Advice Needed on Tank Set-Up

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Sara

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Nov 16, 2003
Messages
310
Location
Edmonton, AB, Canada
Hi All -

After doing my research and then some, I think I am finally ready to buy fish for my tank. I was hoping to get some input from all of you fabulous people before I actually take the plunge...

I set up a 10 gallon tank before the holidays with epoxy coated gravel, fake plants and a few fishie hiding places. The filter is an Aqua-Clear and the heater is keeping the temperature at about 76-78 degrees. Its been running for about a month...

Yesterday, I placed my order with Bernie for some Bio-Spira...so hopefully the cycling will take care of itself.

Once the Bio-Spira gets here, I'd like to stock my tank with the following:
2 Cories
2 Black Phantom Tetras
8 Neon Tetras

I know that this is a fairly heavy bio-load, but I am pretty obsessive about water changes and tank maintenance in my other tank (a 2 gallon with a Betta) so I'm hoping this will be ok.

A few outstanding questions I have are:
(1) What kind of Cories should I get? I'd like ones that are as small as possible...
(2) If I'm adding the Bio-Spira, should I just add all of the fish at once or in phases?
(3) Will the two types of Tetras school together?

So that's everything that I can think of at the moment. I would absolutely love any words of wisdom or advice that anyone can give me so I can avoid losing any fish.

Opinions are welcomed and *greatly* appreciated...

TIA!
Sara
 
If you follow the instructions correctly you can add a full bioload of fish in 24 hours. But still make sure to use test kits to check water quality for the first couple of weeks because if the biospira was not stored properly it could fail on you.

I would not add the black skirts to that size of tank as they can get aggressive. Perhaps a good comprimise would be a mixture of neon tetras and black neon tetras. That would give you the same colours and they would go well together. the black neons are a little bigger so get fewer of them.

I would put in 3 cories as this size group allows them to be more at ease. Peppered or spotted cories stay the smallest of the dwarf variety. Pygmies stay smaller though tend to be almost midlevel swimmers more so than bottom feeders.

Don't forget to buy some sinking tablet food for the cories as they can't live on scraps alone.

A bit high on the bioload but with proper care should be fine. Perhaps add some java fern which is a super easy drop in and forget about it type of plant.
 
And just to add to the great advice, add the fish WITH the Bio-Spira. Bio-Spira, if the correct amount is used, will contain the necessary amount of bacteria to handle a full bio-load. If you only add some of the fish, the extra bacteria will die off (there won't be enough "food" aka nitrogenous waste) and not only will you get a mini cycle when you add new fish later as the colonies will have to play catch up, you'll be sorta wasting your money as well!
 
Basically Bio-Spira is a liquified bacteria culture that contains the necessary bacteria to break Ammonia to Nitrites and then Nitrites to Nitrates.

Oh...Ady1397....I've got you beat!! I've got 21 fish in a 26 gallon tank and they're all doing quite magnificently, thank you!! :D
 
tkos said:
I would not add the black skirts to that size of tank as they can get aggressive.

Are black skirts the same as black phantoms? My lfs has the black phantoms, and these were the ones we were looking at...

If so, can anyone suggest a fish that could replace that spot on my roster? I'd like something that's small and a different 'shape' than the neons...

Thanks for all of your advice...it is most appreciated!
 
i talked to a girl on another forum and she said her black skirts killed her neon tetras..

and i personally do not recommend neon tetras right off... they are difficult to keep, the longest i had them was maybe 6 months.... they are extremely sensitive to water conditions so just do regular water tests when you have them to make sure they are doing ok..
 
Sara said:
If so, can anyone suggest a fish that could replace that spot on my roster? I'd like something that's small and a different 'shape' than the neons...
Have you thought of rasboras? Someone mentioned them on another post. They're small, colourful, and a different shape than neons.

There are also loads of other types of tetras out there. Maybe check out your LFS and see what catches your eye. I've been doing that a lot lately for my 10 gal - but unfortunately I'm a horrible decision-maker, and change my mind just about every time!
 
Really? Our neon tetras have been the second heartiest fish we've had...and believe me, we've been through PLENTY! We lost one about a week after we got them. We got five of them with four guppies. We lost one neon and three of the guppies until I found this site and learned what cycling was.

Our blackskirts don't bother the neons at all. They chase each other sometimes, and one of them sometimes annoys the algae eater by stealing his algae chips, but they all seem very happy together.

It's funny reading some of this "what fish get along with what". Some people talk about putting neons in with bettas, others say that bettas snack on neons or that neons nip the fins of the bettas. Guess each fishy has his own likes and dislikes.
 
Kwenbee said:
Our blackskirts don't bother the neons at all.

Still trying to figure out whether the "black skirts" that everyone is referring to are the same as the "black phantoms" at my lfs...help???
 
No Sara, Black Skirts are more commonly known as Black Tetras. Gymnocorymbus Ternetzi. The fish known as the Black Phantom Tetra is Megalamphodus Megalopterus. How's that for a couple of tongue twisters. LOL
 
BrianNY said:
No Sara, Black Skirts are more commonly known as Black Tetras. Gymnocorymbus Ternetzi. The fish known as the Black Phantom Tetra is Megalamphodus Megalopterus. How's that for a couple of tongue twisters. LOL

Thanks BrianNY! All of the fish on those fish profile sites were starting to look the same... 8O
 
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