Typical Questions From A New Starter, I Guess!

[welly]

I have recently bought a small 12 gallon tank and plan to stock it with a small cichlid breed as they appear very colourfull and interesting to watch. I am very new to the hobby and have a few questions that i hope someone will be able to answer to help me on my way,

1. The tank i have bought was 2nd hand and the fish came with it....it has a mix of tetras x 4, swordtails x 6,clown loach x 1, and a mix of 8 very small cichlids ( convicts, keyhole and a couple of others i dont know but are bright yellow). I understand that these fish will not all mix together but am unsure what to do about it, i have contacted the local shop but they are not able to take the tetras or swordtails from me....Does anyone know of somewhere who would be willing to take these in , i live in York and would be willing to travel.

2. I currently have the tank set at 25 deg temp as this is what the heater was set at, is this the correct temp?

3. One of the albino cichlids i have keeps bouncing off rocks, does this indicate an infection?

4. Can anyone point me in the right direction of a website that indicates the difference between sex of fish as i would love to eventually try to breed cichlids but for the moment just to look out of interest to try and determine what i have.

Many thanks for taking the time to read my questions and any help is much appreciated,

Thanks in advance

Welly.

 

[scappaflow]

I have recently bought a small 12 gallon tank and plan to stock it with a small cichlid breed as they appear very colourfull and interesting to watch. I am very new to the hobby and have a few questions that i hope someone will be able to answer to help me on my way,

1. The tank i have bought was 2nd hand and the fish came with it....it has a mix of tetras x 4, swordtails x 6,clown loach x 1, and a mix of 8 very small cichlids ( convicts, keyhole and a couple of others i dont know but are bright yellow). I understand that these fish will not all mix together but am unsure what to do about it, i have contacted the local shop but they are not able to take the tetras or swordtails from me....Does anyone know of somewhere who would be willing to take these in , i live in York and would be willing to travel.

2. I currently have the tank set at 25 deg temp as this is what the heater was set at, is this the correct temp?

3. One of the albino cichlids i have keeps bouncing off rocks, does this indicate an infection?

4. Can anyone point me in the right direction of a website that indicates the difference between sex of fish as i would love to eventually try to breed cichlids but for the moment just to look out of interest to try and determine what i have.

Many thanks for taking the time to read my questions and any help is much appreciated,

Thanks in advance

Welly.

By no means an expert but pretty sure some more experienced posters will tell you to try and offload the clown loach into a much bigger tank - or else take it to a dealer you know. Not really suitable for a small tank.

Can't really comment on much of the other points you raise, but have a feeling your tank is also fairly heavilly stocked.

 

[Ziggi]

1.) all I can say is ask around, have you called all the local fish stores? I'm in MD and ours do take fish granted they have to be a certain size ( I have to wait to give my dalmation mollies because their still too young), for store credit. if not, as funny as this sounds, call the animal shelter/humane society and ask them... they should know something if all else fails.

2.) I'm assuming thats celsius? ... so like 85-90 degree's about? PERSONALLY, I'd turn it down a little, but I'm a rookie myself. but I think most fish are comfortable in the lower 80s temps

3.) cant help you there, go into the cichlid section and make a new topic (if you haven't already).

4.) I float around badmans tropical fish, [URL="http/www.badmanstropicalfish.com/cichlids.html"]http/www.badmanstropicalfish.com/cichlids.html [/URL], but I warn you now, there's a million and a half pop-up adds (dont ask me why)

Welcome and good luck!