2 Week Old Fish Tank With a Few Questions!

[Telsiph]

Hey all, I'm new to the fish world and hope I am posting this in the right forum, however I have a couple of questions. I have quized the local pet dealers but I can never tell if they are actually experts, or just very confident in themselves. I was recently given an old 30 gallon fish tank that had been sitting unused for about 3-4 years. After an immense cleaning session, completely new filter, washing of gravel and etc etc I set up the fish tank and let it sit for 3 days.

I then went and purchased 5 "Feeder Fish" at the recommendation of online guides to get the cycling process started. These are apparently Comet Goldfish and I immediately thought it was odd that 3 hours into it the very small Comet Goldfish that I didn't even mean to buy had dissapeared. I searched around the tank, in the tank, everywhere and can't find a corpse. I have taken the filter apart, turned over every rock and knocked up some gravel but have yet to find this little guys body. He was *very* tiny compared to the other comets, so I suppose he could have been eaten? However this is beside the point as it's not my real question.

I let the fish grow and cycle the tank for about about 10 days, and I finally decided to add some more fish. My "goal" for this tank is to eventually have a Red Tailed Shark, and an Angelfish in this tank (one king of the bottom, one king of the top). After speaking with my local pet store owner, I was recommended a Striped Raphael Catfish to hang around the bottom, eatting and cleaning stuff and some Neon Tetras for flare.

However, being a newbie, I took his advise and had only done Angelfish and Red Tailed Shark Research, and hadn't researched these new fish! I am curious as to whether or not these fish will wrok together. The Catfish is not huge right now, but I understand he will get largish and I am wondering if I should worrk about him (or the future Angelfish for that matter) eatting the neon tetras. I am also pondering whether or not this concoction of fish will actually get along. I have the tank at about 79 degrees right now, and running tests on the water my nitrate levels are a little high (gonna change the water tonight) but my ammonia and nitrite are 0 and PH is about 6.5ish.

I am also wondering if I can secure these neon tetras future by perhaps purchasing 4 more of them, to make the school a little more secure? I originally only purchased 2 as I hear they are not the hardiest of fish and as this tank is still growing, I don't want to toss 6 neon tetras to their deaths! At any rate, researching on the internet is nice but sometimes its better to have your exact questions answered rather then someone elses! Please let me know where I have screwed up as I am new to this, and what (if anything) I should do from here. Thank you very much for your time!

 

[fijiwigi]

http://aquariumadvice.com/article_cat.php?fldAuto=2
Patience is the key to success here. You have to let the tank mature there are bacteria living in the filter media that help to digest the waste from the fish keeping your tank with minimal levels of ammonia and nitrates. with the tank being so new the bacteria are only babies and can not handle the increased bioload of so many fish. I would not add any fish until you notice your ammonia rise and drop and then after the nitrates rise and drop to safe levels. Before adding any fish you don't want to die I would give it a minimum 30 days or longer

 

[Telsiph]

Alright will do ;p Yeah the book I had told me the cycle should only take about 10 days..but then again its really old. However I am curious, what about the fish set up regardless? I will cease and decist all fish purchases for now..im just planning ahead/worried this catfish might eat one of these damned tetras...friggin pet store people ;P

Thanks again!

 

[fijiwigi]

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/freshwater_compatibility_chart.php
I have never had any experience with those fish but what I do know is any aggressive or semi aggressive fish will probably nip at the fins of the angelfish. Have you thought about maybe doing an angelfish tank?? If you do take a stab at mixing an aggressive fish with a community fish I would suggest adding the aggressive fish last otherwise they will get territorial even then it may still happen. And It would be best if the more peaceful fish was larger than the aggressive fish.

 

[Telsiph]

Interesting..alright I'll keep that in mind...yeah I plan to add the red tailed shark last..however I was under the impression that due to the fact his mouth was curved down, I wouldn't have to worry about him picking on the angelfish? I also know the catfish is slightly aggressive, but his mouth is also curved down and they are in totally different sections of the tank, so I still should make sure I get a decent sized angelfish? Ill keep that in mind, thanks!

 

[Skyrmir]

I currently have a red tailed shark in my 30 gallon tank with a mated pair of angels. So they do get along together. Or more accurately they do their best to ignore each other, as long as the red tail has a few caves to hide in.

