Hit the aquarium jackpot, Yeah

[wildroseofky]

Thanks for the advice. I have just about changed my mind on stocking. I found a comparability chart for fish and I have been looking at the fish it suggested. So far I have settled on keeping the two mollies I have and add marbled hatchet fish, khuli loaches, maybe one more molly, and I am still deciding on one more fish type. I am thinking about green tiger barbs. I may add a gourami but not sure.

 

[severum mama]

Hatchetfish are quite shy as compared to tiger barbs. I would not recommend keeping them together. If you would like hatchets, make sure you have a lid on your tank that covers as much as you possibly can. I lost an entire group of hatchets out a covered 55 gallon. They will seriously jump out of the tank between the lid and the filter (and other equipment).

 

[wildroseofky]

Finally got the 29 gallon set up and filled with water. I set it up yesterday and then had to empty it and refill today. I didn't get the pool filter sand clean the first time and the tank was very cloudy and hadn't settled over night. I emptied it and removed the sand and re rinsed it. Now it looks a lot better. It us just slightly cloudy. Got the filter running. I am going to do a fish less cycle this time before adding the fish. I plan on taking the decorations and some of the filter medium out of the other tank to jump start the cycle. I am going to Petsmart tomorrow and might pick up a couple of plants. I printed off a list of low light, easy to grow plants so I would know what to look for.

I am ordering a castle and dragons to do a fantasy theme. Just got to decide on the castle.

 

[wildroseofky]

Got my tank set up. Started adding ammonia today to cycle. Current decor is not the best but I am still deciding between natural and a fantasy tank. Most of the decorations are from the 10 gallon. Using them to help seed new tank. I also took the filter sponge from my ten and put it in the 29 gallon.

I went to the local pet store and she had a small shipment of plants that had just come in with her fish. She order a small batch to see if she could sell them. Plants weren't labeled so she was guessing as to what they where. I bought two plants that she said where moss but I don't think she was right. Can someone identify them for me?

 

[CharlieKlein]

Great to hear you have it and are cycling fishless! As for the stock, I'd reccomnend something like
3 mollies
8 hatchetfish
4 kuhli loaches
1 honey gourami
I'd skip the barbs

 

[CharlieKlein]

Also, nice tank!

 

[Autumnsky]

Got my tank set up. Started adding ammonia today to cycle. Current decor is not the best but I am still deciding between natural and a fantasy tank. Most of the decorations are from the 10 gallon. Using them to help seed new tank. I also took the filter sponge from my ten and put it in the 29 gallon.

I went to the local pet store and she had a small shipment of plants that had just come in with her fish. She order a small batch to see if she could sell them. Plants weren't labeled so she was guessing as to what they where. I bought two plants that she said where moss but I don't think she was right. Can someone identify them for me?

Can't tell for sure, but the bottom pic looks like it could be Mondo grass. Not aquatic. But can grow in the water. Check out some pics of it and see how it matches up.

 

[Coyote251]

I used Oxyclean to clean an old tank that I had found. And used liquid ammonia to clean the gravel. After rinsing out the gravel and doing a couple of water changes the ammonia levels were just right for a fishless cycle. Also, the glass was sparkling clean. I think I read somewhere that Oxyclean says right on the bottle that it is safe for aquarium but I would still rinse it out well. I think the rule of thumb for stocking is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. You would need to research your fish choices and see how big they should get. I would leave a little bit of a safety factor like only 25" of fish just in case one of your fish is bigger than normal or you need to add something else such as an algae eater.

 

[CharlieKlein]

Don't listen to inch of fish per gallon rule---- not accurate

 

[Wiggles24]

I don't know much about glofish but regular danios are very hardy and other than plowing over other fish they are peaceful

 

[deb_unlimited]

I did rinse it very well. Then rinsed it again and again and again. The I used vinegar and salt to disinfect it. Then rinsed again and again and again. I bet my water bill is going to take a hit. LOL I was very careful because I know soap will kill fish but I didn't know how else to get all the scum off of it. It was really bad.

I am going to buy another filter like the one I currently have and put one on each side of the tank. It is rated for up to 15 gallons so two should be fine in the 30 gallon shouldn't it? I also have to buy another heater. The one I currently have is only for a 10 gallon tank and I need more gravel. I will be using some of the tumbled rock that was in the 30 gallon but the gravel was disgusting. I am going to put it in the flower pots for drainage. I think I will pick up some live plants the next time I am at Petsmart. I also have to get a hood. The cat doesn't bother the ten gallon but I am not taking any chances. I have plexiglass and I am pretty good at building things so I think I will design my own hood instead of buying one.

