New Tank By New Member

[Vethian]

The gourami show no sign of aggression...yet.  i will watch them.    Also, I will be watching the water parameters very closely
 

Those look like 3 male dwarf gouramis to me. Keep an close eye on them, they are known to be quite aggressive when around other males as they grow older. Next time your tank is stable get some more cherry barbs as they'll really appreciate the friends unlike the gouramis.
Nice tank and hiding of the filter too!

Welcome to TFF1

Did you test with 3ppm ammonia and then ammonia and nitrite results were 0ppm in 24 hours or less?
Just double checking

Charlie he has fish. Adding 3 ppm ammonia might be a little dangerous.

 

 
My next stocking plan was some rummy nose tetras.  
.
 

keep adding natural plants and they'll help keep the nitrates down for you.
 
Like the new tank mates 

 Just keep an eye on the stats for ammonia and nitrite as with the filter still being in it's infancy it won't take much to stress it and start spiking

 
I am buying more plants this friday.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ah, fish in cycle.

Yep, adding ammonia whilst fish in tank is not recommended :x

 

[Vethian]

well, 48 hours and still 0 /0 !

 

[Akasha72]

sounds good ... looking like you might have got away with it! ... not that that means you have for sure. Keep an eye on things for at least a week to 10 days. If your still at zero then your cycled and all is well. 
 
Are you planning any further stock?

 

[Vethian]

sounds good ... looking like you might have got away with it! ... not that that means you have for sure. Keep an eye on things for at least a week to 10 days. If your still at zero then your cycled and all is well. 
 
Are you planning any further stock?

 
rummy nose and cories

 

[Akasha72]

yeah, I thought I remembered you saying you wanted cories... panda's was it? Sorry, I reply to so much that I forget!
 
 
If things are still looking good with ammonia and nitrite after a week-10 days then add some more stock but go slow. Don't try to add everything all at once. The smaller and younger the fish the lower the bio-load and so the less stress there is on the filter

 

[Vethian]

yes, panda was my choice.  i like the way they look.  the melini look nice too.  I was going to add them last. 

 

[Akasha72]

yeah, might be a good idea. Panda cories are really sensitive to any water quality issues. I lost 3 in 24 hours to an ammonia spike a couple of years back and all I'd done was clean my filter ... but it turned out I'd over cleaned a bit and got a spike and then I didn't see the dead cory and then ammonia went haywire and I lost 2 more very quickly. The rest of the cories handled it okay and soon picked up once things settled but the panda's seem to be very sensitive. Because Melini come from the same 'family' as Panda's I'd guess they are the same

 

[Vethian]

Update:
 
2 pearl gourami
5 peppered cory
5 cherry barbs
2 paired blue rams
3 oto cats
10 rummy-nosed tetras
 
I would love to add more cories...not sure if i should though.
 
several live plants and river stones.
 
i also built a sponge filter and a diffuser bar for my canister filter.    

I cleaned my filter too much and triggered a small cycle.    but, the spike is almost done.


 

 

[LyraGuppi]

Looks nice!

 

[Akasha72]

looking good!! and you went with peppered cories instead of the panda's. Peppered get much much bigger than panda's - about double the size for the females. I'm not sure whether you'd be able to add more ... remind me of the tank size again ?

 

[Vethian]

im pretty sure 5 cories is max i can do...maybe one more to make it six.  29 gallon.  base is 76cm x 30cm

 

[Akasha72]

I'd stick with the 5 for now and see if they turn out to be male or female. The male peppered isn't that big but the female gets pretty large. If you have a lot of females then you could end up without enough space for any more

 

[NickAu]

A suggestion if you are thinking of other fish.
Kuhli loaches are quite cool, I have 3 in the tank with my Gouramis and glowlight Rasboras. They look like little snakes.

 

[Vethian]

ok, I was tired of my light and i dont have much money this month due to birthdays and my anniversary.  So, i got some clip on lights.  $7 each.  6500k CFL bulbs.  2 pack was $8
 

 
As you can see, I changed out my rocks and clouded my water messing with things...grrr.  oh well, i built a polisher with a powerhead, half a water bottle and some filter fiber.
 
WHOAH!!!!  bright lights burn my eyes watching TV.  I had to build a top.
 

 

 
Now to putty, sand and paint.