My first tank, 1 hour old!

[northampton_matt]

Well had the tank over a week now and been putting the bits in but the fish went in tonight.

3 Orandas (i think, looked at so many!) 1 all White, 1 all Orange and 1 Orange white and black.

Planning to get a small school of tiny fish too, cant remember the exact name, there were a couple of different ones

Matt

 

[northampton_matt]

could do with some backing paper, will see what sample wallpapers B&Q have tommorrow take a few different 3ft samples.

 

[northampton_matt]

picture arent great, taken on my phone! lol

Thanks for looking!!

Matt

 

[DrOizo]

That looks really nice is it heated (just to keep the temp stable) Did you cycle it aswell? What little fish are you after. That is a really nice to look at coldwater tank. Well Done

 

[northampton_matt]

That looks really nice is it heated (just to keep the temp stable) Did you cycle it aswell? What little fish are you after. That is a really nice to look at coldwater tank. Well Done

Had the water in there for a week with filter and pumps running quite a lot. treat water with Aqua Plus tap water treatment and added some Stress Zyme live bacteria too. Not using a heater, but the room generally is always warm.

Now going to just have the larger fish for a week at least before introducing anything else into the tank.

I cant remember the names of the smaller fish I was looking at, they were a form of minnow, about 2-3cm, the other may have been a Pearl Danio, or is that a tropical fish?

Matt

 

[Kribensis]

i didn't think stress zyme was a cycling aid

To cycle a tank properly these aids don't really work, really you need to be looking at a fishless cycle with adding ammonia, or a fish cycle with hardy fish, not fancy goldfish im afraid.

Tank looks great though.

 

[DrOizo]

Yes it doesn't sound cycled so just make sure you do regulr and often water changes (once every two days) and don't get any more fish untill the Ammonia and Nitrite levels are at zero. Test kits can be bought from LFS. Check out the begginers forum and have a look at the pinned article on cycling

 

[northampton_matt]

Yes it doesn't sound cycled so just make sure you do regulr and often water changes (once every two days) and don't get any more fish untill the Ammonia and Nitrite levels are at zero. Test kits can be bought from LFS. Check out the begginers forum and have a look at the pinned article on cycling

Thanks for the advice, do have a nitrite tester, that was fine a couple of days ago, will check again later. Havent checked the ammonia though.

Matt

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Very nice tank!!

You will have to be careful and do regualr water changes though. It'll be your amonia that'll go up first. I started my coldwater tank i the same way as instucted my LFS and my fish were all totally fine.

Oh and I think your fish are ryukins.

Orandas are the ones with a 'raspberry' growth on their heads:

Ryukins are known for their highly arched back.

Lovely tank though!!

 

[silver]

Very pretty fish!!!!!!

And I'm not giong to give you my .02 either!!!!!!
You lucky duck!!



Great tank!! It's nice to see a goldfish, coldwater, tank!!!


Silver

 

[Auratus]

There are only a few types of schooling fish that will do well with the cold tempurature and waste goldfish produce.

I think if your tank is coldwater and you want schooling fish that can deal with goldfish poo (hehe) get some white cloud mountain minnows!

 

[northampton_matt]

Firstly like to thank everyone for their kind comments, I like the look of my tank too I'm certainly happy with it and on a tight budget.

Got an Ammonia test kit today, to go with my Nitrite test kit, also some Nutrafin Cycle. Nitrite and Ammonia levels are fine at the moment, will check daily. Also popped in Homebase at lunchtime and got some nice vibrant blue wallpaper samples about 3ft in length just picking my favourite now.

The fish seem happy swimming about too, which is the important thing.

Matt

 

[Auratus]

Most people I know think goldfish are a waste of tank space but look at that fish!!!

That's the coolest fish ever!!! I'm sure is a show fish but still...

 

[northampton_matt]

Been a few days now, ammonia levels are fine, nitrites are up to 0.1mg but thats acceptable according to my chart. And i've positioned the powerhead so it is the right way around and working with the undergravel filter bed!

Fish are looking good, just looking now to add some very small schooling fish to the tank, (not until next week though). How many small minnows do you think could go in this tank? with the 3 Ryukins. There about 6 for £5, is 12 too many?? Could possibly give a couple to my partners son for his goldfish tank as his goldfish died a few weeks ago. just 6 would seem a fairly small school in a 3ft long tank. Would maybe like to add a couple of small black moors in there at a later date too, is this too much??

All advice appreciated as ever!

Cheers

Matt

PS: Sorry that should have been nitrIte level. The tank is about 23Gal (UK). And the power head and one airline had quite a lot of 'gree' on them which I didnt clean off as I got the impression it would benefit the tank.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Hey again,

Glad to hear your levels are good. Did you say that there was NitrAte in the tank? As that's the last stage of the cycle, that would be a very good thing! Did you have established filter media or something?

Anyways, if I were you, I would not add any more fish of a goldfish nature. Goldfish need a lot of room as they grow very large and many say 10US gallons per goldfish is the minimum requirement.

You could add some minnows though. I am unsure on what the capacity of the tank is. If it's in the first post, sorry I'll edit this.