Almost ready for fish...

[777james777]

Okay so I wanted to do a summary of were I am up too. All being well I am in the final stages of my fishless cycle and its time to start thinking about the last 3 things.

- Plants
- Ornaments
- Fish

(I have asked a few of these questions before but they are lost in threads)
My tank is 160 litres (probably 150 litres when you take into consideration the substrate, the gap at the top of the tank and everything in it. Size wise it is 100cm x 40cm x 40cm, so a half decent size.
My substrate is half sand and half (average size) gravel.

I have it in mind that I would like to get my ornaments/rocks/plants all into the water when I do my final water change before correcting the temperature ensuring the fish' future home is all set up and ready for them to settle into. After consideration, I'm still really unsure about using the slate I have found as I don't want to contaminate the water or harm the fish. So I may go down the ornament route.
As for the plants I want quite a lot. I want my fish to have lots of cover and the aquarium to look full (obviously not too much) and finally I need to carefully choose my new fish.

My questions are...

- Should I get all my fish at once?
- I like guppie and neon tetras which fish would go happily with these guys?
- Which plants should I go for (easy maintenance that look good (I want it like a jungle) and which should I avoid?
- Which is the best fish food? (brands / makes / other options)

 

[Lcc86]

I can't answer all the questions but having recently upgraded I went for plants like amazon swords, crypts, java fern and elodea densa as I don't have lots of experience with plants and wanted lower maintenance stuff. Popped a few root tabs in when I first planted them and they shot up.

For the fish I added each species one at a time, left it a few weeks then added the next.

 

[777james777]

I can't answer all the questions but having recently upgraded I went for plants like amazon swords, crypts, java fern and elodea densa as I don't have lots of experience with plants and wanted lower maintenance stuff. Popped a few root tabs in when I first planted them and they shot up.

For the fish I added each species one at a time, left it a few weeks then added the next.

What are the root tabs and how do they work?

I have had mixed reactions about "amount" of fish to add in one go. How come you did it this way?

 

[Essjay]

I like guppie and neon tetras which fish would go happily with these guys?

You have quite soft water so neons are good, guppies are not good as they are hard water fish. They'll slowly decline and die sooner than they should in your hardness. There are just too many soft water fish to give a list, but it is usual to go with fish which swim in the upper levels of the tank, fish which live on the bottom of the tank and fish which swim in the middle of the tank. Your gravel does mean you need to be careful with bottom dwellers as some can be damaged by gravel, and some like to dig so your sand and gravel areas will become mixed.

Since you are doing a fishless cycle, you can get fish all at once.
The bacteria you are growing are constantly dying off and reproducing, just like humans do. At the moment during cycling they are reproducing faster than they are dying off as there's more ammonia and nitrite than the current numbers can eat. Once you have all your fish they will die off and reproduce at the same rate so the numbers remain constant. If you have only a few fish, more will die than are 'born' so the total numbers will drop. Why get fish a few at a time and lose a lot of the bacteria you are currently growing?
The only fish to leave till later are those which need a mature tank. Fish like otocinclus, which need algae to feed on and there isn't enough in a newly cycled tank; shrimps also need a mature tank.


Root tabs are tablets of dry fertiliser. They are pushed into the substrate near the roots of heavy root feeding plants such as amazon swords and cryptocorynes. The tabs break down over a few months and the plants take up the nutrients and they need to replaced every few months. I use Seachem Flourish root tabs as these are known not to release nutrients into the water.
Plants like Lcc86's elodea and java fern are leaf feeders and they need liquid fertiliser adding to the water. I use Seachem Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Tank.


Some plants like java fern and anubias need to be grown attached to decor. They have a rhizome which rots if under the substrate. They need to be tied or glued on at first but then soon cling by themselves like ivy clings to a wall. These plants are useful for covering plastic cave style decor, wood or rocks.
Other plants are rosette plants (eg swords and crypt) or stem plants. A lot of stem plants can be pruned when they get too tall and the top part replanted.


The plant growers classify their plants as easy, medium and advanced. To start with I suggest you stay with easy plants. You can search by difficulty on Tropica's website to find easy plants which you like.

The right aquarium plants - Tropica Aquarium Plants

The right aquarium plants

tropica.com

 

[Lcc86]

What are the root tabs and how do they work?

I have had mixed reactions about "amount" of fish to add in one go. How come you did it this way?

I only added mine this way as I'd had a bad experience in previous tank (completely my fault) so I wanted to make sure I didn't kill everything essentially! I was probably being over-cautious but it was more for my own peace of mind than anything. Essjay has explained lots re the root tabs, not much more I can add!

 

[777james777]

@Essjay Thank you once again for all of this.

