What Fish Can I Have?

[mfernott]

Hi All

We are new fishkeepers and have recently set up a coldwater tank.

The tank is 64 litres, and being blissfully ignorant, went straight to an aquatics shop on the weekend to get some fish to start the tank off.

We were advised to take 4 Zebra Danios to start off the tank, then wait for about 3 weeks before adding any more fish.

I was wondering what other fish we could look at adding to the tank once we can start adding more?

Ideally we wanted to get a couple of fancy goldfish varieties (Fantails/Orandas possibly) but have read that a 64 litre tank would not be sufficient for most goldfish.

So, what other interesting types of fish could we think about adding, and how many of them?

All help greatly appreciated!

 

[Wills]

Sorry to but in on the coldwater section but... just buy a heater tropical tanks and coldwater tanks are no difference apart from the heater which will be about £20-25. As you said small tanks are not suitable for any goldfish, they need about 30 gallons for 2 because of their size and the amount of poo they create In a 64 gallon tank you have a lot more options with tropicals and the simple addition of the heater is the only difference.

Also welcome to the forum and the hobby

Getting a tank and adding fish this soon will mean you are in whats called a fish in cycle which means that the filter bacteria is growing and developing based on the amount of waste your fish produce. However during the early stages there is no bacteria present and lots of chemicals being created by the fish poo in the tank. Its a cycle that will happen over a number of weeks but during that time like I say the water will be polluted you might not be able to see anything wrong with the water or smell it but there will be chemicals releasing in the water. The only way to combat this at the moment is to do daily water changes to make sure that the ammonia and nitrite levels stay low this will mean that the toxins in the water will not build up to a level that will either kill the fish or make them ill.

Just to put you in the picture with what I mean about fish in cycle, when a tank is set up there are two routes to take first one which most people have to start with because the shops dont tell you about the other is the fish in cycle as I described above, the other is fishless cycling which is where you use pure house hold ammonia in place of the fish poo both ways build the same levels of bacteria. With the fishless cycle you just add a few ml of ammonia each day and measure your levels with api liquid test kits to see where you are at.

Im not saying rehome your fish but just a bit of advice on the danio, though small fish they are very fast and active and they are often considered a bit unsuitable because of this for small tanks such as yours but they are a good begginers fish so I guess its upto you. Basically they deserve a bigger tank but will be okay in a 64 liter tank and there are other more suitable similar fish like chilli rasbora for example but thats for when the above mentioned cycle is over and the tank is stable.

Wills

 

[mfernott]

Thanks for the advice!

Will the danio be ok if I convert the tank into a tropical one?

Also of I do daily water changes, how much water should be removed and added? Presumably the new water will need to be treated with tap safe?

 

[Wills]

Yeah the danios will do better in a tropical tank if anything, they do come from coolish water but its still tropical temperatures and they are being sold to unheated tank which will be fine in the summer here but in the winter the fish will acclimatise down but its not ideal.

Do you have a water test kit for the ammonia and nitrite? Ideally the water changes would be 40-50% each day and yes treat it with a dechlorinator like tap safe or stress coat etc.

Wills

 

[mfernott]

Yeah the danios will do better in a tropical tank if anything, they do come from coolish water but its still tropical temperatures and they are being sold to unheated tank which will be fine in the summer here but in the winter the fish will acclimatise down but its not ideal.

Do you have a water test kit for the ammonia and nitrite? Ideally the water changes would be 40-50% each day and yes treat it with a dechlorinator like tap safe or stress coat etc.

Wills

Thanks for the advive Wills, we really appreciate it. Just a few more dumb #17##### questions for you

That being the case, we'll convert our tank into a tropical one. We actually have a heater and thermometer as the tank was sold as a beginners setup for either coldwater or tropical fish.

Am I ok to install the heater with the fish in the tank, or will I need to remove the fish whilst I install the heater? It seems very easy to fit, just attach to the glass with suckers and plug into mains. Will they be OK in the tank whilst the water warms up?

Also I will start doing a daily water change, and monitor the ammonia/nitrate levels. I don't have a test kit yet but can go and pick one up tomorrow as we have a store very local to us.

I do have a pH test kit, and the water has been stable at around 7.5 for the last 4 days in a row, is this an OK pH for most tropical fish?

