Selection Of Various Questions

[alien_pseudo]

hi,
i have inadvertently started a fish in cycle, but have been given lots of helpful information about how to proceed, so that is alright for the time being, however there are some other things i've read that have left me with some questions

i have an interpet PF2 filter, which has some carbon media, it has been suggested i leave this in while the tank cycles, but once its complete its not hugely important, is this so?

i know i have to clean filter media in water from the tank, but do i have to replace it at any point?, and should it have to be replaced how does this effect the cycle?

i have also noticed that i have a fry, a single baby fish in my tank, but the fish are all males, i saw a little black/brown thing on one of my plants, could this have been an egg? and are there any steps i need to take to look after it, if i can find it? (it keeps appearing for quick periods then disappears again)

my last questions is about fish for a community tank, i have a 68 liter tank and have been told i can safely add between 15 and 20 fish depending on size, would the following do well in a community tank and are there any i should omit from the list?

Harlequin Rasboras or Galaxy Rasbora (cant decide between them), Cardinal tetras, Rainbow Fish, Guppies, Bolivian Rams and Endlers
i would also like a red tail-shark and maybe a dwarf gourami, but have read they can be aggressive, fin nip and territorial

any suggestions or help would be great,

thanks
Paul

 

[loachman]

For the fry, it'd help if you could get photos of your fish and fry. That'd help alot. What fish are in there now?

I would slowly take the carbon out of the tank over a couple days to a week. You'll have a bacteria colony on it that you'll not want to suddenly remove (you've spent the entire cycle building it up). If the carbon is only a small portion of the filter, it might not matter too much though. (It doesn't do much for cycling other than as a surface for bacteria to grow on.)

For the fish, rasboras, cardinal tetras, guppies, rams, and pseudomugil rainbowfish should be fine. The more common Melanotaenia and Glossolepis genus rainbowfish are too big/active IMO for your tank. I'd also skip the red tailed shark.

For the fish that are okay, remember that the rainbowfish, tetras, and rasboras will do best in a group of 5+ so you will not readily be able to have all of them. For the guppies, get all males to prevent numerous fry.

 

[Curiosity101]

i have an interpet PF2 filter, which has some carbon media, it has been suggested i leave this in while the tank cycles, but once its complete its not hugely important, is this so?

Is this the donated media you recieved or just some that was already in the filter? Eitherways activated carbon filter pads only stay active for a few days (sometimes up to a week). After that they don't do anything that normal filter pads do. So just treat them as such. However if they are zeolite pads (probably aren't), then they need removing now.

i know i have to clean filter media in water from the tank, but do i have to replace it at any point?, and should it have to be replaced how does this effect the cycle?

Replace pads when they're literally falling apart. And only replace half your filter media at a time.

i have also noticed that i have a fry, a single baby fish in my tank, but the fish are all males, i saw a little black/brown thing on one of my plants, could this have been an egg? and are there any steps i need to take to look after it, if i can find it? (it keeps appearing for quick periods then disappears again)

Is it definitely a baby fish? If so you must have a female livebearer in there. You have guppies, mollies, a swordtail and a few platys... any could be the mother. Search on google for 'sexing mollys' or 'sexing livebearers'. It's easy to do yourself or you can post pics here of each fish or group shots etc.

my last questions is about fish for a community tank, i have a 68 liter tank and have been told i can safely add between 15 and 20 fish depending on size, would the following do well in a community tank and are there any i should omit from the list?

You can't really say '15-20 fish depending on sizes' you should think of it more along the lines of the inch per gallon rule at the mo. The inch per gallon rule, as I'm sure people will say soon , is made redundant on mature tank and tanks owned by experienced fish keepers. But to keep things safe and simple. You should aim for 1" of adult sized fish per gal of water for the first 6months to allow you to get to grips with all of the aspects of fish keeping.
So in that sized tank you're looking at 18" of fish.

