Keeping an Aquarium [Freshwater]

[Tetra]

Hello!

I am new to keeping fish. I need some help. I would like to make my own freshwater aquarium, but im not sure where to start. I live in Hong Kong, and there is a great fish market (and no, its not for buying fish to eat!) where I could probably buy just about any kind of fish.

I am not sure what the theme of my aquarium should be. What is your opinion on acidic or alkaline tanks? I remember reading that most South American fish live in acidic water, and most African fish have more alkaline water. I like bright and colorful fish (dosent everyone? ) which would be audaciously hardy enough to withstand the possible blunders of a beginner such as me. What kind of fish, what size/theme of aquarium, what kind of pump/filter/gravel/wood/rocks, and what kind of snails/water plants would the elete fish owners recommend to a beginner?

 

[CFC]

The first thing to address is the size of the tank,believe it or not a bigger tank is easier to maintain than a smaller one as a greater volume of water is more tolerant of ammonia and nitrite spikes,it also takes longer for the nitrates to reach dangerous levels.So really you need to buy the biggest tank you can afford and accomidate.
If you want a planted aquarium then you must have a suffient lighting system,the general rule is 3 watts of light per gallon of water and if the tank is over 15 inches deep the tubes will require reflectors to allow the light to penatrate right to the bottom of the tank.
For filtration i would recomend a good external canister filter which is matched to the size of the tank you have,good makes are eheim and fluval,if you are going with a african theme i would suggest doubling this as many keepers of african cichlids recomend over stocking the tank to prevent aggressions.
To decide what fish you want to keep really you need to know what the PH and hardness of your tapwater is,it is easier to match fish to water than it is water to fish.Once you know what fish you are going to keep then you can start matching the decor to them,AC tanks are best with large rock formations with a crushed coral substrate to help keep the PH and hardness high where as SA theme tanks need bogwood and a neutral substate such as silver sand to help keep the PH and hardness low.
To the absolute begginer i would recomend not going with a particular theme and just setting up a community tank of small hardy compatable fish so that they can get a feel for what fish they like and what kind of look they want from a tank ,fish i would recomend are danios,bronze or peppered corydoras,small barbs (although not tiger barbs) and tetras,depending on the size of the tank a pleco would be a good addition as well.This list is by no means exhausted and there are many fish that would also be suitable.

HTH CFC

 

[AgentOrange]

IN my apinion regular cleaning is a good thing keep is spotless i do and my fish are well happy




The Agent

 

[-=DG=-]

Check out the parameters of your tap water. Then you could use that as a basis on which fish would be easier to keep.

 

[Tanked]

cfc pretty much hit it all, I just have one suggestion for a beggining fish keeper on fish to start with. the livebearerslike platy's, swordtails and mollies are very hearty fish and are great for getting some experience.

 

[Feline]

Hi Tetra! Welcome here. It's nice to see someone from where I originally come from! One thing to say is not to buy a lot of fishies at once as the tank needs cycling (I made this mistake when I just set up my tank a week b4 introducing 16 fishies in and stressed them nearly to death...). Luckily 14 of them r still alive bcoz of the help and advice I got from ppl in this forum!

And try to maintain the water temperature coz HK's way too hot. With the lighting in the tank, the water temp will just go higher n higher... so put the tank where the air con will b on most of the time.

Good luck!

Edit: Prob u have already known, u can go to the streets behind Mongkok Police Station. I remember there r a lot of fish shops there!

 

[Tetra]

Thanks for all your help guys!

But I still have a few more questions. [I have decided to try making a more SA tank, hopefully using Tetra]

Cycling - What type of fish should I start my cycling process with? I was thinking of just using Cardinal Tetra, but I read that they would not be the best kind of fish.

CHC - You mentioned silver sand, could you explain to me how this is used?

Aquarium upkeep - How frequently should I change the water, and how much of it should be changed? How are Gravel Vacuums used?

Plants - Im planing on planting plants in my tank (mabye Amazon Sword), would they need any specefic sized or type of gravel to live in?

 

[CFC]

Since you mentioned in your PM that your tank is going to be a 10g you are pretty limited to the type and ammount of fish you can keep,it also limits you on plants as most will grow to large and take over a small tank.
In a tank of that size i would recomend 6 tetras of your choice 3 hardy corydoras such as peppered or bronze and 2 or 3 otocinclus species for plants i would recomend Anubias nana,a African plant so not quite sticking with the south american theme but it stays small and will grow even in poor light conditions.
Since you want to do a cycle with fish i would suggest using the corys which are very hardy.
Silver sand is better known as playpit sand and should be available from most garden stores,if you use sand rather than gravel then your plants should be either potted or attached to wood/rocks with fishing line as sand should not be more than 1" deep (others will disagree but i feel than since sand is much denser than gravel it leads to more anerobic (sp) pockets in the substrate),IMO gravel is a better substate for planted tanks as plants do better in a substrate that is 3 to 4 inches deep.
Using a gravel cleaner is easy,if you are using a sand substrate you need to just hover the tube above the sand to pick up any debries lying on top,with gravel just push the tube 1" into the substrate to remove debries imbedded in it,it is important not to over vacume the tank and if possible only do half at a time.
How often you need to change the water is dependant on how many fish you have in the tank and how much waste they produce,by sticking with a similar list to the one above you would only need to change 10% of the water once every two weeks.While on the subject of water i will use this post to answer your PM,you say that your tapwater is unfit for human consumption the only solution i can think of would be to use RO water which can be bought from fish shops (although i dont know if it is available in HK),since it is a small tank this would not be too expensive but you must remember to replace the trace elements (which are also bought at the fs) before adding water to the tank,this will also allow you to keep the water to the PH and hardness you require.

