How Do I Put My First Fish Into The Tank?

Lisa67

Fish Crazy
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I've been posting about the two tanks I've been cycling and think that they may be ready fairly soon. Now that I'm getting closer to adding my first fish I want to make sure I do it right. I'm planning to just put 2 angle fish in the small tank (16 gal) and mbuna cichlids in the large tank (55 gal). My water PH is 8.2... from all I've read, this should be OK for both tanks. I thought that PH and hardness were the same thing, but apparently I was wrong. I'm guessing that I have very hard water. If I let a pot boil dry it leaves white powder in the pot.

So, is there a best way to add the new fish? And, later if I want to add more, is it realy necesary to set up quarantine tanks? I can't imagine starting the whole cycling process again just to have a holding tank for new fish!
 
Hi Lisa,

Your nice hard high-pH tap water is great for mbuna cichlids, good choice! One of the great advantages of doing a full fishless cycle (with a qualification week) is that your biofilter is then ready to handle a full tank stocking of fish. People almost never actually fully stock in one go because they usually have trouble finding all the right fish at once or some species they want need to wait for a more mature tank. If you're smart you'll try to do a pretty large stocking however, to take advantage of the only time you'll be able to do it. From then on, you have to only make small additions of two or three small fish or 1 larger fish and then wait a couple weeks to let the bacteria catch up.

Unfortunately, that same water that is what the cichlids like is not water that the angels will particularly like. They tend to flourish in softer, more acid water like that of the Amazon where they come from. Even more importantly, the smallest tank they should be in is a 30 US gallon tank, about twice the size of yours. Another important measurement of the tank is that it needs at least 17" of height.

One option would be to use your smaller tank as a quarantine tank for your large display tank. They are in fact needed (I too felt frustrated thinking of preparing a quarantine tank after I'd already prepared my main tank by fishless cycling!) What happens is that you quickly realize how much you'd hate to lose all those expensive and beautiful fish (and pets that you've grown attached to) just because a new fish brought in a simple ich parasite or some other disease. Unfortunately it is quite common for this to happen.

If it is too much to think of using your nice 15 for a Qtank then I would explore some of the other great possibilities in fish that like higher mineral content. At my LFS they've been having some really beautiful pearl white mollies (almost all mollies really like hard (high mineral content) water) and I could really picture a tank with a stark black and white theme, perhaps some large black rocks. Or a shoal of marble hatchets! Unusual!

The end of fishless cycling comes when both ammonia and nitrite(NO2) are dropping from 5ppm to zero ppm within 12 hours of when dosed and you've watched the filter perform this feat for 7 days in a row. If it doesn't blip during that week then it will be very unlikely to mini-cycle on you when you get fish.

To get fish you plan your big weekend by hopefully knowing that the fish are available. You then perform the big water change (down to the gravel to get most of the nitrate(NO3) out) and you obviously don't dose ammonia after that water change unless you don't intend to get fish for more than about 18 hours or something. There should be plenty of searchable threads about acclimating fish if you're worried about that aspect.

Once you have the big weekend, the clock begins ticking on normal tank maintenance. We usually advise beginners to start with weekly gravel-clean-water-changes and monthly filter rinses to begin with but then you can read up on how to optimize all of that. The weekly water change is an even more important secret to good tank keeping for beginners than the cycling is in some ways! Good luck!

~~waterdrop~~ :)
 
Thanks you for your detailed response. I'm disappointed about the angles but you have given me a few ideas to look into. It's funny... in one of the offices in the hospital where I work they have a 10 gal tank with two large kissing fish and two large angles. I commented to a woman who works there that the tank looked small. She said that the same 4 fish have been there in that tank for atleast 5 years! No idea how they got used to that!!

I think I have a few weeks before the tanks are ready so I have plenty of time to do some research. I'm at the point where the ammonia drops to zero in about 12 hours but the nitrites are sky-high and have not started to drop yet (over a week). I think the 16 gal bow front tank is too nice to use as a Qtank...it's kind of the center piece of the small room it's in. Maybe I'll set up a very small tank in my room or one of my kids'rooms (the only spot left).

The next thing I have to do is find a good place where they sell tropical fish. There are none left in my area (except the chain stores) and I've frequently seen dead fish in their tanks.
 
You can get fish mail-order over the web. Works fine.

All fish have build-in needs having to do with the number of fish of their same species they are near to and the distance they are away from the surface and from the bottom and the kind of "cover" nearby. It can be too stressful a situation for older angels when they get to be 6 inches tall and more with their fins if they feel they are constantly in a situation that their instinct is telling them is dangerous for them.

I admit to having a moment of picturing a pair of kissing gouramis alone in your 15G, lol, but unfortunately they actually grow huge! I'm not worried though, there are just lots and lots of fish and ideas out there and your smaller tank will eventually have something great.

~~waterdrop~~ :)
 
Fish over the web? How does that work? After all I've read about amonia building up I can't imagine how they survive several days in bags! Do you have a good site I can go to?
 
Most (decent) sites will fast the fish prior to shipping to reduce the amount of waste the fish release. I personally have only ordered ACF via mail, not fish, but I am sure a lot of people here have had success. You can always opt to bay a bit more for expedited shipping which would help the fish
 
Are you in the US or the UK? I haven't been any discussions of this recently so I probably don't know the best ones. People have been happy with a fairly large number of places both sides of the Atlantic. WD
 

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