When To Get The Fish

[tom_middleton]

I have recently acquired a second hand fish tank (72 litres) and have had it running for the past week or so. There is a piece of Mopani wood and some rocks in there as well as a couple of live plants. All very pretty if you ask me
I have been to the lfs and she says it should be ok to put a few fish in tomorrow.
The overall aim of the tank is to have a Betta, a dwarf Gourami, a pair of fish (5cms but i dont know what type yet), a pleco or corydora (which one?) and a shoal of neon tetras.
Do you think that this will work as a good community?
If so, what order shall i get the fish? I have heard that tetras like more mature water but a betta will be more aggressive to newcomers if put in the tank first.

Ideas?

 

[fishy55599]

gourami's and betta's wont mix as they are both quite agressive.
corydora i would suggest is bronze or albino as both are hardy.
possibly zebra danio's could work?

 

[notg2009]

I would say check the water parameters first before adding any fish. I use API master test kit, which is recommended by many on this forum. This kit checks ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH. You want to make sure the tank is cycled before you add any fish, or you can do a fish-in cycle using some hardy fish like zebra danios (someone here will call this method cruel to the fish!!!). After the tank is cycled, you can 5-7 fish at a time (then wait for some days before adding new ones).
As for stocking, I would prefer schools of small fish since they run around the tank, unafraid of larger fish, but it is your decision at the end

Good luck

 

[KittyKat]

As above + if you have not cycled the filter or seeded it, then you should do that before adding fish or they are very likely to die after a few days.

 

[Essjay]

And also to add that even if the previous owner had the tank running with fish in right up to the moment you took it, then leaving the filter for a week without adding ammonia will have resulted in most of the bacteria having died of starvation. And if you let the filter media dry before setting it up at your house, the bacteria well also have died.
So you will still need to cycle the filter.