just got a 10 gallon tank

[Loveless]

... from petco. It comes with filter and heater, including a bag of gravel ran me about 65$+ tax.
Please refer to the photos below as I have a few questions. (yes I know it's empty, going to get the fishes tommorow as I was preparing the tank/water today)

1) Is there too much water? Should I drain some so the filter would deliver more oxygen due to faster momentum of running water?
2) I want this to be a tropical fish tank, what temperature do I set it to for most common tropical fishes?
3) What kind of “starter” fishes should I get to get the ammonia, nitrate, nitrite cycle going?
4) What kind of maintenance do I need to perform?
5) What kind of live plant doesn’t peel off easily and can withstand higher temperate?
6) what is the average number of tropical fish I can keep at once?
7) Flakes or floating pillets?
8) are there any translucent ftropical fishes out there? I sure didn't see any at petco
9) as far as changing the water goes... should I wait until the cycle completes (6 weeks)? how often should I do it? do I dump in the new water.. say if I change 1/5 each time and put new water in addition to the de chlorine pack?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Loveless and welcome to the forum

You have a good tank setup and have asked some very good questions, so I would say you are off to an excellent start. And coming to the forum was a good thing, too. There are many of us here who are happy to help newcomers to the hobby get going.

If I can offer some advice, the most important thing, and often the hardest for a newbie to accept, is that you proceed slowly. I know that you are anxious to see everything done and your tank full of happy fish, but you are dealing with Mother Nature here, and she can't be hurried.

Here is a link to an article that will explain the cycling process. It will answer your question about water changes.

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...showtopic=10099

Before you go any further, let me point out one problem you may (or may not) want to deal with at this point. I see from the picture that the bottom of your tank is covered with small rocks. Many people, when planning their collection of fish, will want fish that live in the top, middle and bottom levels of the tank. This is a pleasant arrangement to look at and it avoids congestion in any one area. Unfortunatly, with these little rocks, you will not be able to have bottom feeders such as corydoras catfish or loaches. They require fine gravel (or sand) and will be injured with what you have.

Here is a link that shows the cory cats that are available, so that you will know just what I am refering to:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/calli...rydora/51_f.htm

They are very popular fish, good community tank citizens and great fun to watch. If you think you may want them at some point, I suggest that you change your substrate now, before you cultivate your bacteria. The rocks you have are better suited to a large tank with large fish.

Now, to get to your questions. Keep the tank full to the top. Almost all the oxygen the fish need will be absorbed through the surface of the water. Since the surface is kept in constant motion by the filter, it will continuously pick up oxygen.

A good temperature range for keeping tropicals is between 76 and 78 degrees F, but this may change depending on the fish you get.

A good rule of thumb for calculating the amount of fish you can keep in a tank is to figure one inch of fish per one gallon of water. This, naturally, is just a starting point and as you learn the science of fishkeeping you will be able to add more. Do not start out with a full load of fish. The cycling article will explain why.

Don't let the lfs (local fish store) sell you any plecos, clown loaches, kissing gouramis or sharks. They are frequently sold to new fishkeepers who don't realize that these attractive fish will not fit in their small tanks.

The food will depend on what fish you get, but a good brand of flake food is a good thing to start out with. Later you will want to add variety.

For plant advice, I suggest you check out How Does Your Garden Grow which is the plant section of the forum. Be aware that some lfs sell plants that are not really suited to life underwater, so be prepared to avoid them by knowing what does.

Well, there are a few things for you to think about. Good luck with your tank!

Just remember to go slowly and that you have friends on this forum who want to help you. You can't ask too many questions.

 

[lizard]

Here's what *I* think you should do....take it back to the store and get a bigger one, 'cause in a few weeks you'll wish you had. I wish I had (or had money to get another tank). You will quickly become addicted to fish and will want more than your 10 gallon can hold.

Just teasing you some! Welcome to the forums! As I suggested above...you will love keeping fish. It will be frustrating at times, but most of the time it will be enjoyable and relaxing

1) Is there too much water? Should I drain some so the filter would deliver more oxygen due to faster momentum of running water?

No. In fact, you could even add a little more water (up to the bottom of the black "edge" around the top of the tank).

2) I want this to be a tropical fish tank, what temperature do I set it to for most common tropical fishes?

I believe that most tropical freshwater tanks are set at a temperature between 72 and 80 degrees, farenheit. I think 72-76 is more ideal. My tank is set at about 75 or 76.

3) What kind of “starter” fishes should I get to get the ammonia, nitrate, nitrite cycle going?

