Coldwater To Tropical

[cambojnr]

Hi, I have a 60L coldwater tank with 4 shubunkins in it, and have been informed that this is gonna be to small for them soon, so I was thinking about putting them in my neighbours pond next door and changeing my tank to tropical as I already have a heater, so my question is will I have to start the tank over again by taking out all the water and gravel and ornament and clean them? our will the tropical fish be able to manage once I get the water up to temprature and change my marina s15 filter cartridges to the tropical ones and let the tank cycle for a while? also if I can just do this what would be a good community of tropical fish to keep in a 60l as I would like to have 3-4 guppies, 1 male & 1 female gourami? & 4 cardinal tetras. any help would be appreciated thanks.

 

[CezzaXV]

You won't need to change the filter cartridges, the ones you have already will be just fine.

You don't HAVE to clean it, but you might like to take this opportunity to give your tank a good cleanout while there aren't any fish in it.

Ideally you want to keep 2 females to every male gourami. Have a look at the stock list in my signature - these are the fish I have and it's similar to what you want.

Make sure you have a look in the beginner's resource centre and read up on exactly what cycling involves if you haven't already. I was one of those beginners who heard about cycling and just thought "okay, I'll do that, no problem" but when the time came to actually start doing it I realised I didn't really know what it was and didn't have any of the stuff I needed.

 

[cambojnr]

You won't need to change the filter cartridges, the ones you have already will be just fine.

You don't HAVE to clean it, but you might like to take this opportunity to give your tank a good cleanout while there aren't any fish in it.

Ideally you want to keep 2 females to every male gourami. Have a look at the stock list in my signature - these are the fish I have and it's similar to what you want.

Make sure you have a look in the beginner's resource centre and read up on exactly what cycling involves if you haven't already. I was one of those beginners who heard about cycling and just thought "okay, I'll do that, no problem" but when the time came to actually start doing it I realised I didn't really know what it was and didn't have any of the stuff I needed.

well I have the same tank as you i think a marina style 60l but I have the marina s15 filter and the tanks been up about 2 weeks cycleing with help from some nutrfin cyle stuff and the shubunkins I have in there are fine, also will I need any specific stuff in my tank asweel like what specific plants as i was gonna get some java ferns and dwarven anubias so woulf they be ok i'll upload a pic of tank to see what could be helpful as atm I just have ornaments and no live plants so any info on that would be apprecited aswell thanks.

You won't need to change the filter cartridges, the ones you have already will be just fine.

You don't HAVE to clean it, but you might like to take this opportunity to give your tank a good cleanout while there aren't any fish in it.

Ideally you want to keep 2 females to every male gourami. Have a look at the stock list in my signature - these are the fish I have and it's similar to what you want.

Make sure you have a look in the beginner's resource centre and read up on exactly what cycling involves if you haven't already. I was one of those beginners who heard about cycling and just thought "okay, I'll do that, no problem" but when the time came to actually start doing it I realised I didn't really know what it was and didn't have any of the stuff I needed.

well I have the same tank as you i think, a marina style 60l but I have the marina s15 filter and the tanks been up about 2 weeks cycleing with help from some nutrfin cyle stuff and the shubunkins I have in there are fine, also will I need any specific stuff in my tank asweel like what specific plants as i was gonna get some java ferns and dwarven anubias so woulf they be ok i'll upload a pic of tank to see what could be helpful as atm I just have ornaments and no live plants so any info on that would be apprecited aswell thanks.

 

[CezzaXV]

The nutrafin cycle won't cycle a tank I'm sorry to say, though it's worth adding to your tank if you got it free like I did, as it won't do any harm.

I'm not sure you really understand what cycling is (don't worry, you're not the first and definitely won't be the last) so I recommend you go over to the beginner's resource centre and do some reading. If you're getting rid of the orandas I'd recommend doing a fishless cycle, which has the potential to be long and boring but won't expose any fish to ammonia and means you don't have to be doing twice daily water changes to begin with, which has to be worth something.

The first things you'll want to buy are a liquid test kit (a good one to start off with is the API Freshwater Master Kit) and a bottle of unscented ammonia. The test kits are cheaper to order online, and the extra you pay for postage on the ammonia is outweighed by the fuel you'd spend driving around looking for it - depending on where you are it can be hard to come by.

If you don't understand after reading or still have any questions then feel free to ask.

