New Tank Requirements

[ninadk]

Hi Everyone,

This is my firs post on the forum. I have just bought my first fish tank last week. As I had no idea about any "cycles", which I noe realise after reading this, I made no attempts towards it and straightaway bought my fish and kept them in the tank.
The size of my tank is 2.5 x 1 x 2 (LxBxH -- in feet). Currently I have 2 tinfoils(silver and albino), 2 albino sharks, 2 red tailed sharks, 2 moontail molly and 2 angels. I picked them up randomly. The thing is, I also want to decorate my tank and keep all my fish healthy. I have a filter(aquarium air) in the tank. I also want to add some live plantations. Sadly, 1 of my mollies died last evening. I am worried that I might not be taking proper care of them. I am feeding them twice a day, once with pellets and once with blood worms.

Could you please help me with what all I need to do to take care of the tank and my fish? How often do I clean the tank? And also which plantations can I go for.

-Ninad
(INDIA)

 

[mike455555]

that tank is not big enough for the red tailed sharks you want a 4 foot at least + there territorial. so you should only keep the 1 mollys should in in groups of 5+. but at the moment you dont want to stock any more at all your molly probably died from ammonia poising, you'v read up on cycling now so you know.

how often are you doing water changes?
what do you mean by "clean" the tank?
plants depend on lot's of things (light, co2, ferts, circulation). get fish going first and learn about them. then read up on plants if you do want to add plants try java fern, java moss, anubias, crypts, and swords. all of them are fairly undemanding. although expect the crypts and swords to "melt" (die back) they should come back there just changing to the water conditions

 

[ninadk]

Thanks Mike!
By cleaning I meant, emptying the tank and manually cleaning it. Also, all I have read is about fishless cycling. However, I have fish now, so how should I go about it? Is there a possibility that the tin-foil and the shark might destroy the plantations?

Apologies for being so quizzy

 

[fluttermoth]

Ok, I'm afraid I'm going to have very bad news for you, so sorry about that...

None of those fish, except the mollies, can live in a tank of that size. They all grow far too big and the sharks will fight with each other; you can have only one shark in a tank. I would take all those fish back to the shop you got them from, or give them to someone with a bigger tank.

Keep just the molly, and perhaps one of the sharks.

The fish will be poisoning the water with their poo, so you need to change nearly all the water, every day. The best way to do this is by syphoning the water out into a bucket; that way you can suck all the poo and any uneaten food from the bottom at the same time. Leave just enough water for the fish to swim upright before you add the new water, which should be warmed and dechlorinated (you should be able to get a bottle if you haven't already got some; I know we have other members in India who can get it; it'll be called something like 'tap safe').

Do you have a filter that goes underneath the gravel, or is it like a box with sponge in it?

 

[ninadk]

The filter is under the gravel. As you suggested, I will take some of the fish back to the shop, or give it to someone else. I don't want the fish to suffer because of lack of space.
I do have a chlorine bottle, which I used the first time I filled up my tank. But is it required to be cleaned everyday? I heard that I could do cleaning once every fortnight.
Also, is it possible for me to have any plantations?

 

[snazy]

The filter is under the gravel. As you suggested, I will take some of the fish back to the shop, or give it to someone else. I don't want the fish to suffer because of lack of space.
I do have a chlorine bottle, which I used the first time I filled up my tank. But is it required to be cleaned everyday? I heard that I could do cleaning once every fortnight.
Also, is it possible for me to have any plantations?

You can't have live plants with an undergravel filter because the roots will block it. The tank should never be cleaned by taking all fish out, too much stress. The tank itself doesn't need to be "cleaned" in terms of taking everything out. What you need is a siphon, and just siphon out the poop and debris from the substrate. There are youtube videos how to start the siphon properly. Then add dechlorinated water with the temperature matched to the one in the tank(mix with boiled water or the hot from the sink)