This is a debated issue on this forum. Some people recommend fishless cycling, where pure ammonia is used to start the cycle. Other people suggest, or are at least not against, cycling a tank with fish. Not knowing better, I cycled my tank with fish. I didn't learn about cycling until *after* I already had my fish. Good for you for asking questions *before* buying fish I had Platys and a little Pleco during cycling and they've all survived alright and appear to be healthy and doing well. I did 10 to 15% water changes every day for a few weeks, in order to keep ammonia and/or nitrite levels down (depending on where in the cycle my tank was at the time). Another option is to try and get some gravel or filter media from an already-established tank (perhaps the pet store would give you a cup of gravel) and place that in your tank when you get your fish. There will be bacteria on the gravel from the established tank and you will have bypassed having to wait a long time for your tank to cycle. Now, I'd go for the latter option. I'm simply WAY too impatient to wait for my tank to cycle without fish. Now that I have two established tanks, I won't have to worry about cycling either. When I get a new tank, I'll take filter media from one of my established ones and 'boom', I can add fish

For more info on fishless cycling, go to the Beginner's Forum and read the Pinned Topic by AlienAnna. It's titled something along the lines of "Preventing/Treating New Tank Syndrome".

4) What kind of maintenance do I need to perform?

After cycling, regular water changes will need to be done (water changes during cycling depend on the type of cycling you're doing and I can't really comment about fishless cycling, as I've never done it). Depending on the numbers and types of fish in your tank, you may need to do water changes every day or every other day, or may only need to do them once a week or every two weeks. I do water changes in my 10 gallon once or twice a week, depending upon how dirty the tank is and how much time I have (I'm in college).

5) What kind of live plant doesn’t peel off easily and can withstand higher temperate?

By "peel off" do you not staying in the gravel and floating around? Anacharus (elodea) do not stay in the gravel too well, unless you don't disturb the tank at all. At least that's been my experience with them. I have some sort of Lilly that I bought as bulbs in a little package at Wal-Mart. They've rooted themselves well and don't come uprooted and float around the tank. Those are the only two plants I have experience with. I have heard that both Java Moss & Fern are good plants and easy to grow. There are many others out there, as well. Someone else from here can probably suggest others and/or give you websites to look at. I have links to a number of websites, but don't have time to find them all right now, as I have class in a few minutes.

6) what is the average number of tropical fish I can keep at once?

The very general "rule of thumb" is one inch of fish per gallon of water. So, for your ten gallon tank, that means about 10 fish. If you have very messy fish, each inch of fish will need more than one gallon of water. Some other fish can be kept in a little less water (than they would "need" following the one inch per gallon rule). This also depends on how often you do water changes. My 10 gallon tank is bordering on over-stocked right now, but the fish appear happy and healthy and I do frequent water changes.

I will answer the rest of your questions later, if no one else has. Right now, I need to go get ready for class and then go to class. Much as I'd rather stay here and read Fish Forum posts and respond to them, I just can't Finals week is next week (ewwwww....).

Again, welcome!

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[commanderdoom21]

Wut is all da bubbles for?

 

[Loveless]

Wut is all da bubbles for?

that's from the showerhead, which I used to fill up the tank

thanks everyone, looking foward to have rest of my questions answered

 

[mariojoshi]

Hey loveless... nice to see another person starting off here like i did a week or so back... when you say shower head.. did you use a de-chlorinator in the water you filled it with?

just asking... depends on the are you live in really.

temp-wise.. so variable.. apparently my white cloud mountain minnows can survive quite happily up to 84 farenheit! and they are sold as coldwater fish..

above all, make sure you start slowly, get an all in one testing kit for about £25.. erm.. $35??? i know its expensive.. but should avoid expense of dead fish in the long run.

also, let your first fish swim around happily for at least 2weeks if before adding more, its a pain i know.. but its better to only kill 2 than 4

good luck with it all
josh

 

[BettaBoyz]

hi there, Loveless! welcome to the forums, and it's great you're asking questions rather than barreling ahead like many-a-newb does!

1- personally, i like to have very little waterline showing on my tank. it's really a matter of preference, really, and if you can deliver oxygen in other ways...

2- all tropicals range from 65 to 85 degrees fahrenheit, most prefer 70 to 80 degrees though. if you want to keep a few colder tropics with warmer tropics, 75 is the best bet, but otherwise i'd go with around 78. i keep my tank at 81 degrees, it keeps all my fish active and healthy!

3- do a fishless cycle! sadly, i never knew about this and the Betta i cycled with had ammonia-burn to his tail. fishless cycling is simple, but takes time. add in a product called Cycle as well as pure ammonia, or fishfood if you can't get your fins on it, until all params are 0. do a partial water change (the largest you'll ever do to your tank) of around 40%, test again. if anything changes keep cycling a few days and try again. when nothing happens, you can add you fishies in!

