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Newbie Tropical Fish Tank

norbie

norbie

Fish Crazy
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Hi,

I have a 35 Litre (UK) fishtank, and have had it set up for about 2 months now.
Picture here:
I've had to brighten up the image so you can see it better. (That moss looking stuff at the back is just a background, not a real plant).
It's got a couple of plants in, white gravel on the bottom, a couple of various stones and rocks, and some tunnels made from old, thoroughly cleaned drainpipe!

I started work on this tank about two months ago so that everything was well prepared for when the fish are bought. I used water conditioner to put the original water in, and have been using 'cycle' biological supplement every week. Either through the plants, or through the supplement, I've now got quite a few small snails breeding in there, happily living on the algae that grows on the glass. I'm very pleased about this as it should be making a nice little environment in there. Today I added some more water to fill the tank to the top, and have had a filter running for the whole of the two months to keep the water fresh.

I would like to get a few tropical fish to start with. Just some nice easy ones (possibly guppies) and I need to know what sort of equipment I need.

As of tomorrow I will be putting a pump in there to aerate the tank better, as the filter doesn't get much air in. Is lighting essential for a tropical tank? If lighting is needed, would these do?
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/in...oduct_uid=42959
I've used these before, but that was for a normal tank that didn't particularly need lighting.

Do you think my tank will be nice and ready for fish? I can get some tests done up at the fish shop before I get any fish.

Also as it's going to be tropical I'd like to know what sort of heater I would need to get and how much they are in the uk (just an average price).

Any advice would be very much appreciated! :D

Thanks!
 
do you have a water test kit?
you need to test your water to see if it has cycled.
If you don't have a kit or can't afford one,
most lfs's will check it for you for a small charge.
 
I've got a test kit for ammonia, but not for nitrate.

I will test it now!

I can get one done at my LFS and will just before I get the fish

Thanks for replying :)
 
Hi norbie,

a word of warning...if the tank has not been cycling then the water test will show up as okay (no ammonia or nitrites), but the tank won't be cycled. It may be that the cycle product has done the job but I'm not familiar with it so thought I'd say this.

Also, what dimensions are your tank out of interest?
 
hi daza,

thanks for your reply.

the tank is 60cm long, 29cm wide, 23cm deep.

im hoping the cycle supplement will have cycled it, as i have followed all instructions. its a nutrafin one. i think it must have worked as these snails have popped out of nowhere and are rapidly breeding!
 
Very nice tank :) It's great to see someone who has prepaired the tank before getting the fish and researched what they want beforehand!

You mentioned adding 'cycle' to your tank but this doesn't mean your tank has cycled. Unless you have added some kind of ammonia to the tank (could be pure ammonia, fish food, fish waste from live fish, or a prawn) it will not have begun to cycle. Unfotunately, testing the water cannot show whether the tank has started to cycle or not...
Tap water has 0 ammonia/nitrItes and can have a substantial amount of nitrAtes. When a tank has finished cycling, it will also have 0 ammonia/nitrItes and some nitrAte. The plants you have will use up a lot of this nitrAte and partial water changes with dechlorinated water will get rid of some more and bring it to the same level as your tap water.

As snails do produce waste, there may be some ammonia in the tank and if it has cycled, this will have been converted to nitrIte and this to harmless nitrAtes most of which the plants will have used. However, I don't know how much ammonia (if any) snails produce :p .

In this case, your tank has cycled and you can add a fish (only add one at first in case it hasn't fully cycled and to limit the amount of ammonia and give the beneficial bacteria a chance to multiply.

It is essential that you test your water before buying the first fish. If the LFS does this for you, ask for precise readings. If you have 0 ammonia/nitrItes and nitrAtes are present (though may not be if you have plants), you can go ahead and buy the fish. Test your water for the next few days to ensure your tank's parameters remain at this level (nitrAtes may fluctuate slightly without serious effects). It is the ammonia and nitrite that must remain at 0. If you see a sudden rise in either, do a partial water change every couple of days - your tank has not yet cycled - and don't add any more fish until you get the correct readings. It is realy very improtant that you get your own test kit - get one of the liquid ones with seperate chemicals for testing nitrAte, nitrIte, ammonia and pH. Test strips will work but are innacurate and known to falter.

