Aquarium Re-Stock and Cleaning Up Advice

[omega59]

Hi. I recently been posting about my 3-4 year old Betta not doing so well, and I've decided to put him to rest. Now, I want to re-stock his tank with fish again. It is a Fluval V, 5 Gallon setup well established for 4 years now with my single Betta. I need some advice.. do i need to perform a large water change before adding anything new? and i was looking into the Chili Rasboaras dwarf variety as they are suppose to be suitable for nano tanks being less than 1inch fully grown. So i was hoping to get at least 5-8? Lastly how long can the aquarium sit without any fish, without causing a problem?

 

[Colin_T]

The tank can sit for up to 1 week without any food for the filter bacteria. If it is going to be longer than that before you get new fish, add a couple of fish flakes or pellets to the tank each day. Remove them after an hour. They will produce ammonia that will keep the filters alive.

If the fish did not die from a disease and was simply euthanized, then clean the filter, wash filter materials in a bucket of tank water. Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge, drain all the water and gravel clean all the substrate, refill the tank with dechlorinated water. Allow the tank to run for 24-48 hours and then add some fish.

All rasboras need to be in groups of 6 or more and preferably 10 or more.

 

[omega59]

Thank you I will do this. Will 10 be ok in this size of an aquarium?

 

[Colin_T]

I have no idea how big the tank is, what are the dimensions (length x width x height)?

 

[Jeremy180]

According to this product description,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0089E5VLC/?tag=ff0d01-20
the dimensions of the outside of the tank are:
17.2"x10.6"x 6.3" (about 43.7x27x16cm)
With the filter being incorporated into the side of the tank, I suspect a length usable by the fish of at least 2 inches, (5cm) less than the outside length.

In my humble opinion, this is a tight fit for any schooling fish.

 

[Colin_T]

I'm not sure I would put rasboras or anything else in that tank, it just doesn't have the width to be useful. Might be best left as a Betta tank.

 

[omega59]

Ok so it's a no go.. thx.

 

[Colin_T]

you could probably have a few small shrimp in it.

 

[omega59]

Yeah no it's ok. I may buy a 10 gallon on winter special would that be good for 10 of them?

 

[Colin_T]

A 10 gallon should be fine because it will have more width in the tank and that gives the fish more area to swim. However, if you are going to get a new aquarium, look at 20 gallon tanks too. Quite often there is only a few dollars difference between the 10 and 20 but the 20 has double the water volume and is better for fish.

 

[omega59]

I'm looking at the space in the room i dont think i will be able to fit in a 20gallon.

 

[Colin_T]

Get a tank that is wider and higher than normal.
eg: a 10 gallon tank might be 24 inches long x 10 inches wide x 12 inches high.
Try to find a tank that is 24 inches long x 14-18 inches wide x 14-18 inches high. It will have a similar sized foot print (a couple of inches wider and higher) but will give you more water.

 

[omega59]

Are any of those other Fluval tanks good, I need a silent filter too. One feature that sold me on my Fluval V. Don't even hear the water nothing.