Tropical Fish Setup

[loachy]

Another word of advice: THINK about what fish you are going to stock. This size of tank gives you the potential to house some bigger specimens without the (IMO) embarassing situation of having to take them back when they get too big. Bala sharks, plecs, clown loaches etc. are all potential long term fishy friends.
Don't get the random fish buying bug like someone else I know and end up filling the tank with small guys

HTH

Cava

This fish bug is really starting to bite!!!!

I haven't really got the cash to get the super rio 400, but my flexable friend has!!!

Initially i will be filling the tank with 20 or so guppies (my friend breeds them) and a bit of water from his tank to kick start bacteria growth in the filter.

Once these 'volunteers' have done their job (not sure how long this takes) i was thinking of putting in a few clown loaches, a shoal of cardinal tertras and a plec of some kind. I like the look of all the plecs, the zebra and gold nugget look very striking and the royal plec looks pretty stuning.

I've heard a group of tiger barbs can be interesting as they are fast movers however i think they grow to quite a size!!

Anyone got any ideas? How long should you wait before you start adding non-voluntary fish into the tank?

 

[jumpman]

Non voluntary?? I like the terms you are using!

It depends how you set up the tank. My preference on setting up tanks is to use an already seeded external filter. When I was shopping around for another one recently, I was offered several that were up and running, I think for around £60 or so (fluval externals I think). A lot of suppliers can easily sell you a seeded filter. It also means you can set up a tank with some fish you want to keep, rather than starting with 'volunteers' as you said

Adding water from an existing tank will not kick start the filter much....it adds more polutants if anything.

Going through a cycle with 20 guppies would be a good start (if you are starting fresh), although it will be a good few weeks before you can add more 'sensitive' fish like clown loaches and cardinals, they need a very well established tank.

A group of tiger barbs would be nice in a rio 400....and would go well with clown loaches....but similarly you would have to wait a while if cycling it.

jump