New To Keeping Fish

[mikky77]

Hello, I have purchased a Juewll Rekord tank ( approx 60 x 30 x 30 cm ). I filled it up last night ,added tap water treatment, and Stress Zyme. I put gravel and bogwood in ( both had already been in someone elses tank ).Someone at work suggested adding some anti white spot treatment, which I now regret doing.The instructions said to remove the carbon filter, which I have, and I have also removed the white filter pad, which sits on top of the carbon sponge. I have two questions , 1. Should I put the carbon and white filters back ? ( There is still green and blue filters in the tank. 2. Can I add a few fish at the weekend ( 4 days ) Thanks for any advice.

 

[kj23502]

to the forum!!

Please, I beg of you. read these articles on fish keeping first! Your fish will be much happier if you do it right (you'll be happier too, as you won't have as much crap to deal with later on)

-edit
forgot to put the link in

 

[gaz gun man]

your tank isnt ready for fish yet, you need to buy some ammonia and cycle it. have a look at the pinned topic, fishless cycling.

With regards to your filter media, I would put it back in, alot of people leave it out from the start and you'll need to take it out should you need to medicate, because it would filter the meds out of the water.

Personally I think its better to have it in from the start, as extra filtration can only help.

 

[mikky77]

Well I rang B&Q,Boots,Wilkinsons,Superdug,Focus,Homebase and several others,and was told they do not,or no longer sell ammonia,due to EU regulations.I even spoke to a manager at Homebase, and told him I had seen a photo of Homebase ammonia on this site.Anyway please don't get cross with me, but I was persuaded at an aquatic store,to try Tetra Safestart with 3 leopard dannios. It has only been 2 days,but the ammonia and nitrite levels are zero. I have a bucket of dechlorinated water on stanby,with a heater in,I change this daily.Hopefully, because my gravel and bogwood were from another tank and the Safestart, things will be ok. Is there anything else I should be doing.

 

[rabbut]

Watching closely.

Ammonia is still available as far as I'm aware. Adding fish food or urine are other ways of cyling, but they are less precise and a little hit and miss....

I'm not an EU fan for various reasons, but they are trying to ram home laws to make fish less likely to suffer and then, if what the Homebase manager told you is true, they go and remove a vital tool to stop fish suffering. Illogical twits. They are also stopping the sale of copper based medications. Just how are Marine keepers supposed to treat whitespot without such meds? Simple answer is they can't without crashing the tank The EU seem to legislate without applying much thought first IMO...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Sea Turtle]

Welcome to the forum. I really like seeing new people joining. The more the better. Drink beer every day.

 

[OldMan47]

Mikky, if you are completely unable to find ammonia, other methods that have been used to introduce ammonia to the tank are to put a couple of prawns or some fish food into the water and let it rot. Either one will produce ammonia. The trouble is you won't know how much you are adding so its a little less controlled. If you are using the prawn be sure to put it in some netting so that when you are ready to remove it it won't fall apart on you.
There is no reason to treat for whitespot if you don't have the parasites present. They will not be present in a new tank or in a tank that hasn't had fish in it for a couple of weeks.
The carbon is not needed right now. Its main purpose is to get rid of medications in the water which you could do with a very large water change. The white filter pad will help keep small particles out of the water and it would be good to put it back in. If there is a nice open space where the carbon once was, it would be good to fill it with any biomedia that will fit well.

 

[mikky77]

Thanks for the warm welcomes and kind advice.I will post back again in a week or so.Cheers

 

[toshapetriji]

I too am new to keeping fish and have just started to cycle my tank. I had no problem buying Amonia in the local branch of Robert Dyas. It has the brand name Kilrock and cost 3.50 for 500ml, hope this helps.

 

[mikky77]

Hello again to everyone.All is well with my water tests,however,one of my 3 fish ( leopard danios ) seems to be getting a little aggressive to the other 2,especially at feeding time.He is chasing them at high speeds,and they appear slightly intimidated.Do you think this behaviour is normal ? I have no idea what sex they are,but the one doing the chasing is larger than the others.Is there any possibility this may calm down,especially at a later date,when other fish are introduced.They got on so well to start with.I would welcome anyone's opinions.
Actually it does look a fair bit fatter of late,maybe,its going to lay some eggs, could that be an explanation?