Newbie here

[Bpoulter97]

Happy easter everyone!

So when I was younger I owned tropical fish but my dad did all the difficult stuff and I just watched and fed them haha.

Now I have my own place ive set up my first tank, only 25 litres, currently with a male Betta (he's gentle doesnt bother other fish and even eats from my hand), 3 harlequins, 5 neon tetras, 2 amano shrimp, 1 nerite snail, 1 apple snail, 1 small pleco (im upgrading tank size at the end of the month to accommodate his growth) and one hillstream loach.

I wont lie i was eager to start and did fish in cycle when setting up and sadly lost a few harlequins. But alas everyone is okay now and tank is thriving.

Im sizing up to around 60 litres, I know my tank is overstocked right now but not for long. Just wondering if i'll be okay adding more fish (tetras and harlequins and maybe more shrimp) when i've sized up. And just any general tips i need to look out for when upscaling my tank.

 

[Puffie]

Happy easter!

Honestly for a first tank you are doing brilliantly. Water may seem a little cloudy, is that a sponge filter I see? You may want to upgrade your filters with better bio filtration. I'm not an expert in this however in my opinion, adding a few more live stocks wouldn't hurt i guess as long your plants are well maintained.
You may want to add more plants instead

 

[Bpoulter97]

Happy easter!

Honestly for a first tank you are doing brilliantly. Water may seem a little cloudy, is that a sponge filter I see? You may want to upgrade your filters with better bio filtration. I'm not an expert in this however in my opinion, adding a few more live stocks wouldn't hurt i guess as long your plants are well maintained.
You may want to add more plants instead

It is a sponge filter, got another filter to the side. Added the sponge filter to help with oxygen (BUBBLES haha) and sucks up pleco poop like a whiz. Ive already got my eyes on some plants for the new tank, looking at some sort of bedding plant but not sure yet so any suggestions will help. I tried floating plants but my betta just wanted to chew them and spit them out haha.

Thank you for your kind words

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum and hello from the same part of the world

At 25 litres like you say waayyy to many fish - I'd actually recommend keeping the 25 litre tank though and keep your Betta separate, I know you said he is quite chilled but that can change at any time and best not to risk it IMO.

In the 60 litre the Harlequins, Neons, snails and shrimp will be ok but the Pleco if its a common Pleco is just going to keep getting bigger and bigger. The Hillstream loach may be ok but ideally should be in a group and also need to be in a specific set up with high flow and slightly cooler temperatures.

One big issue you will have is that we have super super hard water here in East Yorkshire generally between 14 and 20 Gh and the fish you are keeping so far are going to struggle to do well in our water long term. So two approaches, if you for example, rehomed your fish they are going to go to another home with hard water so they may as well stay with you as a (hopefully) dedicated owner with the right food and water changes etc but they may live shorter than ideal lives and be more susceptible to diseases so are a bit harder to keep. If we were meeting and you were setting the tank up before going for fish, I'd recommend fish like Guppies, Platies, Endlers, Galaxy Rasboras, Rosy Loaches and a couple of other smaller species that come from habitats with water stats very similar to ours.

Which fish stores are you using at the moment? My favourite locally is Ings Lane, the Maidenhead nearby is quite good too and Octopus 8 in Brough is pretty good too. Frisbys is worth a visit too but you need to know what you are looking for. Anything else IMO is worth a miss tbh.

Wills

 

[jaylach]

I totally agree that you are now and will still be over stocked. What kind of pleco? If a common they get big as mentioned above. We're talking potentially a couple of feet.

 

[Bpoulter97]

Hi welcome to the forum and hello from the same part of the world

At 25 litres like you say waayyy to many fish - I'd actually recommend keeping the 25 litre tank though and keep your Betta separate, I know you said he is quite chilled but that can change at any time and best not to risk it IMO.

In the 60 litre the Harlequins, Neons, snails and shrimp will be ok but the Pleco if its a common Pleco is just going to keep getting bigger and bigger. The Hillstream loach may be ok but ideally should be in a group and also need to be in a specific set up with high flow and slightly cooler temperatures.

