Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: chrisp on March 10, 2013, 03:51:22 PM
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Hi
ive just had a new tank, marina style tank with cabinet, 150 litres L100xW40xH40cm. it came with 2 external 'waterfall' filters and lights and heater. its a great tank. ive bought my decorations and now im just waiting for my gravel i ordered and my background before i can fill it with water. ive done my research on cycling and im planning to do my cycle with fish.
due to my lack of transport (i got my driving test this month :) i was planning to order my fish online. i know danios are hardy fish so ive decided on the following bundle;
20 x Assorted Danio/Minnow =
4 x White Cloud Mountin Minnow
4 x Zebra Danio
4 x Pearl Danio
4 x Leopard Danio
4 x Long Fin Gold Danio
is this 2 many fish to start a cycle? (but i will be doing daily testing plus water changes, large water changes if needed)
im also going to buy plants online the same time
Tropical Plants (15)
Typical plants sent out include-
Cabomba, Elodia Densa, Japonicus, Sword Plant, Crimonsette, Dracena, Java Fern, Vallis, Umbrella Plant and other popular species. These are all suitable for a freahwater tropical fish tank.
so the plan is;
1 fill my tank, leave it a few days
2 order fish and plants
3 (fish and plants have arrived) plant my plants
4 add my fish
would this be ok?
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Yes, that is too many fish for a fish-in cycle. For 150 litres, you should be aiming for no more than 20 cm of fish to cycle with. The guideline is 1 inch of fish per 5 American gallons for cycling (ie 1cm of fish per 7.4 litres), and that is their adult size not what they are when you buy them. Danios grow to 5cm and white clouds to 4cm, so you are looking at 4 danios or 5 white clouds. Then when the tank is cycled, your next purchase would have to be at most 2 fish the same size (or one fish twice the size or 4 fish half the size etc). Since you have to rely on mail order, this is going to cost a lot in postage, buying a few fish at a time.
Is there a particular reason you have have decided to do a fish-in cycle rather than fishless? Your circumstances would be better suited to fishless since you can buy about three quarters of your planned stocking list at once as soon as the cycle finishes.
Are you aware that danios and white clouds need lower temperatures than most tropical fish? Both prefer water in the 18 to 22 oC range.
Of the fish you mentioned in your other post, silver sharks are not suitable as they need a tank at least 160cm long; red tail black sharks also need a tank bigger than yours (min 120cm long) and can be nasty to other tank occupants. Siamese fighters are do-able with the right tank mates. But they need a temp around 25-26oC, so aren't really compatible with danios/white clouds.
I'll leave the plants to other people, as I'm not well up on them. I do know that java fern has to be tied to something not planted as the rhizome will rot - I have some java fern.
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thanks for the reply.
i was worried about the cost of postage, so maybe a fishless cycle would be alot better.
i was also goin to borrow a few cup fulls of gravel from another matured tank, as i know this would help.
the only reason i was going for a fish in cycle, so i didnt have to watch a empty tank,and danios because they are hardy.
i really like the sharks but have read they need a bigger tank which is unfortunate really
so, really thinking about it a fish less cycle would be alot better, plus il save on postage and can get bigger orders
thanks for the help, going to search online now for some ammonia for my tank ;)
thanks again
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Jeyes Kleen Off household ammonia is available on a few sites (eg ebay, amazon) and that's the brand I have. It doesn't say on the bottle so I emailed them to ask - it is just ammonia, no perfume etc, and they said it was 9.5% though my bottle seemed to be stronger according the the API ammonia tester.
I think Homebase also do their own, no sure if you can buy on line form them as I've never tried.
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I think Homebase also do their own, no sure if you can buy on line form them as I've never tried.
They do, I bought mine from them, but you can't order it online. It's in the household cleaning section, plain white 'no frills' bottle.
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just bought Jeyes Kleen Off household ammonia 500ml off ebay £3.99 and a pack of 10 5ml syringes for £1. i know i only need 1 but 1 was 50p so better to go for the 10.
just waiting for my gravel to come back now and my background so i can take the next step of adding water and running my equipment. had my tank nearly 2 weeks now. just want to get water in it.
thanks for the help, will keep you updated.
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Forgot to mention earlier - the gravel from a mature tank will have a few bacteria on it (if the tank tank owner will let you have some filter media that would be better). Don't put it in your tank till you are about to start adding the ammonia. If you could somehow squeeze a mesh bag full of the gravel into the filter that would seed your cycle better than adding it to your gravel. If it is possible, put it first in the water flow so that any bits of biofilm, with attached bacteria, that come loose get swept into the brand new media. Maybe shuffle the filter media round, removing any carbon and then use the space freed up for the gravel.