New Fish Owner Need Stocking And Other Advice

[ryanvb13]

Hello I recently acquired a 55gallon Tropical Freshwater fish tank. It already had in it 2 silverdollars and 1 other fish that I just cannot remember his name he is black and orange and about 3 inches long. He is not a chiclid or a Barb and Petsmart told me he would only get about 6 inches. We already got 2 common white algea eaters and I know that we are wanting to get two Bala sharks and maybe an Eel not 100% sure on that one though. My tank finishes cycling in one week and I would basically like a list telling me what would be some good compatible semi-aggressive fish that would do okay together. I got a book and it says that too have a good tank I would need to have a good variety of Top Swimmers, Midwater Swimmers and Bottom Dwellers, but I am somewhat at a loss as to what these fish would be. I also am feeding them Tetra Fish flakes as of right now that is what they came with and have given them bloodworms once. Is that food good enough or should I look for something better. The Bala Sharks are going to be the central fish of the tank so I would like to build around them even though I already have a few. When I got the tank it was in pretty bad condition with lots of algea and junk in it. I have taken the tank and cleaned it and all of the current fish are look tons better their color looks better and they are alot more active. What plants should be present and in what amount I have five plants that are pretty much down to their nubs from the silverdollars eating them before I got them. What about objects in the tank? I want to be a good fish owner and do not want to overcrowd my tank. Advice would really be appreciated thank you all so much.

 

[fishyfeet]

What makes you say that your tank finishes cycling in one week, was the filter with the tank, i assume its has already some bacteria and because you have fish in already i imagine the tank may be cycled already, di

 

[ryanvb13]

What makes you say that your tank finishes cycling in one week, was the filter with the tank, i assume its has already some bacteria and because you have fish in already i imagine the tank may be cycled already, di

Yes the tank already had the filtration system and everything established the man I got it from had had it for several years and had basically stopped taking care of it. I tested the ammonia, nitrate, and ph levels yesterday and the lady at the petstore told me that I needed to give it about one more week to finish cycling. To get my numbers in order.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi ryanvb13 and welcome to TFF!

The members are going to have lots to discuss with you about your stocking ideas and there are plenty of them that are better at that than me, so let's leave that topic for now, although I suggest you plan on having those discussions prior to getting any more fish certainly.

By obtaining a previously mature tank you get a mixed bag of good things and bad when it comes to water chemistry. The good news is that there is no doubt a good mature biofilter in there with good sized colonies of the two species we need to process the nitrogen. That's good!

The bad news is that, as you said, the tank was not regularly cared for and that could bring up a problem we call "Old Tank Syndrome." This is where significant amounts of heavy metals, organics and other substances we don't want too much of in our aquariums has been allowed to build slowly up to fairly toxic levels.

The danger is in changing too much water too quickly in these cases as the fish will have grown used to the higher mineral content and will not be able to tolerate too rapid a change back to the reasonable levels that your tap water probably has. But of course the toxins and excess nitrate(NO3) and such DO need to be gradually removed and so the way to accomplish this is via small but regular gravel-clean-water-changes, perhaps only 15 or 20% at a go. I would do these with a day or two in between. You'll need a good liquid-reagent testing kit to even get out of the starting blocks on doing all these things, so that's something else needed.

You need to be very wary of advice in these matters from the LFS. They will be simply all about selling you more fish and more bottles of unneeded nostrums. We see dozens of cases like this each month.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[fishyfeet]

ah i see, thats explains that then, as for stocking, as long as the silver dollars cant eat them you can have all mannor of fish, so things like neons and other small fish or guppies, or bettas are out as the dollars would nip them, the best idea i think is to go to your local fish store and have a good look at whats available, take some names down then come home and research the fish. Dont fall into the old trap of asking the shop as so many people get given the wrong advice, and try not to buy the first fish you like, you have maybe a week or two to look around before buying and then you would have stock slowly so a couple of fish at a time. Go and have a look and give us some names of fish you like. You can see from watching the fish which perfer the top, middle or bottom of the tank as to where they spend most of the time. You do have quite a choice. di

 

[ryanvb13]

Hi ryanvb13 and welcome to TFF!

