Second tank - yippee

[Fiori]

Hi

After getting lots of advice on my first tank and the problems I had, after little advice from lfs i.e it was overstocked, fish will grow too big, (the usual newbie mistakes I suppose), I have bought a 180 litre (40 gal UK) tank

Just did'nt want to give back my clown plec thats in my 30 litre tank, ( i love him to bits) so hey - need bigger tank - right?


So, I will be setting it up soon and want to make sure I do it right THIS time. My current fish are:
1 clown plec - baby still
4 beacon tetra
4 platy
3 molly fry (took the 2 adult mollies back to lfs)
1 platy fry
2 snails - they are growing at supersnail speed!!

Fingers crossed they will all survive to go into their new home, but I was thinking of eventually getting the following:

4 diamond tetra
6 harlequin rasbora

The small tank will be kept as a quarantine tank

Will I be overstocked?

Any advice welcome please

 

[sylvia]

No, you wouldn't be over-stocked. You could probably even add some more fish to those you listed but wait until after your tank ahs become established.

Keeping the extra tank as a quarantine is a very wise descision.

You will want to use your old tank to cycle your new one... Just run the new filter on your old tank for a couple of weeks while you're getting everything else ready. Then move the filter to the new tank along with a couple of fish (I'd use 2 platies for this). Test your water to make sure ammonia/nitrIte stays at zero and nitrAte starts building up. Then gradualy add the rest of the fish over a few weeks

Make sure that when you put the filter back in the new tank you also put fish in there - otherwise the bacteria that will have colonised it will die and be useless.

Consider some plants to use up nitrAtes and keep maintainance to a minnimum.

For extra fish I would urge you to get at least 4 corydoras aenus (bronze corydoras). You'll fall in love with cories if you have never kept them before and bronze cories are one of the hardiest. They also make great scavengers and like a fine, smooth substrate. If you can, consider getting sand.

 

[Fiori]

Thanks Sylvia - what would I do without you?

I was planning on using sand anyway, as my plec loves burrowing in it so much. Not sure about the filter advice - the new tank has a filter provided with it, as does my current one, so I don't know if they're interchangeable. I was thinking of the "sand in stocking" routine (from my current tank) and moving some of my plants into the new tank? Would that work ok?

I took your advice and took my mollies back and things seem to have settled a bit now. No sign of ich now (touch wood) and everyone seems happy. My readings are back where they should be! Thanks again

 

[sylvia]

With the filter I don't mean to change anything - just if you could move the filter that comes with your new tank into your old one and let it run with the old filter for a while so that some bacteria from the old filter can move into the new and colonise it. Then you just move the new filter back to its tank and leave the old as it is.

The sand and plants would also work but it may take a little longer after you add the first fish than it would if you moved the filter from one tank to the other and then back again .

Just test the water, add new fish gradualy and keep up with water changes and you'll be fine .

 

[sylvia]

Oh, I forgot to mention another way to quickly cycle your tank -

Take the filter media from your new tank and place it somewhere (could be anywhere - doesn't matter) in your old tank. Beneficial bacteria will colonise it and you can then put it back in its place in the new filter and start it up. Then add a couple of fish right after and your tank should cycle realy fast.

 

[Fiori]

okaaay I understand bout the filter thing now.

I want to take my time with this one, so I don't make any more stupid mistakes. Checked out the bronze corys - they sound like cute little fishes with character.