Newbie, What Fish After Cycling ?

[bawheid]

as post says, whats the best to go for, i mean whats the hardiest fish for a starter to go with ?

 

[JodieLM]

i tried out with guppies but they soon died out so a small shoal of cardinal tetras(depending on the size of the tank) but i would do 25% water changes every 3 days to lower the nitrate and nitrite, unfortunatly i didnt relise this untill all my fish had died lol

 

[TubbyLaLa]

If you could let us know how big the tank is then it would be easier to reccomend suitable fish

 

[bawheid]

its a 60L tank

 

[penguin22]

I have found that platys and cherry barbs are very hardy and would be suitable for your tank. I would go with female platys though as males can be bullys.

 

[scatz]

platy's or swordtails would be ideal, certainly something cheap and expendable just in case the cycling isn't quite done and the fish dont make it

 

[Tiger Barb]

something cheap and expendable just in case the cycling isn't quite done and the fish dont make it

I think this is why we recommend fishless cycling - no fish should be considered expendable. If you're not sure that the fish is "going to make it" then it shouldn't be going into your tank yet.

The OP's question was "what fish AFTER cycling?" - good for you, OP!! There are lots of suitable fish, but it all depends on what you want in your tank. Are you aiming for a mixed community or something more specific? Whilst cycling, I suggest coming up with a list of the fish you want, then post that on this forum and ask for advice on the order in which to introduce them.

 

[bawheid]

not sure what i want, mixture of dif types of fish, maybe a stupid question but can you get fish that swim at dif levels of water ?

 

[Tiger Barb]

Yes - in fact, selecting fish that swim at different levels is a good thing to do. Just as examples - look at danios (tend to swim towards the top), barbs and tetras (tend to swim in the middle) and corydoras (tend to shuffle around on the sand).

With a small tank. you need to be very careful what you choose. A rule of thumb is that you can have up to 1 inch of fish (at their full-grown size) per US gallon of tank capacity. 60 litres is about 15-16 US gallons. This rule, however, only applies to small fish - you can't put a 15" plec into your tank and hope he'll be OK!

You also need to think about the shape of your tank - many fish need swimming room and they tend to swim along the tank. So a long tank that is not very tall gives them more space than a tall tank that isn't very long! What are your tank dimensions?

You also need to look at the shape of the fish - for example, angelfish (no, I'm not advocating them for your tank) are tall with long fins, and they need a tall tank to stop them doing a Jaws impression with their fins stuck out of the water!

Choosing your fish is the interesting part!!!!