Advice Wanted On New Fish!

[Lucky13]

Thanks for the advice will keep that in mind!

I think I'm pretty much happy with my fish selection to be honest, as long as the fighter will be happy enough with the others, but that sounds as though it'll be entirely trial and error!

now I've just gotta wait patiently while my tank cycles....

Hello I read your question and really empathised with you, and reminded me of our day we went out to buy our first fish.
My tank has been active for about 7 weeks. We did lots of research, we brought two fish books, one giving in depth descriptions on every fish, their behaviour, water needs, food needs, how many in one tank, community or not. I felt quite confident and picked my fish for the big day. On adive of the experts we left the tank without fish for a while and added the bactinettes and were really excited about getting our fish. The fish we picked out, cardinal tetra's, cory's, simanese fighter, I also wanted a couple of discus. The day came and we went excitedly to the Aquatic centre. I went over to the discus. (I had read that when baby discus are left without an adult, their could be bullying, even to death) There they were, the most beautiful baby discus, there was about five in the tank, two ofwhich were being bullied, I decided to rescue them. The assistant came and absolutely refused to sell them to us. Saying the tank wasnt mature enough., I was very disapointed becuase we had followed all the rules. I said ok, and moved on the tetra's, again the same response. I went through the fish I had my heart set on, and she insisted none of these fish were hardy enough. In the end she agreed to let us have 6 cardinal tetra's, with a 'be it on your own head' warning. They were in the tank for a couple of weeks, we bravely set out again, and once again, 'you cant have that syndrome'. I seriously wondered if I had done the right thing in spending all this money on something which was supposed to be enjoyable.
We managed to buy 4 guppies, which werent on my list! 3 cory's which I thought would stay at the bottom, but seem to enjoy swimming half way up, they are lovely but are quite manic. We havent attemped to buy the fighter because we were told that the guppies would get on its nerves because they are quick swimmers. I dont know if I will ever get my discus! The fish seem very healthy, the tetra's are beautiful but tend to stay in the plants.
I wish you all the best when you go to get your first fish, I hope it will be enjoyable and all that you hoped it will be. ( In my book, the fighter is supposed to be community and very peaceful, only fighting with other males).
Obviously I will listen to the experts because I do not want to hurt any fish, but I do wish they would all get together and attempt to agree with each other!!

You could bring in some water from your tank and get him to test it to prove that your tank is mature enough.

 

[OldMan47]

Glug:
Some quick advice. Your lfs is doing you a favor with the discus. There is no way I would ever try a discus in a tank that has been set up for less than 6 months and even then I would be concerned. The nitrogen cycle is not all that happens as a tank matures but it is something we can actually test. There are many other subtle changes going on that we will probably never fully understand but something we know from experience is that some fish, discus among them, are not a good choice for a newly cycled tank. You bypass this piece of good advice from the lfs at your own risk.
In my experience its hard to find a lfs willing to tell you what you don't want to hear. This is a place I would definitely go back to and would try to follow their advice. It sounds like they care more about the fish than about making a quick sale.

 

[iankent]

As noted in another post, some of the fish should not be the first ones in a new tank. The cycling you are doing is just the first step towards a mature water system. You could think of it like getting a driver's license. The day you get the license is no day to load up the car and go for a drive on twisty mountain roads. Some fish do need mature tank conditions and among them are neons and cardinals. If it were me and using your fish list, I would start with a nice betta splendens and a few of a medium to small variety of corydoras. After a week or so get the rest of the cories of the same type, the ADFs next, then cardinals and finally neons. Unless things have changed a lot in the last few years, the neons are the most sensitive of the lot and the betta is the least sensitive.

Hi, thanks for the info, but could you clarify a few things for me. Most of the guides I've read suggest adding all the fish in one go for a number of reasons, first to keep the bacteria alive that we've grown during cycling, and second to help avoid them becoming territorial. As you're saying to put the Betta in first, wouldn't this give it plenty of time to establish a territory before adding the other fish?

 

[OldMan47]

Its up to you how you do it. My own approach is based on troubles I have had in the past wih new water and certain species. The nitrogen processing bacteria will probably be ready to accept all the fish at once but many of the ones you are looking at are a little sensitive to tank conditions. The betta could go right away and in my own experience the cories would be OK too. I have seen other people that do not have my luck with new water and cories, hence my caution. The cardinals and neons are in the category of less likely to thrive in a new tank. For that reason, I would wait until everyone else is settled in and then bring them in. None of the fish you are looking at are very territorial in their nature so I was not concerned about that. If you were doing kribensis or any cichlids for that matter, it would be a concern.

