Tanks that contain fish

[Mr_White]

Although it isn't the biggest site with the most amount of fish, it's got the most common stuff and is nicely laid out with decent amounts of info on each fish.

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/fishindx.htm

Look at things like Tetras, Corys, Barbs, Rasboras, Loaches, Gouramies, all the livebearers.

That should give you a good idea.

And if you want different fish or more colourful looking fish, look at malawi and tanganyika cichlids, they're under the cichlid page.

A nice tank set up with a lot of rock in it and some african cichlids can look very nice.

If you're looking for fish that will be more of a pet and have more of a personality etc, then looking at the American cichlids.

I hope this will give you some sort of idea on the sort of fish avaliable.

As for buying them online, there isn't many sites in the UK that do that.

http://www.tropicalfish4u.co.uk/ is one of them.

 

[MeatLoaf]

I would steer clear of mollies for a freshwater setup to be honest.

Whenever i keep mollies i keep in a tank with only mollies as i find they do much better in hard water.

Black mollies in particular are very succeptable to white spot.

Gor your first fish id say a shoal of small inexpensive fish like neons and leave them be for a week or two before adding more fish.

Another rule i asdhere strictly to is if theres just one fish in a tank showing signs off ill health then steer clear as thay may all be infected

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

If you were looking at cichlids (sick-lids) i would take a looky at this site.

http://www.cichlids.com/


As for where to buy fish from, half of this hobby is just knowing a good LFS (local fish shop). It may take a while to find a decent one, luckily i have a fair few i used to use and rely on. Generally maidenhead aquatics have been great. They operate all over the south and Wales. I didnt see your location, but they might be a decent supplier for ya

 

[unwashed potato!]

Ok guys, i just bought a fish tank, i decided to go with the 180 vision which cost £300 for tank and cabinet. Though a little concerned about dropping £300 on one item like this, i tihnk it was a good idea, plus its part of birthday present so screw it who cares

While im setting up the cabinet thought i'd ask if there is anything I should know and what to do once it has all been set up? e.g. with the water, items I want to put in it etc?

All I decided to get for today aswell as the tank was 2 big rock things and some pebbles to go at the bottom. Still waiting to get some yellow sand to go with the pebbles becuase they iddn't have this in stock. Can the sand be bought from anywhere or does it have to be Fish sand?

Im sure there will probaably be a insturcitions book in the tanks box which will tell me what to do, aswell as this book i got today, but just thought be easier and get better information from you guys.

I have no plans on adding the water yet, though i really want to so ican start getting the lil buggers in there.

 

[thecremeegg]

The best price i have seen was offline in birdworld

You live near birdworld?! i'm not alone in knowing what it is lol

 

[Mr_White]

Ok, I'm assuming you bought the rocks etc from the fish shop?

Put a little vinegar on them just incase, if it starts bubbling, they're no good, they will mess up your water chemistry.

Most rocks and whatnot sold in fish shops are pretty neutral, but some can slip through.

The sand can be any silica sand, play pit sand and whatnot for example, these are completely neutral.

Make sure you clean it before putting it in the tank, fill a bucket say 40% with sand, and the rest with water and swirl it around vigorously with your hand, pour out the water (make sure all your sand doesn't go with it )

And repeat this about 3-5 times with each bucket until the water you're draining off is relatively clear.

There isn't really much to filling up the tank, do you have a stick on thermometer for the tank?

You'll need one of these, you can't rely on the heaters dial.

Just arrange the decor how you want it etc, set a temp, between 26-28c is good.

Then just fill it up and turn it all on.

Then just follow my advice for doing a fishless cycle.

 

[unwashed potato!]

Ok, I'm assuming you bought the rocks etc from the fish shop?

Put a little vinegar on them just incase, if it starts bubbling, they're no good, they will mess up your water chemistry.

Most rocks and whatnot sold in fish shops are pretty neutral, but some can slip through.

Ok i will do this but what if it does start bubbling, will i be able to take it back saying its no good? what vinger should i use? just any normal one for like chips or white vinergar? Also afterwards will i need to clean this off or just wash it off? If clean it off how?

You live near birdworld?! i'm not alone in knowing what it is lol

Yeah i live near it though i didn't mean birdworld, i meant pets for you, just say birdworld some unknown reason.

 

[Mr_White]

Ok i will do this but what if it does start bubbling, will i be able to take it back saying its no good? what vinger should i use? just any normal one for like chips or white vinergar? Also afterwards will i need to clean this off or just wash it off? If clean it off how?