When I add the tap water for the daily changes, should I be adding tapsafe directly into the aquarium after the new water goes in, or into the container containing the tap water before it goes into the aquarium, or does that not matter?

Apologies for the stupid questions but I'd rather get things right now than have problems with the fishes health further down the line!

Also once we have our set up established for a few weeks and we can think about adding more fish, what species can we think about having with the Danios?

We'd rather have more variety of smaller fish, than less quantity of larger fish if that makes sense?

Appreciate your help!

 

[Wills]

No problems

If you add the heater while the fish are in its fine, just try and match the heater to the temperature the thermometer is at now and then increase it to about 25-26c over a few days or so.

With the water test kit go for the API liquid one the master test kit which is all the bottles you need and more is about £15-20 but will last you a year my set is a year old and still got plenty left.

Okay so more fish, Danios like I say are not your best bet for fish for that size as they get to a good 2 inches as adults and are very active and zippy. So stocking around them in this kind of tank will impact on what you have in the tank so Ill do you an example of a stocking list with the danio and one without them.

So here goes 16 gallon ideas

12 Zebra Danio
12 Harlequin Rasbora
10 Cherry Shrimp

so thats 2 big schools of active fish with the danio being the bigger the bigger the school the better really your going to get a lot more out of schooling fish in bigger schools but due to the sizes of these fish its 2 big schools of 2. I went with harlequins with your danios as they are both asian fish and compliment each other in behavior and swimming patterns.

My idea without the danio would be

3 Pygmy Gourami
10 Cherry shrimp
then 2 schools of the following three
15 Chilli Rasbora
15 Galaxy Rasbora
15 Eyespot Rasbora

All of the above species of rasbora only get to half an inch but pack so much colour and sparkle its amazing so having 30 of them between 2 schools is going to be okay over time in your tank. You could probs do 3 schools of 10 instead of 2 of 15? Upto you but either tank is going to look great

Wills

 

[stang1]

Great advice Wills although I feel the Danios would be best suited at lower temperatures. If you are keeping them in a tropical tank, ideally keep them at about 24C.

 

[mfernott]

Wills, that's brilliant advice, thanks very much!

I just mentioned the idea of Shrimp (which I think is awesome!) to the missus and she's not so keen! Any recommendation for other fish that we could replace the shrimp with if we keep the danios (although i'll work on her as I really fancy the shrimp idea!)

How long would you recommend leaving just the danios in for before adding more fish?

Also when we add another species, i.e. the rasboras - would you add all of them at the same time or introduce them a couple at a time?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Wills]

Yeah fair dos with the temperature most of the other fish I mentioned would be okay at 24 as well so no worries. Erm as for bottom dwellers because of the small size of them most need a sand substrate instead of gravel, do you have sand or is it like pea sized gravel?

Did you show her the pictures of the shrimp? You can get loads of colours now.

Your main three options are Anchor Catfish, Pygmy Cory Cats, Rosy Loaches or Khulli Loaches but as said the do need sand as they like to forage and bury them selves and if they do it with pea gravel it can damage them.

Once you get your test kit you will be able to work out how long before you add more fish, you will want to give it a few weeks yet while the filter can go for 24 hours or longer without a water change and both the ammonia reading and the nitrite reading comes back at 0

Wills

 

[mfernott]

Yeah fair dos with the temperature most of the other fish I mentioned would be okay at 24 as well so no worries. Erm as for bottom dwellers because of the small size of them most need a sand substrate instead of gravel, do you have sand or is it like pea sized gravel?

Did you show her the pictures of the shrimp? You can get loads of colours now.

Your main three options are Anchor Catfish, Pygmy Cory Cats, Rosy Loaches or Khulli Loaches but as said the do need sand as they like to forage and bury them selves and if they do it with pea gravel it can damage them.

Once you get your test kit you will be able to work out how long before you add more fish, you will want to give it a few weeks yet while the filter can go for 24 hours or longer without a water change and both the ammonia reading and the nitrite reading comes back at 0

Wills

Thanks Wills, we have quite fine gravel, so will talk her into the shrimp prioviding these are OK with gravel!

Will let you know how it develops!

Cheers for all your help!