New To Fishkeeping

[danielmeynell]

Hello everyone im dan and i am new to the site

i have just got my first fish tank its 2 n half foot by a foot

i was just wondering anyone got any ideas on choosing fish and decorations for my tank.

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi dan; welcome to the forum

Before you can start thinking about what fish you want, there is the matter of cycling (that means growing a good colony of bacteria in your filter to support your fish).

There are two methods; fishless, where you add ammonia to reproduce what your fish will excrete when you get them and fish-in, where the fish themsleves provide the ammonia.

There are some great articles on both methods in the beginner's resource centre (the link to that is in my sig)

 

[danielmeynell]

o h i know about that i havnt got any fish atm and just got the tank set up gunna leave it a week ot 2 and then look at what fish to add

 

[fluttermoth]

Have a read of those articles, please?

Running a tank for two weeks will, unfortunately, do nothing to prepare the filter to support fish; there must be a source of ammonia added; either household ammonia, or fish food or a prawn to rot down and produce it.

 

[danielmeynell]

oh thanks ill have a read i didnt know u could use household or a prawn what would you say the best way was to do it.

and i have a fluval chi 25l for sale how much you reckon its worth thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

Household ammonia (sold as a cleaner) is the best way; fish food and prawns are all very well (that's how I did my first fishless cycle, many moons ago!), but the 'pure' ammonia (it comes in a solution with water) is much more controllable

No idea how much a second hand Chi would be; I look to pay about £1 a gallon for second hand tanks, so that would be a fiver, lol!

Hang on; I was just reading your thread in the 'Welcome' section.

You have a fish in this tank already? What kind of fish is it? you'll need to be doing daily water changes of 25 or 30% to keep that fish safe from ammonia poisoning, until you can get a test kit for ammonia.

 

[KittyKat]

+1, please fish-less cycle!

I would look at full stocking along the lines of..
* 10-15 tetras of one species
* 10 Corys of one species
* pair of dwarf cichlids (for example, Apistogramma cacatuoides)

In terms of order, post-fishless cycle, I would stock 10 or 15 tetras first, after two weeks top up to 15, wait another two weeks, then add 6 Corys, two weeks later, add another 4 Corys and two weeks after that, add the cichlids.

If you decide to go for fish-in, I recommend that you heavily plant the tank, then start with 6 young tetras (feeding once every third day only), then get another two after 6 weeks, and after that keep adding two fish at a time every two weeks. Increase feeding to every other day after two months and to every day after three months from set-up.. do not get Corys until you start feeding every day.