Introduce Yourself!

Hello Folks

Brand spanking new to keeping fish so apologies for soon to be numerous questions and advice seeking.
After seeing in my 50th summer, I recieved a Aqualantis 90L tank and am in the process of fishless cycling ( by the way any knowladge I have about aquariums was gathered from "thinkfish" ).
The tank has been running fishless for about 2 weeks now and I have seen a few very small snails, not sure if this is a good sign or not? All the daily water tests are with mentioned specs so hopefully all is well.
Be sure to recieve many many questions from me.
Cheers

Welcome Flatdog. I'm forever fishing snails out of my tank - I think an egg bundle came in on a plant I bought and they breed like rabbits. I found another one this morning!

Welcome to the forum Chris. Ask away - we like being helpful

Heavy research is good - but there's an awful lot of conflicting advice 'out there' so always get at least three opinions on everything. It takes a while to learn the sites to trust - this is definitely one of them.

Welcome to the forum Gazza.

p.s. We like pictures.

Have you got the fish at your house now? Did you keep the filter nice and wet during the journey?


Let the fish settle in and we can help you sort out your fish. Some of them are unsuitable for a 60 litre tank (the angelfish, the loach and the plec get too big; and the loach needs to be in a shoal. Google 'marge the clown loach' and you'll see what I mean about too big!). Your priority now is helping them get over the move. Did the seller include a test kit?

I will be bluntly honest and say I don't think he did.

The nutrafin stuff to make the water safe - is it aqua plus or cycle? The first (aqua plus) removes chlorine from the water and needs to be added to new water every time you do a water change. If it's cycle, that is a bottled bacteria product which doesn't work very well.
The tetra stuff - can you say exactly what is written on the bottle? You shouldn't use anything that alters the pH. It is most likely to cause swings in pH which are bad for the fish. If the seller told you the water should be exactly pH 7, he definitely didn't know what he was talking about, I'm afraid.

What I mean by a test kit is something like this. There are several makes, this is just one of them.
There are bacteria in the filter (thought - I assume there is one?) which remove poisons from the water.  If these got killed off during the move to your house, the poisons will be building up and the test kit will tell you. Fish breathe out ammonia and it's in their waste. This is the first of the poisons and the ammonia eating bacteria turn it into nitrite, the second poison. Nitrite eating bacteria turn that into nitrate. The test kit will tell you if there is either/or ammonia and nitrite in the water. If there is (that is, some or all of the bacteria died) you will need to do water changes to keep the fish alive.


Can you take some photos of the fish for a definite ID? You can either attach them to the bottom of the post (though they need to be small) or use a site like photobucket and copy the img code.


Don't worry, despite the previous owner not knowing his stuff, we can help you learn 

Welcome to the forum, Ian. You're in safe hands here and we'll do all we can to help you get up and running. Ask lots of questions.... we like helping. 

Yep - that's a Clown Loach. The other photo..... well...... You might want to look throught the pictures of Plecos in the 'Fish Profiles' section to ID him/her as there're many different species. Unfortunately, they all get too big for a 60litre tank.

...and "Yes", a test kit is vital. I would advise you to get one as soon as possible - not just wait 'till the weekend.

The easy balance - don't bother. Do the water changes. I don't like things that give the impression that all water changes do is remove nitrate. There are other things in the water that need removing on a regular (ie weekly) basis. Things that are secreted by the fish and live plants. And the water changes will also get rid of the fish waste caught in the gravel (assuming you have gravel  ) because water changes are done with a siphon tube with a wide end which is pushed into the gravel to suck up the muck. Did you get one of those with the tank?

The filter is fine for a 60 litre. Though the thing that does worry me is the "quite new". This could mean it isn't even cycled - that means it might not have grown the two colonies of bacteria I mentioned earlier. Or not enough bacteria for the fish you have.

Pets at home do sell the API test kit that I have (the one in the link I gave you) but it is £31 (and that's the reduced price on their website) If you can't run to that just at the moment, get the ammonia and the nitrite testers (they are only £9 each on the website). The big set contains pH and nitrate testers as well, but they are not as important just yet. Don't believe any shop that says you don't need one.
In fact lesson #1 for new fishkeepers - don't believe anything a shop says until you've researched it for yourself.


As for your fish, let them get settled first then think about what you want to do.
The angel will grow too big - they need at least 18 inches depth of water or they do a 'jaws' impression and their fins get deformed. Min tank size 100 x 40 x 50 cm
The clown loach also needs to go. They grow huge (over a foot), need to be in a shoal of at least 6 and a tank with a footprint of at least 180 x 60cm.
The plec could be anything from a 4 inch bristlenose to a 2 foot sailfin. As Colin said, there are no plecs suitable for a 60 litre.
I'm curious about the gouramis - you said you thought they were sparkling gouramis. Are you totally sure? If they are, you could have a group of them, but if they are something bigger (such as an opaline) they need a bigger tank.
The golden barbs and cardinals are fine  These 2 species alone take up two thirds of the amount of fish you can have. The only possible problem is that cardinals need 24 deg C minimum and the barbs like 24 deg maximum. You'll need to keep the tank as near 24 deg as possible.

Yes, that is one of the 3-spots not a croaking gourami. I'm sorry to say they need bigger than 60 litres.

You can get the water tested at some shops, but make sure they write down the actual numbers, not some waffly word like 'fine'. You need to know your ammonia and nitrite asap. It's that "quite new" filter that worries me........



Don't worry about the seller not having a clue. You have the tank and fish now, and you are educating yourself. It is possible that a shop might take the unsuitable fish from you and give you credit for them (they never give you cash) which you can use to buy different fish 

Have you found the community creator on this site yet? If not, go to 'fish profiles' at the top, click on any fish and scroll down to the bottom  of the page. Then just enter your tank details and add whichever fish you fancy. The CC will tells you if the fish are too big, not enough of them, incomaptible with your other fish etc. If you want to save it, you have to register for the CC separately from the forum.