What about fish that I listed? How many of each could I get without over crowding? Should I leave any of them off?

Be careful about buying plants at the chain stores. Today I returned 3 of them! I looked them up online so I would know how tall they grow and that would determine their placement in the tank. Well, none of them are aquatic plants. One was Mondo grass, a landscaping plant, one was a semi-aquatic swamp plant that won't do well submerged and will get HUGE, and the other was not an aquatic plant either. I got my money back. Do your homework BEFORE you go to the store.

 

[Scott F]

"Any suggestions on other fish and in what quantities I could have?"


A pleco !

 

[CharlieKlein]

I'd say 8 hatches fish
2 Bolivian rams
3 mollies
6 kuhli loaches
6 rumynosetetras

 

[wildroseofky]

Five days into cycling and things are starting to happen. Nitrite is at .50 and nitrate is a solid 5.0. The ammonia has been falling from 4 to 2 the last couple of days and yesterday I thought the colors where changing just slightly but not enough to be sure. Today there is definite color change. My ph is staying right at 7.6. The tank looks a little cloudy but my 10 gal did that two weeks into the cycle and it cleared up so I hope this will too. I bumped the heater up to 82 degrees to help things along.

I had to empty the charcoal out of the filter bag today. I kept seeing pieces of charcoal floating in my tank. I picked the filter up and the whole bottom had opened up and charcoal went flying every where. I just stuffed the filter bag with fiberfill that had been thoroughly rinsed. That was all I had. This should be all right shouldn't it? Or do I need to add another whole filter to it. I could take the one out of my 10 gal. but I still have fish in it waiting to be moved to the bigger tank.

I have a question about the filter in my 10 gallon. I am going to be using the 10 as a quarantine tank and need to keep the filter alive. Does it have to be running to keep the bacteria alive. I am running out of plug ins on that wall. Can I just put the 10 gallon filter in beside of the 29 gallon filter without plugging it in? I plan on buying more fish when the 29 cycles and will need it then but it will be a couple of weeks or so between then and now.

 

[Wolfsblood]

It wont stay alive out of water. It also wont last all that long without ammonia and nitrite to feed it. I would get a power strip or 3 way splitter at wal mart and just keep it running.

 

[Autumnsky]

You can add an additional filter pad in the ten in front of the old one and after a couple weeks (and with fish or ammonia still being dosed into the tank) you will build up a little batch of BB and can move the fish and old filter into the new filter holder for extra.

There needs to be oxygen moving over the pad (with water) and food source for BB to stay alive.

 

[deb_unlimited]

Most sources say you should not use charcoal in your filter unless you have something in the water, like meds, that you have to remove. Just use a sponge and some ceramic media and DO NOT scrub or replace it until it is falling apart. Just rinse it in old tank water if it gets really ugly. I bought some nylon footies at the big blue chain store for $0.33 each to use for bagging things like filter media. I can get two small bags out of each footie so that's 4 for 33 cents! They come in tiny plastic eggs, which are also handy little storage containers for stuff.

 

[wildroseofky]

I already leaned on here that you don't need to change your filter like the sellers say. I was changing them in my first tank until I found this website. Sent my 10 gallon into a new cycle twice before I learned. My filter in the 10 gallon is starting to fall apart so I am going to take it out and put fiberfill in it. What type of sponge can I use? Is it just any sponge that you buy or a particular type?

I just missed out on a 100 gallon tank. A guy that my son works with upgraded and was getting rid of his 100 gallon. My son told him that I had already got a tank. Dang. I have a lead on an 80 gallon one that belongs to my nieces mom. She got it and hasn't taken care of it. It is full of green water and algae. I don't know how the fish are living. I just got a glance at it when I went to pick my niece up and couldn't see what kind of fish are in there. I have no idea where I would put it but I would find room. I feel so sorry for those fish.

 

[wildroseofky]

Well 16 days into cycling the 29 gallon. I have been having problems with my ammonia levels not dropping below .50. I started another post on it. Here is the link. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/ammonia-question-244720.html If anyone has any imput on that I would be glad to hear it.

I am going to do a massive water change in the next couple of days and get my nitrite and nitrate levels down then add my 4 shrimp and 2 mollies. I threw my back out carrying water upstairs and have to give it a break. Really need to get the plumbing added to the upstairs.

Where would I find Bolivian Rams? I have had them suggested to me several times on here for stock but I didn't see them at Petland or on LiveAquaria.com. I am going to do an internet search and see what I come up with but if anyone has a place they order from let me know.

 

[deb_unlimited]

I'm no expert but you might check your pH. Too low a pH level can stall out your cycle or even kill the good bacteria.