New to tropical fish

eg6 vtec

Hi all

Over the last few nights I have set up my tank its a 120L one and yesterday I started putting fish into it, I started off safe and got 8 guppy's, 2 plecos and 4 paradise fish, the plan is to try build up my fish collection over time so my main question would be what other fish could be introduced with what I have at the moment

Also water treatment/additives would I need, I am a novice at this so all and any help would be much appreciated

Cheers
Danny

kylith

I hate to say it, but your probably going to lose a lot of those fish as your tank is uncycled. Give the shop you got them from a ring and ask if you can return them until you've cycled your tank.

Cycling (there's a sticky about it at the top of the page) is the process of growing bacteria which eat the ammonia which is produced by fish waste. Until these bacteria are established there is nothing to remove the ammonia and it will poison the fish. Some people cycle with one or two small, hardy fish but really the best thing to do is to cycle without fish using pure ammonia drops or fish food. The process usually takes 4-6 weeks and 50% of the water in the tank should be changed weekly.

Other than that, welcome! Getting your tank set up and cycled is the trickiest bit, after that it's all pretty straight forward, and well worth the wait.

Tropheus

What sort of plecos did you get? If they're common plecos, they'll outgrow your tank very quickly. I would make sure they're one of the smaller variety.

Denise90

Do some reading up on water changes, how your filter works, parameters etc. It's much easier to understand your tank and fish when you know how they're affected. As far as treatment goes, a dechlorinator for tap water (before it is put into the tank) is recommended, chlorine and chloramine are harmful to the biological process.

eg6 vtec

all advice has being taken on board cant thank you enough, i have a temp home for my fish and a helping hand now for setting the tank up, hopefully i will be back in a few weeks with an update

eg6 vtec

ksimpson wrote: »

What sort of plecos did you get? If they're common plecos, they'll outgrow your tank very quickly. I would make sure they're one of the smaller variety.

i think they are Bristlenose Pleco's, i know most of them can grow big these one i was told will get max 6" in size

Tropheus

eg6 vtec wrote: »

i think they are Bristlenose Pleco's, i know most of them can grow big these one i was told will get max 6" in size

Bristlenose will be fine. There was a load of common plecs in the trade a couple of years ago that many people bought. They get up to 12"+.

eg6 vtec

small update on this, all fish are at their new temp home for the past week, i am doing water changes on a nightly basis as the water got very cloudy, its just about crystal clear now again, I'll update again next week

Tropheus

Don't worry too much about it being cloudy. That could be a bacteria bloom which is part of the cycle. Did you get a test kit to test the water? It's very important and it's the only way you'll know that you're tank has cycled.

eg6 vtec

have not got a kit yet im working late hours for the next few weeks so no time to do anything lately, could you recommend one just so i know what im looking for if i do get out of work for a bit

kylith

You can pick up a test kit on Ebay fairly cheaply. Go for one that has the little bottles and the test tubes rather than the strips (what you lose in convenience you gain in accuracy). Go for one that will test ammonia, nitrAte, nitrIte, and pH.

eg6 vtec

**Update**

I got a test kit and did a compleat test today my results are

High range pH 7.4, I was up with the lads in the aquatic village today and the fish we talked about are going to be in the High range pH

Ammonia 1.0 ppm have some work to do there, apart form the water changes I'm doing is there anything else i can do??

Nitrite 0 ppm

Nitrate 0 ppm

Sleepy

just leave it run. The bacteria that removes ammonia does it by effectively eating your ammonia and excreting Nitrate. When your Ammonia has fallen to 0 matched by a rise in your Nitrates, your tank is cycled.

Nitrate in low quantities < 5-10ppm isn't harmful to fish. Your weekly water changes are then done to keep the nitrate levels below this.

Tropheus

That ammonia level is on the high side. Ok to let it run for day if it doesn't come down, then it's time for a 50% water change.

If the fish are gasping at the top then it's time for a water change now.

Sleepy

OP has removed the fish I thought?

eg6 vtec

I did a 25%-30% change about an hour after I did the test, I got up this morning and did the ammonia and its down to 0.5 ppm happy out, I'm off out today to pick up some crushed coral to get the ph up a bit as I'm going down the African route now and had my eye on some yellow labs

Sleepy

Make sure you're not removing all of the ammonia, the bacteria you're looking to cultivate needs it as a food source.