4- a weekly water change/gravel siphon of around 20%, live plant clippings, filter intake cleanings, filter media cleanings, fish feedings and algae scrapings are the usual things, with some more specific fish things change, but for you this will work fine.

5- i'm not a live plant person, i got sick of dealing with slime algae all over my nice vallisnera that i chucked 'em and went the silkie route ^^

6- it depends. my tank is definately overstocked, but params, swim space and aggression tell me otherwise. start out with the 1" of fish per 1g rule, get a few small fishes each week (like a pair of Danios or Tetras, or Guppies or Platties, or a single young Swordtail or Betta) you should stop when your params bobble, and then start keeping the tank cleaner. best way to keep more fish is to have loads of bacteria-holding things; lots of sponges/carbon in the filter, lots of plants, lots of gravel. but remember not to overdo it, too much doesn't help as the fish won't fit in the tank!

7- both! vary your fishies diet; i give mine sinking shrimp pellets, floating Betta Bites, carnivore flakes, vegetarian flakes, and gourmet flakes all at once!

8- glass catfishes! painted glassfish! normal glassfish are better, as the painted variety go through a horrendous process including spinal dye-injection or stripping the slime coat and dipping them in dye. i find the normals are hard to come by, so i you really do want it just pick up a few painteds and nurse them back to normality. the fishkeeping minority boycotting dying isn't going to save them, newbs and stores will still keep buying them.

9- wait until the cycle completes, do a partial change, then after that each week gets a 20% water change. if you live in a rural area like me, where you water is filtered mercilessly and never touches any chemicals, you can skip dechlorinators and the like, but if not you must dechlorinate the tank!

hope it helps, even though everyone else has answered too! welcome, again, Loveless!

 

[lizard]

4- a weekly water change/gravel siphon of around 20%...fish feedings

Once a week fish feedings?! Is this a typo?

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[lizard]

The continuation of my previous post Class is all over now, I've eaten dinner, visited with friends, and am now avoiding homework

7) Flakes or floating pillets?

Yes! I feed a wide variety of foods to my fish. I feed tropical flakes or granules daily, along with algae wafers (or pieces of) for the Corys and Pleco. The Bettas get Hikari Betta Pellets (can't remember the exact name of 'em). The Betta in the ten gallon also gets whatever else he can fit in his little mouth, hence his very round shape On occasion (usually when the mood or thought strikes me!), they get tubifix worms or blood worms. When I have them, I feed peas (with the shell removed), beans, and plan to try carrots sometime. I try and throw a chunk/half-slice of cucumber or zucchini in there every few days - mostly for the Pleco, 'cause he *loves* 'em.

8 ) are there any translucent ftropical fishes out there? I sure didn't see any at petco

The only ones I can think of right now are the Glass Catfish. They're cool looking fish. My vet used to have some. I'm not sure if they're suitable for a 10 gallon though; someone else will have to answer that for you. There me be some type of albino Tetras - the undyed versions of what are often called "Mixed Fruit Tetras" or "Strawberry/Blueberry Tetras". Not sure on that though. I'm not very helpful with this particular question...sorry.

9) as far as changing the water goes... should I wait until the cycle completes (6 weeks)? how often should I do it? do I dump in the new water.. say if I change 1/5 each time and put new water in addition to the de chlorine pack?

Let's see...you've already been directed about changing the water during cycling. After cycling's done, I'd say do a 10 to 15% water change once or twice a week, depending on the number and types of fish you have. If you have city water or water with chlorine in it, you'll want to add dechlorinator

I think that answers all the questions in your first post. If you have any more, give us a "type" and we'll do our best to answer!

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[Loveless]

thanks everyone for their helpful replies. I am not doing a fishless cycle, in fact I got 3 little fishes. Here they are!

 

[Loveless]

the lfs lady gave me those live plants for free when I got the 99 cents fishes to begin the cycling. Should I keep the tank light on all the time? Will it affect the fishes?

 

[dunc_man_fishy]

live plants need only 10-12 hours light a day. So get a timer to switch on and off. As for the fishes it will upset them if you leave lights on all time, you will also prob get algae problems.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Loveless

In nature, fish and plants have periods of light alternating with periods of darkness. Since you are attempting to create such an environment inside your home, you will want to establish similar periods.

 

[akhtar]

welcome

u seem to be doing well, what fish are those?

hopefully u will showus some pics when ur tanks finished

 

[A.K.A Zak]

starting to look great, in no time those plants will sprout up and causse a lot of algae probs. i suggest you get one chinese algae eater and 5 neon tetras, and you could probley add a durf gourami. that would make a great community tank setup. try posting some pics on your next updates.