get up to 2 foot long..... as you can imagine that's way too big for your tank.

 

[Del-Boy]

That sounds ok then...

Ive seen it before in tanks and it doesnt seem to limit them at all and hopefully the will get used to it, if they dont i will maybe look at some way of blocking/diverting the flow...

Yeh thats what im looking for i will go and have a look just now,

Thanks very much for your help i will let you know how i get on!!

Btw, i had a look at those fish and i rellay liked 2 of them so im going to read into them a bit more!!