Returning Fish owner

[Diablo45]

Hi All,
I am new to keeping FW tropical fish ( previously kept a few Marine fish, Porcupine Puffer, regal tang and one other but cant remember) , but that was about 20 years ago.
Anyway I have just ordered a new 87 litre tank and cabinet and after planting and cycling etc my aim is to do a community tank, 2 bronze Cory, 1 Betta ( male), 6 neon tetra and 2 Danio, will introduce slowly adding them approximately in monthly intervals, starting with the Cory.
My question is, is it best to quarantine the rest of the fish each time before I add them to the DT. I will be getting them all from the same place.
Also would this type of set up be ok for some shrimp later on?
thank you

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH and pH of the water?
You can usually find this on your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and ask them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the test. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH or something else).

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Danios might stress the Betta.
Some Bettas can turn nasty and attack small fish like neon tetras but others can be fine. If you get a male Betta, you will need to watch him and hope he is nice and doesn't attack the neons.

Corydoras do best in groups of 6 or more. You can mix a couple of species to make up numbers, (eg: have 3-4 bronze and 3-4 peppered together).

Neons do best in large groups of 10 or more. In the wild these fish occur in groups of thousands so even 10 is a small number.

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If you plan on cycling the tank before adding fish, then I would wait until it has cycled and then add all the fish together. Cycling the tank will build up enough beneficial filter bacteria to deal with any fish you add so there is no real point cycling and then adding one group of fish at a time. However, if you are concerned about the tank not being safe for the fish, then add a group of neons and see how they go over a week. if they are fine then add the rest of the fish.

If you want to add more fish after the main group has been introduced, then put all new fish into a quarantine tank for a month and make sure they are free of diseases. If they are good then put them in the main display tank.

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Shrimp are fine in most tanks and neons, danios and cories don't normally bother them. Male Bettas sometimes pick at shrimp but not normally.

If you have lots of plants in the tank, shrimp will usually do better.

 

[Diablo45]

Hi Colin_T,
Thank you for your reply, the tank dimensions are 76x30x45.7cm
The water is Hard, 118mg/l, DGH = 16.52, Ph 7.5
Thank you for the advise about Danios, might just have more tetras instead. The Betta that I have reserved has been kept in a community tank with neons and corys, so I'm assuming he will be ok, I might reserve the tank mates that are with him if the shop will let me, and put them all in at the same time then.
I am going to cycle the tank ( 25% each week) for a month before fish and a friend has said he will give me an internal box filter with the bacteria established from one of his tanks, which should speed things up.
I am adding lots of plants so glad this should be ok for the shrimp.
I am worried about overstocking the tank, so do you think 1 Betta, 6 Corys, 10 Tetra and 5 shrimp would be ok?
thanks again

 

[Colin_T]

I am going to cycle the tank ( 25% each week) for a month before fish and a friend has said he will give me an internal box filter with the bacteria established from one of his tanks, which should speed things up.

What do you mean by this statement?

If you can get some filter media from an established tank, you don't have to cycle the tank. Just set it up, add dechlorinator and let it run for a couple of days, add the old established filter media, wait 12-24 hours and add some fish.

I am worried about overstocking the tank, so do you think 1 Betta, 6 Corys, 10 Tetra and 5 shrimp would be ok?

They should be fine in that tank.

re: plants, get some Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) and let it float on the surface. It will provide shelter and habitat for the Betta and he will feel more comfortable. The other fishes will also be happier with some floating plants. If the Water Sprite grows too much, you can plant it in the substrate where it will grow into a lovely light green shrub.

 

[Diablo45]

Hi,
So if I use his filter media I wont have to wait so long, he said I will still need to do the 25% water changes each week for about a month, before adding the fish.
I know I need to establish the good bacteria and happy to wait if the advice is best to do so. Its so confusing.
Maybe I'm over worrying, I never worried this much when I was younger and kept the marine fish ( guess that's age for you lol)
Will have a look at the water sprite

 

[Colin_T]

If you use an established filter or media from an established filter, it will have beneficial filter bacteria in it and that will give you an instant cycled filter. That is to say, there should be enough good bacteria in the media so any ammonia produced by a few fish will be used by the bacteria. Sponges are the best filter media.

If you don't use established filter media, then you will need to add a source of ammonia to the tank for few weeks and wait while beneficial bacteria grow in the filter. These bacteria will then convert the ammonia into nitrite. A few weeks after you get nitrite in the water, you will get more beneficial bacteria that eat the nitrite and convert it into nitrate. When the ammonia and nitrite have both gone up and come back down to 0, then the tank will be cycled. That can take about 4-6 weeks.

Using established filter media will remove the need to cycle the tank because you will be adding both groups of beneficial filter bacteria (ones that eat ammonia and others that eat nitrite) and they will continue living in the new tank, assuming the water chemistry (pH, GH, KH and temperature) is similar to the tank they came from.

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Get your friend to clean the filter media in a bucket of tank water a few days before you pick it up. You want the filter media to have filter bacteria, not fish poop and bad bacteria. If your friend can clean the filter media a few days to a week before you get it, that will remove most of the fish poop and leave a relatively healthy media containing lots of good bacteria.

When you get the filter media from your friend, put it in a bucket of his tank water and transfer it to your tank asap. Make sure the water temperature is similar and then get the filter media into your tank as quickly as possible and get lots of aeration in the tank. The following day go and get some fish.

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During the first few weeks to a month, feed the fish a little bit once every couple of days and monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels. If you get any readings above 0, then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate to dilute the levels. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If there are no ammonia or nitrite readings after a week then feed the fish once a day and monitor the levels for a week.

When the ammonia and nitrite levels stay on 0 for a week, then you can increase feeding to a couple of times a day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.

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Do not clean the filter for the first 6-8 weeks. This will allow the filter bacteria to establish properly on the media. When you do clean the filter, get a bucket of water from the aquarium and squeeze the filter media in the bucket of tank water, then put it back in the tank. Rinse the filter case under tap water. Reassemble the filter and put the media back in, then get it running again.

 

[Diablo45]

Thank you so much for your help, I will update how I get on.

 

[FishGuest5123]

As Colin stated, transfer the friends media in tank water. Don’t let it dry out. Transfer quickly. This is called “seeding” the tank and you should get an automatic cycle. Good luck!