Now, I hope you understand that this tank is not cycled. You need to buy liquid test kits, not strips as they are not accurate(API is what I use). Test for ammonia and nitrItes. These should be 0 in a cycled tank,otherwise prepare for more fish to die. Since your tank is not cycled(in terms of good bacteria in your filter)you need to do large water changes to bring these to 0 until the bacteria colony grows large enough to keep this values for you at 0. This may mean water changes once/twice a day until the tank is cycled and it takes weeks(never do a 100% water change at once, you can kill your fish this way. For example, if the test shows 1ppm ammonia, then 75% water change will bring this to 0.25ppm ammonia, do another 50% water change to bring the value to 0.125 which is not as good as 0, but at least the fish may survive, then keep doing water changes everytime the ammonia/nitrite rise) Read on the section here for beginners how to cycle a tank. There are two ways, with fish and fishless(using pure ammonia).
For an undergravel filter, the gravel is the part where the ammonia/nitrite eating bacteria will grow, if you ever get this replaced, you need to recycle your tank.

 

[ninadk]

Thanks a lot snazy! This will be very helpful for me. I will do the cycling immediately,...don't want the fish to suffer.
Hopefully they will survive till the cycling is complete. I am not sure if there are test kits available here.
Thanks again!
Will reply if I need anything else.

 

[fluttermoth]

I know other people in India have had problems getting kits to test the water, that's why I didn't bother mentioning it!

Changing the water every fortnight is alright (although weekly is better), once the tank is cycled; and that means growing some good bacteria in the filter that will eat the fish's wastes. Until then, large daily water changes are the only thing that will keep your fish safe.

You can grow plants with an undergravel. You want to look for two plants; one is called Java fern and the other is called anubias. Both of those grow attached to wood or rocks (you'll have to tie them on for a couple of months until the roots fix themselves on), so they won't get in the way of your filter

 

[ninadk]

Oh that's great news with the plants!! I am already on the phone checking for test kits at any store.
Meanwhile I was looking at videos to siphon the water. I do not have a readymade siphon currently, although I guess I could get it from a store.
I think I was too excited to see too many things in my fish tank, but it's good learning, I just don't want it to be at the cost of some lives!

 

[fluttermoth]

Any piece of flexible, plastic pipe can be used for syphoning. If you want to make a gravel cleaner as well, just attach the piece of pipe (or garden hose) to the top of an old coke bottle with the bottom cut off.

The cut-off end of the bottle goes into the gravel, and the other end of the pipe into you bucket, which you put on the floor. You'll have to put the whole thing, bottle and pipe in the tank to get all the air out, put you finger or thumb over the end of the pipe (so no air gets back in) and then move it until it's in the bucket, then take your finger off the end. Or you can just suck on the end of the pipe to get the water moving through.

It sounds more complicated that it is to do; I'm sure there are loads of videos on YouTube of how to do it

 

[ninadk]

Yes I was just going through these videos and also looking at Indian sites for aquarium products. The stores here are too "out of stock"
I hope there are some decent sites which will supply me with these products...
Thanks again

 

[snazy]

Oh that's great news with the plants!! I am already on the phone checking for test kits at any store.
Meanwhile I was looking at videos to siphon the water. I do not have a readymade siphon currently, although I guess I could get it from a store.
I think I was too excited to see too many things in my fish tank, but it's good learning, I just don't want it to be at the cost of some lives!

Completely forgot about these, although all my tanks are mainly have anubias. There are many different kinds of anubias, bigger and smaller. They are very hardy plants and survive almost in any tank without any fertilizers or special lightning.
From the small types I have "barteri var. nana" which is probably the most popular. I have "anubias angustifolia" too, which has pointy leaves, rather than the rounder ones the nana type has and also Anubias "barteri var. coffeifolia" which has curved leaves and grows bigger. From the big anubias types "barteri var. barteri"(as on the picture on my signature) is very nice and has been blooming regularly in my tank. You can guess I love anubias.

You can plant them on driftwood/bogwood, stones, coconut caves, whatever you use for decoration. You can use superglue to attach the roots to the ornament you want to plant them too(it's safe for fish), or tie them with some cotton thread instead. The cotton thread will disintegrate eventually so you don't need to remove it.

 

[ninadk]

I noticed your love for anubias. But before I indulge in any live plantations, as all of you have suggested, I am first planning to maintain a healthy tank life, so that I and most importantly the fish don't face any problems in the future.
By the way, your signature snap is beautiful!