Stocked my Aquarium :-)

[warthog76za]

Had my water tested at the pet store today and was given the green light to purchase fish. Got 3 swordtails ( 2 female 1 male) and 3 Cory fish (2 female 1 male).

Must say it was funny after the whole settling in procedure, when the time came to let them out, immediately they went to scavenge for the snail eggs and baby snails stuck on glass, the pet store asked me to bring them some of the snails (whichever form....full grown, baby or eggs) since they feed some of their fish the snails, but at the rate my lot are devouring them I doubt I will be able to give the petstore anything.

All in all everyone seems happy in the tank, the male swordtail tends to hide a lot amongst the plants while the females are feeding away...the corys seem to do their whole THOROUGH cleaning procedure but its so cool to watch.

 

[warthog76za]

This morning I gave them their first feeding, to be honest sometimes reading fellow aquarists on here mentioning overnight deaths or things in that line, did have me somewhat paranoid...when i switched on the aquarium light, everyone was up and about.

By the way how often do I do water tests now, since I have a stocked tank????

 

[mandy2936]

Congrats on your fish!

As for testing your water, once a week is always good, to be sure that nothing is amiss parameters wise. You don't want say, an Ammonia Spike creeping up before you notice it.

Since you test at the store, (and I'm assuming you don't have your own test kit) and if going once a week is a little much, I'd say every other week or every two weeks is fine too.

Always test the water if you notice ill fish behavior or experience any other problems.

When I stocked my first tank, I was paranoid like you, too, lol. Every morning I would hesitate and count the fish, then relax when I saw em all there, haha. Then I stopped when I got the hang of things and was confident I knew what I was doing, and I'm sure you will too.

It sounds like you're doing everything right so far, cycling the tank, adding fish slowly, Good Job!

Good luck with your new fishies!

 

[ejaramillo01]

Congratulations

Great to hear that finally you got your fish!
The fishless cycle and the patience will pay you back with healthy fish.
As Mandy said, stock slowly, you still have plenty of room, and buy a good test kit (liquid is better than strips) I don't know what brands are available in Germany.

Don't overfeed, but be sure that the corys get some flakes in the bottom, they "clean" the remaining food in the bottom, they don't clean waste or anything else.

I do have corys and they do better in groups of six or more, just food for thought for the future.

 

[mandy2936]

I agree with Ejara.. The larger the group the the happier the Cories. So, an idea for when you buy more fish.

In the begining it's always best to test more frequently so you can check that everything is running smoothly. That's something to keep in mind to think about getting your own test kit. (+1 on the Liquid)
Once the tank has been fully stocked and established for a while, you can test less often, like I said earlier, every two weeks, more or less.

Happy New year!

 

[Coleallensmom]

Congrats on the new fish! Like everyone has said, keep up your daily testing these first few weeks until your nitrItes are under control. Then stock slowly after that and you should have few issues.

 

[Coleallensmom]

How are things going?

 

[warthog76za]

Did another test this morning, everything is running perfect. Went to the petstore again today after work and got 3 guppy's. Everyone seems ok just the male guppy is trying to "force" his dominance on everyone in the tank....the swordfish( which is way bigger) and at times the corys at the bottom of the tank. Almost as if the male guppy has anger management issues lol!

 

[reefdiver]

make sure you test your water in between WC.

 

[Coleallensmom]

I don't think it's all that usual for guppies to be aggressive. Hopefully he will calm down after he settles in to his new home more. Adding a few more females may help as well.

Like the poster before me said- keep up your testing for now. Are all of your nitrItes gone now? Glad to hear everything is going pretty well for you so far!

 

[warthog76za]

Nitrites are normally going between 0 and 0,1. At the moment I'm doing the water changes every 2 days and doing tests as well.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Great...keep up the good work! Hopefully soon your nitrites will be gone completely and you won't have to test or do the PWCs as often

 

[warthog76za]

By the way I think the female guppy is pregnant....has this dark colouring at the backside area.

 

[warthog76za]

Also started this evening with trying to hatch some brine shrimp, to give a bit of a variety to their diet.

 

[mandy2936]

I would advise against breeding unless you have another tank setup for the babies. However, if your okay with letting the fry get eaten, that would keep the tank from overstocking with babies. How many males/females do you have again? To keep the females form constantly being pestered and harassed to breed, you should have a ratio of at least 2-3 females per every male Guppy. You may already know this info, just making sure

Male Guppies, when kept together, can get a little rambunctious towards one another. I'm sure that once you fully stock the tank they will calm down. I have a 20 gallon and I had 6 male Guppies at one point, and they were rowdy, but not for too long.