New Tank

[Mickfender]

Hi i am setting up my first tank it is a fluval 125 ltr tank. I am waiting on my filter to be deliverd at moment so nothing in it yet,after a lot of reading i am thinking of planting it well. The fish i am thinking of adding are about 6 tiger barbs,1 red tail black shark,1 pygmy leopord catfish,a pair of gourami possibly blue ones,and some red crab.Looking for advice on,are these the right type of fish to go together? Is it to many fish in this size tank? And if i go with these which fish should go in first? Would be grateful for any advice or suggestions on this many thanks

 

[Dan-CR4]

Hi there

welcome to the fish forums, have you read about cyclying your tank/filter? if not have a look at this link it will explain how to do a fishless cycle. I did not know anything about cycling to i joined these forums, sure glad i did found out though.

Danny

 

[Mickfender]

Hi Dan thanks for the link.Yes ive read about it think im ready to start when filter gets here well i hope i am

 

[Mickfender]

Hi dan dont think i replied looks like i just added another comment to my question lol but thanks for advice and link ive read about it just hope im ready for it when filter gets here

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Mickfender and Welcome to the beginners section!

That's a nice size tank to start off with, should help to make for a good experience! Those are colorful but nippy/aggressive fish potentially and the cory won't want to be alone, but that's ok, its good that you've expressed your interests as that's what it takes for the members to have something to push against and give advice. You should have plenty of time to work on your stocking plan (and its a really good idea to spend lots of time on it) as the fishless cycle is usually a month minimum and very often 2 months or even more. It works out to about the perfect amount of time to learn lots of tank startup stuff, lots of things about maintenance and of course to work on the stocking plan.

What kind of household ammonia did you find? We always hearing where people found the right stuff as sometimes its a bit of a shared adventure. What is your test kit make/model?

Tell us about your filter and what choices you've made for media. We can talk about that as you want to optimize that before starting the fishless cycle. Then there's the supplies for the fishless cycle as mentioned above. Then there's finding the number of milliliters that will bring your particular tank up to about 4ppm.

Its probably ideal to plan for plants but not to introduce them until the fish are in. The fish waste will be a big provider of nutrients for the plants and a fishless cycling aquarium is an algae haven if it has lights turned on because of the ammonia (ammonia plus light equals algae!)

Anyway, I hope you'll have a good experience at TFF, I certainly have!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Mick.
As WD has already said, you have plenty of time ahead to think about and refine your choice of stocking. I am not quite the pessimist that WD is so I will only say to expect a cycle in the 6 weeks range as the most likely outcome. That will leave you plenty of time to refine your initial stocking plans.
My own experience is that anything with the word shark in its common name seems top deserve that name. They are not for a typical community tank but for an aggressive tank as many cichlid keepers have. I have found that the very pretty tiger barbs also deserve their common name. They are about as friendly and non-aggressive as a tiger.
The blue gouramis, 3 spot gouramis, are very nice fish when kept as a pair. Do not try to set up more than a single male gourami in a small tank like yours, it just doesn't work out very well. Most crabs are a very real threat to your fish so choose wisely when deciding on crabs. If you decide to have the tiger barbs, you will need to house them with other similarly aggressive fish. They will not live in peace with "peaceful" fish. Their own personalities keep them from being a typical peaceful community fish although their good looks makes them a very popular choice for new aquarists.

 

[Mickfender]

Hi waterdrop thanks for the reply, just got my filter today its a tetratec EX700 i was just going to start with the media that comes with it, there is a floss pad,carbon,bio filter balls,bf biological filter foam and cr ceramic filter rings. The test kit ive got is a nutrafin mini master seems to do all the tests. also got nutrafin aqua plus conditioner. Ive not got the ammonia yet was going to try the boots one. still trying to decide wot substrate to use i think i will go to LFS see wot they think as i was hoping to put a few plants in there,would be gratefull for any comments,advice on this many thanks Mick

 

[waterdrop]

Just don't let the LFS talk you into not fishless cycling or sending you home with fish. Once you've found a real hobbyist site like this the LFS is no longer the place for information, it becomes the place to buy things you're already more confident about.

Substrate is really a lot about your own choice and desire. There are pros and cons that are different for both gravel and sand but people quite successfully use either. There are special substrates meant to help with plants (Eco-Complete, Flourite, etc.) but beginners often get the wrong idea that these are going to be a -big- help to growing plants when in fact the role they play is really quite minor and optional (they are used as a sort of "backup" in the event you forget to do your daily dosing of plant nutrients (aka fertilizers!) for a period.)

The Boots ammonia has worked fine for many of our UK members and the Nutrafin kit is quite popular too.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Mickfender]

Got the sand from argos and the ammonia from boots so it looks like tommorrow i will start setting it all up i think i got all i need so will try it out

 

[Mickfender]

Got the sand from argos and the ammonia from boots so it looks like tommorrow i will start setting it all up i think i got all i need so will try it out

have been reading about filters and carbon seems to be used only now and then can anybody advise on this as my new filter has carbon in it should i use it or replace it with something else mick

 

[Mickfender]

I am going to put my sand in tommorrow, any ideas on how deep it should be roughly was thinking about 3 to 4 inches at back sloping down to about 2 inches is this ok ?

 

[stuuk1]

Hi Mick, im also new, I started off with a 48ltr tank and today have just finished setting up my 240ltr tank! Its amazing!

As for carbon filters, ive heard that they are only good for around 3 days. I just kept it in there for use as some kind of filter. My cycle managed to finish and I had readings of Nitrite 0 and ammonia 0 for around a week. If it was me... Id just keep it in there, but im no pro!


Good luck dude!

 

[Mickfender]

Hi thanks stuuk1 dreading sorting all this out tommorrow but have to get it started,so will be on here reading as much as possible as the advice is great mick

 

[BethK]

Sounds good!

I will say though, that thoughs red tailed sharks don't take a liking to other red/reddish coloured fish. My friend had an experience where her red tailed sharks attacked and killed off a the red coloured fish.

I am not sure if this is an over all thing with their breed.

 

[PDSimon]

Hi mick,

I've got a similar set up as you, currently just over a week into my fishless cycle.

I've used sand from argos and I've been told on here 1.5" is more than enough for tanks with plants in but i'd double check that... If your looking to seriously plant a tank you might want to check out the planted tank forum.

I havn't added any plants to my cycle, I will do them the day before I add fish probably which is a while off yet.

I've added ammonia once so far and nitrites are starting to rise too.

Good luck