Need help with new tank

[sarah5775]

I just bought a 29 gallon tank yesterday. It came with a filter, water conditioner, and a few other things (the tank is at my parents, they are going to have to help me bring it in today- Today I will buy the stand, gravel, plastic plants (as a beginner I don't want to mess with real plants) I've done some research as to what fish are easy to keep together. I am thinking a live bearer tank with some of the following fish: mollies, swordtails, barbs, and tetras, with maybe a pleco or two for the bottom. Which of these are easy for beginners? I'm not THAT much of a beginner-I kept oscars for a while, but in retrospect I realize the tank was very overcrowded and its a miracle they lasted as long as they did. I've kept goldfish for quiet a while, and had a tank full of feeder guppies that multiplied quite a bit. I am very new at tropical fish like the types listed above. I have a couple questions.

1. The site I read said that these fish like to school together, especially the tetras. Can I combine different types of tetras- get five of different kinds instead of five of the same kind?
2. I have never used a tester kit before. Which kind should I get and how often should I use it? Is it hard to use?
2. Are weekly water changes enough?
3. All these fish I have been looking at are small. Are there any bigger fish (mabye up to 6 inches) I could put in there that won't eat them?
4. How long should I let the tank sit before putting the fish in?
I've gotten a few different answers on this.

Thanks so much!
Sarah

 

[rich311k]

1. Tetras will mostly only school with their own kind.

2. Get the AP master test kit. This one

2. After your tank is cycled once a week is fine.

3. a gourami or angel fish would work nicely.

4. Do a fishless cycle easier on you and the fish. Here is an article about it. Fishless Cycle

Welcome to AA!!!

 

[SCFatz]

I would drop the barbs...they can be a little more agressive then the rest of the population imo.

With the pleco,just be sure to get one that stays small,many will outgrow your tank.There are many options...scroll though the pages of the main freshwater forum and you'll find many posts on this very subject.

Welcome to AA!

 

[sarah5775]

Thanks for the advice. I noticed on another thread someone told another newbie that you could use media from a friend's established tank. I have a friend with an established tank. What is media?
Thanks.

 

[rich311k]

The media is part of the sponges etc. in his filter. You could also use some of his gravel.

 

[severum mama]

If you use filter media from your friend's tank, make sure that he or she has a healthy tank so you don't introduce any diseases into your own. You can use a filter pad, or some gravel like Rich311k said, and you can put the gravel in a new nylon stocking and tie it up if it doesn't match your own gravel. You will still need a test kit, as this will not instantly cycle your tank, but it will make the process a lot quicker and will probably cycle it within days. I've started a lot of tanks this way and it works great for me, just be prepared for small ammonia or nitrite spikes and be ready to change some water when it happens. Remember, when you cycle a tank in this way, you will need a source of ammonia for the bacteria, otherwise it will die and you will be back to square one. You can either add pure ammonia as you would for a fishless cycle, or you can stock lightly with a few hardy fish, and then continue to stock slowly once your ammonia and nitrite are at 0. I'd personally start with the tetras, as long as you pick a hardy species like black skirts, pristellas, glowlights, etc. Some other species like neons and cardinals are much more sensitive and should only be added to an established tank.

Welcome to AA and feel free to ask any questions!

 

[DeathWarp]

I think Australian Rainbows are absolutely beautiful fish to have in a community tank like yours. They don't get huge, maybe 5 to 6" but they'd make a nice display if you get 3 of 4 of them. Even kinds of Gouramis are very pleasant to look at too. Such as : Moonlight G, Opaline G, Gold G ect. ect.

Welcome to AA also!

 

[sarah5775]

I think I'm going to do what Severum said about cycling the tank - I already asked my friend and he said he'd give me gravel in a plastic bag. His tank seems healthy enough. No fish haved died recently or anything. I'll call and see which fish store has the tetras you mentioned. When should I put them in- the day I put the gravel in or after that?
Also I have a question about PH. The guy at the fish store told me that's really important. He says I have to raise it for a community tank. He tried to talk me out of the tank I wanted. He suggested African Cichlids, but I really want a community tank. He said that the Ph may become wrong again over time. How often do you need to test for ph? And do you have to take the fish out when you add the stuff to change it? I'm not sure I trust this guy or not- he kept putting stuff in my cart saying I needed it. I'm not sure.
I have to admit, I'm getting a little daunted. There is so much more to keeping tropical fish than I realized. I'm really afraid I'm going to mess up and all my fish are going to die. Part of me thinks I should give up and go back to goldfish. But I really want to try tropicals. Goldfish are so boring and messy. They were fine when I was a kid, but I would just love to have a tropical fish tank. Is it really as impossible as it sounds? Sorry, I'm just a bit stressed about all this. My poor Oscar. I just put him in a tank with no chlorine and never checked anything and somehow he survived. Fortuntely, I had a big tank and a good filter. I hope he was happy. Oh well.
Thanks so much for all the help!
Sarah

