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Fish for my first tank


mjd271169

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Hi All

I am new to fish keeping and just regsitered today on this site as after reading it for the past few weeks figured this could be the place for me to get help.

I have an Aqua One 380 fish tank, 34L, that I bought for my son, he is 3 and he loves finding Nemo. This was the "hey lets get some clownfish" idea that after researching how hard and costlty it is for a newbie to look after marine turned in to "hey lets look at freshwater tropical"

No fish in the tank yet and I have had it running for about 3 weeks. I read heaps on cycling so am trying to cycle it without fish by adding fish food, ammonia went up and came down, my nitrite is up around 5ppm and seems to be stuck there but my nitrate is up to about 40ppm so I guess if that is going up somehting must be converting the nitrite. I am still adding a little food every other day to try and keep the ammonia eating bacteria alive which i think is the right thing to do.

Ok, back to the point of the topic. After extensive web searching and walking around LFS realising that to keep all of the fish I want I need a 400L tank I have narrowed it down a little to what I hope will be OK.

6 zebra danio

6 harlequin rasboras

Is this too much?, happy to change water every week if I need. I would like to have more than one species in the tank but I read that these fish need to be kept in groups of about 6 ideally. If that is a choice of 3 zebra and 3 rasbora I would rather go with the option that best suites the fish so if I can't have 6 of each am I better keeping all one species.

I also like heaps of the tetras, especially the serpea and am already thinking of a bigger tank that I can have a large community in.

Look forward to your advice

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I think that number of fish will be fine. What kind of filter does it have? I prefer to cycle tanks using a product like Cycle and adding some fish straight away. I think you should do a water change before you add any fish though. And maybe don't add the Harlequins just yet. I find they can be a bit sensitive. Last time I set up a tank I lost half the Harlequins in the first couple of weeks. I think you should consider having a feature fish like a dwarf gourami or a betta. A pic of your tank would be well received. We love pics. :lol:

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With what you're doing, you're in the middle of the nitrite spike right now... keep with it, until the nitrite is zero, and the ammonia (yes, feeding the bacteria is the right thing to do) is zero too - that way you will have a substantial bacterial colony ready to support your fish... it can take up to six weeks for a complete cycle on a new tank, which is why many like to accelerate it with products like cycle or nitravec, stress zyme, etc... or, simply by adding bacteria loaded media from an existing tank - giving a jump start to the cycle can pull it down to as little as a week, which was the last tank I cycled using that method... (of course, once you've got a tank up and running and stable, pre 'cycling' an extra filter is a brilliant shortcut to cycling the next tank...)

Your bioload doesn't sound heavy, especially as you'll be buying small fish rather than full grown... however, you've got two groups of basically mid-top water fish, you may find overall the tank looks a little lacking with a 'band' of fish in the same spot... you might want to add something in the way of bottom feeders or low water fish... 12 fish of the size of danios and rasboras isn't much of a load in 400L, btw, you'll be able to add more...

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ummm i thought the tank is 35L? not 400L =S

I thought the approx is 1 inch of adult fish per gallon? very approximate and you can probably overstock a little if you maintain your tank well with weekly water changes etc.

according to that guide your approx stocking twice as much as recommended by having 12 fish. With that said its only a guide, and if you willing to monitor water parameters judicially then it should be okay.

I'd recommend maybe to have 8 of one species as a compromise?

Please correct me if im wrong..

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lol, uh huh... I saw the mention of the 400L and thought that was what they were going with 'to put all the fish they want in' - 35L - yeah, the 12 there are a lot of fish until it's matured... then you could put them in there... even then, a 35L isn't going to be *that* stable - a 60L is a much better 'starter' tank...

The danios would be potentially cramped in there as adult fish - I'd probably go for a few more rasboras, and a few of the dwarf or small corydoras around to keep the bottom clean... the idea of a 'feature' fish is nice, but we're talking a small tank to have six danios belting around a slow moving betta or the like... a dwarf gourami would go well - or a ram or apistogramma, but they need good water too... I don't know if I'd try and put two groups of schooling fish into 35L... heyyyy, how about neons?? they'd stay low to mid water, the rasboras or danios will stay mid to top, you maximize the colour and movement in your tank, and the neons are small enough to keep your bioload down again... food for thought???

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Hi Everyone

thanks for the tips especially about the levels the fish will swim

I do like neons and as it seems the zebra are maybe too big for the tank I will give them a miss

still like the harlequin rasbora so the couple of mixes I am thing of are

Option 1

1 x dwarf gourami

4 x neon tetra

2 x bronze cory

Option 2

4 x harlequin rasbora

4 x neon tetra

Is 4 enough of the rasbora and tetra or will they not be comfortable, I don't mind 8 of one species but then I will have only have fish in one part of the tank won't I?

Are there any smal fish that are good to keep singly or in pairs?

I figured out how to add my picture so here is my tank, needs a little water adding to top it up, the plants are only silk ones as. I hope to maybe get in to real ones as I get to learn more.