 

[iankent]

Its up to you how you do it. My own approach is based on troubles I have had in the past wih new water and certain species. The nitrogen processing bacteria will probably be ready to accept all the fish at once but many of the ones you are looking at are a little sensitive to tank conditions. The betta could go right away and in my own experience the cories would be OK too. I have seen other people that do not have my luck with new water and cories, hence my caution. The cardinals and neons are in the category of less likely to thrive in a new tank. For that reason, I would wait until everyone else is settled in and then bring them in. None of the fish you are looking at are very territorial in their nature so I was not concerned about that. If you were doing kribensis or any cichlids for that matter, it would be a concern.

ahh thanks, makes more sense now! If I went with adding the betta and cories first, how long would you recommend leaving it before adding the neons/adf's?

thanks!

 

[rabbut]

I'd personaly go for all but the Betta and neons as the first fish in. IME cardinals are fine in a newly cycled tank. Again others may dissagree...It all adds to the fun of the hobby.... If you were to play it safe here, only the corries could go in first, but this would effectively defeate the objective of fishless cycling, as most of the bacteria would die off while the tank matured. I'd take the risk of adding the Cardinals, ADF's and corries once cycled, neons a few weeks later as IME they aren't as hardy as cardinals, then add the betta last to avoid agression due to teritorial issues I haven't kept ADF's efore though, so they may need to be scratched from the "first in" list should other member make noise contrary to my post

Just my 2$ worth
Rabbut

 

[iankent]

thanks for the info although you've helped confused me a little more cant decide on what order to put them in the tank in, and which together, so am wondering whether my best bet might just be to put them all in at once and hope for the best!

personally I'm not the kind of person for making decisions, so if anyone would like to make these decisions for me, please let me know =)

thanks!!!

 

[Craster]

I'm not sure of the virtue of having both cardinals and neons, as they look so similar. Might as well get 16 of one or the other.

 

[iankent]

Thanks Craster - when we were looking at them in LFS there were some noticable colour differences, so I was just wondering really if they can shoal and be happy together. If not, I'll go for all the same type, but otherwise I think it'd add a bit more variety to the aquarium!

edit: strange! there was a snail floating upside down on the surface of the water (have seen them do this once or twice before), but after a while this one just started falling, very slowly, through the water - almost as though it were abseiling! just noticed a smaller snail doing it, but it fell through the water much faster - must be normal practice for these weird creatures then? lol

 

[rabbut]

Cardinals and Neons will shoal together in smaller groups, or remain seporate if the numbers of each are high enough. Water snails will oten do as you describe, hough I've often wondered why....

All the best
Rabbut

 

[iankent]

Great, thanks Will get some cardinals and some tetras as planned then! These snail things behave a little oddly - crazy little things, but quite entertaining to watch. Really starting to get excited now my ammonia levels have started dropping

 

[SJ2K]

You've got the same snails as me, absolute nightmare to get rid of.

 

[iankent]

You've got the same snails as me, absolute nightmare to get rid of.

lol, i'm starting to get the feeling they will be too - there's so many of them, and amusing as they are to watch, i have no idea what to do about them! i'm hoping I can suck most of them away with the water change after cycling, and hopefully my new fish will take to eating the rest of them... if not, I guess I'm stuck with the snails forever lol. was just watching one of them eating with a magnifying glass - munching away at the algae lol! hours of fun.

 

[AngelOfDeath]

Hi mate, alarm bells ring when you say dwarf frogs. Don't know if this is the norm, but there is nothing dwarf about them. Mine grew and grew and grew some more. They eat most of my neons, and ended up back in the LFS.
I think neons are a shoaling fish, and that looks real nice in a tank for sure.
Something about the siamese fighter is ringing alarm bells, but I don't know what. Maybe they are agressive or very territorial, something is up with these, but I don't know. Someone please help me out!

Emma

your's were not dwarf frogs, but clawed frogs

i presume they were albino?

Dwarf frogs have no claws, and grow no larger than 1.5inches

they are also fine with the tank, I think it's all compatable but the tetra could potentially nip the betta's long fins, but i wouldn't count on it as they are usually timid

 

[iankent]

the tetra could potentially nip the betta's long fins, but i wouldn't count on it as they are usually timid

i can assure you there'll be some harsh tellings off if my tetras nip the at the betta! hoping for the best, but at the worst I'll rehouse the betta in another tank on its own (dont mind too much, already want to start another aquarium ), but gonna keep my fingers crossed that they all get along fine!

anyone got any advice about the snails? are they likely to continue breeding so quickly once the fish are in there, or should i take measures now to get rid of them? i've read about a few options including manual removal and chemicals, but not sure i quite like the idea of either (baiting them out with cucumber sounds a bit more acceptable). will chemicals for killing snails harm the plants in any way? I assume the fish would be fine as there'll be a large water change at the end? or am I better off leaving them alone for now and deal with them later on if they become too much of a problem?

thanks