One big issue you will have is that we have super super hard water here in East Yorkshire generally between 14 and 20 Gh and the fish you are keeping so far are going to struggle to do well in our water long term. So two approaches, if you for example, rehomed your fish they are going to go to another home with hard water so they may as well stay with you as a (hopefully) dedicated owner with the right food and water changes etc but they may live shorter than ideal lives and be more susceptible to diseases so are a bit harder to keep. If we were meeting and you were setting the tank up before going for fish, I'd recommend fish like Guppies, Platies, Endlers, Galaxy Rasboras, Rosy Loaches and a couple of other smaller species that come from habitats with water stats very similar to ours.

Which fish stores are you using at the moment? My favourite locally is Ings Lane, the Maidenhead nearby is quite good too and Octopus 8 in Brough is pretty good too. Frisbys is worth a visit too but you need to know what you are looking for. Anything else IMO is worth a miss tbh.

Wills

Yeah I agree Im overstocked, was expecting new tank a lot sooner. Good idea with the Betta, i know moving them around can cause a lot of stress. I was planning on getting 2 hillstream loaches but the other looked worse for wear so didnt want tot risk it.And god do i know about hard water haha.
As for stores I use Ings, Maidenhead and got the snail and tetras from frisbys. Have used coletta for my nerite snail and frozen food too.
Thanks for the advice

 

[Bpoulter97]

I totally agree that you are now and will still be over stocked. What kind of pleco? If a common they get big as mentioned above. We're talking potentially a couple of feet.

He's a red ancistrus, ive been told he'll grow to 15cm max

 

[Wills]

I'm surprised they would have sold all those fish to a 25 litre tank but I suppose if you were learning and all from different places its easy to happen.

Red Ancistrus is good news not a common or gibbiceps which get much bigger but still a bit too big for a 25 or 60 litre tank - 3 foot 125 litre tank would be a good starting point for them.

I'd personally give Colletta and Tyson a miss as their fish always seem to be ill, even before the refurb tended to be a bit iffy.

Wills

 

[Bpoulter97]

I'm surprised they would have sold all those fish to a 25 litre tank but I suppose if you were learning and all from different places its easy to happen.

Red Ancistrus is good news not a common or gibbiceps which get much bigger but still a bit too big for a 25 or 60 litre tank - 3 foot 125 litre tank would be a good starting point for them.

I'd personally give Colletta and Tyson a miss as their fish always seem to be ill, even before the refurb tended to be a bit iffy.

Wills

Agree with colletta and tyson- didnt like the look of the fish all looked weak hence why i only got snail from there who's doing great now. I'll see if I can get my hands on a 125 litre, even if it takes a month or two to get one im guessing the 60 litre will be okay for then until he grows full size?
Rookie mistake getting that many, i hold my hands up to that. That's why I want to get them a better tank so everything goes smoothly

 

[Wills]

Agree with colletta and tyson- didnt like the look of the fish all looked weak hence why i only got snail from there who's doing great now. I'll see if I can get my hands on a 125 litre, even if it takes a month or two to get one im guessing the 60 litre will be okay for then until he grows full size?
Rookie mistake getting that many, i hold my hands up to that. That's why I want to get them a better tank so everything goes smoothly

If you can get a 125 that would be great - its a good sized tank to get started with IMO. Have a look on Facebook Market Place there are quite a few near our area at the moment, some common makes are things like Fluval Romas and Juwels but there are others out there depending on what kind you want

But definitely on the right tracks now! Well done

 

[BleuTheBetta]

Welcome to the forum! You have a beautiful betta there

 

[Bpoulter97]

Welcome to the forum! You have a beautiful betta there

Thank you he’s definitely improved. Struggled with a bit of fin rot but now he’s better than ever

 

[BleuTheBetta]

Thank you he’s definitely improved. Struggled with a bit of fin rot but now he’s better than ever

So pretty. I love the blue and purple!

 

[emeraldking]

Well, hi and welcome to TFF...
Your betta looks great!