borednessis Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 hi all this is my first proper fish tank, ive only ever owned one fish before and he is in a little bowl. Any ideas of what to go in it? I'm thinking i want a heap of guppies or these marble mollies i saw. Any comments appreciated Ricky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Best advice I can give is to understock it severely for the first few months. Whatever you pick, take the number suggested to you and halve it, then halve it again. That should mean a greater margin for error. Guppies are pretty easy, but be careful of mollies. Sometimes they can be a bit touchy. What about corydoras? They are good fun to watch What filter is going on it? What substrate are you going to use? What lights? Any plants? How much work do you want to do maintaining it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borednessis Posted March 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 ummmm im thinking i dont want a great deal of effort with the tank and im not really a fan of corydoras but we shall see how it goes. what i do want though is plenty of plants and to make it look real pretty like some of the tanks ive seen in the gallery they look awsome. as far as what filter, lights etc im taking phil and hes going to help me pick out some for it as he seems to know what hes doing ricky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Nice tank:) What brand and size is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bewarebrunette Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Go angelfish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Oh Phil, eh? Well in that case, halve the stocking AGAIN Less fish = less work. If you get a good filtration system on there, understock and plant it with really low maintenance stuff (nothing that comes as cuttings as you'll need to spend time pruning etc) then it can be very much set and forget with the odd water change. What fish do you really like? What shapes? What colours? Do you like certain behaviours or is it just going to be living art? Is the tank in a high traffic area and/or does it get a lot of sunlight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Is that your new place, Ricky? It looks really nice there. That's a lovely tank, too. There are certain fish you can't keep with plants, they'll either eat them or uproot them, and some need salt in the water, which doesn't really agree with plants. Phil will know which ones to avoid. If you really want plants to do well, make sure you have enough light for the ones you choose, and maybe Phil can hook you up with a CO2 unit. He can also tell you what plants are easy, and help you pick the right substrate. I personally love rasboras in a planted tank. Maybe you could have a gourami for a feature. Types of Rasboras: http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&a...mages&gbv=2 Gouramis: http://images.google.com.au/images?gbv=2&a...G=Search+Images (a male may use bits of your plants to build a bubble nest, though). You could also add a pair of dwarf cichlids, like kribensis or apistogrammas, they can breed and make a little fish family! Like: Kribensis (I can give you some small kribs I bred, if you're interested): http://images.google.com.au/images?gbv=2&a...G=Search+Images or Apistogrammas: http://images.google.com.au/images?gbv=2&a...G=Search+Images I second what Abbey said: DO NOT overstock. And see if you can get some gravel from an established tank, it will be seeded with the bacteria that converts ammonia (produced by the fish) into less harmful chemicals. without it, your fish will get sick and may die. Again, Phil can help with that. only add a few fish at a time, so the bacteria can build up and stay on top of the amount of ammonia the fish produce. For example, in one of the planted tanks of mine in the aquascaping competition, I added 5 neon tetras a week until I had 25 neons. If I added 25 at once, they probably all would have died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borednessis Posted March 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 hi all so today phill gave me some cuttings to put into my tank heres a pic it doesnt look to bad atm cant wait for the fish more pics of the tank with plants can be seen on my flickr at www.flickr.com/rickyrulz13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borednessis Posted March 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 hi all, i now have 1 fish in my tank a green tiger barb, he seems to be going well. also the plants are looking much better, all upright and happy looking they were a little limp when i put them in which is prob normal for cuttings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghengis Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 That tank has sooooooooo much potential! I agree low maintenance plants would be a good idea to get started. Also agree with Angels...that tank is built for them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Angels can rule out a lot of other fish, though. They can be aggressive little mongrels and they'll eat anything small enough. (I am a devoted Angel owner - just don't think they're right for 1st time fishkeepers.) I just remembered we have an article on fish to avoid. It's a Canadian article but still has some useful info in it for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borednessis Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 so i got a few fish for the tank today + some more plants i got 4 rainbow fish (2 red and 2 yellow and blue), 10 guppies (3 black, 3 metalic blue, and 4 orange), 6 swords, and a fighter. + i already had my green tiger barb so i have 22 now in the tank yay! lol. any comments appreciated also there are more pics of the new fish and plants on my flickr page ( www.flickr.com/rickyrulz13 ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 It looks really nice! colourful! No more fish now though, and get an ammonia test kit, and tell Phil I said he has to tell you why Have you considered a black or blue tank backing, so you can't see the cords down the back? That will really make the colours pop, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Its starting to look good. Needs some rocks or wood though i think.. Also my fav fish are the Santa swordtails! