New Tank What Fish?

[lilrich1991]

Hey everyone,
I have recently been given a fish box 40cm tank i have set it up and allowed it to cycle for roughly 10 days the water has been tested and seems perfect i was wondering a few things
1) can i put a red tailed shark in my tank?
2) could i put gold barbs in the tank if so how many?
3) could i put the shark and barbs together if not in my tank in my dads new tank ( massive thing custom made)
4) does anyone know anywhere that stocks both types of fish near Tamworth in the midlands?

i really appreciate any help you can give i dont fancy dead fishies and you guys will obv know alot more then me

thank you again
Richard

 

[Raf485]

Red tail sharks should be kept singly. They will grow big and need big tanks, and also will become agressive to community fish. Havnt got one but this is what i learnt from my research of them.

Im sure someone will elobrate more

Also out of curiousity 10 days is short to cycle a tank, unless you are using a mature filter from another tank??

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm afraid there's more to cycling than just letting the tank run. You need to be adding a source of ammonia to get the good filter bacteria growing. Have a read of the fishless cycling article in the beginner's resource centre (link is in my sig).

You will be able to bypass all or some of the cycling process if you can get some mature media from somewhere and put that in your filter.

As to your other queries;

1: No, you need minimum of a four foot/55 gallon tank for red tailed sharks.
2: I wouldn't advise it; gold barbs get to about 3" in length, so would be a bit big; cherry barbs would be nice
3: Depends on the size of your dad's tank!
4: No idea I'm afraid, I'm way down south, but both species are very commonly available in the trade, so you will have no problems finding them.

Oh, and to the forum

 

[lilrich1991]

my dads tank is roughly 10ft long 5ft wide and about 3ft deep its huge it takes up the entire wall of the lounge.

ive added nutrafin cycle to the tank when i got it and its a matureish filter i ran it in my little in my other tank then i got this new one what fish would you reccomend other then cherry barbs for my tank i like sharks i think they look amazing!!

many thanks
Richard