New Year And New Stocking =)

[JustKia]

Just before Christmas my nitrItes fell to zero, and the ammonia was slightly above (tetra test = <0.2mg/l, API very slight green hint to the sky blue) - no idea why it worked that way except I was using Ammo-Lock (UK version that converts to ammonuim and leaves it availble to bacteria).
Since then I got my 0-0's So I didn't water change that day and still had 0-0's. I've done 2 water changes (about 30-40%) this week instead of daily and still holding double 0's so I think I'm cycled.

So my plans thus far (not all at once obviously) are 3 albino and 3 peppered cories which I'll be picking up on Friday. [approx 15" fish @ adult size]
Already have 3 leopard and 3 zebra danios (1 male, 2 females of each and spawning almost daily, but eating eggs ) [approx 12" fish @ adult size]
A small (8-10) school of neons, after that I'm still flexible on what I choose. [Approx 12-15" @ adult size]
That leads me to approx 39-42" of fish @ adult size, which on the 1" per gallon takes me to overstocked yet according to thinkfish my tank can supposedly accomodate 99" [252cm] of fish (all line up nice now and don't move )
We had both wanted an albino rainbow shark, but still undecided if our tank is big enough (some sources indicate yes, others no, and it's hard to know who's right). Another fish under consideration is harlequin rasbora.
It's a 125L tank (80cm long x 35cm wide x 45cm high) with a fluval 405 external filter, planted up with wisteria, vallis, bacopa, ludwiga and moss balls.

Anyone fancy having a go at un-confusing the blonde over here before I open the wine =)

 

[JustKia]

 

[Truck]

definite no no for any shark iin a 125 liter,in my new system i wanted one, but i figured it wasnt big enough and they can be quite grouchy aswell at night.

are you adding neons from an existing setup? because if you arent, dont buy any, they are very sensitive fish prefer a tank that is atleast 6 months old problem free. dont use thinkfish's stocking level (highly exagerated) but remember a 25cm oscar is going to produce more waste than 5 neon tetras at 5cm each, so thats where the lenience comes in, small fish with a low bio load can be added in great numbers, IMO you could have 20 neons and be fine because of the low bio-load, but as i said above in 6 months time.

stick with the 1" per US gallon for 6 months then switch to 1cm a litre after, and after a year you could go for 1.2cm a liter at a push depending on filtration.

 

[SharonCC]

Well, you've got plants and a good filtration so you can overstock a little. I'd leave the Cories, until the tank has been stable for three months. You could increase the school of Neons or go with half a dozen Harlequins. Sounds like you've done your homework, which is good to see! Congrats!

 

[Truck]

id go for the harlequin rasboras, there more suited to a new set-up whereas neons arent.

good luck im looking forward to watching this tank evolve

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with truck and sharon,

Don't use thinkfish. As a beginner, stick with the 1" guideline for the first year or two to give you time to fully understand all the ups and downs. Enjoy the beauty of the appearance of your fish coming out of the greenery rather than seeing crowded schools, at least for a while. Tanks that are not overstocked are much more flexible when things go wrong, especially power failures.

Agree, give the cories about 3 months and the neons a full 6 months. The wait is an admission on our part that we do not completely understand the water chemistry to explain it. Despite the excellent water you will have produced with the fishless cycling, there still may be aspects that are hard (or too expensive) for us to measure that are actively stabilizing for the first 6 months to a year. Even at 6 months, buy one or two extra neons and often you will lose the smallest one or two in the transition.

During those first couple months wait for cories, explore the 3 species of pygmy cories. They are tiny and need to be in min shoals of 5 or 6 but they are supposed to be great fun. One species of the three are mid-swimmers and the other two are more bottom. Sorry, that's about all I remember at the mo.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[JustKia]

Oh fiddlesticks - obviously not quite enough homework done then.
I'd already paid for the cories and paid for the LFS to keep them in a separate tank for me as well.
Picked them up this morning, so now they're in (acclimatised first). Will still be keeping close watch on water stats, general behaviour and appearance, etc Danios aren't looking too impressed at their new roomies, cories are busy exploring and snuffling in the sand.

 

[waterdrop]

O not to worry.. most would consider us fussy in the extreme. Its likely your cories will turn out to love your water, since you've clearly paid plenty of attention to your fishless cycle and met the most important parameters. Establish good weekly maintenance habits and its highly unlikely you'll have much trouble with your cories, or else we'll all have a new data point to consider! My feeling is danios will sometimes take a bit of a day or so, even if they are darting around, before they decide things are wonderful and begin showing it with some good yellow tinge around the edges.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[JustKia]

I'm guilty of a fish in cycle, not fishless - so I've had a number of weeks of multiple water changes (how I love my diy python lol) and repeat water tests, along with obsessive monitoring of behaviour and appearance. I'm testing 2 times a day again for now as I expect I'll get a mini cycle because of having upped the bioload.