I've got anbuias and java fern in my tank and they do very well. Moss of some description always seems to do well also. Amazon swords are also supposed to be reasonably easy to grow, though I've had limited success with them. On the flip side, cambomba is supposed to be a little harder to grow but grows like a weed in my tank. I'd say anubias and java fern will almost definitely grow well in most tanks. For other plants it may be a case of trial and error, seeing what grows well and what doesn't.

 

[cambojnr]

The nutrafin cycle won't cycle a tank I'm sorry to say, though it's worth adding to your tank if you got it free like I did, as it won't do any harm.

I'm not sure you really understand what cycling is (don't worry, you're not the first and definitely won't be the last) so I recommend you go over to the beginner's resource centre and do some reading. If you're getting rid of the orandas I'd recommend doing a fishless cycle, which has the potential to be long and boring but won't expose any fish to ammonia and means you don't have to be doing twice daily water changes to begin with, which has to be worth something.

The first things you'll want to buy are a liquid test kit (a good one to start off with is the API Freshwater Master Kit) and a bottle of unscented ammonia. The test kits are cheaper to order online, and the extra you pay for postage on the ammonia is outweighed by the fuel you'd spend driving around looking for it - depending on where you are it can be hard to come by.

If you don't understand after reading or still have any questions then feel free to ask.

I've got anbuias and java fern in my tank and they do very well. Moss of some description always seems to do well also. Amazon swords are also supposed to be reasonably easy to grow, though I've had limited success with them. On the flip side, cambomba is supposed to be a little harder to grow but grows like a weed in my tank. I'd say anubias and java fern will almost definitely grow well in most tanks. For other plants it may be a case of trial and error, seeing what grows well and what doesn't.

I know its a stupid question but will the api freshwater test kit be work for my coldwater tank at present? know its silly but just making sure and there shubunkins not orandas lol

 

[Livewire88]

The API test kit will work fine with coldwater

 

[cambojnr]

also I have a 20l tank with a filter that is fully cylced should I put this ones media in the 60l tank as I have 2 shubunkins in my 20l tank and 2 in my 60l and as said previously the 60l has been up 2 weeks 1 day and my other tank is a few months old and cycled fully so would this media help as I am going to be putting my othe 2 shubunkins in the bigger tank and leaveing the smaller tank as a quarintine tank as i read that this should speed up the process in my newer tank?.

 

[cambojnr]

this is my tank that i have set up so far, gonna hopefully be rehoming the goldies and and setting it up for tropical by adding my heater adding some plants and an air pump, does this look suitable for tropical atm our is it to much?

 

[CezzaXV]

The tank will be perfectly suitable for tropical fish as long as you add a heater, but I highly advise you to read up on cycling, as you can't know that your other tanks have cycled without having something to test the water.

 

[cambojnr]

The tank will be perfectly suitable for tropical fish as long as you add a heater, but I highly advise you to read up on cycling, as you can't know that your other tanks have cycled without having something to test the water.

I had the water tested at the shop where I got the newer fish as I took 1 sample for my new tank and 1 for my old just to see if it had cycled and they said it had.

 

[CezzaXV]

Do you know the exact readings?

Apologies for the scepticism, but a lot of LFS workers don't know what they're talking about, and many others will tell you rubbish. I'd really advise you to get hold of a test kit, as cycling is something that does not really happen on it's own, and definitely not without any fish deaths if you don't know what you're doing.

 

[cambojnr]

Do you know the exact readings?

Apologies for the scepticism, but a lot of LFS workers don't know what they're talking about, and many others will tell you rubbish. I'd really advise you to get hold of a test kit, as cycling is something that does not really happen on it's own, and definitely not without any fish deaths if you don't know what you're doing.

all I remember is ph was 7.5 in both but i'll just get a test kit sometime soon as £20 is expensive for it so have to put some pennies aside as the fish i've had for 3 months in the now possibly cycled tank ar edoing fine with no problems what so ever, and it was pets at home that did test and i trusted them as I didint tell them which tank was water was from which tank just had a sticker on one pot. but i'll try get one when i sadly have to give my lovley fish away to a better bigger home. thanks for help i'll try get kit asap and be back soon.

 

[OldMan47]

Drop in a heater and wait a day or so for the temperature to stabilize. That is about the only difference between keeping tropicals and cold water fish. With a tap water pH of 7.5, why not go with things like guppies and platies? They will appreciate the higher pH.