tale of a new tank.

[ripvan]

I last kept fish 25 years ago.(two 3ft tanks) End of last year bought a new 15 gal hex tank as they were on offer £30 complete at local Tradex store.Never fishless cycled before and never lost fish but I thought i'd try it.Tank is well planted as I don't like bare tanks or artificial plants-just doesn't seem natural.Used pure lab ammonia only 5 drops in the 15 gall (use it at work- very strong stuff!!) 4 weeks into cycle ammonia is nil and nitrites and nitrates were off the top of the scale- and some ,so bacteria doing well.Would have taken forever to come down from this level so did a 50% water change and stlill way off the top.So did a 90% water change!Levels eventually came down and stayed down.So decided to put fish in over next month.
5 fire tail male guppies,5 neons at first.All levels still on bottom of scale.
Added one Chinese algae eater (called jim as he has a big mouth and is ugly-after jim Carey!) and two glass shrimps. All levels are still on bottom of scale.
Finally now have 2 blue rams -amazing colours.All levels are still on bottom of scale.

Argh! I hear you say ,he's overstocked.At present I wouldn't say I am.I do a 20% water change once a week.Levels are staying on bottom of scale.All fish are very active and feed well.I feed flakes twice a day.Half an algae tablet for jim every other day although he eats flakes anyway.He has to be quick though or the shrimps will carry it away to eat off it first!And some frozen food a couple of times a week.
Jim isn't aggressive as many people say I'll have to see as he grows (2-3" at present) but he is good to watch ,flitting round the tank at lightning speed.The shrimps are comical to watch and can't half swim if they want to.Took one of their shedded outer skins out of the tank and let it dry.The detail is amazing.The guppies never stop chasing and swimming,even want to be round base of gravel cleaning syphon when I'm using it.
Lot of excellent advice on this site has helped but it soon comes back to you when you get back into it.A lot of it is common sense though and I always feel that if it doesn't feel right then don't do it.Which I suppose goes for most things in life.
One final thought.I would like one angel fish.Are there any small ones out there anyone could reccomend.Or would that be the straw that broke the nitites back??
I'll keep you posted.
ripvan

 

[Nuttygal! :0)]

Congrats on your new tank! It's sounds great! I have 3 angels in one of my tanks, but it is 17" deep. I think the recommended height for angels is 18" - so oops! Anyway Altum (spelling?) are the larger types of angels, I have Scalare, which are smaller. Depending on how deep your tank is, you could probably keep a few.

EDIT: Though, if I'm wrong...it was him! *points to random person!*
No I think that's right!

 

[Ben]

if you remove the pair of rams and the CAE you wouldnt be over stocked.

and i dont think you can and should not add a angel fish in a 15 gal tank. i think the minimum is 25-30 gals.and they would eat your neons and say good buy to guppys tails

HTH
DD

 

[Nuttygal! :0)]

Oh yeah didn't think of that! Like I said, it was him! *points to random person!*

EDIT: Hang on a minute - I have 10 guppies and 3 angels...I've had them for months together - never had any problems. The guppies have all still got their lovely tails. And I don't know but I keep cardinal tetras too! But I don't know if neons are the same so if I'm wrong I'll shut up! )

 

[ripvan]

The water is 18" deep.I kept angels and neons and guppies in my old 3 ft tanks and they were never any probs but space wasn't a problem then.

 

[Nyte]

I would most definatly not put angles in a 15 gallon...even alone. It's too small. You'll stunt their growth which will lead to problems later. Especially with the CAE, who will eventually find the angels body a nice snack. I had a CAE that was friendly to my fish for about a year, but after that he became the biggest nightmare in my tank. He ended up killing a prized angle which was over 4 years old and a bunch of platies.

Your tank is stuffed full, personally I wouldn't put anything else in there.