 

[rich311k]

Stable PH is more important than a perfect PH. What is your PH? Those PH stabilizers your LFS wants to sell you are no good and will just make your PH bounce. As far as when to add you fish you may want to read this article about fishless cycling. Much easier on you and the fish. The gravel your are getting will make it go much easier.

 

[sarah5775]

The fishless cycling idea with a piece of shrimp is great, but I don't think its an option for me. I live with a roommate, and she's made it very clear to me that if the fish tank smells, it's gone. I can't let something rot in my tank if its going to stink, and I think letting shrimp rot would stink. I need to do something that won't smell up the whole apartment. I think I'm going to try with the tetras, but if you don't think this is a good idea, I could use those feeder goldfish that the pet store sells. I don't like the thought of putting any fish through distress, but I've fed a lot of those little guys to my oscar when I had him and that's where most of them are going anyway. With the gravel my friend is giving me, do you think it would be ok to start with the tetras? I could probably return the feeders back to the pet store in a few days when the bacteria starts growing. Let me know, and I'm really sorry the shrimp thing doesn't seem like an option.
S.

 

[justrelax]

pick up some pure ammonia (clear without additives like soap) and use that instead of the shrimp. i used pure ammonia and seeded my tank doing a fishless cycle and had success in a very short period of time. you'll be much happier in the long run and so will your fish!
on a side note, look into a bottle of ozium. it's hospital grade stuff that neutralizes air of bacteria, which is what causes smells usually. one 2 second spray into the middle of your room will make it smell great all day! check your local head shop for availability. lol-don't ask...

 

[rich311k]

You can do it with pure ammonia from ace hardware. Janitorial strength, 10% solution, the tank will not smell.

 

[fearlessfisch]

Hi Sarah,
It is okay to cycle with fish, as long as you are committed to doing the water changes necessary to do it safely for them. You should get a Python to make water changes easier. There is also a knockoff version of the Python that is a little bit cheaper. It is so much easier than lugging buckets, which you will be doing a lot of if you cycle with fish.

Tom K, who posts on this site, wrote this article about doing a safe cycle with fish:

http://home.comcast.net/~tomstank/tomstank_files/page0017.htm

There is also the option--if you have the cash and are very impatient to have a full tank that is cycled--of buying BioSpira. People report that it is the only instant cycle product that actually works, but not many fish stores carry it. You add the BioSpira and all of the fish at once and hope that it works. Some people here have posted good reviews.

Good luck, and keep asking questions. It sounds like you are well on your way to getting a serious case of MTS.

Welcome to AA!

 

[noncentric]

Hi Sarah, welcome to the world of tropical fish.

The whole process can be daunting, but it's much easier once you get through the initial cycling stage.

I went with fishless cycling at first, using fish food (feeding fishless tank) as an ammonia source. I had the ammonia spike, but got impatient in the middle of the nitrite spike and added a school of zebra danios - the cycle finished a few days later and the zebra danios did fine. I lost one a few days ago, but that was after the cycle finished - so I'm thinking it was age or something else that killed him.

About your cycle - You can use pure ammonia, but that can be odorous as well - and can be difficult to find (since you wouldn't want ammonia with additives or colorings in it). Besides rotting shrimp and fish food, the other option is Bio-Spira. The Bio-Spira can be expensive and hard to find, since the product has to be kept refrigerated until used and some stores don't want to invest in the refrigerator (I think the manufacturer actually requires stores to buy the fridge from them to ensure that the store will store the product appropriately). Otherwise, you could try to get some hardy fish - besides the tetras, you could try zebra danios or white cloud mountain minnows.

About the pH - You'd need to keep the pH higher if you want to keep cichlids, but not for tropical fish. For tropicals, you'll still want to keep the pH stable at some level - but it doesn't really matter what that level is as long as it's reasonable (6.0-8.0).

As for fish - Have you checked out dwarf gouramis? I like to have more smaller fish, rather than fewer larger fish - so I am sticking with danios/minnows/tetras with a dwarf gourami for color...since they max out at about 2-3".
Also, you may want to fit 2-3 otocinclus into your stocking plan to help with brown algaes.

Hope everything works out. Good luck!