Something to note about the neon tetras though. They are an Angels natural food. So you can guess how well they'll get along. Sometimes you can get away with it, most of the time you end up with neons suddenly disappearing. Generally you'll have better luck with cardinal tetras. They're just a little bit bigger, just big enough they don't fit in an angel mouth most of the time.

As for the catfish, I think what you're looking for is a pleco. You just want to be careful about picking which pleco. The common pleco will out grow your tank. They're also the cheapest pleco and pet stores try to pawn them off when they are only a couple inches long. Mine is fast approaching the 12" mark after 2 years of growth to give you an idea. I'd suggest a species, but honestly there are others here with far more knowledge of pleco's. Maybe a bristlenose would be the way to go, I'd do some research on them first.

Last note, I think fijiwigi meant to say wait until the Nitrites drops back down. Nitrates only go down if you have plants or do a water change.

 

[Telsiph]

Alright sounds good. Yes when I had gone to the pet store I had originally intended to purchase a bristlenose catfish, however the store convinced me to go with a stiped raphael as they said the bristlenose wouldn't get along with the red tailed. I did some research and found that young striped raphaels can eat algae, but its not exactly their favorite food and once they grow up they won't eat it anymore (and sometimes will replace that diet with tiny fish!) So I'm thinking my 2 Neons may be the only 2 Neons I end up getting, even though they prefer to school it sounds like my tank intentions are all going to be Neon hunters.

I'm going to wait about another 2 weeks before I put any fish in their so my tank cycle completes, however I do have one more question if you guys have a moment. In since it seems my tank is turning into a big fish with slightly aggressive tendacies tank, what sort of fish should I put in there with my angelfish and red tailed? It's only 30 gallons so obviously I'm not going to go crazy, and I suppose I'll find some sort of pleco that won't grow to huge proportions, but what can I snag with it? Will gouramis get along well with striped raphael, angelfish, and red tailed shark? It's about the only fish I can think of thats big, isn't a bottom dweller and looks pretty cool.

I think the pet store people are unfortunately idiots as they recommended some form of Cichlid to me earlier saying they work with Red Tailed Sharks, however be that as it may, doing some research on them they appear to be only suitable with other cichlids! So none of those please! ;P

 

[JustOneMore20]

Welcome to AA!

I'd suggest not listening to the pet/fish store anymore. Cycling: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cycling.php

Do you still have the goldfish in the tank or did you return them? If you still have them, return them soon, as they have different temperature requirements than tropical fish.

Also, a Raphael cat kinda limits your stocking (as does the Angelfish). Neons are prey for Angels in the wild, so its not suggested you keep them together, especially in smaller tanks. And while I haven't kept Raphael cats before, its my understanding that they get around 6 inches and will eat small fish. I'd assume that your Neons (or any other similarly sized fish) will eventually become food.

If you were to get rid of the Neons and the Raphael, then I'd suggest a school of something, like Harlequin rasboras, Rummynose tetras, Black Neons, or Flame/Von Rios tetras to name a few. I'd choose 1 type and have 6-8 of them. The school, the Angelfish, and the Redtail shark, would pretty much stock the tank IMO.

Gouramis and Angels don't always get along. They can in larger tanks, but I wouldn't try it in a 30g.

A cycle can take 4-6 weeks, not 10 days, so you will need to get some hardy fish or do a fishless cycle. Here is an article about fishless cycling: http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_fishless.php.

 

[Telsiph]

I have one more question for anyone that is bored and wants to answer. THe filter that came with this tank was very old and loud, so I replaced it with this new Whisper filter that comes with a filter, and a carbon "spong" type thing. Now my previous filter had the filter and a hanger where you could place carbon rocks. This new whisper filter doesn't have that...however Im curious if maybe it would help if in between the filter/carbon sponge I put some of these carbon rocks? Would that assist the cleaning of my filter or would it just be a waist of time? Thanks much!

http://www.fish.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=710402+040&srccode=FSHNXTAG

Is the filter I am referring to.

 

[fijiwigi]

I had 2 of the 30-60 gallon rated whisper power filters on my 46 gallon bow when I did freshwater with 4 of the filter pouches wtih carbon. Worked great except for the fact the filter pads had to be rinsed out 1-2 times per week. If you don't keep them clean the builtup sludge on them really adds to the nitrate levels in your tank.