My 2.5 Year Olds' First Tank - Tropical Freshwater. Have ?'s

[deak1369]

What's up everyone,

Obvious rookie here. Probably should've come somewhere like here first, but in all the excitement in doing this for him it slipped my mind......

Anyhow, just bought and set up a 10 gallon tank for my little guy. Bought it at Petco, set it up right, let it run for a few days and then went back in and had the water tested, was told it was A-OK and ready for fishies...

My main goal was to have as many colorful fish of decent size for him to enjoy with low to mid level maintenance. Never had fish or know what to do, so the guy reccomends (too my agreement and understanding) just getting a couple and letting them have a run at it, before committing to more. Bottom line is, I ended up with 3 young Danio Zebra's and 1Gourami Dwarfish. I get them home earlier, let the bag they're in adapt to the water as reccomended, then put them in. They're fine. The zebras seem to just go in circles together at the top of the tank and the dwarfy guy just cruises around the bottom and through the wannabee plants in there. I guess that's the norm for them.

I just did some looking around the net and it appears that the dwarf guy is a highly sensitive guy and require a lot of maintenance. And that the zebras require more space length-wise (36 inches per is what I read...) not in depth, and the length of my tank is maybe 14-15 inches or so.

Was this a bad choice? reccomendation? What and how many other fish of decent size (like the Dwarf, not the zebras) can I get? Is the 1 inch per 1 gallon rule written in stone?

Need help here folks and really appreciate any and all help. Thanks!

I could eventually post photos here if they allow it. I just ran into this place doing google searches for info.

Thanks again,

J

 

[Tolak]

I'm about to run out & grab a pizza, here's a link that will point you towards some resources on cycling as well; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=247729

 

[deak1369]

I'm about to run out & grab a pizza, here's a link that will point you towards some resources on cycling as well; [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=247729"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=247729[/URL]

Thanks. I'll check it. Eating myself now. Hot fudge w/ brownie...

 

[rdd1952]

Hello deak and welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, you will usually get very poor advice from the chain pet stores and even a lot of times from a true fish store. I once read where someone said that more fish died as a result of bad advice from the fish store than from anything we do ourselves. I would tend to believe there's a lot of truth in that.

Danios do generally need lots of swimming room as they are energy in motion. They never stop. I can't really say on the gouramis as I've never had any.

One thing you will need to keep a very close eye on is your ammonia and nitrite levels. When you took your water in to have it tested, it naturally would have been fine as there had never been an ammonia source in it. Until there are fish in the tank or you add bottled ammonia (for a fishless cycle), the toxins would always be zero unless they were present in your tap water which can someties be the case.

If you haven't bought one already, you need to get a liquid master test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Stay away from strips as the ae terribly inaccurate and more expensive in the long run. Once the fish are in the tank, your ammonia will start to rise. Ammonia comes from fish waste as it breaks down, left over food, etc. As you probably already know, it is toxic and can cause all sorts of problems including deaths. Most diseases such as white spot are triggered by the stress of poor water conditions. You will also start to notice nitrite shortly after the ammonia. Nitrite is also toxic and will kill fish. It's effects are generally more long term though as it affects the internal organs of the fish.

You will need to do water changes as needed to keep the ammonia and nitrite readings below .25 ppm. Obviously, the goal is to have them both at zero but the tank will have to cycle first before that happens.

As far as the 1" per gallon guide is concerned, it is stricly that, a guide. You can exceed it but at the start, keeping to that will help prevent problems and make your start into fishkeeping much easier. Because of the size of your tank, I would pretty much stay with fish that are 2 to 3 inches or smaller. Most all community fish it the bill. Just go slow at the start until you get the tank cycled and you shouldn't have many probems.

One last thing, I see your Group is still "Validating". You will need to find the email you should have received when you registered and click the link in it to validate your membership. Until you do, you will only be able to post in a couple sections. If by chance you didn't get one, check your spam folder as it will sometimes get kicked out. You can have it resent by clicking the link that should be at the top of the forum page. If you don't see it, go here.