Newbie Here And Would Like Some Advice !

[miketout]

hi all,

I'm new to keeping tropical fish so please forgive any stupid questions, I guess you gotta start somewhere.

I got a 70litre Juwel Rekord kit recently and after 2 weeks I was pursuaded my lfs that it would be ok to start adding a few hardy fish (without any knowledge of my water stats). A couple of weeks down the line and I am of the opinion that this was a big mistake and I should have waited for the tank to cycle.

Unsuprisingly I lost a few fish, poor little things: 2 sword tails and 1 molly. I have 1 plec and 1 molly remaining, neither showing any obvious signs of stress or disease (fingers crossed).

My questions for you guys and girls are:

1) Given my current water stats (see below), can I start to re-stock the tank slowly? If not, why not? And what can I do to improve the environment?

2) Can you recommend some fish to start with? Ideally I would like something easy to keep, colourful and who are good community fish ? I have looked at books and read websites, there are just so many fish I don't know where to start )

About a week ago (when I lost my last fish, swordtail) I noticed that the NO2 level was up to 3 !! Following advice I did a partial water change (25%). Things now seem to have settled down and have been constant over the last few days. The current stats are (taken with Colombo quicktest):

NO3: 40
NO2: 1
GH: 18
KH: 17
PH : 8.5


Water has been pre-treated with Nutrafin waterconditioner and cycled with Nutrafin aquaplus at a constant temp of 24 degrees C.

Any help and adivce is gratefully aprreciated

 

[catxx]

your No3 is a bit high, No2 needs to be at 0, as does ammonia readings.
and thats a high PH too, is there bogwood in your tank? that can help reduce high PH's (and plecs love it too)

a school of male guppys could be a good starter fish (if you don't keep females you can avoid the whole problem of them breeding endlessly!) and they come in lots of colours.

more experienced people will be able to help more than me. good luck!

 

[miketout]

thanks for that catxx.

I do have some bogwood in the tank (and yes the plec does love it), so should I be looking at adding something to the tank to reduce the PH level?

I have taken a look at some guppy piccies online, like you say a great variety of colours so looks like a good place for me to start

 

[catxx]

you have to be careful with playing with the PH levels. all i know is bogwood.
what is the PH of your tap water? do a search on this board for old topics regarding lowering PH levels.

 

[miketout]

you have to be careful with playing with the PH levels. all i know is bogwood.
what is the PH of your tap water? do a search on this board for old topics regarding lowering PH levels.

I have run the water test on my tap water, the results being:

NO3 - 40 same as my tank water
NO2 - 0
GH - 18 same as my tank water
KH - 17 same as my tank water
PH - 8.5 same as my tank water

you have to be careful with playing with the PH levels. all i know is bogwood.
what is the PH of your tap water? do a search on this board for old topics regarding lowering PH levels.

I have run the water test on my tap water, the results being:

NO3 - 40 same as tank water
NO2 - 0
GH - 18 same as tank water
KH - 17 same as tank water
PH - 8.5 same as tank water

 

[dwarfgourami]

Afraid I can't agree with Catxx: guppies are no longer hardy enough to be suitable cycling fish, particularly not male guppies.

And you've already got a pleco and a molly in there, which is probably quite enough to cycle that tank. What size/type is the pleco?

You must not add any more fish until your nitrite level is undetectable. A reading of 3 being "a bit high" seems to me the understatement of the year, a reading of 3 is toxic! You need to bring this down, not by a weekly water change, but probably by a daily one. Do a 40% today, then a 25 % every day for 4 days, then test 24 hours after the change and see if you still get a reading. IF not, then you can gradually cut down on water changes until you get to the weekly change that is part of standard maintenance.

I agree with Catxx that you don't want to mess with your ph; anyway, livebearers like it high. And it will settle down a bit more once the tank is cycled.

You need to find out what type the pleco is. If a bristlenose, or a smaller plec, he will be ok (once he's survived the cycle); if a common or sailfin you won't be able to keep him for long without a bigger tank.

It will probably be at least a month before the tank is ready for more fish; how much you can add depends on the size of the plec. Once the tank is cycled, you can think about guppies; platies are another brightly coloured and easy-going fish (and rather hardier). Only thing about livebearers - platies, mollies, guppies- is you need to think about sex ratios. A couple of males can get a bit aggressive, more males spread the agression, females produce fry... Lovely fish, well worth keeping, but you need to do the maths first.

 

[catxx]

oops, when i said about guppies, i did mean after the tank's levels were all corrected and the cycle had finished.

i wouldn't dream of adding new fish to a new tank with off-balance water readings.

 

[miketout]

Afraid I can't agree with Catxx: guppies are no longer hardy enough to be suitable cycling fish, particularly not male guppies.

And you've already got a pleco and a molly in there, which is probably quite enough to cycle that tank. What size/type is the pleco?

You must not add any more fish until your nitrite level is undetectable. A reading of 3 being "a bit high" seems to me the understatement of the year, a reading of 3 is toxic! You need to bring this down, not by a weekly water change, but probably by a daily one. Do a 40% today, then a 25 % every day for 4 days, then test 24 hours after the change and see if you still get a reading. IF not, then you can gradually cut down on water changes until you get to the weekly change that is part of standard maintenance.

I agree with Catxx that you don't want to mess with your ph; anyway, livebearers like it high. And it will settle down a bit more once the tank is cycled.

You need to find out what type the pleco is. If a bristlenose, or a smaller plec, he will be ok (once he's survived the cycle); if a common or sailfin you won't be able to keep him for long without a bigger tank.

It will probably be at least a month before the tank is ready for more fish; how much you can add depends on the size of the plec. Once the tank is cycled, you can think about guppies; platies are another brightly coloured and easy-going fish (and rather hardier). Only thing about livebearers - platies, mollies, guppies- is you need to think about sex ratios. A couple of males can get a bit aggressive, more males spread the agression, females produce fry... Lovely fish, well worth keeping, but you need to do the maths first.

Thanks for your advice dwarfgourami. I'll get going with the water changed this pm. The pleco that I have is a bristlenose and is currently about 3 inches long, so sounds as though I will be ok there then.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi pompeyCod

Welcome to the forum!

You are joining us with the same problem many of our members have had. Unfortunately, most lfs don't explain the alternative ways of cycling a tank to their customers. Nevertheless, cycling with fish is the way it's been done for years and you will be successful too.

The key to success is having a lot of patience and doing lots of water changes. During this time you can post here and learn quite a bit about the various kinds of fish available. It's going to be a bit of work at the beginning, but in the long run you will have developed a hobby that will keep you interested and learning new things for your entire life.

Good luck!