Make sure the tanks been running for 24 hours and add bacteria to the tank. It's sold at fish stores I think it has the word cycle somewhere in the title. It makes it safe to add fish and adds benifical bacteria. It came with my fluval tank. After its been running for a day u can go to the fish store and get a few fish. Do not stock your tank all at once. U need the tank to cycle fully.so get a few hardy fish like 2-4 fish. Some suggestions would be black skirt tetras, zebra danios, anything that is hardy (ask your local fish store) I used mollies and they were fine. So after adding ur fish wait a month or more then get your water tested at the local fish store. If the tank is cycled then you can add some more fishes,good luck!
No don't do that. Some is true, some is not. BB is correct about not wanting to add fish all at once, and adding hardy fish, but don't use that bacteria in a bottle. It really doesn't work most of the time. Some does, some does not. Also, DON'T get your water tested an a fish store. They use strips. They don't work.
Here is what you need to get:
Gravel. I use Eco complete in black in my 25. So far I really love it. It looks nice, and works well.
Decor. Driftwood, plants, live or fake, extra rocks, anything you want really as long as it's for the aquarium.
Water Test Kit. Get an API Master Freshwater test kit. That way you can test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.
Filter. A Hang on Back Power filter would work well for your tank.
Heater. 100 watt adjustable
Lights. I have dual t5 lighting on my 25. It is very bright and will allow my to grow high light plants along with my co2 system and dry ferts I will dose.
Here is what you need to do before you add fish.
Cycle your tank. Basically, you add an ammonia source, which could be fish food, a frozen shrimp, or pure ammonia cleaner. You dose it up to 4ppm. Eventually bacteria will convert the ammonia into a less toxic (but still deadly) nitrite. The ammonia levels will go down, and you will see a nitrite spike. Then another type of bacteria will convert the nitrite into nitrate, which you will want under 20 ppm. The ammonia and nitrite you want to always be at 0 ppm.
After the cycle has finished, you can slowly start adding fish to your aquarium.
What kind of fish are you interested in? Good beginner fish are
Platies, (no mollies, those are brackish, not freshwater) guppies, sword tails, some tetras, danios, some gouramis, hatchet fish, endlers live bearers ( cousin of the guppy. Most of the fish I listed are live bearers. This means they give birth to live fry and not eggs. So, you can easily over populate your tank. So you will want to keep all males.
Let me know what kind of fish you are interested in, and I can help you from there.