I see, so I will go with the neon tetras over the guppies then due to the soft water. I think it was advised / decided that I would be looking at getting 15 of these as they like to be in groups.
So really what I need to do is have a look at which soft water fish I like.
Is there a "max limit" that you would say in a tank my size? I obviously don't want to cause them stress by being too confined.

Yes, I did anticipate that the ones on the bottom could start to mix up my substrate a bit. Which ideally I wanted to avoid, so if there's any particularly messy ones i would avoid them!

I have just had a quick glance on Tropica's website and it looks quite easy to use. I did notice that when I went to Pier Aquatics there wasn't a huge selection of plants. Unless I missed them. Is there any were people tend to get their plants from specifically?

 

[powerdyne6]

I had 10 Penguin Tetras in a 15 gallon. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was fully stocked yet. They have since been moved to my 75 gallon with a couple other species.

You could probably get away with a few more than that. Although it will depend on how big the intended fish will get.

 

[BettaFishGirl]

You could get different kinds of tetras. Ember Tetras, rummynose tetras, and cardinal tetras are good options. You could have, say:
15 Neon tetras
20 Ember tetras
Or:
12-15 Neon tetras
10 Rummynose tetra

I get all of my plants from BucePlant.com, they have amazing plants for really great prices. They always give me extra too.

 

[777james777]

You could get different kinds of tetras. Ember Tetras, rummynose tetras, and cardinal tetras are good options. You could have, say:
15 Neon tetras
20 Ember tetras
Or:
12-15 Neon tetras
10 Rummynose tetra

I get all of my plants from BucePlant.com, they have amazing plants for really great prices. They always give me extra too.

Thank you. As I live in the UK buce plants may be a bit far!

 

[BettaFishGirl]

Thank you. As I live in the UK buce plants may be a bit far!

I don't think that ship plants to the UK so they might not be available to you But they do ship dry goods to the UK!

 

[Essjay]

I have used these plant sites. mainly because I have shrimps and nerite snails and these sellers guarantee shrimp safe plants. There are plants out of stock at many on-line sellers at the moment though.

Aqua Essentials - Aquarium Plants | The Home of The Planted Aquarium

Aquarium Plants are shipped throughout the UK in record time with most orders being dispatched the same working day (Monday to Friday). Delivery is fast and all plants are in stock. Expert help is always at hand so if you're having any troubles with your plants and need a bit of support, we're...

aquaessentials.co.uk

Pro Shrimp UK - Aquascaping Experts, Aquarium Plants & Shrimp - Pro Shrimp

One of the leading Aquarium Plant and Aquascaping Suppliers in the UK. Your Shrimp and Aquatic Expert since 2014

www.pro-shrimp.co.uk

Horizon Aquatics | Aquascaping Specialists

We supply high-quality live aquarium plants and aquascaping equipment from leading brands. Horizon Aquatics stock a range of products, including fish tanks, aquarium filters, aquascaping tools, and specialist equipment, as well as shrimp, snails and fish. Stockists of ADA, Oase, Tropica, UNS...

www.horizonaquatics.co.uk

I've bought plants in person at Horizon, so I can't say what their mail order service is like
And seller k2aqua on eBay.

 

[Byron]

Thinking only of fish here, you (and the rest of us in order to offer useful advice) need to keep in mind that the tank is roughly 150 liters or 40 gallons, the length is 100cm (40 inches). And you have soft water. A quick comment on decor, I would strongly advise some chunks of bogwood, as all of the fish suited to this tank and water come from watercourses with wood, dried leaves often. These things are important for the well-being of the fish.

It is impossible to say you can have "x" number of fish in this tank. It all depends upon the species, one by one. The size the fish obtains, how many of that species may be essential, their temperament as a species, the position they occupy in the water column, etc.

If you see a fish you like, always research. Ask on this forum. It is much safer and less worry to set aside a species rather than acquiring it and then having serious problems and being forced to return it or euthanize it. No one wants that.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I second aqua essentials, the plants have always been of beautiful quality and I won't buy anywhere else now.

Just a little thought I wanted to mention regarding tetras.. you're blessed with water that is suited to a wide variety of species so don't limit yourself to just Neons and Cardinals. They are very popular in the hobby and are what everyone wants when they first start keeping fish, but unfortunately the mass breeding over the years hasn't done them any favours where immunity etc is concerned. By all means get what want, but do a bit of research to see what else is available that tickles your fancy, you'll be surprised at what you find!

 

[AlexT]

And seller k2aqua on eBay.

They are excellent.

 

[777james777]

They have a very large variety of plants! There’s so much more to this hobby than you think!

I think I just need to make a note of all the easy plants to look after then pick an amount of plants I want and then order them all at once