A Christmas Gift

Our two teenage grandsons clubbed together and bought us a small aquarium kit for a Christmas present after I admired the new one bought by one of them.
They have even bought the gravel, ornament etc, in fact everything but the fish.
Never having kept anything other than a couple of goldfish in the past, I am anxious to get this right so that they aren't disappointed in me (the other half will admire the tank and contents but I suspect I will be the chief maintainer !
The tank is an Aqua Nano 30/22  21 litre. 30cm x 30 x 30
Return pump flow rate 400L/hr
Water heater : 25w

Now, I have been trying to do a bit of research, and finding it all a bit daunting.
I do realise that I have to do the cycling etc  but I have tried to work out how many fish this size would take.
We are only talking neon tetra size.
My husband seems to think that we could put between 10-15 neons.

Could we for instance, have half a dozen neon tetras with maybe another 6 male Endlers or is that too ambitious?

Could somebody please advise me, bearing in mind I realise any advice will be on the basis that I have correctly set the aquarium up and everything is working as it should.

We are not going to rush into this as we want to view some fish before we buy any and also have the tank properly ready.

Many thanks for any advice
Sandra

Many thanks for that. IT was more less what we figured out but I had hoped that either we had made a mistake or the more modern way of calculating would mean more than that.

Our grandson has the same tank and has a shark fish, neons and a couple of others. Might explain why some have bitten the dust though if it's overstocked.

Thanks

All of the so-called "sharks" are fish which grow big and need big tanks. If it's a silver shark which your grandson has, the recommended minimum tank size for it is 150 cms and they are shoal fish which need to be in groups. One on its own will probably chase after and cause stress to any other fish in the tank because it's lonely. Unfortunately most shops only seem interested in making a sale and rarely bother to find out if conditions are suitable for the fish they are selling.
With a small tank, a shoal of one type of small fish generally is most successful and often looks better as well.

Try reading about fishless cycling here :
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,483.0.html
It's considered safer and better than cycling with fish which can expose the fish you introduce at the beginning to dangerous levels of ammonia.
Most old-time fish keepers and sellers have never heard of it and so if you go back to the shop and ask them, they will probably not know what you are talking about.

In my opinion, neon tetras are not suitable for your tank I'm afraid. They are quite fast swimmers and need more swimming length than the tank you have. The website I use for things like this is Seriously Fish and they say neons need a tank at least 60cm long.

You might get away with half a dozen male endlers if you have hard water (your water company's website should have that info somewhere; hard water causes furred up kettles/showerheads while soft water doesn't)
If your water turns out to be soft, you might get away with a shoal (half a dozen) sparrow rasboras or chili rasboras. These are both quite shy fish and you'll see more of them if you get more plants, real or synthetic.

And of course there is the siamese fighting fish, or betta. One male would be quite happy in a tank that size. He would need a few more silk or real plants (not plastic as sharp edges can cut their fins) and a cave of some sort.


Small tanks are not the easiest to stock but if you chose the fish carefully, it can be done.

Thank you everyone, especially Sue as that is exactly the kind of information I was after. We actually like the Endlers a lot.
Today we have moved the furniture around (another little problem the grandchildren didn't think of - where to put the tank) so that we can actually have the tank in front of us rather than sited somewhere obscure where we would have actually had to go to the tank to see the fish. (Bless there little hearts!!)
We are about to start our fishless cycling, using ammonia.
The kids supplied us with BIOACTIVE TAPSAFE which gives the impression that's all you need to do to prepare the tank.  I'm a bit sceptical though hence the Ammonia. Any views on Tapsafe anyone?

I am then going to ring the grumpy man to see if they stock Endlers as I don't remember seeing them yesterday and he was so offhand that I completely lost track of what I went in to ask.
 
Thanks again all. Sandra

Thanks again Sue.

Had a very frustrating day.  Opened the box with the pump in it only to find the instructions missing so trekked into town to Pets at Home from where it as bought, although a different branch.
Very nice lad went through it with me, appeared very knowledgeable about fish,  advised me (like you did about the amount of fish - not many at all) and told me all about his tanks and how he has lost fish.
Cheered me up no end that did.
They did stock Endlers and we were both very surprised at how tiny they are and we can still only have a few of them, although the lad did say we could have a bottom feeder too.
Amused us too in a way because he said they do grow but it takes about two years before they are a reasonable size and then in passing tells us they only live a couple of years.

Back home, washed the gravel and all set to put the lot together.
The heater wouldn't suction cup to the glass and the submersible pump appeared to be incomplete according to the instructions and box.
Very fed up and at 4pm the other half said either order the missing bits online and stop stressing or we'll go back into town now and buy another one.
Anyway, long story short, having given up on everything out of frustration, I decided to take the submersible apart only to find that the bits I thought were missing were already inside the damn thing and not separate like all the other attachments

I thought this fish keeping lark was supposed to be therapeutic!!

Best Wishes Sandra

Endlers grow to just over an inch, and they don't take that long to get there. Fish in shops are youngsters and are always smaller than the adult size.
Be careful with 'bottom dwellers'. Your tank is a cube and therefore has a small bottom to volume ratio. Bottom dwellers need a bigger footprint than a cube can offer. Endlers will feed off the bottom - I have 2 remaining from a group (which I have just realised I have missed out of my signature) and they do - so food that ends up on the tank bottom will be eaten. If you have an algae problem, nerite snails are the best solution if you don't mind them. Nerites don't look at all like slugs with shells  .One of the larger species like zebra nerites or a couple of the smaller black and yellow striped ones.

On the subject of food, fish need a lot less than most people  think. As a very rough guide, they should be fed the amount of food equal to one eye per fish. A fish's stomach is about the same size as its eye, so half a dozen fish need feeding the same amount of food as half a dozen eyes.


Be very careful about advice from shops. Big chain pet stores tend to train their staff in how to sell things not how to care for the stock. Too many of them tell their staff to make answers up rather than lose a sale. You do get some knowledgeable staff but they are few and far between. The fish-only shops can be as bad, they tend to push chemicals at you to solve a problem rather than sort out the root cause. And I have not yet come across a shop that believes in fishless cycling (though one shop owner did ask me about it!)


When you tried to attach the heater, did the tank have water in? Suckers don't usually work on dry glass.