The members are going to have lots to discuss with you about your stocking ideas and there are plenty of them that are better at that than me, so let's leave that topic for now, although I suggest you plan on having those discussions prior to getting any more fish certainly.

By obtaining a previously mature tank you get a mixed bag of good things and bad when it comes to water chemistry. The good news is that there is no doubt a good mature biofilter in there with good sized colonies of the two species we need to process the nitrogen. That's good!

The bad news is that, as you said, the tank was not regularly cared for and that could bring up a problem we call "Old Tank Syndrome." This is where significant amounts of heavy metals, organics and other substances we don't want too much of in our aquariums has been allowed to build slowly up to fairly toxic levels.

The danger is in changing too much water too quickly in these cases as the fish will have grown used to the higher mineral content and will not be able to tolerate too rapid a change back to the reasonable levels that your tap water probably has. But of course the toxins and excess nitrate(NO3) and such DO need to be gradually removed and so the way to accomplish this is via small but regular gravel-clean-water-changes, perhaps only 15 or 20% at a go. I would do these with a day or two in between. You'll need a good liquid-reagent testing kit to even get out of the starting blocks on doing all these things, so that's something else needed.

You need to be very wary of advice in these matters from the LFS. They will be simply all about selling you more fish and more bottles of unneeded nostrums. We see dozens of cases like this each month.

~~waterdrop~~

Tank you so much for the advice about the tank. I tested everything yesterday and the only thing that was high or off was the amonia which was at 20 so that is what I am working on bringing down. I am afraid though that we have been over feeding them a little so I am going to cut that back some and see if that helps the ammonia.

ah i see, thats explains that then, as for stocking, as long as the silver dollars cant eat them you can have all mannor of fish, so things like neons and other small fish or guppies, or bettas are out as the dollars would nip them, the best idea i think is to go to your local fish store and have a good look at whats available, take some names down then come home and research the fish. Dont fall into the old trap of asking the shop as so many people get given the wrong advice, and try not to buy the first fish you like, you have maybe a week or two to look around before buying and then you would have stock slowly so a couple of fish at a time. Go and have a look and give us some names of fish you like. You can see from watching the fish which perfer the top, middle or bottom of the tank as to where they spend most of the time. You do have quite a choice. di

Thanks I am excited my husband is completely enthralled with the Bala Sharks so I think that is going to be our first choice. Then I want to get them settled and move on from there I definetly don't want to get lots of fish at a time only to have some of them not make it because my tank wasn't ready for them.

 

[indigoj]

I think you need 2 topics here - 1 about your water stats and one about your stocking.

In the stock thread can you post the actual tank dimensions and what filtration you have.

As for this one about the water - are you sure your ammonia was at 20? as in 20ppm because that is so high I'm amazed any fish is alive. Did you mean 2.0? (still high but manageable.)

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, good suggestion indigoj, I assume she means 2.0, which would give them a day or two to live, whereas they'd be dead instantly in NH3=20ppm.

She's probably not using a good test kit yet so we can't really know the numbers I assume. ryanvb13, many of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit here in the beginners section.

Without yet knowing the real numbers, but having a warning about ammonia, I would begin gravel-cleaning-water-changes of 20% immediately, perhaps waiting only 24 hours between each. If a lot of water was already changed in the transfer of the tank from the previous owner then this will no longer be an old tank syndrome concern, in which case I'd do 70% water changes (with good technique) immediately.

Ammonia, even in small amounts, causes permanent gill damage leading to death or shortened length of life for the fish. It varies a lot by species but the rough danger line we use is 0.25ppm as the tops for exposure. Whenever a biofilter is struggling to get established or re-established (as in your case) then you need to try and figure out a pattern of frequency and percentage of water changes that keeps you moving between zero ppm and 0.25ppm ammonia concentration in the tank as measured by a good liquid reagent ammonia test.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[ryanvb13]

I think you need 2 topics here - 1 about your water stats and one about your stocking.