34Ltank.jpg

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wow your tank looks pretty! cant wait to see fish in it!

The cories should be okay as a pair, but because their a shoaling fish you wont be able to witness their notorious antics that make them so adorable. Their also very timid fish so in a pair you might not be able to see them very often as they will hide when their frightened, and security in numbers is very applicable to timid cories.

neons should be okay at about 5 i think. If you want to get more tetras in, you can get smaller cories if you want. Panda, pygmy, leopard and 'salt and pepper' cories are all 5cm or under. This will give you an extra 6 cm of fish as tetras. Only thing is those cories are a lot more expensive, bronzies will cost about $3.50-5 depending on size. Panda's will cost you a good $10-16 here in melbourne. Its a trade off for more tetras lol.

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Wheee! I love small tanks, they are so much fun! These tanks are especially good as the filter on them is absolutely brilliant. Honestly, I've tried to match it's efficiency on some of my other thanks, and have found it very tricky. So congrats on a brilliant small tank choice (and colour, for it is the same as mine :lol:)

Option 1

1 x dwarf gourami

4 x neon tetra

2 x bronze cory

I'd change the cories to something less substantial. A fully grown cory is quite a chunky monkey and they tend to display less-than-natural behaviour in groups of 3 or less. They also appreciate a large tank footprint (more ground area) and this tank is built so that it is more upright for viewing mid/top swimmers. I'd be hesitant to put cories in anything less than 2', based on their love of groups and activity level. It could be done, but the species that would be smallest and allow for the largest school in that size tank are also a bit delicate. if you want those, it might be best to wait a few months until you feel you know your tank and the other inhabitants a bit better. :lol:

What about otocinclus or kuhli loaches? They are small, will feed from the bottom, and should be happy with a school of 2-3. You'll need a tulle mesh cover over your filter intake for the kulies though, the little rascals are forever trying to play in the intake basket! Otos are a bit messy, considered a bit delicate (though I tend to disagree) and IMVHO fairly boring, but they are little sucking catfish if that tickles your fancy. Borneo suckers might also be an option, they are fascinating, and if you keep the tank on the cooler side of tropical they should be fine :lol:

Option 2

4 x harlequin rasbora

4 x neon tetra

I'd be leaning towards this option for now, mainly because although I think this tank is as stable as small tanks come, it might be nice to easy yourself into it. Understocking will reduce your fish stress and therefore illness and your maintenance, not to mention leave you some wiggle-room should you see a species that you just *have* to have ;)

Have you looked at lambchop rasboras? they are very similar to harlequins, but instead of having the triangle of black at the rear, they have a sort of chop-shaped black piece, and a slightly brighter orange. They stay a little smaller and aren't quite as energetic, so they'd probably like the smaller tank better than the harlies too.

I'd probably go with 5 lamb chops, 2 kuhlies, and maybe some small algae-eating shrimp. It might even look nice to have a pair of male guppies in there for some colour.

Another choice might be sparkling gouramies, but they might be a bit plain if you don't like subtle fish (read: varying shades of brown). You could even go with a few female bettas, they are very bright and colourful.

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Thanks for all the ideas.

Yeah I see what you mean callatya, the tank is not that wide so not much floor space for the cories especially with the decorations.

Your sugestion sounds good for the 5 lamb chop etc. I looked these up on the net as I have not seen them as far as I know in the shops or maybe I have and I just thought they were harlequins. kuhliie loaches looked good too.

I do like guppies when I see them so looking for a couple of really nice ones could be the go.

Does anyone know a good place to get tanks in the suoth west Sydney area, I am going to a place at moorebank tomorrow called MS aquariums, its a factory type outlet and I have found one at harrington park too. some of the pet/aquarium stores seem a little expensive. I already have 2 more spots in the house lined up to take a tank.

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With what you're doing, you're in the middle of the nitrite spike right now... keep with it, until the nitrite is zero, and the ammonia (yes, feeding the bacteria is the right thing to do) is zero too - that way you will have a substantial bacterial colony ready to support your fish... it can take up to six weeks for a complete cycle on a new tank, which is why many like to accelerate it with products like cycle or nitravec, stress zyme, etc... or, simply by adding bacteria loaded media from an existing tank - giving a jump start to the cycle can pull it down to as little as a week, which was the last tank I cycled using that method... (of course, once you've got a tank up and running and stable, pre 'cycling' an extra filter is a brilliant shortcut to cycling the next tank...)

Your bioload doesn't sound heavy, especially as you'll be buying small fish rather than full grown... however, you've got two groups of basically mid-top water fish, you may find overall the tank looks a little lacking with a 'band' of fish in the same spot... you might want to add something in the way of bottom feeders or low water fish... 12 fish of the size of danios and rasboras isn't much of a load in 400L, btw, you'll be able to add more...

Nitrite still high so I took the advice from this post and went out today and bought some cycle and added it, hopefully this weekend I may be able to get a fish or 2 in there.

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