Tropical Fish Forum
Think Fish Tropical Fish Forum => Welcome to our Tropical Fishkeeping Forum - Please Read => Topic started by: Mogwai on August 10, 2014, 10:27:46 PM
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Hello everyone - I am new here and new to keeping tropical fish, excepting the goldfish I had as a child.
I've been doing the reading to try to set up my first tank correctly, and am now aware of cycling, etc. But I would like to ask if my plan is ok, and will be grateful if anyone has time to respond.
My plan is to buy an Askoll pure tank (76cm, 93.5 litres) and some plants. I would like to keep:
6 Neon Tetra
6 Cardinal Tetra
2 Male Guppy
4 Female Guppy
4 Corydoras
(maybe a snail)
The calculator says this is only 75% full, but I would be happy with the mix. My idea was to introduce the tetra 6 at a time when the water is ready, then the catfish, and finally the guppy.
Since I am new, any feedback would be welcome, as would suggestions.
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Hello and welcome. :wave:
I'm no expert on fish, but I think in order to help you out it would be useful for people to know pH and hardness of your water. There are many discussions on here as to how to find that out, if you felt like browsing. I think all water companies post the info online, but I had a job getting mine, someone had to find it for me!
Just out of interest, why are you planning on 6each of two different but similar looking tetra, when you could have a nice shoal of twelve? IMO small shoaling fish look so much better in a big group. My tank is small so can't have huge numbers of anything. :(
Best of luck.
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I agree with Puffin on the neon/cardinal tetras ;D
If you do a fishless cycle, which is the best for fish and easier on the fishkeeper, you can all your fish at once as soon as the cycle is completed. If you intend doing a fish-in cycle, I should warn you that neons don't do well in newly cycled tanks let alone ones that are cycling.
I would get one of the dwarf species of cory, and get 6 of them. That's Corydoras pygmeaus, the pygmy cory; C. habrosus, salt & pepper cory, the only one in the fish profiles; and C. hastatus.
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Hi Mogwai :wave:
A third agreement here for the neon/cardinal grouping - 12 of the same would be a better group than 6 of each (although not critical if you really do want 6 of each).
Otherwise, just one observation - your male/female Guppy combo is a recipe for a potential fish explosion which could rapidly overstock your tank unless you have other plans for the offspring (bearing in mind that the private market for Guppies is not particularly strong).
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Puffin, Sue, dbaggie - thank you all for replying, exactly the type of responses I was hoping for. :cheers:
A bigger group of dwarf Cory seems a good idea, I'll do that. My hope is that the Neon and Cardinal tetra will form a single school, but it would not be a disaster for me if they do not.
I am planing to do a fiishless cycle, patience being one of my few virtues. I had seen advice that fish should only be added in small batches even then, but if that is unnecessarily cautious it is good news.
I do need to think a bit more about the guppies. Actually I've been thinking about getting tetra for quite a while, but only decided I wanted guppies too last weekend when I spent some time watching them in a shop. Looking at other peoples experiences I probably was under-estimating how fast they breed and over-estimating how well the tetra would control the population. A slowly growing population probably was wishful thinking. It might make sense to go all male, but either way thanks very much for flagging it up.
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Guppies can be delicate fish nowadays and can often just drop dead for no apparent reason. If you want brightly coloured little fish and are willing to sacrifice the long tails, look at male endlers. They don't pick on each other like guppies can; they do chase each other but mine have never made physical contact.
The idea behind fishless cycling is hat you grow more bacteria than a sensibly stocked tank needs. I do wonder if those people who advise stocking slowly after a fishless cycle really understand what it is about. Fish-in cycles do need fish to be added slowly and perhaps some people confuse the two.
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I actually have to disagree; personally I would also keep both cardinals and harlequins. I used to have guppies; I also started out with 6 and within months had to give back the females because I couldn't cope with all the fry. I worried that only having males would cause problems but it didn't at all. Would you consider having only males?
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Thanks for the suggestion Andrea. I did consider it, but I am really not sure about Guppies now. They look great, but they do seem to have some drawbacks too.
I didn't stick to the plan :-[ - I got Rio 240 last week. I decided on a bigger tank, because it gives me the option of some more active fish. Currently it is cycling with a few plants in it. But I change my mind every day about which fish I want!
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That's another advantage of doing a fishless cycle. It is a few weeks before you can get fish which gives you plenty time to visit every shop in the area, see what's available and probably see fish you hadn't even thought about. And still time left to finalise the 'want' list ;)
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That's another advantage of doing a fishless cycle. It is a few weeks before you can get fish which gives you plenty time to visit every shop in the area, see what's available and probably see fish you hadn't even thought about. And still time left to finalise the 'want' list ;)
Also, it might seem overkill, but if you can visit the shops more than once before decided to purchase any fish, it can help to give you a feel for how well they keep their fish.
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Sue is certainly right. From the beginner's perspective its not just seeing fish I hadn't thought about, but also seeing some fish in real life rather than just pictures. I realised I particularly like active fish, and was very pleased when I found out Zebra Danio are a good beginners fish.
I have certainly been following dbaggie's advice to visit a few times, and have visited a few shops too. My nearest MA is not very big, but the staff seem quite good. I read a little about how to spot a healthy fish in a buying guide. Is there anything else to look out for in how they keep the fish?
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Zebra danios are really tough, they seem able to cope with most things. I find with a well-planted tank they are not really surface fish, in fact they prefer the bottom of the tank and the dark corners, they only really go up when there's food to be had.
It's really worth looking here to see what people say about some fish, there are so many cases where people write "my guppies/platies have died" but I don't remember anyone saying that their zebra danios or Corydoras have died, for example. Personally, the only fish I have lost were several gouramis which came with a second hand tank. I never could work out why and so I've decided not to add any new ones. I'm also avoiding all iivebearers.
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Gosh I'm jealous! this is just a suggestion and I don't know very much about them, but if you like very active fish have you considered keeping pictus catfish and/or barbs? Whenever I buy fish I obviously check that all the fish in the tank look healthy and that the tanks, as well as the store, are clean. Other than that I honestly think that the most important thing is that the staff know what they're talking about.
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Pictus catfish, though lovely, need a 120cm tank and will eat any fish that will fit in its large mouth. Barbs, on t'other hand, are my fave..... and there're lots of different sorts to suit everybody's tank.
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Yes, I'm certainly considering Barbs.
I do have a 120cm tank, but I am leaning more towards loaches than catfish, partly because I like the idea of fish from the same place. I am seriously thinking of YoYo Loaches, but since they need a mature tank is a decision for the future. It might be more sensible to go for Chain Loaches instead.
I am still trying to keep an open mind. I wasn't expecting as much algae as I have at the moment. That makes some sort of algae eater a bit more attractive, and loaches seem a problem for shrimps and snails. But I am hoping the algae dies down a bit when the tank is cycled, so a bit wait and see at the moment.
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If you go for dwarf chain loaches (if your wallet can stand it :-\ ) they are fine with nerite snails and the larger amano shrimps. I have all three in the same tank.
The larger loaches might be a problem though.
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I think we need more mods! :vcross:
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Sorry, It's Sunday and I've only just got up ;)
Posts removed from this thread and still looking for all the others.
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As it's a year down the line, did you get the mix of tetras and did they shoal together? I was planning on doing the same thing.