Fish Selection, Assorted Newb Questions

[Brambler]

I've been doing lots of research over the last few weeks in anticipation of receiving my first tank as a Christmas gift (these forums have been especially helpful!), and now that I have it, I'm down to my last few big questions before I begin to get it up and running.

Specs on what I have so far: the tank is an All-Glass 36 gallon bow front with included stand and hood, and the filter is Fluval 204 canister. For heater I have 150 watts of submersibles (a 100w and a 50w). I also went out and bought test kits for ph (my tap water is about 7.2), ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, still need to pick up tests for hardness.

I'll be doing a fishless cycle, which brings me to my first question. I plan on making this a low-mid light (1-2w per gallon) planted tank, and was wondering if it was ok to start my plants while the cycling is going on. Will the high levels of ammonia or nitrites harm them? Will there be enough CO2 for those first several weeks with no fish?

Once the cycle has completed, I was thinking of stocking it as a Southeast Asian themed community tank and would love some input on the fish selection I've come up with so far:

Small school of 6-8 Zebra Danios
Small school of 6-8 Tiger Barbs
1 Red-tailed Black Shark
Small school of 4-5 Zebra Loaches

Does that sound ok for bio load? Also, should the shark be ok with those loaches, or would I be better off breaking the Asian theme and going with cories? I've read that the shark can be aggressive towards similar body types.

A few other random questions: will I need an airstone or something to create some surface aggitation due to having the canister filter, or should the plants provide enough oxygen? I also have an old 10 gallon tank from when I was a kid that I would like to keep on hand for a hospital/quarintine tank. Would it work out ok to keep a small hang-on-back bio-wheel filter attached to the main tank, and then just switch it over to the 10 gallon when I need to use it? (as far as beneficial bacteria is concerned)

Thanks for the help!

[andruboz]

the red tail black shark may not get along with the loaches as the loaches are long and thin and thats the shape the rtbs cant stand. if they are all small they may get along, but as it gets bigger, watch out.

having an extra filter is not usually a bad thing. unless maybe it was generating too much current for still water fish types. a 150 gallon per hour filter wouldnt be to much for extra filtration on a 36g. and it would be plenty for a 10g incase its needed for quarantine. i had a penguin mini. its not near as reliable as a penguin 125. the 125 also has generic replacement filters available. saves $.

not an expert on plants but, some plants really dont make that much oxygen. anacharis [sp?] is supposed to be a good oxygen producer. in my experience, small leaf plants clog filters quicker when they die. the only plant i have luck with is a sword and they can get huge. [take up the whole middle of the tank].

i am becoming a fan of cheapie [$5-$10] sponge filters. if you decide to use an airstone, it might as well pull some poop out of the water and grow beneficial bacteria at the same time. just figure out how to hide it behind something.

[zin]

With plants it would probably be better not to use a airstone. infact it would probably be bad for the plants. In my experiance (1 year of 2 plants in a 10 gallon, to 15 plants in a 10 gallon -_-)one of the best things that can be done for a planted tank is to inject co2, a DiY Co2 injector is VERY simple and well worth the 30 min of work.
http://aquaplants.web1000.com/art1.html

Most plants as far as i know wont be harmed by higher levels of amonia during cycling.

[Locust]

Your plants should be fine during your cycle. It's worth noting that plants only produce oxygen during the daytime, and at night they actually consume oxygen.

I'd say that any tank where there isn't enough oxygen for your fish would most likely be way overstocked regardless, though, so as long as you stick to a reasonable fish load you should be fine.

If you wanted to stay on the safe side an airstone wouldn't hurt anything (unless you go with CO2).

[TKOS]

If you had an extra little HOB filter on the back of the tank for use in quarantine situations then you won't need the airstone. The added surface movement will only hurt if you add CO2 which I wouldn't bother doing in such a low light tank.

You can grow plenty of nice plants in a low light tank and they will do fine with added agitation of the surface.

The only reason I wouldn't add them during a fishless cycle is that they will consume some of the ammonia and nitrites and thus probably slow things down. I would wait and add them and the fish right when the cycle is done.

[Brambler]

Sounds good, thanks for the info guys. Cycling starts today. :D