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpiasente Posted March 15, 2009 Report Share Posted March 15, 2009 tiger barb and betta?????? ouch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted March 15, 2009 Report Share Posted March 15, 2009 tiger barbs can be very nippy. Please keep a careful eye on W and if he's being monstered by anything else in the tank, you will need to remove them or him :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borednessis Posted March 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 i dont keep W in the big tank he is in his bowl stil i have a different fighter in there and he chases everyone about lol expecially the rainbow fish. also i had my first sick fish he had red spots on him so he is now in a sperate tank on his own(it was an orange guppy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darennkj Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 Wow, very nice tank! With the fishes you currently have in there, I guess angels are out of the question. How about some mystery snails for the mystery factor and red cherry shrimps for the clown factor? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borednessis Posted March 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 horrors my fish are starting to drop one by one, had an orange guppy die yesterday, a black one today, and an orange one isnt looking to happy. what am i to do i just feel like getting rid of all the guppies im to stressed atm to deal with fish dieing under my care. Also i think i need to take out the fighter he is constantly chasing around the rainbow fish. my green tigerbarb doesnt seem to be bothering anyone he seems to just hide all day in the bushes. also W the poor thing seems to not be doing the best he just sits motionless in his bowl for long periods i tryied to cheer him up with a plant but it didnt help i might actually swap him with the fighter in my tank and see how he goes, though the fighter in there is very badly behaved, health wise he is loking awesome his colours are more intense, hes very active and even a little pudgy lol But on a better note the rest of them are doing wonderfully lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Ricky, you need to test your tank for ammonia and nitrite. And check the temperature. Phil knows all this stuff. There are articles at www.ausaqua.net about the nitrogen cycle and 'new tank syndrome'. I suspected that too many were added at once, and I suspect that the ammonia cycle is the cause of your problems. If you have ammonia or nitrite you will need to do frequent water changes until those chemicals go away, or you can add come products that neutralise ammonia (eg ammolock). Either that or you have introduced new fish that were sick and that has infected other fish too. It's a very good idea to quarantine new fish before you add them to an established tank to avoid the spread of diseases. If the fish in the tank are sick, you DON'T want to be putting W in there. He will probably get sick too. (Just because the other fighter looks ok doesn't mean W will be). Have you tested the ammonia in his bowl? You can get a little floating box for the fighter (most hobbyists call them bettas BTW, since it's illegal to fight fish in Australia and sometimes people get the wrong idea) and keep him contained in that, in the 4' tank, where he can't chase or stress anybody, since the water in there seems not to be bothering him. Tiger barbs are meant to be kept in a school, he is probably hiding because he is stressed as he has no school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 OK, fess up, how many fish did you have in there? Guppies, rainbows, bettas and a single tiger barb, what else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 The tank is doing quite well with the exception of the guppies. They have to go Ricky. I got you a net today so you can take them out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv_my_fish Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 I've never heard of green tiger barbs or santa swordtails, but I am definately liking the look of them! Where do you get them from? How come you never went with the angels? I have 2 in my community tank and they have been fine for nearly 2 years now. Although one of them has started getting a bit mean with the other bigger fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 I cautioned against angels, I don't think they're a good choice for a commy tank. Just personal experience. Phil, what's the ammonia reading? Don't avoid the question! :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Im Not going to avoid it cos i dont know what it is lol. The fish look perfect and happy with the exception of the red guppies, which, also went off at work so i think it was just something with that colour. I do think it is time to do the first water change though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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