New To Fish Care

[DebraAustin]

Hi,

Just want to introduce myself. I received a 10 gallon tank for Christmas and have it set up with water and plants, but no fish yet. Letting it set for the 24 hours it needs before introduction. I am a total newbie to this, having had only a dog as a pet before. I have a few questions. I can only have a limited amount of fish in such a small tank. Most tropicals list that they like to be in groups. Can I have a group of similar, but not the same platys, mollys, etc. or do they have to be exactly the same type of fish. Also, I would like to have some neon tetras in the tank with some of these other fish, are they going to get bullied? Lastly, what is the optimum pH for a new tank. I have gotten conflicting information. One source says the water should be slightly acidic, the other said slightly alkaline, help! I want to buy my first two fish this week. I know to let the tank go through its cycle before introducing any other fish and already have a testing kit so that my fish will do well. Oh, one other question. How high is too high for ammonia or nitrites? What do you do if you find that it is going too high. I plan to get a book on aquariums, my husband is taking ages to pick out some other books to order on Amazon.com. If you have a favorite book I'd like to hear about it. I have an aquaintence that recommended one, but would be interested in other ideas, too.

Anyway, glad to have found this group and look forward to learning lots from the posts in the weeks to come.

Debra

 

[riche_guy]

Hi,

Just want to introduce myself. I received a 10 gallon tank for Christmas and have it set up with water and plants, but no fish yet. Letting it set for the 24 hours it needs before introduction. I am a total newbie to this, having had only a dog as a pet before. I have a few questions. I can only have a limited amount of fish in such a small tank. Most tropicals list that they like to be in groups. Can I have a group of similar, but not the same platys, mollys, etc. or do they have to be exactly the same type of fish. Also, I would like to have some neon tetras in the tank with some of these other fish, are they going to get bullied? Lastly, what is the optimum pH for a new tank. I have gotten conflicting information. One source says the water should be slightly acidic, the other said slightly alkaline, help! I want to buy my first two fish this week. I know to let the tank go through its cycle before introducing any other fish and already have a testing kit so that my fish will do well. Oh, one other question. How high is too high for ammonia or nitrites? What do you do if you find that it is going too high. I plan to get a book on aquariums, my husband is taking ages to pick out some other books to order on Amazon.com. If you have a favorite book I'd like to hear about it. I have an aquaintence that recommended one, but would be interested in other ideas, too.

Anyway, glad to have found this group and look forward to learning lots from the posts in the weeks to come.

Debra

Wow! What a post. I'm also Newbie (years since my last aquarium). For someone new you sure know how to post the right questions. All I can say the fish you will purchase will determine the type of ph you will need. Neutral is probably safe. Good luck

 

[OohFeeshy]

Letting it set for the 24 hours it needs before introduction.

Not a good plan, read, the article on fishless sycling in the FAQ section Cycling with fish is completely uneeded, often used to get people to continually buy new fish when the spikes kill the others.

Stocking wise, if you want neons and livebearers, a good combo would be neons and 1m,1fm of either guppies or platies. pH, don't mess with it. Welcome, btw

 

[Chri$]

hello and

 

[iFished]

Hello, and welcome.

I'm a fat Newbie also.

I would like to say, whether you would consider ever giving away your fish to eat please?

 

[rdd1952]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

As mentioned, you really need to cycle your tank before adding fish (see link in my signature to fishless cycling instructions). You can cycle with fish but you will need to start with only 2 or maybe 3 fish (if you do go this route, research the fish first as some aren't very hardy and will definitely die during cycling) and keep a very close check on the ammonia and nitrite levels (buy yourself a good liquid master test kit for about $25). Ammonia (from fish waste) and nitrite (from processed ammonia) are both toxic to fish and will kill them or cause disease when the levels get high (over 1 ppm).

Rather than a book, I would suggest reading the pinned articles at the top of each section and searching the internet. Fishkeeping techniques have really changed over the last 10 years and most fishkeeping books seem to be older and out of date. Fishless cycling has only been around for short period of time and most books predate that. If you do buy a book, check to see when it was published. If it is over about 10 years old, it may give you bad information.

 

[DebraAustin]

Thanks to all of you that responded. I am going to do a fishless cycle. I don't want to stress my fish any more than necessary, even though it means another two weeks (at least) without fish

That will give me plenty of time to read lots of past posts here and learn as much as possible about the type of fish I would like to keep.

I'll keep you posted once the tank has cycled.

Debra

 

[rdd1952]

What part of NC are you located in? If you're near Charlotte, I can give you the good and bad on some fish stores around the area.

 

[DebraAustin]

What part of NC are you located in? If you're near Charlotte, I can give you the good and bad on some fish stores around the area.

I'm in Walnut Cove which is about 40 minutes NW of Greensboro about 30 minutes NE or Winston-Salem. Am printing up your fishless cycle instruction now. Bought the ammonia yesterday and will start the cycle this morning. Thanks for the information. I will probably still introduce the fish slowly since this is my first time. I want to get used to them slowly and learn their personalities and needs. Also, if I mess up on the cycle it will be easier on the fish to put them in slowly.

Debra

 

[rdd1952]

I will probably still introduce the fish slowly since this is my first time. I want to get used to them slowly and learn their personalities and needs. Also, if I mess up on the cycle it will be easier on the fish to put them in slowly.[/quote]
If you do a fishless cycle and then introduce the fish slowly, you will lose a lot of your bacteria as the amount of bacteria usually lives on the edge of too much. In otherwords, the bacteria colony will be to the point that even a tiny reduction in the amount of ammonia and nitrite will cause some of the bacteria to die off (if that makes sense). So if you add say 25% of your full fish load after your fishless cycle is complete, you will lose 75% of your bacteria.

That's not a big problem is you continue to add fish slowly. You may experience small mini cycles every time you add more fish but they should be short as long as you keep the quantity (more like percentage) added small. The number you will be able to add each time will really depend on how many fish you already have and what type they are. Say you add 10 fish to begin with and then add 10 more later, you will have doubled the stock and bio load (considering they are equal waste producers). If you only added 5 though, you would have a 50% increase so the mini cycle would be smaller and the bacteria would catch up much quicker. I hope that all makes sense and hope the fishless cycle goes well.