New 125 Litre Tank

[adzilla88]

Hi, I'm new this fish keeping business and also this forum.

My 125L planted tank has recently cycled in the past couple of weeks, so earlier this week I decided to introduce a few fish. I currently have 3 zebra danio's, and 2 leopard danio's, when I originally wanted 5 zebra danio's, but didnt notice until I got them home.

I've decided to allow these 5 to settle in for a couple of weeks before introducing any new additions.

I'm thinking of adding maybe 3-4 new zebra's and 4 leopards, although I'm not sure whether I should just purchase another group of 5, which may contain a few of each. They appear to still shoal up together, despite being different species, but I believe that this may be due to their similar body shape/appearence.

I would also like to know what people's opinions are of my proposed future fish stockings. Im looking at maybe adding a school of 6 odessa barbs, 2 dwarf gourami's and 1 rubbernose pleco (only grows to around 5-6 inches).

Since planting the tank, there has been an influx of snails which are becoming a pain, so I was looking at the possibility of adding some YoYo Loach (maybe 3), however I'm worried my tank will not be big enough for them once they're fully grown. If they aren't a good idea, does anyone else know of any reletively small snail eating fish I could get as an alternative?

Thanks

Adam

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Adam and welcome to our beginners section!

Congrats on your new tank and hobby! When you say "recently cycled in the past couple of weeks" do you mean that the *end* (of a long period of a month or two) occurred in the last couple weeks or that the tank has only been running for a couple of weeks? (ie. how many days has the tank had water and how many days has it had fish?)

Odessa barbs get pretty big (typical 3", on occasion 4" I think) and have a body mass somewhat bigger than perhaps the average we'd use with the "inch guideline" (meaning each inch of Odessa length would count as slightly more than an "inch" in the stocking guideline, would be my rough thought).. however, the resulting 18 to 20 inch total for your Odessa group would fit within total reasonable stocking for your 125L as long as you keep an eye on the overall total. In fact, your overall plan sounds reasonable.

Danios and barbs should get along ok I would think and even the plec, while large, is not that unreasonable assuming you adopt good weekly gravel-clean-water-change habits. A 125L, while perhaps a bit small for your plan, should have enough room for the groupings not to be too cramped. Adding loaches would be pushing it too much though in my opinion and I would opt for more traditional snail control (eg. tea saucer with veggies overnight, then lifted out, along with manual removal and crushing for food etc.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[adzilla88]

Hi Waterdrop,

I meant to say that I had had water in the tank for 2 weeks, adding Nutrafin Cycle, whilst testng the water everyday. After exactly 2 weeks, I took a sample to a LFS, and they said it was OK. So I decided to add the Danio's as I know they are real hardy fish. AND.... yes, regretably I know some people may point their fingers and say it isn't humane to add fish until the tank is fully cycled, but the LFS gave me their approval.

At present they seem to be coping well, very active and eating well too.

Ive tested the water on a daily basis and all appear well, with no traces of amonia or nitrite in the tank and very little nitrate. My pH seems fine too, between 7 and 7.5.

Ive also recently conducted a 25% water change with no adnormal effects.

Thanks for the feedback.

Adam

 

[waterdrop]

Glad to hear you are changing water and testing during your Fish-In Cycling Situation there Adam, what sort of test kit are you using? WD

 

[adzilla88]

I'm using the Nutrafin Master test kit.

I know many people on these forums seem to prefer the API(sp?)one.

Adam

 

[waterdrop]

That's not a problem, those two test sets are very similar. Each has its problems. Sometimes I think the nitrate test in the API is a little more erratic, whereas the nitrate test in the Nutrafin seems to just spike way up as soon as nitrite gets to about 3ppm or something like that. The Salifert kits are better than both of these little middle-of-the-road tests we typically use, but the Saliferts are sold individually and are a tad less convenient to use I believe. The funny thing about all the testing stuff however is that its real value is often just in allowing the beginner to follow along, no matter how crudely, and get a real feel for the nitrogen cycle in their own tank. This makes it all much more real and helps one get used to the timing involved.

