My Tropical Tank

[purplekaz]

Thanks all
It's still cycling... I'm so impatient!
The nitrites have been off the chart for about 5 days now, but 4ppm ammonia drops to almost zero within about 12 hours.
Just waiting for that final step.
It's been 12 days so far since I starting cycling, so it's not been too bad, fingers crossed.
Will post more pics once the fishies are in... hopefully soon!

 

[Matty P]

Sounds good - well done waiting for the tank to finish cycling before you add any livstock lol. Lookin forward to seeing some pictures

 

[purplekaz]

Thanks very much three-fingers for the heads-up regarding the plants in my tank.

I did a big (about 80%) water change this evening to see if it would speed up my cycling.
There was a bit of a pongy smell as I got near the bottom and low and behold two of my plants were rotting already (the two in the far right of the photo, the thick shiny dracaena type ones).
I swiftly binned them.
The others all seem ok for now, so I plan to get some more amazon sword to fill the gaps (at least I know that one is definately aquatic!).
I'm glad I kept an eye on them after what you said

 

[purplekaz]

Woohoo, I'm making progress!

Nitrite has been off the chart for 2 weeks or so, and while I was at work today it dropped to a very pleasing 0.5ppm

Ammonia has been dropping from 4ppm to 0ppm in less than 10 hours for the last fortnight, nitrates shot up from a steady 5ppm to 20ppm in the last 10 hours, so I think the water/filter should be ready in the very near future.

So in a few days I should get to go fish shopping

 

[purplekaz]

Today I finally got my first fishies

I decided on:

6 black neon tetra
6 cherry barb
3 honey gourami (1m, 2f)
5 amano shrimp

They all seem happy to me, swimming around exploring their new mansion.
The male gourami has already started flirting with the ladies.
I think there's room for a few more fish, but I'll let these settle in while I have a think.

Here are the pics you've all been waiting for (or not, but just humour me...!) :

 

[chibi]

Looks great! I wanted to note that if you are still interested in adding cories, I'd go with a school of at least 7 pygmy or habrosus cories. They are small and cute and could liven up the bottom of your tank.

 

[purplekaz]

I do love cories, they seem to play a lot so would be fun to watch.
The only thng is my gravel seems a little rough, it's small but not the smooth round kind, so I'd worry about it hurting them.
However I think the LFS uses the same gravel in their tanks, so I'll definately think about having some.
It's not extremely sharp or anything, just not smooth like pebbles.
Will have a closer look at my gravel and decide

 

[luque]

from what i can see your gravel looks ok, so personally i would get some,
anyway good luck on whatever you do

 

[Spent198]

First off, the tank looks great! I really like the design and I think you placed the bubbles perfectly. Have any issues with the fish eating the shrimp? Mine always seem to disappear quickly.

I hope I don't feel stupid later for saying this, but those plants look real. What make?

Second, your Pugs are adorable.

-Carl

 

[funkyhoney]

Ahhhh, I love the look of a newly setup tank with just the few starting fishies in it

 

[purplekaz]

Haha, Spent198 everything in the tank is real apart from the little archway thingy.
The tall plants are amazon swords, I forget what the others are.
So far all 5 shrimp are still intact!
They're about as big as the tetra so I don't see them being eaten anytime soon, hopefully.

Thanks eveyone for the compliments regarding the tank set-up, I'm quite chuffed with it actually hehe

I've just added the last of my fish for now - 3 red platy (1m, 2f) and 5 bronze cory.
So I think that makes me fully stocked.

I probably shouldn't have added all 8 at once, but I kinda hope there is enough extra bacteria left over from the fishless cycle to handle the extra load. And I'm testing the water daily for the next couple of weeks, so I'll keep an eye out for any spikes etc.

They all seem to be having fun.
Adding the platys has actually made the honeys come out of their shells a bit more, they seem to be good friends.
And the corys are arguing over the sinking wafers with the shrimp, all good fun!

 

[Spent198]

Haha, Spent198 everything in the tank is real apart from the little archway thingy.
The tall plants are amazon swords, I forget what the others are.
So far all 5 shrimp are still intact!
They're about as big as the tetra so I don't see them being eaten anytime soon, hopefully.

Yup, so I feel stupid!

Looking good! I had a bunch of Corys when I first setup my tank but they didn't seem to enjoy the sinking wafers. Be sure to watch them and make sure they are eating enough. You may want to feed them frozen bloodworms from time to time, they are a nice treat for Corys.

EDIT: Which supplements are you providing the plants? Ex. Flourish Tabs

-Carl

 

[purplekaz]

So far I've not added anything for the plants, but that's someting to look into when I visit the LFS.
I plan to get a few different types of food while I'm there too.
I posted a thread earlier regarding the cories wafers, as they see to be having trouble eating them straight away because the wafers are quite big for their mouths. So will keep an eye on them. And I definately plan to check out the frozen food section for them.
Might also try some different veggies later, if I can find something in the house suitable to weigh veg down with...