Hi There New To Tropicalfish

[TheClarks]

Good evening,
 
We are the Clarks from Northants UK. Dave (Dad) Nikki (Mum) and our 4 Daughters Emily Holly Grace and Freya.
 
We have been looking into getting a tank for a few months, finally this week I bought a set up from a LFS.
 
25 litre Tank Glass Rectangular, Superfish Air-Flow mini 50, Superfish AquaFlow mini 100, Superfish Nano 50L Heater.
We have followed the steps for a fishless cycle......so have set up the tank with 3 live plants,  2mm gravel and a nice decorative log .
 
The girls are sooo excited about getting the fish, and, as you can imagine 4 daughters and a wife deciding on which fish to get is a bit of a heated debate!
 
Please feel free to let me know if there is anything I should know about the quality of the items I have purchased. I have never kept Tropicals but my grandfather did.
 

 

[BerryAttack]

around 7 gallon tank, there isn't many fish that you can get for it.
 
you'll have only small breeds of neons, and a beta that you can put inside it.
neons are really nice, but need an established tank to flourish without any issues.
 
or what you can do which i believe would look really cool, is dirt it, and convert it into a low tech planted tank. you can make it a really cool shrimp tank and can nano fish, which there are a lot of different breeds and the girls would be able to choose which nano fish.

 

[Ch4rlie]

to TFF!
 
Sound like you are off to a start!
 
As already said above, a 25 litre tank is not very big and therefore not many fish can be kept in there, heres a link to help you find suitable stocking for a nano tank like yours
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/418749-nano-fish/
 
(in fact I would not put any neons in there as they are active fish and need quite a bit of swimming space)...
 
I would simply google search each fish you see in the list from the link above and whittle the list down to 1 type that everyone likes, easier said than done with 4 little girls and the wife! lol 

 
But you can easily add some nice snails like nerites which has the added benefit of not being able to breed in freshwater so you would be very unlikely to get overrun with snails and a few Red Cherry Shrimps to make things a little more interesting for the bottom of the tank.  

 
Also, live plants are good for any tank, fish and shrimps like these, a good start there with your 3 live plants so far.
Purely out of interest what types are these plants?
 
The items you have are fine, I have a similar setup on one of my tanks (aqua nano 30 which is a 22 litre tank) and my girlfriend loves it!
Has 8 endlers, 6 orange cherry shrimps and malaysian trumpet snails with a few live plants. 

 

[214jay]

Hi and welcome! You are quite limited to choice and I would avoid neons in such a small tank as they need more room (over 50l ideally). I agree with shrimps and snails then maybe something small like celestial pearl danios (galaxy rasbora) but not many as they will suffer if water quality drops.

Are you aware of water changes? I would do two a week (circa 30%) on such a small tank to keep things really fresh with a gravel clean once a week.

 

[TheClarks]

Thanks for your information and advice 

. I did figure we would be limited on the types and size of fish.
I want to get going on a small tank see how it fits in around the girls (they are more boistrious than boys!) and my work as I work away alot as a HGV driver.
 
Cant think of the name of the plants now long thin stems with curved leaves coming off them from top to bottom, very similar if not same as 214jays on the right front of his sig pic.
I thought that a 20% water change weekly would be enough? Is this not the case then? 

 

[TheClarks]

Just had a look on the NanoFish page, can you mix the fish in the 7 Gallon category. By mix I mean,  have 1m 2f Bluefin Nothobranch and say 6 smaller danios?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Hmm, IMO your tank is actually less than 7 US Gal to be honest, 6.6 to be more precise, not forgetting that your gravel, plants, decor and filter will take up some of that water allowance as well so I would say you are nearer to 6 US gal.
 
So, therefore I would not add Danios to your 25l tank as these are pretty active fish as well and do much better in a longer sized tank. 
 
And, sorry, but no, would not recommend mixing any fish in a tank that small to be honest, that list is pretty much just a single species of fish with the numbers as recommended, one line only basically.
Unless you are choosing from 12 litres list for example, then you can have a couple more than the number recommended.
 
Sorry to be a bit negative and take away some of your choices, if I were you, I would add easy to look after fish, a bit hardier in case mistakes are made whilst all of you are still learning.
 
Guppies are pretty good, just males, very colourful varieties are available or maybe some Endlers, these are nice active wee fish, or perhaps a nice single colourful Betta Splenden (although not recommended to have shrimps with these).

 

[TheClarks]

Charlie 

  or your advice ...... now to narrow the choice down for the girls LOL

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Hi welcome aboard!

 

[TheClarks]

Well done first test on the water today.........was expecting it to be WAaaaaay out! but was shocked all levels as they should be except the 21dGH?? struggling to work out what I need to do to bring that down? 

 

[TheClarks]

Ch4rlie I love your tank in the sig box, that is stunning mate 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ch4rlie I love your tank in the sig box, that is stunning mate 

 
heh, thanks for the kind comment.
 
That tank is my first tank and is slowly getting to a state where I like it more, at first it was not quite how I wanted it.
 
With a bit of patience and adding a few plants here and there and also adding more natural driftwood over time its becoming good for me. Now am looking for decent floating plants a these are good for my Threadfin Rainbowfish as they like shade.
 
FYI here is a pic of my girlfriend's nano tank which is 22 litres, not a million miles away from your tank size, with a bit of help and top tips, this is a really lovely little tank and absolutely nice! 

(sorry if seem to be boasting but am kinda proud of this one!)
 

 

[Ninjouzata]

Well done first test on the water today.........was expecting it to be WAaaaaay out! but was shocked all levels as they should be except the 21dGH?? struggling to work out what I need to do to bring that down? 

Have you added any ammonia?

 

[TheClarks]

No ammonia added artificially yet no, would that be whats causing the GH reading to be out?

 

[Ch4rlie]

No, GH is general water hardness, ammonia has nothing to do with this really.
 
21 GH works out to be 375.9 ppm (21 x 17.9) which is hard water. Your test result of 21 GH, is that from tap water or from the tank water?
 
Its not a lot to worry about, there are a lot of fish that will adapt to fairly hard waters. Just means doing a bit more research.
 
Ammonia is used for the cycling process. You add ammonia for the bacteria to feed on and to help the bacteria colony grow over period of time.
Its when the filter bacteria can consume 3ppm ammonia within a 24 hour period.
Testing this twice and if ammonia and nitrite turns out to be 0 both times in each 24 hours, this will mean your tank is ready for stocking.
 
Have a read of this, will help a lot if you have not already read it.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/
 
You may want to add a bacteria starter, I would recommend you get a bottle of Dr Tim's Only and Only nitrifying bacteria or tetra Safe Start (can be hit or miss with this product) You can get Dr Tim's online from Amazon
 
http/www.amazon.co.uk/DR-TIM%2527S-AQUATICS-Only-Freshwater/dp/B001LULBXI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384282976&sr=8-1&keywords=dr+tims+one+and+only
 
This will greatly speed up your cycling process.
 
Or even better yet, get some mature filter media from a friend who has an established tank or you can possibly buy some form Maidenhead Aquatics if they have them available (last I heard they sold a small bag for about a pound!) or perhaps from another LFS.