If everything is fine, wait a week and add another fish. Guppies are an excellent choice and in 35 litres (approx. 8.5 gallons I think) you can keep 4 guppies quite comfortably. If you want to get both males and females, be aware that they will reproduce at an ustounding rate and, though many fry wll get eaten, some will hide in the plants and pipes and will survive. You will need to re-home these or risk over-stocking your tank.
If you do decide on a mixture of males/females, you should have 2 females to every 1 male or he will stress the female out. With a maximum of 4 guppies, you should get 1 male and 3 females or go for all males. All females is an option but guppies and other livebearers can store sperm for several months so you may get fry even without any males present.

Lighting is not essential for the fish but the plants would appreciate it. Most any light will do for fish - plants need a broad-spectrum fluorescent light to flourish though many can do fine in dimmer lighting.

A fully submersible heater designed for a 5-10 gallon tank would be ideal. Guppies are not particularly picky about temperature but no fish does well if temperature or water quality is constantly changing so get a heater with a thermostat. My heaters are all fluvals like my filters and they work great. I'm not sure whether there is one suitable for your size tank but there should be.

I have probably mentioned a lot of things you already know about and several things that are totaly irrelevant and have also probably repeated myself several times... sorry about that :p

edit: It looks like in the time it took to post this, several people have replied... oh well :p
 
If you put your dimensions into this website then it gives you some info on stocking levels etc.

I'm not sure that the light on ebuyer would be suitable. Try browsing this site for an idea of parts and prices. I'm not saying to order from that one (or not to for that matter) but it gives an idea.

you'd probably be better off with an aquarium light that has condensation tight end caps. Do you have a hood for the tank?

Generally people say about 1 inch of fish per gallon, which means about 10 inches of fish for you...I'm not an expert on stocking levels though. I'd just say add them in small numbers. If you can, then add some hardy fish first and monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels to ensure the tank has cycled properly. Hardy ones should live through it if it starts cycling again. Guppies should be okay, but beware of them breeding and filling the tank up..maybe get all one sex.
 
First, you should research your plants and make sure they are true aquatic plants, they don't look like they are which will create problems for you.

As for cycling, you said you had snails do you know how long you have had them? You said the tank had been setup for 2 months so their is a possibility the snails over that time have produced enough waste to get the bacteria started. Your plants will also help use up excess ammonia/nitrite/nitrate.

I believe it was previously stated but you should only add 2 fish or so at first and then add another two a week or so down the road. This will also let you validate if the cycle has occured.

As for lighting, if you want to do plants those cold cathodes will not work. I would expect that this tank is fairly small so you could probably get a decent CF light for farely cheap and it would provide the best for plants.
 
thanks to everyone for their posts - theres some good advice here :)

the plants - i have the tank right next to a big window, and they have all survived fine without any lighting, so i don't think i will need any. i didnt know whether the fish themselves would need any lighting.

enchanted - when you ask if the plants are aquatic what do you mean? i bought them from the LFS and they have been fully submerged in my tank and growing for over 2 months.

the snails - they seem to have cropped up in the last month, and there are loads now. they started off really small, but now are quite big. i cleaned the tank up a bit today, and noticed there was quite a lot of poo from the snails!
it seems there is no way to tell whether it has been cycled or not. is this true? i heard you can add some fish flakes without fish to help as well

so it looks like i need a fully submergible heater with a thermostat - thanks.

how can i ensure that the water is safe for a fish?
i will introduce a couple at a time, and probably only get about 4 in total. is it ok to only add one first? it wont get lonely or anything?!

thanks again :)
 
Window light is not always good for plants, but if they are okay then you can deal with other things before adding lighting, that is if you want a planted tank.

As for aquatic or not, find out what kind of plant and research. Just because an LFS sold them to you does not mean they are truly aquatic and some plants will last for quite a few months before starting to die. When they die it will through all your settings off.

Some fish are fine by themselves, i.e. guppys, mollies, etc... Others, like tetras, need to be kept in a group.
 
your tank looks to be about 40 litres from what ive worked out.

You'll need a 100 watt heater which cost about £15-20 in the shops, a little cheaper on ebay or online, i can see youve already got a thermometre.

I suspect your snails have helped build up the helpfull bacteria (cycle the tank) so i wouldnt worry too much tbh.

I would say its fine to add a couple of fish once you got the heater and temperature right, about 75f i would leave these in their for atleast 2 weeks or prefereably a month before you add any more.

Make sure you add dechlorinator to the tap water when doing a 25% water change which you should do once a week, twice would be better.

You will also need a gravel vac to pickup the waste from the gravel.

You dont have to have a light but it will look much better with one, without the light the fish and gravel etc will look a bit dull.
 
go with the one enchanted mentioned, you want a reputable brand and a 5 year warranty is very good

Id get 100 watt they always over rate them slightly
 
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