Just leave the tank run for a couple of days with no water changes and monitor the levels until the ammonia drops to 0 and nitrates begin to rise. Once you've had that consistently for a few days, it's time to add fish.

shamrock55

I walked into a petshop yesterday and saw atank with a few clown fish or nemos as my little girl called them i thought they were the most amazing cutest colourful fish id ever seen so now ive been reading up on aquariums since how many clown fish would be reccommended to have together and what other species would they get on with im considering a 180l tank thanks for listening also can i ask seeing as clownfish are saltwater what are the differences of running a saltwater or freshwater tank is one harder or more expesive to run as you can see i havent a clue on this subject thanks again

Sleepy

Marine tanks (and fish) are a multiple of the expense of freshwater and tbh, not ideal for a beginner. To give you an idea of the cost, I looked into converting an 180 litre tank I already have to marine and didn't see any way of doing it for less than a grand or so.

Where are you based shamrock55? In Dublin I could recommend Seahorse Aquariums out by the Red Cow or Artane Aquatics near the Artane Castle shopping centre for fish stock and advice. Beware any advice you receive in most pet shops though, for example: goldfish need large tanks but it's in many shops interests to sell you a few of them for a small plastic bowl so you'll buy medications / more fish when they begin to get sick and die.

The best value in buying the aquarium itself is always second-hand. Seems to have been loads of people who bought nice setups during the good years that saw them as a fashion accessory rather than a hobby so there are some great deals to be had.

Have a good read through this, and other, on-line forums before spending any money, pay particular attention to the "cycling a tank" thread at the top. It's a great hobby to do with the kids and I'm sure your little girl will really enjoy it whether you go all out on an expensive marine setup or keep it cheap and cheerful with a small guppy tank!

shamrock55

Thanks for the reply sleepy im in cork btw anyway i think your right about starting simple ive been checking out done deal and there are some good deals on that alright i think ill just look into a fresh water tank for now at least ill be back on here soon for more info soon enough

eg6 vtec

did another few tests last night and the ammonia is still at 0.5 ppm my pH is sitting nice at 7.8, nitrite and nitrate are both at 0 so i did an other small water change so il let it run for a few days and test again

Sleepy

What part of the country are you in? Might be one of us who could spare you some filter squeezings to get your cycle going.

eg6 vtec

I'm in Springfield, Tallaght

eg6 vtec

i had to get rid of a few fish over the weekend due to them not getting on in their temp home, sleepy was very kind to take them off my hands and also supplied me with some filter media to help my take get to where it needs to be

i am pleased to say it worked out great, i did my water test Saturday morning then i done a water change and added some rock work, we then added the filter media that evening, it was left in until the next morning, i gave it a squeeze then took it out and left the tank alone until Sunday

i did a full water test on Sunday and I'm over the moon below are Saturday and Sundays tests

Saturday
Ammonia: 0.25
High range pH 7.6
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0


Sunday
Ammonia: not at 0 and not at 0.25 but somewhere in between i did the test 3 times :rolleyes:
High range pH 8.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

oldat31

eg6 vtec wrote: »

Saturday
Ammonia: 0.25
High range pH 7.6
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0


Sunday
Ammonia: not at 0 and not at 0.25 but somewhere in between i did the test 3 times :rolleyes:
High range pH 8.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

You will get a massive nitrate spike soon, thats the sign of the cycle being complete, from then on you need to keep your nitrates low, They dont need to be at 0, which I think is impossible, But the lower the better.

For the forist few weeks of having fish in the tank keep testing every second day and do 20 - 30% water changes every 3 days and you should be good. If your filter is working right you will most likely only do a water change once a week...

Good luck with it dude because once its running theres nothing better that sitting and watching the BOB channel!

COYW

oldat31 wrote: »

You will get a massive nitrate spike soon, thats the sign of the cycle being complete, from then on you need to keep your nitrates low, They dont need to be at 0, which I think is impossible, But the lower the better.

Yep, you should always have some nitrates in the tank OP, the less the better but it is a sign that the cycle is working as the waste is getting converted from the more harmful NH4 to nitrite, to the less harmful nitrate.

Two tips from my experience :

1) Get a few live plants for your tank. They will consume the nitrate and keep it low naturally.

2) What are you using to treat the water you are adding? I tested my local tap water here and the quality was really bad. You need to remove Chloramine and the likes from the water you are adding.

buzz

I dont agree with doing anything larger than a 10% water change until a tank is fully cycled. It just prolongs it.

You can buy filter start and other products to speed it along but time is the best. I normally drop in a small bit of food to an empty tank which will decay and start the cycle and add a filter from one of my other tanks and bingo, spikes and cycle within no time. Did you change you substrate as spoke about?

Your only up the road from me if you need a hand.