Any vinegar will work, white vinegar works better though, but any will do.

If it bubbles then I would take it back, a fish shop shouldn't be selling rocks that adjust the water chemistry unless they're labelled as such.

Just rinse it off with water afterwards.

Chances are it'll be fine, but there is no harm in testing it before you put it in the tank.

 

[thecremeegg]

Yeah i live near it though i didn't mean birdworld, i meant pets for you, just say birdworld some unknown reason.

Ah ok, where bouts? i used to live in rowledge if you know it?

 

[unwashed potato!]

Ah ok, where bouts? i used to live in rowledge if you know it?

Im a guildford guy, lived here my whole blooming life . Yeah i know rowledge though have never really gone there.

I have checked online and there seems to be a Maidenhead Aquatics at the other end of farnham from the guildford side. You wouldn't happen to know if its any good would you? Thinking of going there as someone in this thread has already suggested maindenhead aquatics just dont want to go and find it turns out to not be that good.

how am i going to fill up the tank? Do i just put water straight from the hoose (sp?) in there or do i need to do something to it first?

Im wanting to get some real plants for the tank. is this a good idea or should i stay clear of them?

Forgot to say when at bagshot lea the other day there was a fish that was pretty big in size, about 4/5 inchs, and it was banging against the glass every 3/4 seconds. At first i thought it did it by accident but it turned out to be actually going for me as when i got closer it did it like constantly twice a second. Why would a fish do this? was it a stressed one or something?

 

[Mr_White]

how am i going to fill up the tank? Do i just put water straight from the hoose (sp?) in there or do i need to do something to it first?

Im wanting to get some real plants for the tank. is this a good idea or should i stay clear of them?

Forgot to say when at bagshot lea the other day there was a fish that was pretty big in size, about 4/5 inchs, and it was banging against the glass every 3/4 seconds. At first i thought it did it by accident but it turned out to be actually going for me as when i got closer it did it like constantly twice a second. Why would a fish do this? was it a stressed one or something?

Just cold water from the hose yup, all the nasties and chlorine etc will naturally dissipate after a while

As for real plants, if you're going to get them, you might need to buy more sand so you've got a few inches for the roots to settle, without any other aid you won't have much luck.

I would suggest buying a basic CO2 system, one which you mix sachets with water which produces CO2 for about a month.

But keep in mind, if you wan't plants, you're not going to be able to get any boistrous fish or ones with big personalities, they'll eat them and rip them up.

I suggest fake silk plants, they look just as good, I've had many comments on how nice my tank looks, people are surprised when I tell them they're silk plants, albeit £100 worth

As for that fish you saw, some fish are just natural born ********* (sounds like bar stewards )

And will be aggressive towards everything and everyone.

He was probably a cichlid, they're very territorial which adds to their personality and aggression.

 

[unwashed potato!]

ok maybe i will stay away from real plants for now. I do like the look of the fake ones mroe as they are more colourful its just i prefer the idea of having real living plants in my tank.

Ok few last things before i bed.

If i dont get tomorrow i will probably go back the next day to some pet center/fish store. Is there anything i should get as atm i just got 2 big rocks and the small pebbles for the bottom. I know this will be a long process until i get fish so i want to start asap and dont want to go to the store and find out i should have got something else.

In the cycle you described (mr white) you said to put some food in and let it rot for a while and then change it. what sort of fish food should i get? is there loads of different ones or just a few pots or something?

Are backgrounds for the fish tank good for ths fish?


Is it bascially i just fill up the tank, wait for heater etc to do some stuff, add food, let it rot, remove and replace with new food, and repeat this for a few weeks. How will i know when its ready?

Ok think thats about. thanks everyone you've all be great help

 

[Mr_White]

You'll need a stick on thermometer for the outside of the tank.


As for the cycle, if you don't have fish food already don't bother buying any just for the cycle, see if you can find the products I mentioned earlier, bio-spira and cycle.

These will help kick start it.

But putting some prawns in the tank, letting them decompose, removing them, and repeating is more effective than fish food.

You won't know when it's ready without test kits.

You need an Ammonia test kit, a Nitrite test kit, and a Nitrate test kit.

You want the chemical based ones, you take a sample of water, add it to the test tube, then add a certain amount of chemicals etc and the water changes colour depending on the levels of whatever you're testing that are present in the water.

The manual you get with each test kit will explain how to do it.

