Hi all,
I’m an enthusiastic newbie. It all started with an ill-fated fair goldfish. It died. My son bought a used 10 gal kit at the flea market and we set it up to cycle with 3 danios. I decided that looked like fun but I wanted more, more, MORE! fish. Ahem. So I bought a 50 gallon “system” off craiglist. Now, I am horribly intimidated by it and unsure what to do next. I’ve done some reading, (wow, great info here!) but wasn’t reaching any sort of conclusion.
What we have:
10 gallon:
3 zebra? spotted? longfin danios, cycling for 1 month on Aug 24. We were told by our LFS on Aug 22 that we’re still cycling and to not do any water changes and test again in a week. I will be buying a test kit this weekend. No strips, I promise.
1 snail
artificial plants
floating water hyacinths, not doing well
rocks and gravel substrate
heater/thermometer
What we want:
easy, community tank
6 platies/moonfish
1 golden algae eater
shrimp?
We also have, courtesy of craigslist:
50 gallon (48” long) glass tank
undergravel filter
penguin bio wheel 170
azoo 9500 air pump
2 lids w/lights
assorted artificial plants
used gravel substrate
assorted cotton and charcoal and some sort of filter that I’m unsure of where it goes.
What I want:
easy, active, planted community tank.
Gouramies
Cory Cats
Rainbows or tetras or danios?
Pleco(s)
Loaches?
shrimp?
What I think are my biggest questions:
Cycling: Can I re-”cycle” with the danios if I decide to do a with-fish cycle in the 50 gallon and the 10 gallon is all cycled? Or is that just too much on the little guys? Would it make more sense to do a non-fish cycle and use some of the substrate and stuff from the 10 gallon to seed the 50 gallon?
Planting: Should I start with live plants or get the tank and fish happy before I switch to live plants, using artificial in the meantime? I’m concerned that live plants plus new tank plus new fish would be too many variables to track as a beginner.
Is there anything obvious that I’m missing? As I mentioned in the description, this stuff is from craigslist. I’m scrubbing with water and covering with boiling water all the stuff I intend to use as well as replacing the tubing. Will that be sufficient to protect my tank from any potential yuck left over? (The previous owner had cichlids.) I would also appreciate any guidance on order of adding fish. I think that I need to do it in stages but is there any sort of benefit to adding cory cats before plecos or tetras before shrimp or ???
Thanks so much!
~g
I’m an enthusiastic newbie. It all started with an ill-fated fair goldfish. It died. My son bought a used 10 gal kit at the flea market and we set it up to cycle with 3 danios. I decided that looked like fun but I wanted more, more, MORE! fish. Ahem. So I bought a 50 gallon “system” off craiglist. Now, I am horribly intimidated by it and unsure what to do next. I’ve done some reading, (wow, great info here!) but wasn’t reaching any sort of conclusion.
What we have:
10 gallon:
3 zebra? spotted? longfin danios, cycling for 1 month on Aug 24. We were told by our LFS on Aug 22 that we’re still cycling and to not do any water changes and test again in a week. I will be buying a test kit this weekend. No strips, I promise.
1 snail
artificial plants
floating water hyacinths, not doing well
rocks and gravel substrate
heater/thermometer
What we want:
easy, community tank
6 platies/moonfish
1 golden algae eater
shrimp?
We also have, courtesy of craigslist:
50 gallon (48” long) glass tank
undergravel filter
penguin bio wheel 170
azoo 9500 air pump
2 lids w/lights
assorted artificial plants
used gravel substrate
assorted cotton and charcoal and some sort of filter that I’m unsure of where it goes.
What I want:
easy, active, planted community tank.
Gouramies
Cory Cats
Rainbows or tetras or danios?
Pleco(s)
Loaches?
shrimp?
What I think are my biggest questions:
Cycling: Can I re-”cycle” with the danios if I decide to do a with-fish cycle in the 50 gallon and the 10 gallon is all cycled? Or is that just too much on the little guys? Would it make more sense to do a non-fish cycle and use some of the substrate and stuff from the 10 gallon to seed the 50 gallon?
Planting: Should I start with live plants or get the tank and fish happy before I switch to live plants, using artificial in the meantime? I’m concerned that live plants plus new tank plus new fish would be too many variables to track as a beginner.
Is there anything obvious that I’m missing? As I mentioned in the description, this stuff is from craigslist. I’m scrubbing with water and covering with boiling water all the stuff I intend to use as well as replacing the tubing. Will that be sufficient to protect my tank from any potential yuck left over? (The previous owner had cichlids.) I would also appreciate any guidance on order of adding fish. I think that I need to do it in stages but is there any sort of benefit to adding cory cats before plecos or tetras before shrimp or ???
Thanks so much!
~g