What say you?

[agentpreppy]

I have a 30 gal tank, 36 in long, 12 deep, 16 tall. I don't have much decorations in there yet, just a piece of driftwood and a few airstones. The LFS was waiting for a delivery and PetSmart's selection is in the process of being moved around so I can't find any decent rocks or the like. I will be getting a few of those for hiding places though. I had thought about doing some live plants but i've been reading that plants and airstones don't mix well because the airstones help get rid of CO2. No biggie, I can turn the pump off but turn it on for when my little niece comes over (she likes bubbles and it wouldn't be for long). So the big question is, what fish to get. I'm thinking I want a community tank since there is a lot of space and just to have some variety. For the record, the tank appears to have fully cycled. My pH hangs around 7.0.

I'm thinking of going with about 7-10 Zebra Danicos, a gold-banded pleco and maybe an angel. Does this sound like a good setup once I get the rocks and plants for hiding places?

 

[Guest]

That mix of fish will do fine. I don't know much about particular plecos, does the gold-banded variety stay small? Some plecos get huge, make sure you are getting one that will stay small.
You may consider some Cory catfish too, they are fun to watch.

For the record, the tank appears to have fully cycled.

Just curious, did you cycle with fish, or the fishless method? Not clear from your post.

 

[agentpreppy]

Just curious, did you cycle with fish, or the fishless method? Not clear from your post.

Fishless. The reason I say "appears" is because by all the tests it has gone through a cycle but I'm new to this so I'm leaning towards being overly cautious. That's why I'm going with the Zebra's. Everyone seems to be in agreement that they are some of the best to start out so if I have some problems, they will be the ones to make it through it hopefully.

 

[Guest]

Very good plan, Agentpreppy. Glad to see you did your research, and are being cautious.

After you get your decor, Dannios will be fine, get them first. wait 2 weeks (testing every few days to make sure things are good), then get more fish.

You could get more of a mix than you've said. a 30 gal will hold a good bit of fish. Any fish in particular you are interested in?

 

[shawmutt]

I have had fun with my 30 gallon by making biotopes, or tanks set up and populated by fish and plant from a specific region. The first biotope, a black water tank, had 9 cardinal tetras, 4 ottos, 4 cories, and 3 hatchfish at its prime. You can see the picture in the gallery. Unfortunately, the last inhabitants, the hatchetfish, introduced ich which killed off all my cardinals. The survivors are currently housed in a 10 gallon. I decided to redo the whole tank and make an African Lake Malawi biotope. I currently have 5 yellow lab cichlids in that tank. Here's the pic: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/download.php?id=2025. I modeled it after pics I found online here: http://www.tropheus.info/riftlakes/cichlids/foto_uv_e.html . As you can see, there are a lot of different things you can do. HTH!

 

[agentpreppy]

You could get more of a mix than you've said. a 30 gal will hold a good bit of fish.

I know but like I said, I'm cautious. It's the accountant in me.

Any fish in particular you are interested in?

Not really. Right now I'm more interested in getting fish and keeping them alive than I am in any particular fish. For any body that would visit I would like to have something colorful. The reason I'm thinking 7-10 Zebras is so that I will have a school which is always cool to see. I would like to keep smaller fish since you can get more of them in a tank.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

How about some cory cats?

 

[Punkymom]

Cory cats will do very well with the other fish you've chosen and they'll be a 2nd school for you along the bottom of the tank.

 

[Cherry Barb]

I think you're doing great agentpreppy! Research is the way to go first and trust me, you may still get a few curveballs in the mix.

I have a 20 gal myself and have 5-Zebra Danios (which happen to be neat top water schoolers) and 5-Spotted Cory Cats (which are hysterically cute traveling along the bottom of my tank) and in the middle I have a lovely school of Cherry Barbs (hence my name of course. 8) ) These all do great together.

Just remember when adding fish, never double the amount you have in your tank at one time. Just add them slowly a few at a time and build up your schools that way. I would definitely start with the Danios, maybe 3 to start. Then 2 weeks later add 1 or 2 more and so on, the danios are the hardiest and you will likely have a mini-spike when you add fish at first. Then build your schools and add your most fragile fish last.

There are lots of lovely fish out there. Maybe you could even look into the Harlequin Rasboras. They are gorgeous, but those would probably be some of the last I would add. Good Luck!

 

[Allivymar]

I would add another angel. There are so many varieties out there, and 2 would fit nicely in your tank with your other choices.