These will be about £8-10 each.

The most effective way is to test every day and keep a log of the readings from each test.

Then you can see exactly what is happening, it's probably best for you to test every day or every few days since it's your first tank and you're not experienced with cycling tanks yet.

What will happen is the ammonia and nitrite will raise during the cycle, then spike at a peak level.

Both will drop down again, the nitrite will spike one last time, then ammonia and nitrite will settle to zero, and nitrates will be around 20-40ppm

This is why it helps to test and log each reading frequently.

Then you will know it's cycled.

 

[Mr Men]

I done my cycle with fish, cant really remember what fish I used sure it was Danio's never lost any either in the cycle, personally I found looking at an empty tank way too sad to be bothered with the fishless cycle

 

[Mr_White]

Well I'm glad the suffering you caused your fish alleviated your boredom of an empty tank.

 

[Mr Men]

They did not suffer, I asked them

 

[unwashed potato!]

i need some help

Do i need to declorinate the tap water before putting it in the tank or can i do that whilst it is in the tank with the sand and that?

I tested the rock things with vineger and one of them bubbled quite a lot. I gues i should now take it abck yeah?

I cleaned the sand and put it in the tank but the water is still slightly cloudy. Is this normal or do i need to still clean the sand more? the sand is silver sand from homebase. hoping the filter will do clean this

It also has some small black bits in tjhe sand which i guess would ened to be removed or will the filter do that?

As the tank has been filled 3/4 times with the filter thing in it does that mean all the bacteria stuff that was in the black sponge thing has all gone?

 

[Mr_White]

i need some help

Do i need to declorinate the tap water before putting it in the tank or can i do that whilst it is in the tank with the sand and that?

I tested the rock things with vineger and one of them bubbled quite a lot. I gues i should now take it abck yeah?

I cleaned the sand and put it in the tank but the water is still slightly cloudy. Is this normal or do i need to still clean the sand more? the sand is silver sand from homebase. hoping the filter will do clean this

It also has some small black bits in tjhe sand which i guess would ened to be removed or will the filter do that?

As the tank has been filled 3/4 times with the filter thing in it does that mean all the bacteria stuff that was in the black sponge thing has all gone?

Don't put that rock in the tank, try and take it back if you can.

The water is cloudy because the sand wasn't cleaned enough, it will a clear up after a few days.

As for de-chorinating the tap water, no, as I said in my other posts, it will naturally dissipiate.


You only need to do de-chlorinate it with aquasafe when you're doing water changes etc.

The black bits won't get removed by the filter since it's going to be black sand or a bit of grit.

What do you mean the tank has been filled 3/4 times?

You mean you've filled it three quarters of the way or you've filled it and emptied it again?

And by the black sponge thing I assume you mean the carbon sponge in the filter?

There is no bacteria in new filter media, you only get bacteria by properly cycling the tank.

And you will need to remove the carbon after a few months and replace it or leave it out completely, or it'll start leeching back into the tank, I don't use carbon in my tanks, it's a hassle

 

[Trigger]

i need some help

Do i need to declorinate the tap water before putting it in the tank or can i do that whilst it is in the tank with the sand and that?

No, you can declorinate the water after it's all in there. You can also put your cycle in if you're using any at this point

I tested the rock things with vineger and one of them bubbled quite a lot. I gues i should now take it abck yeah?

Yeah, don't put that one in the tank as it will imbalance the chemicals.

I cleaned the sand and put it in the tank but the water is still slightly cloudy. Is this normal or do i need to still clean the sand more? the sand is silver sand from homebase. hoping the filter will do clean this

As long as when you were cleaning the sand the water you were running through it was clear then it will be fine. It's normal for a tank to go cloudy after first being setup- it will settle after a few days

It also has some small black bits in tjhe sand which i guess would ened to be removed or will the filter do that?

If they've sunk then the filter won't remove them- you will need to take them out yourself if you don't want them there.

As the tank has been filled 3/4 times with the filter thing in it does that mean all the bacteria stuff that was in the black sponge thing has all gone?

Not sure what you mean by this?

 

[unwashed potato!]

well the tank is coming along nicely now, bought some stuff for it yesterday and did a blooming good clean on the sand and its all very clear now and has started its cycle.

Wondering though it is possible to move the filter/heater box thing to the other side of the tank? its on the side which is nearest to my head and its make just a tad too much noise over the fan but viewing from the front can bearly hear it.