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Starting up a freshwater tank and need advice

Tanks should smell like 'damp earth'


Don't get fish yet, the tank is not ready for them. The shop may well tell you that you can get fish but that's because shop workers don't believe in cycling. A common post is from people who believed the shop worker and now find that their ammonia is through the roof and their fish are dying. Either get some live plants and a test kit, and wait till you are sure the plants are not dying off; or get a test kit and a bottle of ammonia and follow this http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/


I've looked at your link, and the link from there to the filter https://www.interpet.co.uk/Media/InterpetUK/Skoo/2311/2311_7.pdf Personally I would change what's in the filter (the media) before it is cycled. You don't need the carbon or algaway spheres. I would replace them with some filter sponge, any make cut to fit the filter. You can leave them there if you want and ignore the manual that says to change them but sponge would work better as a home for the bacteria.
Never replace your media like the manual says, just wash in in old tank water that you take out during a water change.


Smudge spot cories (Corydoras similis) are one of the larger species growing to 2.4 inches/6 cm. Although Seriously Fish says your tank is big enough I would prefer to see then in a bigger tank. That's why we've been suggesting one of the dwarf species :)
 
Thanks essjay! Definitely not getting the fish yet and I have a bottle of ammonia. I asked them if they had any dwarf corys but they said no. Don't know if that means they don't do them full stop or they just don't have them in yet.
 
Did you keep the lid open?
Actually, you have to keep it open for oxygen to go in.

I was thinking that since you are going to have only one species of top level fish, you might want to choose carefully the best or most beautiful fish that you really like.

There are many Tetras species and many of them are beautiful.
The Cardinal Tetras have very striking blue and red colours.
But among the Tetra species, I like Rosy Tetras the most.
They have pinkish colour and white colour on the tip of their fins. Their fins are the most beautiful among the smaller Tetra species.
They have wider bodies which look nicer than the smaller bodies of Neon or Cardinal Tetras.
Even when they swim, they look more graceful than the smaller bodies Tetras like Neon, Cardinal, Glowlight, Rummy Nose Tetra, etc.
A group of 6-8 or them will look good.
But my only concern is will they be too aggressive for your Salt and Pepper Cory when they grow bigger.

Here is a video of Rosy Tetra.

My second suggestion will be Ember Tetras. Since Ember Tetras stay relatively small, you can get more of them like 8-10.
They look beautiful in their orange colour.

Here is a video of Ember Tetras

 
You do not have to keep the lid open for air to get in. Most tanks have a small gap for cables etc to go through and this is enough. Oxygen will diffuse through this gap into the tank and carbon dioxide out of the gap. If you leave the lid open it defeats the object of having a lid at all. You may as well have an open topped tank with all its risks of things such as dust getting into the tank and fish jumping out.
In the 20+ years I have kept fish I have only left the tank lid open once and that was during very hot weather when I had Salvinia as a floating plant because condensation was dripping on it and damaging the leaves. Apart from those few days of heatwave in one year, I have always kept the lid closed.



But Lajos does have a point about black neons and cories both being monochrome in colour!
 
Hmmm hadn't thought about that. I've been advised to stick to one shoaling species instead of two. Have kind of fallen for the Black Neons though. Would 5 or 6 very small Neon Tetras or Flame Tetras be alright with a school of 5 or 6 Black Neons?
 
Ah, liquid testers are much more reliable. Did you buy them in a 'real' shop or on-line? If it's on-line I'd see if you can cancel the order then get the API master test kit, the one with bottles and test tubes.


Shoaling fish need to be kept as minimum of 6 of the same species. You could do either:
a shoal of one species of tetra and one of the dwarf cories - that's pygmy cories, habrosus cories, also called salt & pepper cories (not peppered cories which are a bigger species) and hastatus cories.
two shoals of different tetras.
 
Nicola Main said:
Thanks essjay! Definitely not getting the fish yet and I have a bottle of ammonia. I asked them if they had any dwarf corys but they said no. Don't know if that means they don't do them full stop or they just don't have them in yet.
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Fish species that are being commercially raised will usually be available in stores more frequently than species which may only bee wild caught. The latter may only be available once or twice, during the time of year when collectors are allowed to collect them. Many (but not all) tropical countries have laws governing fish collection so the species are not further endangered.