Harlequin Rasboras - Yes
Galaxy Rasbora - Yes
Cardinal tetras - No (They aren't recommended for new tanks)
Rainbow Fish - Threadfin Rainbowfish only in my opinion. And even then I've seen mixed info on them. No other rainbowfish are suitable for that sized tank.
Guppies - Yes...you already have them though?
Bolivian Rams - No, tank is too small
Endlers - Yes
Red tail-shark - No, min tank size 40gal to keep one as part of a community
Dwarf Gourami - Yes. I personally would go for Honey Gouramis or the red version 'Red Robin Honey Gourami'. But the actual dwarf gouramis are fine too. You can get Neon Dwarf Gourami or Blue Dwarf Gourami. Reason I'd go for Honey's instead of dwarfs is because they tend to be alot more peaceful.

Just one question...are you after stocking ideas alongside your current stocking?
Correct me if I'm wrong but is this yor current stocking?
Guppies x 4,
Neon tetras x 6,
Mollys x 2,
Sword tail x 1
Plattys x 3
Loaches x 3 -- What are the loaches?? Kuhli loach? Clown loach? Zebra/Chain loach?

Your current stocking put you on 26.5" of fish and thats without the loaches. So with the loaches (presuming Kuhli loach as they are some of the smallest bioload wise) you have a minimum total stocking of 1.95" per gal.
As a new fishkeeper in an un mature tank and what I'm guessing probably isn't a heavily planted tank?
This is some SERIOUSLY heavy stocking.

I only reach around 1.6" per gal on my tank, and it has a filter on it deigned for a tank 3x the size. Also it is very heavily planted and the levels are carefully monitored...

 

[alien_pseudo]

thanks for the replies

the stocking at the minute is just 3 plattys i did the decent thing and took everything but them back, but over the first and second night i did suffer some losses

im trying to take it steady now...! lesson learnt

the carbon media came with the filter, there was that and normal white sponge looking media (but i took half out and put the donated media in)

as for the fish, im not intending to add any at all til the filter is properly cycled, and again, taking it steady,

we also got some live plants when we got the fish, after i'd put the plants in i noticed this little object on the leaf's, the water distorted the view and i thought it was a snail, it must have been an egg?!? the fish are tiny things and look orange in colour

 

[Curiosity101]

Ah right. Good on you. Bet your daughter wasn't too happy with you! Hehe. It was the right thing to do though and makes things much much simpler.

Any chance of a picture of the plattys? I can pretty much assure you one of them will be female if you have a fry swimming about in the tank. (unless it was born before the other fish were removed!)

And you might have gotten some pest snails with the plants It happens. Not a big problem though. If you're ok with it then just remove any you see and chuck them into the garden or something. It's not nice to have to do, but pest snails are pest snails...

I'd just leave the carbon in, like I said it soon looses it's active properties and should just be treated as any other normal sponge.

Just to re-iterate:
Harlequin Rasboras - Yes
Galaxy Rasbora - Yes
Cardinal tetras - No (They aren't recommended for new tanks)
Rainbow Fish - Threadfin Rainbowfish only in my opinion. And even then I've seen mixed info on them. No other rainbowfish are suitable for that sized tank.
Guppies - Yes, stick to males though, more colourful and no unexpected babies.
Bolivian Rams - No, tank is too small
Endlers - Yes
Red tail-shark - No, min tank size 40gal to keep one as part of a community
Dwarf Gourami - Yes. I personally would go for Honey Gouramis or the red version 'Red Robin Honey Gourami'. But the actual dwarf gouramis are fine too. You can get Neon Dwarf Gourami or Blue Dwarf Gourami. Reason I'd go for Honey's instead of dwarfs is because they tend to be alot more peaceful.

And aim to stock up to 18" for the first 6months. If your water stats are holding fine (Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 and Nitrates 40ppm or less when it comes to the weekly water change), then you can add a couple more fish or snails or shrimp...

 

[alien_pseudo]

any advice on photographing fish, the pictures seem either too blurred or obscure or not bright enough

the reason i chose red tail shark is i think i would like one 'special'(for lack of a better expression) fish, would a betta work in a community tank?
if not could you suggest or recommend something more suitable?

thanks again
Paul

 

[Curiosity101]

Bettas sometimes work in community tanks, but sometimes don't. They'd never be my first idea of a 'center piece' fish.

