Finished Cycle

[Frost]

Good day.

After two and a half weeks my fishless cycle has finished. I'm now ready to get myself some little fish to go in my tank.

My tank is 18uk gallons so I dont really want anything much bigger than 2.5 inches in length, 3 inches max. I've had a quick read and it seems i'd benefit from having 3 different kinds of fish; top, middle, and bottom.

Top
I havnt got a clue what could occupy the top of my tank. Maybe someone could shed some light?

middle
I like the look of guppies or neon tetra, but im not sure if they are shoaling fish or not?

bottom
Someone on these forums has a really lovely looking fish sitting on the sand with a panda nexto it (maybe has a joke on the picture too?) Can anyone tell me what that fish it called?


One more question. When i come to do my large water change (the 90% one) before i get my fish how long can i leave my filter media out of the water - my filter being an internal one is going to be completely out of the water for at least 30mins-2hours with me having to condition buckets of water and heat them up and stuff. How did you folks go about this? I'm really worried im going to kill my bacteria off while trying to do such a big water change.

Thanks a bunch for any help!

Frosty

 

[rdd1952]

Congratulations!!!

Neons are delicate and sometimes don't do well in a new tank, even if it is cycled. I don't have any experience with them personally though. With guppies, you have to be prepared to deal with the fry or be willing to let nature take it's course and have the other fish eat them. I'm not familiar with the avatar or signature you are speaking of but most likely the fish is a cory of some type. Here is a site that has some pretty good information on a lot of fish and good photos.

As for the water change, as long as the media stays wet, it is fine. If you're really concerned and depending on how difficult it is to do, you could put the filter in a 5 gallon bucket full of tank water and just let it run while you change the water. But in most cases, you don't have anything to worry about. It shouldn't take you long to make the change.

 

[Frost]

It shouldn't take you long to make the change.

I have a feeling its going to take me a good couple of hours. I'll be using a bucket and adding dechlorinator to cold tap water. Wont i need to heat the buckets of water up a bit to make sure i dont kill my bacteria from extreme cold?

 

[scorphonic]

Just boil the kettle and add it to the water to get the right temp

The dechlorinator should be able to remove heavy metals so I wouldn't worry about using kettle water.

 

[TerraDreamer]

I agree with rdd, just keep the media wet by leaving it in a bucket of tank water. I've tossed my sponges into a bucket of tank water and left them for three hours and everything was fine. It really shouldn't take you two hours to change the water, and I wouldn't bother trying to heat the water, that's what your 100-watt heater is for. Leave the heater off for 15 minutes after adding the last of the water (condition the water before adding to the tank) then plug it in. It shouldn't take more than 5-8 hours to heat your 20 gallon tank to the proper temperature. Add a few food flakes or drops of ammonia to feed the bacteria until you introduce fish.

 

[rdd1952]

I would just use the tank water you are removing to put the filter in. No use to use fresh water. The tank water could also still have trace amounts of ammonia in it to continue feeding the bacteria. I would try to get the water you are adding back into the tank relatively close to the correct temperature just so your heater doesn't have to work too hard. No use wearing it out yet. Just mix hot and cold tap water to get it to the proper temp.

 

[Frost]

Just boil the kettle and add it to the water to get the right temp

The dechlorinator should be able to remove heavy metals so I wouldn't worry about using kettle water.

Now theres an idea! I shall do that.

Back to the fish choosing side of the post.

It seems i've not got a very good idea about the fish - neons being hard to keep in a new tank, and guppies going at it like rabbits.

I'll check some other posts and try and compile a list of fish i like. Then you experts can tell me what goes with what

Thanks a bunch

 

[TerraDreamer]

It shouldn't take you long to make the change.

I have a feeling its going to take me a good couple of hours. I'll be using a bucket and adding dechlorinator to cold tap water. Wont i need to heat the buckets of water up a bit to make sure i dont kill my bacteria from extreme cold?

It's never happened to me, and my tap water is in the mid-50's. You can warm it up a little if you wish, but I wouldn't fret too much about it. Maybe half and half.