In some cases, such as the Project Priaba in South America, the regulated collection of wild fish actually benefits the fish and the local economy. If a livelihood can be made collecting fish in a responsible manner, there is less incentive for people to turn to occupations like farming or ranching which in Amazonia is destroying the forest at very alarming rates.

So, you may not see this or that species now, but in a couple months it may be available. Or you may find a store elsewhere that imports from South America. Do not rush into buying fish just to have fish; it is not so easy to get rid of them later when you see what you really do want in your tank.
 
Nicola Main said:
Hmmm hadn't thought about that. I've been advised to stick to one shoaling species instead of two. Have kind of fallen for the Black Neons though. Would 5 or 6 very small Neon Tetras or Flame Tetras be alright with a school of 5 or 6 Black Neons?
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If you decide on a tank with just one species, that can be interesting. But most usually consider more variety as more interesting. There is no reason you cannot have two or three different species in groups of each species. Just keep thee tank limitations in mind and select fish suited to the physical space and volume and also the aquascaping. Sand is needed for cories (especially the dwarf species), and plants and/or branches for the tetras. Floating plants will benefit all forest fish and you will have more active and more brightly coloured fish with floating plants over them.

You need more than five of the tetras; six is absolute minimum, but a couple more will make a big difference to the fish and their interactions, which will be more rewarding for you to observe. I never go under seven, and usually aim for 9-12 depending upon species and tank.

Keep in mind the black neons and the regular neons will remain in the lower half of the tank, as will the cories. Look into fish that will tend to remain in thee upper half to provide balance.

Corydoras similis (Smudge Spot Cory) was mentioned earlier in this thread. This would be a nice cory. I have had this species for well over a decade, and they have spawned. I have never seen them anywhere close to two inches (5 cm) even though the species may in the wild attain 2.4 inches (6 cm). And I have had them in larger tanks throughout, initially my 5-foot 115g and more recently for several years in my 4-foot 70g Amazon stream tank. Same holds for the panda, which will attain this large size naturally (I did once see wild caught panda cories that were two inches, quite a site as a group of a dozen in the store planted tank) but my group which includes some fry that have grown up with the shoal are all barely over an inch (2.5 cm) and some of these are easily 10 years old.
 
Nicola Main said:
This is another thing I'm worried about - breeding. What do I do with lots of little baby fish if I don't want them?
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That is usually not a problem. Livebearers can easily over-populate an aquarium because they are born as tiny fish and are easier to escape predation, and in most cases some will be able to survive the cannibalistic traits of the larger fish. Egg layers (which is what we are considering here) are not so advantaged.

Characins are egg scatters; female and male will sidle up to each other usually in a plant thicket, and dozens of eggs are released at once, falling among the plants or down to the substrate where they may stick on leaves, etc. But in the small confines of any but the largest or most heavily planted tank, all the other fish read the chemical signals and know what is going on in those bushes. And they will easily pick off most if not all of the eggs before they even have time to land on something. I have spawning all the time in my tanks, but very few cases where I ever see fry. If an egg manages to fall where it is not found, it will hatch, and the fry may be able to hide under wood or in plant leaves, and eat infusoria and micro critters to the stage where you/we suddenly see a small fish. At this stage, most fish leave them alone, although larger fish in the tank may see them as food.

Cories place their eggs on a surface, individually. Here too the other fish tend to find them easily, and eggs are highly nutritious food so any found will be eaten. And here too if one egg does escape and hatch, the fry has a bit easier time avoiding predation than the egg has. I have retrieved fry from the canister filter sometimes, or one may just appear one day. But this is not going to overwhelm you with fry in most of the cases. And tetras are very efficient at finding eggs.
 
Nicola Main said:
Would Cochu's Blue Tetra be a good choice?

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No. The largest tank mentioned so far has been 56 liters (15 gallons) and that is much too small for this species. This is an active swimmer, and without sufficient space can turn feisty with other fish. A group of 7-9 would need at least a 30-inch (75 cm) length tank though a 36-inch (90 cm) would be better.
 
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