New Tank - Bright (preferably Pink) Tropical Fish List Needed

[waterdrop]

well I think our man is showing hints of making the attempt

 

[Miss Wiggle]

will get the plants, ammonia and eye dropper tomorrow. had a talk this evening and agreed that we would need to order the "pretty fish" from the uk and that will take time. meanwhile we'll get the tank perfect for them...

i'm hoping the chosing process will take a week in itself if the cycling is going to take a month...

thanks for all input.

it is important for the nipper to understand that i'm not going back on my word, and we took a long time to get to that acceptance. whew!

thanks again all.

Simon

so your going to fishless cycle then?

If so then I'm really pleased, and trust me the choosing process can take waaay over a week! You'll think you've made your mind up then you'll see something else you like that throws the whole thing off whack.

I totally understand that you need your daughter to trust that you aren't letting her down and hopefully in the fulness of time she'll see that what your doing is for the best for the fish. Added to which, a month may be a long time right now, but in 6 months time both of you will have practically forgotten about the frustration of waiting.

So here's a curve ball for your fish selection. They aren't really pink, but they sure are pretty!!!

Apistogramma aggasizi

Apistogramma cacatuoides

there's a handful of other apisogramma species which are all basically variations on a theme, they've got stunning fins and colours, active as anything, bags of character and their pretty hardy and easy to keep.

If you've not already seen it, can I direct you to the fish species index on this forum, if you spot a fish and want some basic care info then that's as good a place as any to start. It doesn't cover absolutley every species but it's got a good broad range so you should be able to pick most things up from there.

 

[locust267]

Sorry if you've already answered this question but have you or your daughter got any friends who have a fish tank at home/know of anyone in here who is willing to donate some of their filter media?

If you could add some mature filter media it will already contain some of the vital bacteria and speed up the waiting process a little.

There should be a pinned topic in this forum so you can search if there is anyone willing to donate in your area.

 

[StormySkiez]

Pink Glo-light danios are about as pink as you can get. Danios are a hardy fish, great for beginners. They also come in other bright colors, green & yellow are standard.

They are not dyed, they are genetically modified fish, so no fear of the fish having been through any trauma.

I agree with the above. Nice tank Miss Wiggle. I had a 10g glow tank setup with plastic glow plants (wal mart is the only place I have seen glow plants sold), bright gravel and the glofish (very hardy easy to care fish). It looked awesome IMO lolol. If I were you I would do a fishless cycle as your daughter would be very upset to lose fish or get the seeded media filter to cycle your tank with if you have any friends who can help you with that.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Unfortunately Glofish are illegal in the UK, there are definately some floating about, but they're not likely to be publicised, nor at reasonable prices.

 

[StormySkiez]

Ah...That lets that out the glofish danios. They are not legal in USA, California either. Very odd.

 

[shelaghfishface]

hi, i havent had a chance to read through the whole post, but i have seen the tank, and i must say your 5 yr old should be very proud!! my 4 yr old son has his own tank, which we maintain together and he does the water changes with a small jug and bowl etc ( he did try the syphon once on my 54L tank-shame i wasnt in the room at the time to ensure he had a bucket!!)
anyways what i was going to say was... in the meantime while you are doing fishless cycle ( if thats what you have opted for-best) why not help the little one to keep a diary in drawings, and pay regular visits to the library+ time on the web, looking at all the different fish that are an option for you- have your daughter help with testing. identifying the colours etc,choosing suitable food and treats for your chosen fish.....oh the list goes on, the 4-5 weeks will soon fly by, i realise how impaitent they can be, as someone already said a little paitence now will save a heck of a lot of tears further down the line....take lots of photos and print them off to put them in her diary, which im sure the teachers at school would be interested to see and show all the other children.. and we certainly would love to see the pictures both photos and drawings, hope to see some soon.

shelagh xxxxx

 

[simonmac2]

Thanks again for all advice (especially Mrs Wiggle). I am going for a forked strategy ;-)

tank now has plants and detritus object d'art on the bottom, and over the weekend had some zebra danio's zipping around while i got a much smaller 9l tank (future use as quarantine/breeding tank) prepped. today the fish were transplanted to the smaller tank and the fishless cycle begins in the big one. got the kleen off and according to the calculator i need 9.5 ml to take the amonia level to 5ppm - after 10 mins, the interpet test kit only shows the ammonia levels at 2 - waited a bit longer, and retested - same result. Added another 9.5ml of the kleen off, waited, tested and now the interpet result shows 4mg/l - quick panic whill i confirm mg/l and ppm are the same... so tank now stable at 4ppm. Will leave that and monitor.


The reason i got the fish and the small tank, is because the store i went to (this is a VERY small island) when i asked about amonia for cycling, came out with the "don't need it... who do you trust, me or them" line - whoops! As i am really stuck for a decent supplier her on the isle of man (or mail order co that has a good selection) i can't be too abrupt...it is a VERY small island so in the end the zebra danios (that will apparantly build up the bacteria in 2 weeks, ready for the next batch of fish - i don't think so!)we bought the fish with the plants, knowing they would be going on holiday rapidly to the small tank.

with the small tank, doing water changes is not going to be a huge problem and all should be well. I get to go through the testing with my daughter on the big tank and the little tank, and the fish are all happy in their new environment with daily water changes.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, we can see your situation now. Very good that you know the testing and water change importance and given the situation I would say that choosing a small tank to make the water changes smaller is a good approach.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no probs at all, glad to be of help to you.

you know, there's part of me would secretly love an all pink barbie tank!!

sounds like a good plan, ok so not quite ideal circumstances but should be manageable, the only thing I'd say is that if you had the fish in the larger tank, because of the larger volume of water, the ammonia and nitrite would be dilluted a lot more and therefore less toxic and as such much more forgiving if you miss a days water changes or anything like that. you may come to a point where you decide that for the fish's welfare it's best that they're in a larger nearly cycled tank instead of the smaller tank with daily water changes. depends how fast each cycle goes though and there's a lot of variables.

If you keep a log of both tanks readings and post them up every so often we can help spot any potential problems and advise you whats the best thing to do re the fish.

 

[simonmac2]

Again... Miss Wiggle, i am indebted to your knowledge. the Apistogramma aggasizi certainly raised an awed cheer by the little one (especially since Mary Poppins recomended it ), but i can't find any mail order co that stocks it.

i'll hunt around the site for recommended mailorder co's

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ha ha, dwarf cichlids are the perfect community fish, i challenge anyone to beat them for looks, character and ease of care!!

only thing to be sure of is that you have one 'cave' or hiding spot for each fish, then a couple of spare ones. They're a little territorial, don't be scared by that though, providing you give them plenty of space (which you have) and a handful of plants/ornaments to play around then they'll be fine. They 'spar' a little but will never do any serious damage, fascinating to watch them.

have you looked at trimar for mail order, they are the best in the UK, you'll find a phone number for them on their website, if there's anything you want but can't find they can usually order them in for you particularly if you're ordering a half decent quantity of fish.

 

[BecciMac1987]

Can I just say, Mr Mac, that your daughter sounds like the most adorable sweety ever!! Ahhh broodyness is sweeping over me...

 

[waterdrop]

Are all you young guys paying attention here? Next time you want a date you need to be talking... pink. There all going nuts here, sheesh! Eheim have clearly made a mistake with all green, they should be offering a pink spraybar option.

 

[ALW]

Are all you young guys paying attention here? Next time you want a date you need to be talking... pink. There all going nuts here, sheesh! Eheim have clearly made a mistake with all green, they should be offering a pink spraybar option.