first fish tank

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butterfly_koi

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
1,840
Location
near Sedalia Missouri
This is my first tank, I'm want to upgrade to a 55 gallon with lots of live plants. My tank consists of:
1 fantail koi
3 fantail calico
1 redcap
And a sucker fish
Not planning on getting any other fish till I upgrade, any advice on creating a great tank with live plants? I'm also wanting to have wood in the tank, what's the best kind of wood to add?

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Welcome to AA!
Just to let you know the stocking rule for fancy goldfish is 20g for the first fish and 10g for each fish after that. So for your fish, not including the koi and 'sucker', you will need a 50g tank. The koi unfortunately doesn't belong in a tank. They are pond fish and can reach 36" long. If your sucker is a common pleco they can reach 18" (or more) an require a 125g tank just to be able to turn around comfortably.
Filtration for goldfish is very important. They require 10x the tank volume turned over an hour. Eg: 40g tank need 400 gallons of water turned over per hour by the filter (or filters). To keep your goldfish healthy I recommend at least a 50% water change every 5-7 days.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...-to-Starting-a-Freshwater-Aquarium/Page1.html
 
The koi is just temp in the tank, we are in the process of building a pond but I saw him at the pet store and couldn't pass it up, so when the pond is done it will go in there. As far as the other fish I have to do a 40% water change because they are dirty little monkeys lol, had a black moor in the tank as well but my calicos wouldn't let it eat and had started chasing it and pecking at it. So my little guy is in a 10 gallon tank by itself so it can heal. Here's the question, when it heals should I introduce it back in the tank? Or just keep it in the extra tank?
 
You can try introducing him back in when he's better. If it happens again (or looks like its going to happen again) I'd keep in separated. He will need a 20g tank if he's to live by himself. That's good the kois got a pond to go to!
 
Well the reason I got the koi is because for one: he's beautiful and two: the lady at the pet store was keeping it in a 5 gallon tank and I felt bad for it. I'm wanting a larger tank for my fish so I'm going to start that soon and give that a few Weeks or so to set up before I put fish in it. the main problem I run into is that my water is hard so I have to use like 40% gallon bottled water and the rest tap. I've tried the softener pillows and I've tried different chemicals, any suggestions?
 
Also, I would think you'll have a very difficult time having a densely planted tank with goldfish between them rooting around in the substrate and just flat out eating the plants. Some plants with tougher leaves like java fern or anubias are probably your best bets.
 
butterfly_koi said:
Well the reason I got the koi is because for one: he's beautiful and two: the lady at the pet store was keeping it in a 5 gallon tank and I felt bad for it. I'm wanting a larger tank for my fish so I'm going to start that soon and give that a few Weeks or so to set up before I put fish in it. the main problem I run into is that my water is hard so I have to use like 40% gallon bottled water and the rest tap. I've tried the softener pillows and I've tried different chemicals, any suggestions?

Hard water isn't a problem at all. You can slowly change your fish tank over to full (dechlorinated) tap water. Fish can adjust to different pH and hardness. They key is stability. If the water source is the same every water change and they are done regularly there will be no issue. I have hard water and a pH of 7.6-7.8 in my goldfish tanks.

It is possible to have a planted goldfish tank. Pick hardy plants like those mentioned above. Elodea is a good one. It thrives in cooler water and the goldfish like to nibble at it. If you feed your goldfish green vege they will be less likely to eat your plants.

Whats your lighting?
 
butterfly_koi said:
It says 8,000k full spectrum daylight 17w 120v t8 24

That's good! It will grow plants but only really low light ones like anubias, java fern, moss and hornwort. If your looking at low-med light plants you will need to upgrade the lighting to one or two t5ho lights.
 
When I upgrade to a larger tank I'm going to start from scratch so I want lots of plants and wood etc. I need to be careful though because my black moor kinda runs into things and I don't want him to poke his little eyeballs out.
 
butterfly_koi said:
When I upgrade to a larger tank I'm going to start from scratch so I want lots of plants and wood etc. I need to be careful though because my black moor kinda runs into things and I don't want him to poke his little eyeballs out.

:cool: make sure you keep your filter media wet during the move so the bacteria don't dry out and die.
 
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