Didn't think I needed a chemistry degree to keep fish.

[fossyant]

Sounds hard work this fish keeping - I'll stick to 3 cats

 

[pepecat]

Sounds hard work this fish keeping - I'll stick to 3 cats

We have three cats as well - one particular like sitting on top of the fish tank, leaning over and batting at the fish! It's like tv for cats....

 

[wakou]

You can use fish like White Cloud Mountain Minnows as a kinda of 'test' fish while your tank is cycling, as they're more tolerant of changes in ammonia / nitrate levels than other fish like Tetras. Seems a bit mean to the Minnows, but apparently that's what people do with them cos they're cheap. Personally I kept Minnows (was going to have tetras) cos they're quite cute little things!

But but but:
WCMM's White clouds/ Tanichthys albonubes are cold water fish. Just because they are cheap, surely chucking them in to cycle a tank and suffer the Ammonia/nitrite spikes and then keeping them at tropical temps is just cruel?

 

[chris-s]

If you want to learn chemistry...

... and you can look after fellas like this motley bunch....

Chris

 

[Archie_tect]

Must be terrifying for your fish-sitter when you go on holiday Chris!

 

[Cheddar George]

Got a 54 litre fish tank at the week, filled it with water, added necessary dechlorinate, then put the filter on.

Planning to wait seven days before stocking with fish, then I joined a fish keeping forum and read about cycling the tank before stocking. It's not as easy as I thought it would be, likely to take 6 weeks and a load of water testing.

I'm glad I have been researching the set up as I would not like to find my newly bought fish poorly.

Has anyone had experience of cycling a freshwater tank?

I seem to remember i used some kind of biological starter in a small bottle that i purchased from the local aquarium shop. After about 2 weeks i put half a dozen danios in on their own for another couple of weeks. Just build up gradually after that you don't want to put all your fish in at once any way. Enjoy.

 

[gbb]

another quick point, and apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, always wash your filter media in old tank water (from the water change,) never tap water. The chlorine in tap water will kill off all the bacteria that have built up.

Good luck, and post pictures

Very good point...i mistakenly used to use boiling water to clean my filters at first, thinking this would kill all the nasties (why i don't know ) when all you're doing is killing all the goodies in the media.

 

[biggs682]

its not as easy as it first looks , we kept some for about 5 years and then grew out of it , very relaxing to watch

 

[Dora]

My Boyfriend set up a couple of fish tanks last year. Here's what we learned:

1)You don't keep fish, you keep bacteria. The fish are just there for decoration.
2)Mollys and Playts are NOT hardy.
3)You ALWAYS need a bigger tank.

 

[Gromit]

Hiya everyone thank you for your reply's, I can now warrant talking more about aquariums as I have just about finished my assignments.

Chris I love your tank set up, my boyfriend Bikepete has a reef specialist in the same building where he runs Velovision from, I'm a bit too scared to go in and have a look as it's quite a small business and I may have to talk to them. I'm a bit shy, and not so sure I can keep a set up like that as its more complex and would make a big impact on our electricity bill.

Anyway I put some carbon in the filter yesterday as the water went a bit cloudy a few days after set up and shoved five cap fulls of that magic potion in that helps to create bacteria.

I'm going off to the pet shop to get some plants this evening. I will see what happens after that. Have ordered in a test kit too.

 

[Cheddar George]

My Boyfriend set up a couple of fish tanks last year. Here's what we learned:

1)You don't keep fish, you keep bacteria. The fish are just there for decoration.
2)Mollys and Playts are NOT hardy.
3)You ALWAYS need a bigger tank.

Have to agree with number 2, i have not had any luck with Mollys or Platys.

 

[pepecat]

But but but:
WCMM's White clouds/ Tanichthys albonubes are cold water fish. Just because they are cheap, surely chucking them in to cycle a tank and suffer the Ammonia/nitrite spikes and then keeping them at tropical temps is just cruel?

Yes, it is cruel, and i wouldn't do it, but some people do - I've seen it mentioned on fish keeping fora before now. WCMM's can tolerate temps up to about 22 -24 degrees c (71 - 75 F), but that's at the top end of their tolerance range - they do prefer colder water. I've had to put icecubes in my tank in the summer to try and cool the temp a bit, and when i do water changes i always use cold water, rather than get it the same temp as what's already in the tank. I've only got a 34L tank and find that the light heats up the water enough, so I don't need the heater (took it out after a while).
It depends on what species of fish you want to keep i guess - the properly tropical ones need higher temperatures, but WCMMs don't need it quite so high.

 

[pepecat]

I'm going off to the pet shop to get some plants this evening. I will see what happens after that. Have ordered in a test kit too.

Beware of plants!! I got snails in my tank cos the eggs were on a plant I got from a pet shop, and once they get in, they're a bugger to get rid of!! Check the plant to see if there are any slimy bits on it - these might well be the eggs of the snails and once they hatch, you're in trouble!

 

[rusky]

Beware of plants!! I got snails in my tank cos the eggs were on a plant I got from a pet shop, and once they get in, they're a bugger to get rid of!! Check the plant to see if there are any slimy bits on it - these might well be the eggs of the snails and once they hatch, you're in trouble!

That's why you get clown loaches, followed by a bigger tank to accomodate them

 

[Gromit]

So we went to the pet shop to pick up some plants, came out with nothing as they were having a clear out of old stock. Oh well.

Have decided to get some Guppy's for my first fish 3 males and 5 females. Then some really small catfish, anyone know how many of those I should keep in my 54 litre tank? I know the little ones can grow between 5-6 cm. May even shell out for some tetra when the tanks more established. I can see it getting quite full even before putting the plants in.