I've 5 angels in my 55, and none are exactly alike; 1 adult smokey superveil, 1 subadult standard gold, 1 juvenile black lace standard, 1 juvenile gold marble superveil combtail pearlscale (LOL thats a mouthful) and 1 standard gold that apparently has a genetic abnormality and really hasn't grown (was bought with the sub-adult gold...that one grew normally...go figure). If you want to check em out, I have them in my gallery (look under my nick).

 

[agentpreppy]

Pardon my ignorance but do Cory Cats help keep the gravel and such clean? I know I'll still need to use the gravel vac when I do a water change but I would like something to help keep things other than me. What can I say? I'm lazy!

 

[TankGirl]

Cory cats do feed on the bottom, so you will need to make sure that some food sinks to the bottom for them, or get sinking wafers. I adore mine, but they need to be in a school, so get 4 or so.

 

[EMS503]

Danios are imop one of the hardiest for helping with the cycling of your tank, But after that I remove them back to the lfs as they are hyper fish and race around the tank scattering all the fish. We call them are little brats.

 

[TankGirl]

Yeah, they need a lot of lateral space to swim and are definitely hyper. I am fond of them for their ability to weather the storm, so to speak!

 

[Cherry Barb]

Yep, love my active little Danios, and preppy those Corys will be happy to help keep your tank bottom clean. I feed mine sinking shrimp pellets specially made for corys. (I drop one per cory in at each feeding). They gobble them up as they start to soak up a little water and they also gobble up the little particles of food that my other fish let fall to the bottom. Also, I started out with only 2 corys, and then built my school up to 5. They are sooooo much better in the larger school. Corys are a little shy by nature, so the more you have the more of them you will see during the daytime. And, there are several varieties of corys to choose from. Personally I am partial to the spotted and leopard varieties, but there are also bronze corys, albino corys, etc. You can really add character to your tank with these little guys.

 

[agentpreppy]

Quick update. Over the weekend I decided to be a little ballsy and get 6 zebras (suggested to only get 4). After 24 hours I checked the water, ammonia was halfway between zero and the first color at worst, the same for nitrites. Nitrates were between the first color above zero and the second (I'm at work now and I don't have my chart with me) In short, everything seems to be going great. I'll check again when I get home since I fed them one flake this morning and they should be pooing at some point today. If all goes well this week and through the weekend I'll be getting some Cory Cats to patrol the bottom of the tank early next week. Probably just 2 to make sure that nothing spikes too high.

 

[Punkymom]

Are you doing water changes when the spikes happen? If you don't, you risk losing some fish. Especially cory cats. They don't cycle well, and it's in their best interest to do a 20-50% water change when the levels get above safe. Then you always want to retest afterwards to make sure that you got it down to a safe level. Leaving the levels high like that stresses out the fish and stunts their lifespan and not to mention burns their gills.

 

[agentpreppy]

Are you doing water changes when the spikes happen? If you don't, you risk losing some fish.

I haven't noticed any true spikes, that was the point of my update. The fish are in the tank and nothing is going wrong. Of course, I say that now and I'll go home to a tank of dead fish.

 

[AtodaJ]

Welcome to the group agentpreppy. Nice to have a fellow accountant aboard... hehe.

You said you did a fishless cycle so your bio filter should be up and running. Accordingly, I'm actually surprised to see you are having increases in your readings at all so quickly in a 30gallon tank that has already been cycled. I'm guessing the amount of ammonia you were adding during your fishless cycle was pretty small relative to what your intended fish load was going to be? You've only added 6 Danios so I wouldn't have expected any increase. :? Regardless, even if your bio filter is relatively weak it will adjust rather quickly and Danios are definately the best fish to weather the storm.

I wouldn't worry much about the Danios with low readings below .5 ammonia and/or .25 nitrite imho... just keep it below those levels. Danios laugh at those readings! Don't over react though and try to reduce the readings to "zero" cuz all you'll do is prolong the "second cycle". Bacteria require an incentive to multiply and that is "food" which is ammonia and nitrite.

I agree with punkymom about the cory cats though. They don't do well during cycling (even mini cycles) so make sure your bio filter is strong enough to handle their introduction without any noticable increases in your readings if at all possible. Just 1 or 2 at a time like you said you are going to do should work well.

Peace and enjoy your new friends!

 

[Cherry Barb]

Thats great agentpreppy! You will love those danios! They are cool little guys and they usually hover around the top of your tank. I would probably wait a couple of weeks on those corys though. They are very sensitive to any water changes, etc.
Once you have these guys they are a great indicator of how your tank is doing. Corys will usually be affected first, so I watch them twice as closely as my other fish. But trust me, you will LOVE them! Let us know how it goes!