Centerpiece fish for a 64l...hmm
Dwarf Gourami - (Neon or Blue...but prob not more than one as they tend to be quite aggressive+territorial)
Pair Of Honey Gouramis - (Normal or Red Robin Variety)
Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid - I think (don't quote me) that you can keep one male alone if not then they have to be kept in a ratio of 1 male to 3-4 females. So if you can keep males alone then that would be a nice little additon, not sure you're squeeze 4 into a 64l tank though.
Agassizi Dwarf Cichlid - Same as the above cockatoo for how they have to be kept.
Pair of German Blue Rams - Now technically you can probably keep a breeding pair in a 64l with no issues. BUT, they aren't really beginner fish as they need pristine water conditions otherwise they go belly up. No ammonia, no nitrites and Nitrates at a MAX of 20ppm between water changes. They also prefer a temp of 28C which is something to consider as many other community fish would struggle at those sort of temps.

Then my mind goes a bit blank...
But go do some research on my suggestions and see what you think.

 

[alien_pseudo]

thanks for the information will research around!

obviously, this is a working project, and i wont be adding fish for a while yet! but thinking about what i will and can add to my tank will give me something to focus on while i wait for the filter the cycle properly!

to answer you earlier question i over looked, its not a heavily planted tank, but there are 5 live plants in the tank, and might have room for more

 

[Curiosity101]

Well my 125l tank has...
20+ Stems Cabomba
3 Amazon Swords
2 Leafy Plants (bit like sword plants)
6 Stems Ludwigia
8 Plantlets of Twisted Vallis
1 Reed Type Plant
2 Anubias nana
4 Java Fern
A few amazon frogbit plants
A moss ball
And some Java Moss on some wood and a rock.

I can't be bothered to count all that up, but anyways I wouldn't quite class my tank as heavily planted. More Med-Heavily. So that's just to give you an idea of how much plant life you really could get in there!

 

[alien_pseudo]

lol i've just got my head round the name of fish, let alone plants,
as it is i couldnt even name one plant i have in my tank *makes mental note to remember plant names too*

thats another thing, when we got the plants the man in the shop sold use these lead strips to help keep the plants on the bottom, do the lead strips effect the water chemistry/fish? and if so in what way?

i did see some moss balls and thought they looked quite interesting, may have to get some of them!

do you suggest planting anything whilst the tank is cycling?

you seem to have the patience of a saint....if my never ending questions are getting tedious feel free to slap me!

 

[Curiosity101]

Lol...I need something to keep me occupied. I think I'm coming down with the dreaded swine flu...over the past hour I'm pretty sure I'm getting towards fevery. Stupid mexican pigs...

Anyway...
If you want to take some pics and PM them to me then feel free. I'll do my best to ID plants, I'm no expert though. I'll only be able to ID the obvious ones (which tend to be what lfs stock).

As for the lead weights. I've never liked them myself. If I ever have unrooted plants, like when I've taken cuttings from parent plants, I just shove them a bit further into the sand to get them to stay. I don't know if I'm just being silly but I don't like the thought of adding lead to my tank. I know they're meant to oxidise the top layer making them safe an un-reactive. But I'm not convinced. They sell goldfish bowls for goldfish...doesn't mean that they're suitable...if you get my point?

Seeing as you've had some media donated I think planting whilst cycling can only be a good thing. Keep to really hardy plants like java fern, java moss and anubias. During the cycling process with the fluctuating water conditions some plants will literally melt. So it's a waste of money AND they pollute the water.

What are your water stats at today?

 

[alien_pseudo]

im gonna have to hunt for a guide on fish photography, i keep trying but its no good!
it was just some i did get from my lfs, so they wont be anything too exotic,

water stats for yesterday were

temp 25oC
PH 7.4
ammonia 0.50 (1/3 water change)
nitrite 0
nitrate 0

not yet tested today... but its due in 25 minute! im trying to be consistent and test every 24 hours.

 

[alien_pseudo]

i've got a pic of of the plants in my tank, will send in a tick,

water stats for the day....

temp 25oC
PH 7.4
ammonia 0.50 (1/3 water change)
nitrite 0
nitrate 0

out of curiosity i tested my tap water, thats ph 7.4 too and im using the high range liquid

same as yesterday!