ANY ADVICE FOR NEW TANK ?

[nla81]

Hi all.
Just discovered this site. Picking up loads of useful info already. I have a 40 gallon (uk gal) tank. Its been fishless cycling for 3 weeks now. Long as my next water sample is Ok im gonna actually get some fish (at last). Im thinking of starting with 6 -10 black tetras and 2 -3 angel fish then build up from there. If anyone has any advice would appreciate hearing from you !! Thanks Nick

 

[The-Wolf]

whoa, slow down there. I'd just start with the tetras for a couple of weeks then add the angels. Build you stocks up slowly so as not to overload your tank too quickly.

by the way the forum.

 

[impur]

whoa, slow down there. I'd just start with the tetras for a couple of weeks then add the angels. Build you stocks up slowly so as not to overload your tank too quickly.

by the way the forum.

Good advice.



I wouldn't do more than 2 angels in that tank.

 

[Never2Bknown]

I thought angels were rather delicate. You might want to try some tougher fish... for a community tank you could try danios, guppies, or platies. Or there's always the African cichlids, but they're mean; you wouldn't be able to have a community tank. I have a few cichlids myself, though; beautiful fish, and quite hardy. But it's up to you. I don't know much about tetras, I've never had any...

Anyway, welcome to the forum!

 

[KnuckleHead]

Good choice on getting angels. Please no more then 2 in that tank. Angels arent as delicate as alot of people think. Good healthy angels can handle the majority of mistakes made with water chemistry. The problems come from the LFS. They recieved stressed out fish that have lived in cramped quarters, thrown in a bag, survive who knows what during delivery and thrown into a smaller tank without being acclimated. There are tones of breeders out there to get fish from. Do a little research and see whats available to you. Alot of breeders even ship (myself included) and your pretty much garraunteed to get strong stock.

 

[WheelmanCA19]

Isn't one of the benifits of fishless cycling that you can fully stock your tank when its cycled. The bioload of adding pure ammonia @ 5ppm surely would be less than what a fully stocked tank can produce.

 

[nla81]

Thanks all.
I went down to my LFS and they suggested some danios to begin with, then to head back in a week with a water sample and all being well to get 2 angels. They advised me to wait a couple of months or so before getting any tetras.
Thanks again

 

[luxum]

Isn't one of the benifits of fishless cycling that you can fully stock your tank when its cycled. The bioload of adding pure ammonia @ 5ppm surely would be less than what a fully stocked tank can produce.

Yep, with a few exceptions. Some fish, like otos, really do need very stable chemistry and shouldn't be added at the initial stocking, imo. However i have added full loads of fish several times after fishless cycling with ammonia, including the ones in my sig about 2 weeks ago. I never saw ammonia or nitrite readings above zero, and didn't lose a single fish. Actually, i ~found~ a fish after a week lol! If you don't provide enough bioload, you'll have a lot of colony dieback and sort of defeat the purpose of doing it in the first place.

But when someone says they've been "fishless cycling" you have to check to make sure they mean they used ammonia and not that they just let the tank run without fish in it for awhile.