Finally got our first fish!!!!!

[Anne L.]

Well, we finally got our first fish today after 39 days of a fishless cycle. I put in 4 harlequin rasboras and 3 glowlight tetras. To follow next weekend are 3 cory cats of some type.

They seem to like playing in the bubble wand, turned quite low. At first they were pretty scared but now are out swimming around and schooling together. All 7 of them seem to like hanging out together in a group.

Also, we discovered a little snail in there this morning that must have come from my coworkers' ornament that I was using to cycle the tank. How it lived through all the ammonia and nitrite I'll never know. Oh well, I'll leave him be as he's obviously a tough little guy.

Now let's all cross our fingers that these little guys are still o.k. in the morning!

My kids are really excited, but I think maybe I'm more excited than they are. :D

[kveeti]

Congratulations! Keep us posted.

[RENEGADE]

becarful about that snail becuase you don't NEED two snails in you tank for them to lay eggs:eek:

[Aquarius0015]

If there aren't any live plants, there's not too much to worry about though, right? She could have quite a few snails before experiencing a problem.

[Anne L.]

Well, all the fish (and snail) made it through the night. They look happy and seem to really like playing in the bubble wand stream.

I'm going to keep a watch on that snail, as I don't want too many. He's kind of cool to watch and the kids think he's neat. If we get too many, I'll just suck them up when cleaning the tank. I don't have any live plants, so that's not a concern.

[snakeskinner]

hope you're more successful at "sucking him up" than I am cause mine just hover in the python and never make it down the tube, not enough suction I guess. If it were me, I'd yank that snail while you have the chance (if it's not already too late). One turns into several hundred in no time. Kyle

[fishdude]

*shudders* i have seen the cute little snail thing turn into the evil army of snail things and it aint pretty took a LONG time to acctually kill most of the snails in my freinds tank and there still not all gone



yank him outa there

[Richer]

Snails will only have population explosions if there is an excess amount of organics laying around the tank. Feed lightly (enough for the fish to finish off everything in under a minute once a day), and do a good tank vacuum regularly, and the snail population shouldn't get out of hand. The corys should also help in reducing the amount of food available to snails in the substrate.
I have plant tanks that have snails in them, none of which have a snail problem of any kind.

HTH
-Richer

[Grassguy]

I'd say, Just crush him against the glass of the tank and make him a little snack for the fish. I haven't seen one yet that didn't like a a little escargot

[TKOS]

Congrats on your new fish. It is quite common for smaller fish to school together. Eventually they will stop schooling altogether once they have decided it is safe enough. They will still interact though.

Don't forget to buy some sort of sinking pellet food for the cories, they can't live on flakes alone! I like to add 1 pellet for my cories once a day. The rest of the food they get from excess flakes.

As for the snail, as was mentioned keeping your tank clean and not overfeeding your fish will help keep any snail population low. Even with live plants you will be fine. Most snails don't eat healthy leaves and stick to dieing or decaying leaves. And there are plenty of nice, easy and natural ways to get rid of snails if things get bad.

Congrats and I hope the cories are fun to watch.

[Anne L.]

For now, I'm going to leave the snail alone as the kids think he's cool to watch sliding around the glass. If we end up with a bunch, though, it'll be bye bye snails. I don't think I'll have live plants for a while, if ever, so I'm not too concerned about that right now.

The fish didn't seem to eat much when I fed them yesterday. I read that if they are stressed out that they won't eat for a while. The flakes seem kind of big for these little guys. Should I crunch up the food to make it smaller? Also, should I leave the light on while they are eating?

This morning the fish seem to be swimming around the tank more and not in such a tight school. They seem to be happy and healthy.

We'll get our cories next weekend and will also buy some food for them.

[often dignified]

If the flakes are too big, of course you can break it up. I wouldn't make it too small though... I like to avoid the "raining flakes" image :p

Leave the light on too - if the light isn't on, the fish have a tough time seeing the food. Without my light on, the fish don't even respond.

[TKOS]

If I were you I would go out and buy a wall timer. That will let you set the tank lights to come on and go off by themsleves. It is important to try and keep a schedual for the fish of day and night. Plus I like to come home to the lights already on. If you are not growing live plants then just have it come on in the late afternoon and turn off before bed. The timers are cheap at walmart, 5-6 dollars or so.

They do sell smaller flakes for smaller fish as well. But crushing them up a bit is just as easy. I like to have 2 kinds of food on the go at a time so the fish get a variety.

[Anne L.]

What we've done with the lights is put them on when it starts getting dark. Around here, that's around 5 pm or so. We also get home around then during the week. I've been leaving the lights on until we go to bed.

So it sounds as if we're doing the right thing. I intend to get a timer, but haven't gotten around to it yet. My life has been complete chaos for the last week or two, fish notwithstanding.

Tonight, I'll crush up the flakes a little and see what happens. My husband also put in this clamshell which bubbles up and I think scares the bejeebers out of the fish. I turned it off and the fish seem to be calmer and are swimming around the whole aquarium now. I'd be scared of that big thing too, if I was that tiny. The fish are about 3/4 of an inch long right now, both rasboras and tetras. Cute little guys for sure.

[Must4ng s4lly]

OOOOHHH! A timer is the best thing for you lights! You never have to worry about it again esp if you go on vacation. I have mine come on about 8:30 & go off at 11:30. I love it!

As for the snails, I got them on my live plants and they got out of control after a few months. Snails are asexual so it takes just one! Anyway, I ended up with clown loaches. They are great on the snails, and if they get too big I can trade them in to the LFS. There are other fish posted on this forum that don't get a big as clowns do (other Botia) and are good snail eaters too.

[Aquarius0015]

Not all snails are hermaphrodites. Apple snails have distinct sexes. There must be a daddy and a mommy apple snail for there to be baby apple snails. Although it may be possible that the one Anne has now is pregnant.

[Anne L.]

I can't even find the snail today, so I'm not going to worry about him unless I have to.

I have a question about lighting. I have the tank set at 75 degrees, but with the lights on for a while, the temperature starts to creep up to around 78 degrees or so. They are the standard incandescent bulbs; there are 2 of them, not sure of the wattage.

What can I do about this; the increase can't be good for the fish, I'm sure.

[TKOS]

A couple of degrees for most fish isn't a problem. I wouldn't worry about it.

An option is to go and buy some of those spiral screw in flourescent bulbs. I use them in my tank. Better light quality (in case you do want live plants) and they use much less power (13-15 watts) so they produce much less heat. I use them in a 10 that satys at a constant 70F.

[Anne L.]

TKOS, do you mean the kind that work in a regular light socket? Never thought of that. I think they would fit and would likely be cost effective over the long run.

I'll have to check that out on the weekend as I don't have time this week.

Thanks!

[Anne L.]

Forgot to say that I tried crushing up the food flakes for them last night and it worked much better.

Little guys were eating really well.

It's cool to see them in the morning when we first get up. They stay in one corner of the tank by the heater, and you can tell they're sleeping or whatever it is fish do to sleep. Then when we put the kitchen lights on, out they come slowly and start swimming around.

[TKOS]

My fish often hide in the plants and come out at first light.

Yeah, just those screw in kind. I found that the 13 watts fit easily and the 15 watts need a little nudge, but both work fine. If you don't have live plants stick with the 13 watts. They only cost about 6-8 dollars for a double pack so you can easily change them later.