 

[Tetra]

When I said 10 gallons - I meant 10 US gallons. 1 US Gallon = 0.83 UK Gallon. So it is actually a 12 (UK Gallon) tank. I think I might be able to partially solve the bad water problem by installing a good filter in my faucet.

 

[Tetra]

Hi again guys,

I need some additional advice.


My tank is 45 X 25 X 30 cm or 33.75 liters, which is approx 9 (US) gallons. The pH level is 6.5-7, and I have recently (1 day ago) added 2 pieces of bogwood, one is about a foot long, and the 2nd one about half that. The tank has been "cycling" for about a week, without fish. I am planning to have 7 Cardinal Tetra, and 2 other Tetra species which I have not determined yet.

I need to know more about what water parameters I should have, such as the dH (I have no clue what that is,) nitrate/nitrite, ammonia and whatever other levels, and what they should be at.

Thanks.

 

[Alien Anna]

Personally, I would strongly urge you to reconsider cycling with fish, especially in a small tank (small = under 30 US gals). Losing fish in your first few weeks of fish keeping is very disheartening and I can almost promise you'd regret it. I'd also say it's a welfare issue, since fish are living creatures and shouldn't be stressed when it can be avoided.

Fishless cycling is actually easier: if your nitrite spikes when you've got nothing more than the odd plant in the tank, you aren't going panic. In fact, you could probably just leave it alone until the nitrite goes away again. If your nitrite spikes when you've got fish in there, it'll get very stressful (for you and the fish) and all your fish could die. There are things you can do to speed up the Fishless Cycling phase, such as getting filter floss and gravel from an already established tank.

The other thing you should consider is the size of your tank. It might seem sensible to start small but a 10 gal tank is really difficult to keep stable, you are severely limited on the types of fish you can have in there and in some ways you have to be more experienced to have a successful small tank than a successful large tank. The equipment costs are not significantly different either - I paid virtually the same for a 50w heater for my small tank, as I did for a 150w heater for my larger tank. A 20 gal tank isn't significantly bigger in terms of dimensions but would be a lot easier as a beginner tank.

 

[Alien Anna]

Oops, just read that you have a 10 gal tank already.

OK. You say you've been cycling it for a week? Have you added ammonia or something, or do you just mean you've left it to stand for a week? Leaving a tank to stand without anything to "feed" the beneficial bacteria won't cycle a tank, although many shops tell you that. Fishless Cycling takes about 4-6 weeks.

 

[Tetra]

I have added 1 fish food flake every other day for just the last week to try to grow some bacterium, now that im writing it down though, it seems kinda silly .

My tank water temperature is fine, and my pH levels should be fine, but I don't really understand what dH levels are, and what my ammonia/nitrate/nitrite levels should be. I need to know how I can determine if my tank is sutable for any fish to live in.

 

[Alien Anna]

I have added 1 fish food flake every other day for just the last week to try to grow some bacterium, now that im writing it down though, it seems kinda silly .

My tank water temperature is fine, and my pH levels should be fine, but I don't really understand what dH levels are, and what my ammonia/nitrate/nitrite levels should be. I need to know how I can determine if my tank is sutable for any fish to live in.

You need some water testing kits.

When doing fishless cycling you need to keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrite levels. First you can expect a spike in the ammonia levels from the rotten fish food. That will last a couple of days and then (hopefully) you'll record an ammonia level of zero as the bacteria that break down ammonia get established. Next you'll get a nitrite spike (probably around the same time the ammonia drops to zero). That will rise and rise for a few days, or even a couple of weeks, but then start to drop as the bacteria break down nitrite to nitrate. Finally, as the tank completes the cycle, your nitrite levels will drop to zero and you'll start to get nitrate in your tank. Nitrate is harmless to fish except in large doses and is either used by live plants to grow, or is removed when you do a water change.

So, you need an ammonia test kit, a nitrite test kit and a nitrate test kit. Buy these online as it's much cheaper.

Only when you are certain you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite should you add fish. Ammonia is deadly to fish, as is nitrite.

Before you add your fish, and to help you choose appropriate species, you need to know the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of your water and the hardness. There are two kinds of hardness: Temporary Hardness (KH), which is the stuff that precipitates out of your water in the kettle and causes limescale; and Permenant Hardness (aka "General Hardness", GH), which is basically there and you can't do a lot about it. A good basic test for all of this IMHO is the eSHa Multisticks, which include a test for nitrite and nitrate (although I wouldn't trust the nitrite test because it's not sensitive enough for cycling a tank).

As long as you stick to common, hardy species you shouldn't have to worry too much about your water - some bogwood will help soften and acidify hard, alkaline water, and some tufa rock and coral sand can help harden and raise the pH of soft, acid water. However, as you are likely to want to progress in this hobby, it's a good idea to have a foundation based on the type of fish that thrive best in your water. I have rock hard, alkaline water coming out of my tap and soft, acid water loving tetras, so it can be done!

 

[Tetra]

Thanks for the help!