Stocking My 60l

[KerryB]

Hello everyone, be warned this is my very first post so if i get it all wrong i apologise!! I am after some stocking advice to make sure i dont get too many fish and that they should all get along ok. I have a 60l aquarium with a sand base, not many plants at the moment ive got one large one covering the internal filter and a smaller one and a couple of ornaments my daughter picked out. I added 4 zebra danios at the weekend and a platty, LFS advised that i shouldnt add more than 5 and they were both quite hardy. Water tests this morning are as follows; NO3 = 25, NO2 = 0, GH = 8, KH = 6, PH = 7.6, CL = 0 and the temp is 26. The fish i like are;

Cardinal Tetras
Male Guppy's
Gourami's
plus some sort of algae eater

what numbers would people suggest and over how long a period of time to add them? would they get on?

Thank you in advance

Kerry

ps since typing this up i have heard about fishless cycling, i did not do this i just followed the instructions on the leaflet that LFS gave me i used tetra's easy balance and safe start, i am doing 10% daily water changes too try and combat this, i would still like advice on stocking the fish and when tho i am sensible enough to now wait till i add them at least!!

 

[arobinson1984]

You are now in what is called a 'fish-in cycle' situation.

When you first set up your tank, your filter isnt ready to support fish. In order to get your filter ready you need to perform a cycle as I guess you are aware after reading about fishless cycling. There are 2 ways of cycling:

1. Fishless - This is by far the easiest option, no risk to fish and a lot less work for you.
2. Fish-In - Large daily water changes, maybe even multiple changes are required to keep fish healthy over next 6-8 weeks.

The easiest option for you would be to take the fish back to the store and do a fishless cycle, if for any reason you cant or dont want to do this then you will need to do a fish-in cycle.

There are a few things that are an absolute must for a cycling situation, you will need:

1. Water dechlorinator (You should already have some if you have filled your tank and put fish in)
2. A gravel Vac
3. A good liquid based test kit, the API freshwater master kit is the preferred choice by most. Dont get the test strips they are useless. Also dont rely on your fish store testing your water as they can be innaccurate or give you false results, also you are going to need to test the water multiple times a day for the next 6-8 weeks so you really NEED you own reliable test kit.

Have a read of these few topics which will explain the cycling process in more detail and dont be afraid to ask any questions.

What Is Cycling?
The Nitrogen Cycle
Fish-In Cycling
Fishless Cycling

Andy

 

[Davo86]

Hello everyone, be warned this is my very first post so if i get it all wrong i apologise!! I am after some stocking advice to make sure i dont get too many fish and that they should all get along ok. I have a 60l aquarium with a sand base, not many plants at the moment ive got one large one covering the internal filter and a smaller one and a couple of ornaments my daughter picked out. I added 4 zebra danios at the weekend and a platty, LFS advised that i shouldnt add more than 5 and they were both quite hardy. Water tests this morning are as follows; NO3 = 25, NO2 = 0, GH = 8, KH = 6, PH = 7.6, CL = 0 and the temp is 26. The fish i like are;

Cardinal Tetras
Male Guppy's
Gourami's
plus some sort of algae eater

what numbers would people suggest and over how long a period of time to add them? would they get on?

Thank you in advance

Kerry

ps since typing this up i have heard about fishless cycling, i did not do this i just followed the instructions on the leaflet that LFS gave me i used tetra's easy balance and safe start, i am doing 10% daily water changes too try and combat this, i would still like advice on stocking the fish and when tho i am sensible enough to now wait till i add them at least!!

Hi Kerry,

From your post and your water stats its seems you are well on your way into a fish-in-cycle,

This itself is not too much of a bad thing and i'm sure your daughter is happy seeing fish in the tank, The simple key to fish in cycling is a lot of water changes and a lot of testing which you already seem to be doing which is good.

One thing I can see though is that you have no test for ammonia? which is arguably the most important parameter to test for at this early stage of the cycle, When testing you need to make sure that your ammonia and nitrite stats remain at 0 (or at most no higher than 0.25 for long periods)

With regard to your stocking i would not add any more fish for the next 2-4 weeks (depends entirely on how long it takes for your stats to settle)

Once this has happened i would firstly add another one or two platys, but beware these are livebearers so will need to be kept in a ration of 1 Male to 2 or more females, Livebearers will breed reguarly so a same sex group may be preferred.

Cardinals and Dwarf or Honey gouramis will be fine, give the gouramis plenty of cover though as they are quite delicate and may be stressed out by the active danios if there is nowhere for them to retreat to.

Guppys are possibly not a good idea with danios and may get nipped quite badly

 

[KerryB]

Hi and thank you for the advice, i am going to get a gravel vacum tomorrow to make the water changes easier for me, was planning on getting one anyway, i have the tetra 5 in 1 test sticks so would it be ok to just get an ammonia test kit?

Fish wise i think i will get 2 mickey mouse platties to go with the ruby red which i think is a boy, should i make it 2 boys or 2 girls? obviously got time to decide whilst im doing the cycling, think i will get them instead of the guppys i wouldnt like to think of them being bullied.

 

[OldMan47]

Your best bet is a liquid reagent type test kit for at least the ammonia and nitrites. We don't care nearly as much about testing for chlorine, nitrates, KH, GH etc. for cycling the tank so the strips can be used for that in the short term. As you decide that you really want to know about your water chemistry, you will need proper tests for whatever you are interested in. If you only have a single platy, leave it that way, you cannot add any fish right now or you will make your maintenance much more difficult. As it is, you can expect to be doing a 50% water change at least once or twice a day. I had a minor emergency in one of my tanks last week and ended up doing about an 80% daily water change.

 

[KerryB]

Ok its my day off tomorrow so ill go and check out what the LFS has test kit wise, i wont add anymore fish untill its safe to do so i promise. Am quite enjoying trying to work out what i would like in there when it is safe to do so.

K x

Ok its my day off tomorrow so ill go and check out what the LFS has test kit wise, i wont add anymore fish untill its safe to do so i promise. Am quite enjoying trying to work out what i would like in there when it is safe to do so.

K x

ps 80% daily? wow

 

[arobinson1984]

You'd be best having a look on ebay for the API freshwater master kit as you will find it cheaper than in your lfs, many stores charge £25-£30 for it.

Have a look at this link here, it is the cheapest buy it now on ebay: API master kit

Andy

 

[KerryB]

ok thank you ill look into it

K

 

[arobinson1984]

Alternatively, if you dont have an ebay account, it can be bought quite cheaply from here: API master kit

Andy

 

[KerryB]

Hi all, ive done the ammonia test and its at 0 i think, the water is not colouring at all after ive put the drops in? The other tests are all at the same as in my first post, does that sound about right?

 

[Davo86]

As said above if your keeping your NO2 and NH3 levels at 0 then your doing a great job

 

[KerryB]

thank you, im getting myself all confused!!