setting up my first tropical tank yippee

[jungle king]

My first tank is a 10 uk gall (more 12) I have washed gravel, tank, filled with de-chlored water (pre filtered through activated carbon and ion exchange resin) oh and the normal stuff you put in the water. I have the heater set at 25c and put in a air curtain to agitate the water surface a bit more the filter just now is in my 30 gall coldwater tank beside it's normal filter have to wait a while to get fish for the trop tank.

Will haveing the fillter in beside my older tank help with maturing the new filter. Only got the 10 gall as i have heard that I am getting the 30 gall I have been looking at for christmas .

don't know what the p.h. of my water is at a guess I would say about the ph 7 mark as my goldfish are doing good.

Need to wait till my parents grow a few brain cells so I can get the water testing kit ( my mum thought that was what you needed to add to the water for it to be ok for fish )

 

[jungle king]

Will haveing the fillter in beside my older tank help with maturing the new filter?

and is 25c ok ?

 

[paulioo]

Yes and yes

You seem to know what your doing. Just don't go crazy when stocking it with fish.

Do you know what fish your going to add to the tank? In a 10G Uk you could probably stock it with 5 neons and some shrimp, add a few low light plants, suitable rocks and some java moss.

Thats what i'd do anyway
Paul

 

[jungle king]

can't get shrimp where I am I was thinking 3 bronze corries (which will end up with 3 more in the 30 gallon after christmas) but my gravel may be to big (shrimp look a bit creepy to me). My mum was thinking guppies but I don't know. The bulb is a daylight neon was with the tank.

The store I got my tank has an offer of 5 neons for £4. So fish suddgestions would be nice but just stick to the common fish mothing to major.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

You need to read up on how to do a fishless cycle and new tank sydrome in the pinned articles at the top of the beginners section, doing a fishless cycle is far quicker and better than cycling your tank with fish as you don't put your fish's health at risk.

Neons aern't the best fish for a new tank because they are not very hardy in general, and guppys you need at least 2-3females per male in mixed gender groups although female guppys are almost always pregnant and are notorious for producing large quantitys of fry on a monthly basis- you need at least 5 males for an all male group as it helps disperse agression between them but it would also stock yoru tank almost to its limits. Mollys and swordtails are too big for a 10gal unless you are planning on a pair of 2 females and your tank could only comfortably fit a group of 5-6 platys at most realy, only one male.

Basically don't get anything that gets larger than 4inchs and always research your fish as much as posible before you get them, don't believe the myth that large growing fish fit to the size of the tank as it is not so and always stock your tank slowly- no more than 3 small fish a week realy as the beneficial bacteria in your filter needs to adjust to the bioload and your tank is not very large anyways.
There is a rule of thumb that should give you an idea of what you can stock in your tank when you start researching what fish are available to you called the "1inch of fish per gallon" rule- basically you find out how many inchs long your fish will get when it is full grown and see how many gallons of space you have for it. Its a very flexable rule but will give you an idea at least what can fit roughly in your tank but there many exceptions i.e a 10inch long plec would be far too big for a 10gallon tank and a zebra danio would be too active as well for such a small space, but a group of 10inch neon tetras would be fine in a 10gal since they are low waste producing peaceful shoaling fish etc.
As for test kits you will need ones that test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates as these are important stats to moniter and always get the most acurate test kit you can .

 

[jungle king]

yes I know about fishless cycling but can't find ammonia anywhere (unless it is allways sold out)

The new filtter that is for the tropical tank is in my goldfish tank I have had goldfish for just about 15 years my old guy is in a big tank beside my desk.

The fact that goldfish are messy when compaired to tropical fish.
There are 5 goldfish in the tank so that should make a big enough culture in the filter.

I should of also mentioned I on no condition want any fry (i.e. no mixing of genders)

 

[jungle king]

yipee just found out from another site that it will take 2 weeks for my 10 gallon filter to cicle in my 30 gallon tank. Just need to figure out what fish to get

 

[jungle king]

So what fish should i get for my 10 gallon ?

 

[smooth_bourbon]

Need to wait till my parents grow a few brain cells so I can get the water testing kit

Why on earth as a 24 year old do you need to wait for your parents to do anything, and why would you talk about them like that?

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

 

[Clairel]

Need to wait till my parents grow a few brain cells so I can get the water testing kit

Why on earth as a 24 year old do you need to wait for your parents to do anything, and why would you talk about them like that?

[snapback]925298[/snapback]​

I think he just meant it as a joke, humour etc.....

Claire x

 

[smooth_bourbon]

I get the idea of humor but just sounds like 14 year old humor to me for some reason. Was kinda thinking maybe someone fibbed on their birthday, tho i could be wrong of course.

 

[Clairel]

I get the idea of humor but just sounds like 14 year old humor to me for some reason. Was kinda thinking maybe someone fibbed on their birthday, tho i could be wrong of course.

[snapback]925389[/snapback]​

Lmao !!

C x

 

[jungle king]

I am 24 and live with my parents because of my condition because if I lived in a house on my own i WOULD MOST LIKLY BE DEAD (which isn't a joke)

 

[smooth_bourbon]

Oh S*** I am very sorry. I definately put my foot in something.