Mr And Mrs Tubbylala's First Tropical Tank

[TubbyLaLa]

This is our first tropical tank and we are very excited!!!! Doing lots of water testing and trying to make it a healthy happy place for our fish when we get them!! Fishless cycle first with a mature filter and so far levels are at
Ammonia 0.2mg/l
Nitrate 50mg/l
Nitrite 15mg/l
pH 7.5

Only two days in but there seem to be lots of bacteria in there as ammonia is cycling very quickly!! (Nitrite levels were 0mg/l yesterday when we set tank up!)

Any help or suggestions are most welcome as we are new at this and hope to be happy healthy fish keepers for years to come. Thinking about guppys and mollis as starter fish but Mr TubbyLaLa and I aspire to being pirahna owners one day. (If I spelt it right! )
I hope all you experienced fish owners out there would be kind enough to give us any hints or advice sure you are plagued by us newbies asking questions so it would be much appreciated!

ETA-'castle greyskull' as it has become known not the most natural of ornaments but we like it!!!! was aspiring to a natural looking tank but our childish sides got the better of us!

 

[archamfr]

a betta would love that tank
depending on tank size, guppies and mollies would be fine, very energetic and colourful, gr8 fish.

 

[TubbyLaLa]

The Tank is 2ftx1ftx1ft I forgot to say. I have seen bettas in various pet shops I have been frequenting asking lots of questions they are beautiful fish! I will have to do some more research on them while the cycling does it's thing. Thankyou for the suggestion, we just don't want to get too complicated too quick at the fishes expense hence the idea of guppys and mollis!

 

[archamfr]

ahhh, the tank looks alot smaller than that in the pic
a betta may not be such a good choice, as you can only keep 1 in a tank.
the size tank you got will be perfect for gupz and molz, and in my experience they are very easy fish to care for

 

[dwarfgourami]

So you have about 15 US gallons in there. Great size for guppies, I'd say. The slight problems with mollies is that they are hybrids so you can never quite know what size they will grow to. I would go for platies instead of mollies, as they do stay that little bit smaller.

 

[TubbyLaLa]

Been looking at Bettas and they are very flashy!!! Would not mind just having one in a tank he could have lots of room to play and display in then!!! Would a betta not like having too much room? The pondering of what fish to chose goes on....... Have read that Mollies like salt in the water but Guppies do not, seems they are not a good idea to keep together

 

[joycould]

If you go with a betta and want a couple of other fish cory and otto catfish will work. They both do with more than just one. The otto catfish are great little algae eaters.

 

[dthoffsett]

Bettas really aren't community fish. There are some people who have kept them with other fish successfully, but you really have to watch the fish. Bettas are territorial and would happily attack both guppies and platys since they often confuse the bright colors (and longer tails in the guppies) for other bettas. And the reverse can be true, the guppies and platys can nip the bettas fins. Bettas are much better off in their own 2.5 to 5gal (or more) tank.

Another thing with livebearers (guppies, mollys, platys) is that unless you are prepared to be inundated with fry, you'll want to stick with all males, you can get all females instead, but remember they can store sperm for up to 6 months, so expect to have fry. Don't get me wrong, livebearers are lovely fish, but all too often new fish keepers get them without realizing they could soon be overrun by fry.

There are some lovely tetras and other fish you could keep that are easy care. Take a look at this thread about 10gal tanks, it should give you some ideas, and you could add a little to the numbers they give.

http/www.fishforums.net/Reccomendations-...on-t116208.html

Good luck, and have fun with it.

"Castle Greyskull" I loved He-Man as a kid!

 

[TubbyLaLa]

What a lovely forum this is. I had checked out the thread on 10gallon tank stocking (thanks for pointing me there)and definately was going to go for all male guppies (no breeding plans here!) and Mr TubbyLaLa loves the look of them and they seem a very practical starter fish for first time tropical tank keepers. In fact there are two guppys at the pet shop we already nicknamed skeletor and he-man, I am sure Ram-man and many others will eventually inhabit the tank (we are 30 and 39 but going on 5 if you know what i mean )! Will do some research on otto catfish an algae eater seems a good idea.

 

[screamingdonkey]

What a lovely forum this is

Indeed, in my experience it is probably the best with not too many judegemental people - unlike some similar forums.
One thing to remember and this is VERY important -
The people on this forum give you advice for free; they are not here to make any money out of you.
Your LFS (local fish shop) is there to make money out of you.
A lot of the 'old school' LFS do not believe in some of the 'new ways' of fishkeeping.
The fact that you're cycling your tank (without fish) shows that you are already starting in the right direction.

Will do some research ...

That's also VERY important.
So many people come on here with problems/issues that could've been prevented had they researched their fish stock before purchasing.

Best of luck and enjoy.... and in a few years I gurantee you'll be saying to each other "Remember that ghastly Castle Greyskull thing we started out with?" <--- Only kidding!

 

[modaz]

thats a great tank, i like colour of the gravel,
a few of shoals which compliment eachother would work great and to start with you wouldnt have the issue of babies everywhere,
rummynoses and neon tetras go very well together as well as harilquins and their colours bonce of eachother. if you get a betta all i can say is its gunna be one healthy and happy little fellow

 

[mcdanielnc89]

My guppies are in salt, as well as my platys, tetras, and shrimp.. all my tropical community fish are in a brackish setup... honestly.. they actyually look flashier than my moms.. HAHAHAHHA.. hers are in NO SALT.. lol...

 

[kribensis12]

All fish do better with a little aquarium salt in their tank, it helps them heal, and i tihnk i heard that it cleans out their gills?

 

[dwarfgourami]

All fish do better with a little aquarium salt in their tank, it helps them heal, and i tihnk i heard that it cleans out their gills?

This is completely not true. Many common fish evolved in soft water with very low levels of dissolved salts, their internal organs are not adapted to handle salt. Such fish include tetras, rasboras, corydoras and many other common fish. Though they can cope with salt short term for medicinal purposes (like we can cope with various nasty medicines), in the long term it will put stress on their system and damage their health. If all fish needed salt to keep their gills clean, how could any fish live in the Amazon?

This myth about a little salt being good for all fish derives from the days when the importance of clean water was not understood, so salt was used to deal with the nitrite poisoning and other illnesses that were a consequence of poor conditions. Like some less responible chicken farmers keep their birds dosed to the eyebrows with antibiotics instead of providing healthier living conditions. We don't need to do this today.

Salt should be reserved for the fish evolved to need it- many livebearers, some cichlids etc- and for very occasional medicinal use, not be used as a general poorly understood cure-all. If your fish have problems with their gills, you need to look at your water parameters- or treat for gill flukes.

 

[Bozza]

Thats a good size tank to start with. Your not really limited to that many fish. Look forward to seeing what fish you get when your fishless cycle is finished. Welcome to TFF