Just Beginning !

[blacklaughter]

Hi all *waves*

I've come to the decision that I 'NEED' to keep Tropical fish, we used to keep them when I was younger, but I really had nothing to do with their care, so I am a complete beginner !!

The tank I'm looking at holds 80 Litres of water, and I'm after some advice as to what and how many I should keep in it ??

I have bought a book, but I would also appreciate some advice on setting up, as I want to make sure I have everything I need bfore I begin, and that I do everything correctly.

Thanks

BL

 

[Scotty87]

I strongly advise you read this thread, http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861

It has been extremely helpful to me as a beginner. As for the fish, i'm not sure but no doubt people on here will let you know. Eveyone has been really helpful to me!

Welcome to the forum

 

[scubadoo]

The tank I'm looking at holds 80 Litres of water, and I'm after some advice as to what and how many I should keep in it ??

Welcome to the forum.

The choice of what you keep in your tank is YOURS. Everybody has a personal preference and may advise you to get all sorts of fish, but the bottom line is you should get what you want. Do you want lots of small brightly coloured fish that shoal, or do you want a few larger fish that are a bit more showy? Once you decide on the type of fish / tank setup that you want, then make sure that you research your fish carefully before you buy them - many nice cool looking little fish in your local shop soon grow to become 12" (or bigger) monsters who will eat your other fish and be far too big for your tank.

The decision of what fish you want will have a bearing on how many. You could probably keep 10 or 12 small tetras (at about 1 1/2" long) in your tank, but only a few larger fish (at about 3 or 4 " long).

Remember that the length refers to their eventual full size - not the size they are in the shop when you buy them.

Most importantly, make sure you cycle your tank properly (look at the pinned topics in the beginners section for all the info you need).

The choice of tropical fish available is vast, so enjoy taking the time to choose YOUR fish.

 

[blacklaughter]

So much to choose from, guess really I would like some nice bright colours, with varied sizes (if thats possible) the tank I'm ordering is 81cm x 41cm x 31cm. I'm hoping it will be here by the weekend, so that I can spend the weekend getting it all set up.

Can anyone give me a shopping list with everything I need for cycling ?

Also, I've been reading all the posts on cycling, (fish and fishless) and I'm just wondering which method other people use, and if they've used both, which they find best ??

Thanks

BL

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you'll probably find most people here will advocate fishless cycling.

another good topic and one that could be very helpful is this it's a list of people and they're locations who are happy to donate some mature filter media to you to speed up the cycle. You might be in luck and find someone round the corner who can help kick start your cycle.

I have a similar sized tank and this is my stocking for it
2 green sailfin molly's
1 black molly
4 harlequin rasbora's (should be kept in groups of 6 or more really, btu these are the end of a shoal and i'm not replacing them, just leaving them to pass on to fishy heaven when the time is right)
3 neon tetra's (as above)
8 white peacock endlers
8 rasbora beaforti
5 veil tale leopard danio's
5 amano shrimp

it's a really bright colourful lively mix, here's a pic.

 

[blacklaughter]

Thanks for that... there are 2 people qute close to me, so I may look into contacting them once I'm ready.

Getting really excited now, although I still have no idea of the fish I'm gonna keep, there's just soooooooooooo many to choose from !!

 

[Cheffi]

I believe that Fishless Cycling is the way to go. No stress on fish and once cycled you can add a full stock of fish. I have just finished a fc myself, it took a bit longer than a lot of other members but just over a week ago I stocked my tank with 13 Malawi and 4 Syno's. 8 days later my water stats are perfect.
There are lots of people on this forum who will help with any questions. Good luck and welcome to the friendly forum

 

[scubadoo]

Can anyone give me a shopping list with everything I need for cycling ?

Also, I've been reading all the posts on cycling, (fish and fishless) and I'm just wondering which method other people use, and if they've used both, which they find best ??

I'm currently in the middle of a fishless cycle.
I'm using the add & wait method - so far so good.

Items needed for cycle:

Water conditioner (Tetra Aquasafe or similar) to ensure you remove the chlorine and any chloramine in your water which will inhibit the growth of your bacteria.

Source of ammonia (if you're in the UK I used Boots Household Ammonia) cost about £2.

A dropper or syringe so you can measure how much ammonia you're adding.

Master test kit (to test your water chemistry). I got the API version - its easy to use and accurate - cost about £18 for 700 tests in total.

If possible get a source of active bacteria (used filter media or gravel) from a disease free mature tank to help speed things up. I wasn't able to source any used filter media or gravel so I added 3 amazon sword plants (Echin. Bleheri). The roots of plants can contain some of the nitryfying bacteria and therefore help to seed the filter. Do leave the plants in the rockwool that surrounds their roots tho'.

that should about do it.

Keep on top of it and all should go well.

cheers

scuba

 

[blacklaughter]

That's excellent, just what I needed. Hate to be a pest, but where's the best place to buy everything ?? Preferably online, as my LFS is pretty pants !!!! Was wondering about the ammonia, will look in Boots later.... can anyone tell me how much I need to add and how often ??

 

[Cheffi]

That's excellent, just what I needed. Hate to be a pest, but where's the best place to buy everything ?? Preferably online, as my LFS is pretty pants !!!! Was wondering about the ammonia, will look in Boots later.... can anyone tell me how much I need to add and how often ??

The amount you add will be relative to the volume of water in your tank and the strength of the ammonia you use. For example I have a 300 litre tank, the ammonia I used was Homebase Household Ammonia at 9.5%. I needed approx 8 - 10 ml to take the reading up to around 5ppm. You will need to add a couple of ml's at a time then test your water and work it out that way.

 

[scubadoo]

Online is fine to get most of what you need, but any half decent lfs will stock water conditioner and master test kits - even if they are a bit pants!

I ended up getting my conditioner & test kit from pets@home, but that was mainly 'cos there's one about 3 minutes from my house in cardiff and I just couldn't wait to get stuff delivered.

A syringe or dropper you should be able to get from any pharmacist, or you may just have one knocking about - I had several from when we used to have to give some meds to the kids when they were babies (it was well cleaned out!).


If you can be bothered, a quick calculation will give you a good idea of how much ammonia you need - just so you dont have to do loads of ammonia tests after adding each 1ml of eg.

200l tank = 200,000 ml
Therefore 1ppm = 0.2 ml
so 5ppm = 1 ml

but if your ammonia is at 10% concentration, then you may need to add up to 10ml.

I added about half of what I thought was right, checked the reading then topped up to get a reading of 5ppm.