In the stock thread can you post the actual tank dimensions and what filtration you have.

As for this one about the water - are you sure your ammonia was at 20? as in 20ppm because that is so high I'm amazed any fish is alive. Did you mean 2.0? (still high but manageable.)

YES wow sorry 2.0 that was a bad typo

 

[ryanvb13]

I think you need 2 topics here - 1 about your water stats and one about your stocking.

In the stock thread can you post the actual tank dimensions and what filtration you have.

As for this one about the water - are you sure your ammonia was at 20? as in 20ppm because that is so high I'm amazed any fish is alive. Did you mean 2.0? (still high but manageable.)

Ok here is the link for my stocking thread and it includes my tank dimensions and the filtrations system that I have http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/316809-stocking-help/. I am also going to reply to Waterdrop with all of my test results. I really appreciate the advice that ya'll are giving me I haven't had a tank since I was a child.

 

[ryanvb13]

Yes, good suggestion indigoj, I assume she means 2.0, which would give them a day or two to live, whereas they'd be dead instantly in NH3=20ppm.

She's probably not using a good test kit yet so we can't really know the numbers I assume. ryanvb13, many of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit here in the beginners section.

Without yet knowing the real numbers, but having a warning about ammonia, I would begin gravel-cleaning-water-changes of 20% immediately, perhaps waiting only 24 hours between each. If a lot of water was already changed in the transfer of the tank from the previous owner then this will no longer be an old tank syndrome concern, in which case I'd do 70% water changes (with good technique) immediately.

Ammonia, even in small amounts, causes permanent gill damage leading to death or shortened length of life for the fish. It varies a lot by species but the rough danger line we use is 0.25ppm as the tops for exposure. Whenever a biofilter is struggling to get established or re-established (as in your case) then you need to try and figure out a pattern of frequency and percentage of water changes that keeps you moving between zero ppm and 0.25ppm ammonia concentration in the tank as measured by a good liquid reagent ammonia test.

~~waterdrop~~

I am using the Freshwater Master Test Kit made by Auarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc I think that might be the same one you mentioned.
As of yesterday I had a PH level of 6.4, a NO2 level of 0ppm, a NO3 level of 20ppm and an Ammonia level of 2.0 ppm. The people at petsmart told me to use Prime to bring down the Nitrate and Ammonia levels. I was also told to leave the old filters in until wednesday of next week. Should I do this or go ahead and replace them they seem pretty gross looking to me.

 

[erk628]

The bala sharks are schooling fish and really need to be in a group of 4+ Also they grow big fast and active swimmers. A 55 gallon will be to small you will need a 6 footer. The silver dollars are also schooling fish so I would get 2 to 3 more of those. Unless you feed them a good diet of vegetables plants arent going to make it because silver dollars are vegetarians.

 

[natalie265]

Regarding your stocking, i have some bad news for you. Your tank is not big enough for a bala shark, who prefers to live in schools and grows up to 14 inches. Sorry.

Also, do plenty of research before purchasing an "eel". There are many eel-like fishes, from true eels to weather loaches, to dragon gobies. Each has very different needs and many will outgrow your tank.

Silver dollars are one of my favorite fish. Very beautiful. I don't keep them anymore because i got into planted tanks. As far as i know, there aren't any plants that are "silver dollar safe"! Silver dollars do best in schools, and if i were you, i'd add 3 more, and make the silver dollars my show piece instead of the balas.

(EDIT: ditto Erk, you beat me by one minute!)

 

[ryanvb13]

The bala sharks are schooling fish and really need to be in a group of 4+ Also they grow big fast and active swimmers. A 55 gallon will be to small you will need a 6 footer. The silver dollars are also schooling fish so I would get 2 to 3 more of those. Unless you feed them a good diet of vegetables plants arent going to make it because silver dollars are vegetarians.

What kind of vegetables should I feed them and in what amounts? Thats wouldn't be too hard to change I would like plants lol.

 

[erk628]

Prime wont bring your ammonia levels down it just neutralizes it for 24 hours. You need to be doing water changes daily to keep the levels down.