cycling and stocking my new five gallon

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Just left the fish store... I got two female guppies (I would have gotten more, but the store only had two. I also got one yellow cobra male guppy. I got two chocolate rabbit snails. I will acclimate the guppies when I get home. They didn't have nerite snails... or shrimp... so I didn't get any.
Ugh! My brother got an albino cory for our ten gallon "to give the spotted cory a friend". I know that it wont be happy and needs a group of atleast six. I tried to explain to him that it will only add to the problem, but he wouldn't listen. And I told my mom about how it will be a problem, and she said "well he owns half of the tank too." So he got it. :mad: atleast I got the female guppies I wanted.... I also got some cool snails.
 
After I acclimated the females and put them in, one jumped out... there is no lid on the tank. So I rescued her, she was looking really hurt and tired earlier, but now she is better. She is acting normal, following her friend around. :) only one of my rabbit snails has come out of its shell...
Because of her little incident, I put a bunch of magazines on top of the edges so no one can jump out (this is a very temporary solution) I will be having a special (acrylic or glass) top custom built for it. It will have an opening for the filter, a little feeding hole, and a hole for cords to come out in the back. It will not be glue or sealed on there, it will just be on there... to keep fish from jumping. I will remove the stock filter, as I am disappointed with it and it doesn't do a good job at all. The top will have the option of easily being removed if necessary. I might make another thread about it...
Edit: since the light will be gone too, (the light and filter that come with it are in one system, and use one plugin) I will be using a desk lamp with a CFL bulb instead. Then I can put the light on a timer. (I couldn't before because the filter and light share a plug in and the filter would be off whenever the light is off) so the light will be better for plants when I do a diy co2 system for it...I drew out a diagram of the lid... I will be going to my local hardware store. They cut out acrylic (and I think glass too) for pretty cheap. I will put up a picture of the diagram. If you have any suggestions or advice, please tell me before this weekend, when I go and have it cut out.
 
Here is the diagram... the little box shaped hole in the bottom left corner is the feeding hole. The top left is the filter hole. The top middle-right is the cords hole. Also, while I was at the pet store, I got a heater that is supposed to automatically keep it the same temperature. So I wont have to adjust it. I have read of people having trouble keeping the tank I have warm because there is no lid... well that's another advantage I will get with having the lid. :)
 
Having a lid is probably a good idea. I had a few fish jump to their doom when i was a child, now I always have lids on my tanks.
 
absolutangel04 said:
Having a lid is probably a good idea. I had a few fish jump to their doom when i was a child, now I always have lids on my tanks.
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Yeah. And I am not gonna sacrifice the beauty of the tank for having a lid... so I am gonna make my own. :)
 
Do you think it is safe to remove the seeding now? Lol... its been a long time... there are fish in there now!
 
maxwellag said:
Do you think it is safe to remove the seeding now? Lol... its been a long time... there are fish in there now!
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The seeding is where a large portion of the bacteria is. The fact you just added fish is the exact reason NOT to remove it right now. Assuming things remain stable, I would start slowly removing it in a week or two.
 
xxwolfpackof1xx said:
i agree with eco and if its not needed for anything else cram er in the filter and leave it there but thats just me
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Ok. That way, there is more bio filtration, but it is still hidden. I will put it in the filter... lol good idea. :)
 
Yeah I definitely wouldn't take out any seeded material from that tank, especially now. Congrats on the guppies. Just be sure to keep testing the water daily and making sure the ammonia and nitrites stay at 0 and if they go up, do a water change immediately. Also don't forget the weekly water change to keep everything clean and the nitrate down.
 
librarygirl said:
Yeah I definitely wouldn't take out any seeded material from that tank, especially now. Congrats on the guppies. Just be sure to keep testing the water daily and making sure the ammonia and nitrites stay at 0 and if they go up, do a water change immediately. Also don't forget the weekly water change to keep everything clean and the nitrate down.
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Ok. Got it. :) sounds easy enough... I just did a 25% water change and gravel vacuumed in both tanks. The female guppies are happy now. But there are only females in the tank right now... I will move one male over soon.
 
Here are the females I got:

The red one's name is Rosy. The yellow one's name is Goldilocks even though she's not gold... they are only about an inch and a half long right now... so they will probably develop more color. that one snail still hasn't come out of its shell.
 
librarygirl said:
Very pretty! I recently saw the cobra guppies at a couple of stores and really like their markings.
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Thanks! I am glad I found some locally... even though they don't have the super fancy special long flowing tails, I got them locally because it is alot cheaper and risk free. So I got the cobra one... I really wish they had neon blue guppies, though.
 
If some nerite snails at a store are in saltwater, can I still put them in my freshwater tanks if I acclimate them?
 
xxwolfpackof1xx said:
sounds gross but taste the water put a drop on your toung if its salty well you know the answer
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Well I don't think the fish store will let me taste their water... lol... I can ask them to make sure it is freshwater though.
 
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