So I Got A Tropical Fish tank for Xmas!

BigBoy

BigBoy

BigBoy

Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
6,898
Location
Bath
Right guys who of you has the experience to help me?

I have just been given a Biorb Tropical Tank and was wondering where to start with Fish and plants?

The kids want a clown fish but i dont want to get one and it die the next day would be happier to get something that will be a little harder to kill (if you get my meaning).

I understand the water will need conditioning and the filter will take a little time to build up the bacteria needed to keep the tank healthy.

Just need to know where to start.

Any help would be appreciated ;)

Thanks all.
 
First of all, you really need to run the tank with nothing in it for a couple of weeks, to create a stable environment.

That's the only thing I know for sure, so i'll let the experts tell you the rest :)
 
congrats there great fun, however, 1st things 1st:

Clown fish ? thats marine water mate, a lot harder than fresh water tropical to maintain, id strongly advice against a marine tank as your 1st tank, that tank will only support fresh anyways.

2nd leave it for 4 weeks !! thats how long my latest tank took to mature, planted from day 1, so planting is fine, however make sure u get some substrate fertlisisor then add gravel on top.

Plant plants and finalize tank how it should be laid out.

Next P in it, about half a cup full, will get bacteria growing

leave 4 weeks, test it with nitrate/nitrite check kits, allow those 'blooms' to pass

then done, once a week even while no fish in it, do a 25% water change

after all this add 6 neon tetras, leaave them a week or, 2 then add more, one fish species at at time, waiting a week each time to adjust.

sorry for the list format of writing, just letting u know what u need to do matey for a trouble free healthy tank :)

if you want a clown like fish, a clown loach is ok ONLY IF YOU INTEND TO EVENTUALLY BUY A 6 FOOT TANK IN THE NEXT YEAR, as they grow to around 30cm easy and u need them in 3's miniumum, so eventually a 500/600L 6ft tank is required, if your only sticking to this tank only get small species that will stay under 8cm or so. also dont overstock the tank, eventaully 8 neons, 2/3 zebra loach, 3 ottocinulus, couple of shrimp and mayb a siamese fighter would b ideal
 
Last edited:
Kept tropical fish for quite some time, not sure if mr squirrel up there is talking about marine?

Never had to leave the tank to mature and definitely never peed in it. But I agree on getting neons for a start.
 
Maybe start off with

some angel fish and silver dollars. Much cheaper than clown fish. They look pretty to. Or you could get some guppies and neon's. They tend to be a little more durable. Post a picture of your tank when you get it set up please.
 
Skyfall said:
Kept tropical fish for quite some time, not sure if mr squirrel up there is talking about marine?

Never had to leave the tank to mature and definitely never peed in it. But I agree on getting neons for a start.
Click to expand...

Yeh on about fresh water tropical, you dont have to technically leave the tank, however the above approach is in the interests of the fish, I personally would never care for any living thing without its best interests at heart, yes they look nice, but there alive so...

while the fish my survive they will go through hellish experience with high levels of nitrates/nitrites if you dont allow it to pass first, it seriously damages them and reduces there life time (usually from damage to the gills, like having buggered lungs basically in animals)

P in it is simply to increase the levels of ammonia, which then gets converted to nitrates and nitrites, doing this builds up the bacteria for all stages of the nitro cycle. Think about it, you put a fish in a tank thats not been cycled, it p's and poos in the tank, all of a sudden its swimming around in it and its not being decomposed, eventually bacteria build and break it down, and then u get nit spikes, which is what almost kills the fish and or damages them, hence why you should leave it that long to have all necessary bacteria in place

its all about doing whats best for the fishies, essentially your making and maintaing an entire eco system :)
 
oh also defo defo leave it for 4 weeks after planting and setting up the tank how u want, and p-ing in it.

I know this as said, I just setup another tank of mine, a 60L like yours and I did a close monitoring of the tank every 2 days over 4 weeks, the water level was only good to go after this 4 week period, its now bang on ready for fishes.
 
Was talking to The Mrs this morning and was told the tank would be fine for Clown fish witch is why she bought it. What would i need to do to get it right?
 
BigBoy said:
Was talking to The Mrs this morning and was told the tank would be fine for Clown fish witch is why she bought it. What would i need to do to get it right?
Click to expand...

Well for starters you'd need a salt mix to add to the water which is pretty expensive. Youd also need a hydrometer to measure SG and a few extra test kits

You couldnt use normal gravel, youve have to get coral sand

Its a long time since i kept marines but the lat clowfish i purchased set me back a good tenner.
 
I really would advise against a marine tank until your a comfortable with running a freshwater. They require a lot of upkeep. I suggest getting a couple of Clown Loaches, they look similar to Clown fish and are freshwater.
 
neodude said:
I really would advise against a marine tank until your a comfortable with running a freshwater. They require a lot of upkeep. I suggest getting a couple of Clown Loaches, they look similar to Clown fish and are freshwater.
Click to expand...

I wouldnt recommend clown loaches to be honest. They are expensive, a fiver each in my local shop and are prone to white spot.

For that tank id start off with a couple of hardy fish, like neons, and add a couple of corys later

For me id stock it like this :

4x Neons
4x Zebra Danios
2x Bronze Corys
2x Dwarf Gourami

Nice looking fish that will occupy all levels of the tank :)
 
Yes listen to meatloaf, DO NOT get clown loaches unless as said, your going to get a bigger tank eventually.

Bigboy your mrs was just told this to make a sale, another tip for you, most places that sell this stuff (aside from dedicated private quality shops) tell you a load of **** , i.e. avoid supermarket type pet shops, you know which ones I mean. The only half truth of what they told you is, its a tank, and will hold liquid. Your missing (aside from the usual tropical stuff) is salt levels (which require monitoring constantly), protein skimmers, a couple of other expensive bits of kit, coral (which if you buy live 'ready to go' coral is hella expensive), its just a lot of work matey, also the tanks abit small for clown fish etc, as said, your setting up an eco system, not something that just looks nice.

JoeMama said:
Some good advice here. You can also speed up the 'nitrite converting' bacteria with a liquid that you can pick up from any fish place. I would prefer to use that than peeing in the tank. :)
Click to expand...

This is half true, you either mean 1 of 2 things, a bottle of ammonia that begins exactly the same process as P-ing in the tank, and costs a tenner, WHY ? just P in the tank ! lol, urine is sterile and full of ammonia, and chemically closer to what comes out of a fish when its got to go, put aside 'society views' of p-ing somewhere odd, and think about it in a chemical sense.

2nd the stuff you DO want to buy is a bottle of cycle, this is a bottle of concentrated bacteria (more or less), that you add to the tank, and adds in some bacteria HOWEVER DO NOT THINK THIS WILL INSTANTLY WORK, the contents of the bottle need a) to settle and develop, i.e. to make home in your filters sponges and start multiplying, b) They need ammonia to work with or they will die, hence you need to P, that or waste a tenner adding bottled ammonia, (jus P for goodness sake, haha)

If you wanna email me with any questions bigboy (theres a sentence I thought id never say, haha), go for it.
 
Last edited:
It was the cycle that i was referring to, with the 'starting' bacteria and yes, i always waited a week or so before adding fish. Although it's quite expensive, it didn't cost me anything like a tenner and lasted a fair while but then again some aquarium shops are extortionate. I'm sure piddlinging in the tank does the same thing but i'd rather not do it tbh! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom