My new 10 gallon Tank

[bbaughman]

Hello to everyone! Got a 10 gallon Eclipse tank with hood and light, built in filter...Well I set it up on Friday night at about 8pm..So the LFS told me that I needed to wait at least 24 hours to put some fish in the tank, and tonight I bought two fish, and a live plant for the tank. As well I added some new gravel to the tank, which i rinsed in cold water before adding it to the tank. It seems to have made the tank a bit on the cloudy side..but has since cleared up well. I added a sucker fish, which is really small..As I understand will get big, and may have to move. As well I bought another fish..not sure what the name of him was..But will see if I can find out..The temp on my tank is about 79 degrees.

What else should I expect to happen, or does anyone have any tips for me.

Thanks guys!

 

[Allivymar]

Yay! A new tank. And oh do we have info for you LOL

I'm not sure; do you have a handle on the nitrogen cycle yet? If not, read here: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html . It is THE most important thing you need to know in keeping a healthy tank.

The algae eater (I'm guessing its a pleco) is really not a great fish to start with for a coupla reasons. One, when they are small the majority of their diet is algae (they require protein as they get older). But a brand new tank does not have any algae yet. You'd have to supplement his diet with algae wafers so he doesn't starve. Thing number 2 is they get big QUICK. I got one for my 10g; I asked for a fish that would eat algae and they gave me a 1 1/2 inch plec. Silly me didn't do research (this was a while back). Within 6 months he was 5 inches long! Lastly, they are MAJOR waste producers; the poo kings of the fish tank LOL Thing is, thats gonna add a LOT of nitrogenous waste to your uncycled tank, and ammonia will be a prob. I would suggest returning him; there are other really cool algae eaters out there which will be more appropriate to a 10g (once its cycled).

Gotta gotta gotta find out what the other fish is. You can't be sure you have it in the right water parameters if you don't know what it is (it may need a diff Ph for example, or temp). It may be a fish that cannot handle cycling a tank. It may be a fish that schools and needs buddies, or one that is to aggressive for tankmates. It also might be another fish that will get too big for a 10g.

Lastly, do you have your test kits yet? Ph, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? If not, go get em! You're gonna need em VERY soon.

 

[azn dreamer]

If you are patient (don't want the fish to die) then try fishless cycle. Add pure ammonia in so it starts off a cycle and after about 5-6 weeks, there should be nitrate in the tank ( get a nitrate testing kit) then add the fish.

 

[tkos]

The good thing is that you have a plant in there and that will help with the absorption of excess ammonia. But those test kits are very important at the beginning. Whenever you see a chnage in ammonia or nitrite levels you must do a water change and you have to use a dechlorinator. This will keep the fish very healthy. Otherwise they will burn their gills. Since you are already using fish in this tank add any future fish slowly so that you don't overwhelm the bioload capacity of the tank. And I too suggest that you return the sucker fish if you can. Buy some cory catfish instead. 3 of them will do nicely in a 10 gallon tank and stay small.