Its highly unlikely that the biofilter is very far along in having its colonies developed after just two weeks. Often an A-Bac (ammonia oxidizing bacteria) colony does not even get to the point that it can drop ammonia from 5ppm to zero ppm for the very first time before 2 or 3 weeks and since the N-Bac colony has not started growing significantly, the extra spikes of nitrite are still ahead.

What I suspect is happening is that the 5 danios in the 125L are a small enough bioload that it is difficult at this point to catch any testing traces of the low-level cycling that is going on. You may be right at a good stocking level for a safe fish-in cycle. I would test for ammonia and nitrite twice a day if possible and I would certainly not add any stock for at least 2 weeks, probably 3, but your testing log is a better way to judge.

The tricky thing about fish-in cycling is that the A-Bacs produce 2.7ppm of nitrite for each 1ppm of ammonia they process. So what happens is that with a small stocking you become comfortable when you don't see ammonia results, but sometimes the nitrite finally makes what seems like a sudden appearance. That's the reason for the twice daily testing.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[toshapetriji]

For the snail problem take a look at assassin snails. They do a great job and you can often find them in the classified section on this site.

I had quite a big problem but they sorted it in about a week.

Good luck

 

[adzilla88]

Thanks very much for the guidance, it's great that such knowledgable people are willing to provide beginners like me with the advice and information we need to be successful.

Cheers toshapetriji, I shall have a look.

Waterdrop, yes I'm definitely going to give it a couple more weeks minimum (depending on test results).


Thanks

Adam

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to our forum Adzilla88.

You are in a fish-in cycle, as WD observed, and as long as you do nothing to increase your stocking levels you have a good chance of controlling the poison build up in your tank during your cycle by doing simple water changes. The Cycle product that you used is pretty much useless for promoting a proper cycle so it is unlikely to have done you any benefit, but it is also unlikely to have caused any harm either.

Your snail issue can be controlled by simply controlling the amount of food you use in the tank. Controlling food will not eliminate any snails but it will result in lower reproduction rates that you can control manually. The lower feeding rates will also benefit your water chemistry while you go though the process of cycling your present filter. Please hold off on the loach and further danio introductions until you have actually finished the fish-in cycle that you have now started. That means at least 4 more weeks with no fish additions and depending on your test results it may be even longer.

There is nothing at all wrong with the Nutrafin test kit. We tend to favor the API kit for a couple of reasons. First among them is that it is a kit we all know fairly well, second is that it gives more tests before you run out of test chemicals than is the case for lots of other kits. That can be especially helpful compared to running out of test capability in the middle of a cycle. I have seen no real reason to favor the API kit other than our familiarity with it and its results.

 

[adzilla88]

Just noticed that some of my Danio's were having a scuffle. 2 of them looked to be harrassing another one, which I presume is a female. I turned the light off and they seemed to all be happy as larry again. Strange!!!

Also with regards to adding some Dwarf Gourami's in the future, would this be okay with my provisional stocking list? I've decided that if I do add the Gourami's I may add 1 male and 2 females after reading articles on the internet.

Adam

 

[OldMan47]

The DGs need to wait until your cycle is truly finished.
The scuffle among your zebras may or may not be related to the fish's genders. Zebras are acknowledged to be randy fish with a good tolerance for poor water quality. They will reproduce in almost any water situation, although the breeding may come to nothing. Zebras chasing each other at high speed through your tank are actively breeding. A zebra female breeds by simply scattering eggs which are fertilized by the chasing males. If the eggs fall to a location where both the males and females are unable to reach them, the fry hatch out rather soon after the breeding. One of the methods used to keep adult zebras from the hatching eggs is to cover the bottom of the tank with simple childrens' marbles. Those are inert glass and allow the eggs to fall down between them where the adult zebras cannot reach. The end result is eggs that are able to survive to hatch into fry and begin growing. Since the fry are in need of very small foods, the biggest challenge for newly hatched zebra fry is finding suitable foods for them.