starting a second tank

[cheekeyarab]

I have only had my tank for about 2 months but I would like to set up a second.
I would be looking at getting another 20g tank. I won't be getting a new tank for a few months but I just wanted to get an idea of what's involved.

I am hoping to have platy's, guppies and mollies in one and tetras in the other.

I wanted to know if I can use my water change of my old tank to help start up the new one?

Also, I have six black widow tetras in my tank along with a couple of other fish. I want to leave my tetras in the tank I have now and move the others. This way I will hopefully be able to add some neons in the old tank sooner. I am not sure which tank to put my zebra loach in though. Do you think I should leave him where he is and get a new one for the new tank?

Lastly how big do zebra loaches get? The book I have says 6cm but I have only had mine a month and he has already grown very rapidly. He was about 2cm (ex tail) and now he is at least twice that if not 5cm. Do they always grow so quickly as my other fish
haven't grown as much as this.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

hey cheekey! long time no see; i hope that means everything's going well for you .

the easiest way to start a new tank using bacteria from an old tank is to run the new filter in the old tank for a few days. purchase a bit of filter floss at the LFS and tuck it into your old filter. run that for a few days before setting up your new tank. when you've got your new tank filled with water and everything, transfer over the new filter and move the bit of filter floss into there. you've just seeded your new tank with quite a lot of bacteria from the old! this is the point where you want to move over a nice chunk of fish to produce waste to keep your bacteria alive. adding about half dirty tank water when initially setting up the tank will help with acclimating any existing fish you own to the new environment, but it won't transfer over any beneficial bacteria.

alternatively, here's the pinned topic on fishless cycling. i doubt you'd want to perform a complete cycle like that, since i bet you're in a rush to get that new tank running! but reading through these articles should prove rather informative and will help improve your understanding of what exactly is going on with your tanks. (don't bother reading the scanned versions; the text is typed out in subsequent posts)

might i recommend you investigating some alternatives to livebearers and tetras? its seems like you've caught the bug; you might like to check out some smaller cichlids like German Rams or (possibly) Kribensis. and don't forget oddballs like the African Butterfly Fish! you'll find that a 20g set-up is actually quite flexible in the types of small fish you can keep. obviously you don't want to overstock it, which is why i suggest you fully investigate the alternatives before making your purchases.


zebra loach: don't worry, some fish just grow faster than others. cute species.

 

[cheekeyarab]

erm, actually don't think it is a zebra loach. Same body shape etc. as the one you showed me but stripes are very different.

lfs described it as a zebra loach and book I checked didn't have pics just sizes.

It has thick black stripes which are spread quite far apart and the main colour is a pale yellow/off white. Someone suggested it could be a tiger loach, what do you think?

Also thanx for the info on second tank, just have to convince my less enthusiastic hubby it's a good idea!!

Love the kribensis but lfs said they are not a good community fish and you have to be careful what you put them with. Would they go with platies/mollies? Would consider them instead of anything but dalmation mollies (or platies as my son chose them already!)