New Tank. New Fishkeeper..

[fluttermoth]

Green/false neons have no red on them at all; neons have red just on the back end of their bodies, and cardinals have red that goes from nose to tail. Cardinals grow considerably larger than neons/false neons, so they'd be a no no for your tank, I'm afraid.
 
Apple snails are also going to be too big; they really can grow to the size of an apple! Nerites would be a good size; they come in a variety of patterns and markings and, as an added bonus, their eggs won't hatch in freshwater, they need it salty, so you won't get overrun Good algae eaters too.
 
Cherry, ghost or bee shrimps would all be good choices. Cherries and bees will breed, but rarely get out of hand (and they are saleable if they do); ghost shrimps also need brackish water to breed, so won't multiply in your tank. i would say amanos too, but there is occasional report of them taking small fish, so I would steer clear of them, to be on the safe side.

 

[zawar8686]

Thanks Fluttermoth. Will steer clear of cardinals, apple snails and ghost shrimp

If I can find false neons I'll get them, if not I'll take my chances with neons and hope they enjoy the tank as much as I'll enjoy them.
Cherry shrimp and a couple of nerite zebra snails is what I think I'll go for then.

Plants wise I'm thinking I'll go for 2 artificial plants in the back rather then real, as I dnt plan on keeping the light on too long. Apparently this reduces their life span dramatically. I'll probably get a real smaller plant and put it towards the front for the snails and shrimp to feed off. Does that sound ok?

Thanks again

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I'm not sure if they are suitable or not but maybe Ember Tetra's? Hopefully someone else can advise you on them but from brief research it seems they can be kept in around 10 gal (I know yours is bigger).
 
You could have some Java Fern or Java Moss as they are one of the easiest plants you can have. The moss might be better for the shrimp.

 

[zawar8686]

Hey Guys
My tank was finally ready to add fish so I went out and bought a couple of Honey Gouramis and some Male Guppies from what every1 said was the best LFS in my area.  I was quite worried because the lady who worked there had never heard of a fishless cycle and implied she didn't think my Gouramis would survive

 
She had never heard of Ammonia and said  should have added Neons after a couple of days and then the rest in 3 day increments...
 
I didn't follow her advice obviously as I'm no time traveler but she still wirried me
 
I have added the fish to my tank and they seem to be doing ok.  My question is, how long before I feed them?
 
Also, i was looking to add some Neons today but she put me off.  My tank is fully cycled so surely this would be fine, right 

?
 
Thanks
 
Zawar

 

[fluttermoth]

Most fish shops don't seem to understand fishless cycles, but you're doing it the best way, believe me.
 
Neons would be a very poor choice for a new tank; they don't do well in new set ups, even if they're properly cycled. The full reasons for this aren't fully understood, as far as I know, but seems to be related to development of a 'biofilm' that takes around six months to become established.
 
Offer your new fish a small feed tomorrow, and don't forget to test daily, just in case of any mini cycles.

 

[zawar8686]

So do you think I would be best off just leaving the fish I have in there for now? I definitely wanted a group of fish and the other option was CPDs but I'm struggling to find them or Dwarf Emerald Rasboras anywhere. I thought adding the fish all together would be better as I have built up the bacteria and if the fish dnt produce enough Ammonia, which I'm assuming they won't, the bacteria will start to die. Would either of these 2 other fish be ok to add?
I'm also gna try n pick up sum shrimp today or later this week.
Zawar

 

[zawar8686]

Had an absolute nightmare last night. 2 male guppies jumped out of my tank . Is this common in the aquanano 40? Gaps look pretty small

Zawar

 

[fluttermoth]

I had a glowlight danio jump through the gap; I ended up turning the cover glasses so the gap was over the filter section, and the filter section was at the front.

 

[zawar8686]

The weird thing is tho, I covered the main gap where u lift the glass up from. I'm guessing they therefore either jumped out the small slits between the glass top n side of the tank, or they jumped into the colour chart (from the testing kit) and pushed past it. Such a shame tho either way. Might look to get a sheet of glass that covers the whole lot.

Zawar

 

[zawar8686]

Hi Guys
 
Came home today and went to feed my fish and noticed one of my male guppies floating

  hoped he wasn't dead but unfortunately he was.
When removing him from the tank I noticed one of the honey gouramis looked like it was nibbling on him.  When I inspected the dead fish I could see all his tail and fins had been nibbled off

I was watching the fish yesterday a few hours after adding 7 neon tetras (to my 2 honey gouramis and 4 male guppies) and the guppy which died (or was murdered??) was hiding with the tetras and didn't seem to want to come out from behind my boat ornament.
I checked all the water levels and they read as follows
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - around 30
PH - 7.6
What do you guys think went on and are these water conditions safe/as expected?
Tank has been up for about 8 weeks and fish been in since Sunday, with neons added yesterday. Also, when should I do my first water change and what percentage?
 
Thanks
 
Zawar

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I'd say do the waterchange this weekend. Around 30-50% would be a good amount.
 
I thought a nano 40 was too small for neons? 

 

[zawar8686]

Thanks Blondie. sounds good. I'll do my first water change on Sumday.

Feedback I got was that neons would ideally prefer a larger tank but the nano40 should be ok or border line at worst.
I decided because its spacious and not heavily planted I'd put them in and see how they get on.
When I first put them in they looked a bit dull and not as nice or bright as I'd seen in other shops but just after a couple of days they seem to have coloured up beautifully and seem pretty happy swimming around most of the day and then gathering in a group behind my Ship ornament.

Any guesses as to what happened to my Male Guppy?
The other 3 are absolutely fine by the way more then 24 hours after the 'incident'

Thanks again

Zawar

 

[Blondielovesfish]

It could have just been a bad one from the LFS.
 
They should be fine then, Neon's are just quite active fish so that was why I was worried.