what to get?

[jappy]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here

I'm thinking of getting my first fish tank, and I'm starting off small..

The tank I have in mind is (just let me convert from metric to imperial):

~15 inches long
6 gallons in volume...

Another tank I have in mind is ~18 inches, and 5 gallon capacity

What kind of fishes can I put in a tank this small? I was thinking of schooling fish such as neons, and maybe a bottom feeder, maybe even a gourami?

But I really want to start off cheap for the time being...

Also, would a powerhead in this tank produce too much current?

 

[jappy]

And what's the difference between using sand and gravel on the bottom? Which is best for living plants?

 

[aquarius]

I believe that it's better to have gravel for plants but bottom feeders such as cories prefer sand. But I have gravel and am planning to get a few cories. Gravel is so much easier to clean in my opinion.

As for the fish, if your tank is only 6 gallons, you can get only a few fish. You can get 6 to 8 neons but that would probably be it for the fish. If you want more of a variety, you can probably get two or three small cory cats and a dwarf gourami for example. Of course there are also guppues, platies, mollies, etc, that are relatively easy to take care of and make good beginner fish. So just do your research and see which you like better.

 

[Morrgan]

Hello jappy and welcome.

I wouldn't recommend getting cories, for even the dwarf ones want a school of 6 or more and there's not enough room for that in a 6 gal.

May I suggest you consider getting a 10 gal instead (about 45 litres, if you prefer metric)? You'd have more options on what fish to get for it, and could get a nice bigger school of neons for example, or dwarf cories and a dwarf gourami. It's still quite a small tank and I don't think it would be that much more expensive than those two (correct me if I'm wrong though).

 

[mike777]

May I suggest you consider getting a 10 gal instead

yes that is a good idea then you could get 4 to 8 zebra danios. I've heard that neons need a realtivley established tank so you might want to get something more hardy like Zebra Danios (but I could be wrong). Then wait until your tank is cycled then you could maybe get 2 gouramis because zebra danios are so small you may be able to fit two. Hope this helps!

 

[mike777]

May I suggest you consider getting a 10 gal instead

yes that is a good idea then you could get 4 to 8 zebra danios. I've heard that neons need a realtivley established tank so you might want to get something more hardy like Zebra Danios (but I could be wrong). Then wait until your tank is cycled then you could maybe get 2 gouramis because zebra danios are so small you may be able to fit two. Hope this helps!

 

[jappy]

10 gallon.. is that a 2-foot tank?

(I'm still trying to grasp the tank volumes and sizes - I tend to think of tanks in terms of length rather than volume hehe.. )

I will check whether I can obtain one of those - prices for tanks and fishes will be very different down here in Sydney..

I was thinking of cycling the tank with goldfish first... is that a no-no?

 

[Morrgan]

My 2-foot tank is about 13 imperial gallons, so the 10 gal is a bit smaller than that.

As for cycling, I can't really say about goldfish. (It's been YEARS since I last cycled a tank...) The next time I need to cycle though, I'll do a fishless cycle. It's faster and no fish have to suffer ammonia or nitrite poisoning. You may want to look into that instead.

(Hehee, I was in Sydney airport a couple of months ago and will be there again in an other month. Don't know if I'll be allowed to leave the airport to have a look around though, as I'll just be passing through. )

 

[MAM]

i believe my 10 gal US tank is 20 inches long and 12 inches wide or so. in my opinion, yes, cories need buddies, they school, but 3 or 4 is sufficient (though i can't get enough of them myself, and plan to add many more to my fishy family, they are jsut so cute and fun to watch).
of course with a tank as small as 6 gal, you'd be limited as to which cories, pandas are smaller and would work best, but then you wouldn't be able to put too much else in there. 10 gals don't take up much room, and are relatively cheap (though i'm not sure what they'd run in aussieland). if you got the ten you could have three or four cory cats, any kind, and maybe a nice school of 6 tetras or harlequin rasboras or maybe some mollies or platys or guppies (livebearers are good choice for beginners), or perhaps a dwarf gourami. a good idea is to go to your local fish store and look around, see what catches your eye, then hop online and do some research to find out size, habitat, foods and compatible tank mates. that will help you decide what will work for you.

 

[jappy]

thanks for the advice guys, it is greatly appreciated

i will do a fishless cycle if i can find clear ammonia... at the moment all i have seen in the supermarkets is 'cloudy' ammonia, which is probably not something i'd want floating around in my fish tank

how long can the beneficial bacteria last out of a tank? my friend has offered to give me some of his gravel and filter media from an established tank, but the only way i can really do this is for him to put the gravel/media into a bag full of the tank water - how long can the bacteria survive in this scenario?

 

[jappy]

Hi again!

My friend just dropped off his old tank at my house last night!

It's 20" x 13" x 10", which I calculated to be about... 10 US gallons!

Hurray for me.

Now, it's got some old watermarks on the inside of the tank which I want to get rid of. What can I do to clean up an old tank? I was thinking of using vinegar on the inside... can I use methylated spirits to give it a wipe down?

I will also be boiling the gravel eventually.

 

[Juggernaut22988]

Dont use vinegar!
Just good old tap water is good!

Also, before adding fish, make sure you add 1/2 tsp of aquarium salt per gallon (5tsp for you) to prevent fish loss. DO NOT USE TABLE SALT (unless it is not iodized)

 

[Morrgan]

Also, before adding fish, make sure you add 1/2 tsp of aquarium salt per gallon (5tsp for you) to prevent fish loss.

What does adding salt help with? I haven't added salt in my tanks before adding fish and they were both used tanks.

Oh, and congrats on the new tank, jappy!

 

[jappy]

Dont use vinegar!
Just good old tap water is good!

What's wrong with using vinegar? I was going to use distilled vinegar.. not cooking vinegar!

I suppose I could use normal tap water, but it's going to be a lot of hard scrubbing...

On another note, is my calculation correct? I worked with metric first, then converted to imperial, so something could have gone wrong there.

edit: Oh, another thing - is it a bad idea to use fishpond water in my new tank? I have 2 fishponds outside the house that have goldfish and koi in them.

Can someone also comment on using goldfish (just normal comets) to cycle?

 

[dunc_man_fishy]

Dont use vinegar because it is acidic and is used sometimes as an ingredient in window cleaner that has been known to kill fish when used to clean tanks. Water and aquarium salt would be suffient to clean with. But rinse well after , I would not add salt as it has been suggested you could add cories. They HATE salt as it burns them.

Em as for the fishpond water I wouldn't as you could be added unknown containments.

Go fishless cycling far nicer on the fish, and you can crank up the heater to speed it up, you couldn't do this with goldfish obvisiously.