Setting up new tank

[Tifi]

Hi,
I am a complete beginner at fish keeping and have never had any so lots of questions to come. My mother-in-law got her first tank and set up a year or two ago and she's upgraded to a bigger tank but she's just ended up with baby guppies so the plan is for me to take a few of them to start me off. (From reading I assume I'm better taking only?).

She has given me information regarding setting the tank up with water etc and is going to come over and help me sort that/test it etc. I'm in Scotland and our water is soft. She's bringing sand over for me to put in the bottom.

The tank I have is Fishbox LED 30L
Would I be overstocking if I wanted to add Peppered Cory (or any types of catfish) and neon tetra. These are some of the fish we've seen and liked but I've no idea how many fish I can comfortably have or which species.

I'd like to put a few interesting things in the tank for the fish but again don't want to overdo it so I thought a couple of ornaments where they can swim in and out of and depending on how easy they are to manage - a plant or two?

Does any of this sound reasonable?
(I've tried reading as much as I can and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with setting up/stocking the tank and feeding).

Any information is appreciated (I know my MIL will help but I like to know what I'm doing too)

 

[Kritastrophe]

30 liters is about 8 gallons, right? If so, too small for Cory because they are usually happiest in a group of six. If I am wrong about the size my apologies. Had to whip out a conversion calculator as I’m used to gallons. Ha ha.

 

[seangee]

This is a good first reference http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first

30L is actually quite small in fish keeping terms and really not suitable for any of the fish you mentioned. Also guppies do need hard water to be healthy. If you are able to let us know how hard your water is someone could advise on fish that would be suitable. The figure that we are interested in is GH (general hardness). There are several different units of measure so we would need to know what the measurement is. The info should be available on your water supplier's website.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

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

What is the GH (general hardness) and pH of your water supply. This information can usually be obtained from 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 get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Neon tetras and Corydoras come from soft acid water with GH below 150ppm and pH below 7.0.
Guppies come from hard alkaline water with a GH above 200ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you keep neons in hard water or guppies in soft water, they don't do that well.

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Some aquatic plants are easy to grow but they do require a bit of light and if you only have the light on for a couple of hours a day, they struggle. If the light doesn't have a high enough wattage they also struggle. Try having the tank lights on for 10-12 hours a day.

If you get lots of green algae then reduce the light by an hour a day and monitor the algae over the next 2 weeks.
If you don't get any green algae on the glass then increase the lighting period by an hour and monitor it.
If you get a small amount of algae then the lighting time is about right.

Some plants will close their leaves up when they have had sufficient light. Ambulia, Hygrophilas and a few others close their top set of leaves first, then the next set and so on down the stem. When you see this happening, wait an hour after the leaves have closed up against the stem and then turn lights off.

Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. The liquid iron based fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.
I use Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.

Do not bother adding carbon fertiliser to the tank because they are not necessary.

 

[Tifi]

Thanks for the responses - they were similar to what I expected to get.
(I think what was in this tank were one-two corys, 2 tetras and maybe 4-6 guppies). If I can get it all set up ok (can you change the Ph and water hardness?), would I be able to take a few guppies short-term in this tank until I get a bigger one - in a matter of weeks? My main issue is I was given the tank so I could take some of the babies.

Thanks Krit - are they happiest in a group of 6 of their own species or are they ok to mix species?

Sean - Thanks for that resource - will read it soon.
Hardness: 57.5ppm (I will take a sample to pet shop so I have an accurate test)

Colin - hi and thanks
(length x width x height)42 x 25 x 34cm
PH - average in my area is 7.87

Fantastic advice about the plants - thanks.

Once I get a bigger tank to move whatever I do have into, what would you recommend that I get for this tank? I like bright and colourful however my first concern is healthy and happy pets. (This is a completely different world for me as I have 2 dogs and 2 horses and their needs seem much simpler at the moment).

 

[Tifi]

I have found a 60l tank for sale near me so have agreed to buy that

 

[Kritastrophe]

If you want multiple types of Cory I would still keep six of each only because in my experience the emeralds stay in the group of emeralds and the pandas stay in the group of pandas and seem happiest moving around with their own kind. That’s just been my personal experience. Someone might have an answer about different Cory that mix well into a single group and stay together.

 

[seangee]

If you want multiple types of Cory I would still keep six of each only because in my experience the emeralds stay in the group of emeralds and the pandas stay in the group of pandas and seem happiest moving around with their own kind. That’s just been my personal experience. Someone might have an answer about different Cory that mix well into a single group and stay together.

That is also my experience. If you want lots of corys it is best to stick with one species. 6 is the minimum size the group should be but the behaviour is much more interesting and natural in larger groups.

IMO 18 of a single species makes a much better display than 3 groups of 6.