New To The Forum, But Would Love A Few Questions Answered.

[grahamy27]

Hi everybody, i'm relatively new to fish keeping. We got into it as i promised my daughter some fish...after a few months of hunting and deciding, my OH and I decided to keep tropicals as marine would be to hard for us as newbies.we were also advised against live plants as we were noobs. So we settled on a Fluval 125.we also decided on a community tank.1st question is how many fish can we keep in a 125 litre tank?currently we have a pleco, 6 scissortail Rasbora,2 platies, 11 neon tetras, 3 rummy nose tetras, 3 mollies..everyone gets on great and the scissortails have adopted the 3 rummy nose into their shoal and they do everything together..loldue to their size are tank still looks pretty empty.2nd question. Is there any big fish we could put in that would not bother any of the smaller fish?and lastly,what other fish would you suggest for our tank..we enjoy sitting staring at them for hours and our daughter loves them!thanks in advance for any help

 

[BerryAttack]

okay, first you'll need to cycle the tank or all your fish will get sick and die.
read up on this site for a fish in cycle and proceed from there.
 
you have a 33 gallon, because you are new go with the adult size of the fish per inch to gallon. you have a fish that grows to 2 inches, it takes up 2 gallons. now because you have a 33 gallon tank doesn't mean you can keep a fish that is 33 inches... 
 
if you have the common pleco it'll grow to 2 feet. it'll out grow your tank, should have a small breed like a rubber lip or bristle nose.
scissortail rabora - 4-6 inches. rehome, these fish need a bigger tank.
platy - 
neon tetra- 1 inch.. fine for your tank
rummynose tetra - 2 inches. these fish need a long tank, but you can sometimes get away with it, if you have the standard size not tall. IMO rehome
mollies - 3 inches - very large and messy fish IMO
 
right now you have or will have 99 inches of fish for 33 gallons. over stocked, and not good.
 
IMO rehome: 
scissortail rabora
rummynose tetras
pleco
mollies
 
Fish to keep IMO:
neons tetra
platy
 
then you can get
gold ram
german ram
eletric blue ram
bolivian ram
platies
guppies
if you choose to keep the rummy. bump the numbers up to 6.
 
but cycle your tank.. its horrible to not do it.. also weekly water changes are a must.. the water must be treated and safe for the fish or all the time and money you put in is for nothing.

 

[l_l_l]

Hi and welcome!
It might sound harsh but you have way too much fish in your tank!
Plants are really easy to care for and you should get some before having fish. If your tank looks empty, don't try to fill it up with more fish, fill it up with decoration, place for your fish to have fun, etc..
 
I highly suggest you read what others will say about cycling your tank as in the end you'll lose less fish!
I really hope it's not too late already and I'm thinking you should had read a bit more about fish and guidelines before venturing into the hobby!

 

[grahamy27]

Hi and welcome!
It might sound harsh but you have way too much fish in your tank!
Plants are really easy to care for and you should get some before having fish. If your tank looks empty, don't try to fill it up with more fish, fill it up with decoration, place for your fish to have fun, etc..
 
I highly suggest you read what others will say about cycling your tank as in the end you'll lose less fish!
I really hope it's not too late already and I'm thinking you should had read a bit more about fish and guidelines before venturing into the hobby!

i have always grown up around fish but since i have left tge family home this is my 1st attempt at keeping fish..i appreciate the feedback,i will have a read through the forum and thanks to both if you for the advice
sorry if i didnt make myself to clear but a cycle has been done my LFS wouldnt let me have any fish until they had verified all water checks etc.

 

[daizeUK]

Hi grahamy27!
When you say a cycle has been done, do you mean a fishless cycle using ammonia?  Or did you just leave the tank to stand on its own (because this doesn't cycle the tank).

 

[grahamy27]

Hi grahamy27!
When you say a cycle has been done, do you mean a fishless cycle using ammonia?  Or did you just leave the tank to stand on its own (because this doesn't cycle the tank).

hi i done a fishless cycle. Done everything the aquatic centre said to do..from setup to getting 1st fish took me around 6 weeks. I have now had my tank with fish in it for around 2 and half months. Thankfully there has been no mishaps as of yet

 

[guppy2002]

I do not cycle my tanks with ammonia and have no problems. yes I know I probably should use it. my fish are all very hardy though. guppies bettas etc. please do not use me as an example

 

[Blondielovesfish]

to the forum.
 
 

hi i done a fishless cycle. Done everything the aquatic centre said to do..from setup to getting 1st fish took me around 6 weeks. I have now had my tank with fish in it for around 2 and half months. Thankfully there has been no mishaps as of yet
 

 
Could you please explain exactly what they told you to do?
 
What type of pleco do you have? Is it a common, BN, rubberlip or otocinclus? Google these names to see what they look like.
 
Like BerryAttack said, you will need to rehome some fish, research the fish you have and see which ones are suitable for your tank, rehome them if they're not. Once you know which fish are suitable and which ones aren't, determine how much you have left, using the inch per gallon rule. If you're overstocked, then choose which fish are your favourite and keep them, making sure they're in their correct school numbers. If you're then understocked, using the inch per gallon rule, then you can think about adding some more fish. If you want a center piece fish, then a gourami could be a good addition. 
 
Do you have a test kit? If you do, could you please post your results for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH on here.
 
If you have a picture of your tank, I would love to see it! 

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Hi welcome aboard!

 

[grahamy27]

to the forum.
 
 

hi i done a fishless cycle. Done everything the aquatic centre said to do..from setup to getting 1st fish took me around 6 weeks. I have now had my tank with fish in it for around 2 and half months. Thankfully there has been no mishaps as of yet

 
Could you please explain exactly what they told you to do?
 
What type of pleco do you have? Is it a common, BN, rubberlip or otocinclus? Google these names to see what they look like.
 
Like BerryAttack said, you will need to rehome some fish, research the fish you have and see which ones are suitable for your tank, rehome them if they're not. Once you know which fish are suitable and which ones aren't, determine how much you have left, using the inch per gallon rule. If you're overstocked, then choose which fish are your favourite and keep them, making sure they're in their correct school numbers. If you're then understocked, using the inch per gallon rule, then you can think about adding some more fish. If you want a center piece fish, then a gourami could be a good addition. 
 
Do you have a test kit? If you do, could you please post your results for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH on here.
 
If you have a picture of your tank, I would love to see it!

hi we set up the tank,we added the nutrafin aqua plus water conditioner(to make tap water safe),nutrafin cycle (prevents fish loss), it took us a while to get the bacteria we needed,we done around 5 water tests and wasnt suitable we were the given quick start (starts aquarium cycle)..then had to do a few more tests..we had too much amonia..but we were eventually given the go ahead..are water is soft but our PH was sitting around 8.1 so we were given some bogwood.are ph is now sitting at 7.2..im going to invest in a test kit as it will save me going to LFS Maidenhead aquatics(who were ectremely patient with us.lol)

Hi welcome aboard!

thanks m8

how do i upload pics??

 

[grahamy27]

My pleco looks like a gold nugget pleco

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

On the reply box choose more reply options then choose file and attach file

 

[grahamy27]

Its stating my pic file is too big

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Upload the picture to a photohosting website like photobucket and then post the IMG code here
 
Did you add any source of ammonia during the cycle? 
Did you get the exact readings from MA?

 

[tunagirll]

Just wanted to say hi and welcome You're getting some great advice here and with a little patience you'll enjoy the fruits of your labour in happy healthy fish for a long time