Couple questions for a Noob... Probably easy answers.

[DrDanke]

I have never had a fish aquarium before. I have been into brine shrimp for some time (as pets, not food!!!). My tank setup is a 10 gallon with whisper power filter 10 and a 75 watt heater.

Am I wrong thinking that my whisper power filter will keep my tank adequately aeriated, or am I going to need an air pump? The constant buzzing noise of the air pump was the thing that made me not get an aquarium for this long.

I plan on getting one or two small bottom feeder fish of some sort, and a couple of small hardy fish. Will one bottom feeding fish be lonely, or is there even room for 2?

What is the name of the smallest hardy bottom feeder readily available? I would prefer a catfish of some sort, the ones I seen at the LFS were pretty tiny, but are they just babies? Is there a such thing as a bottom feeder that is not a catfish? (no I dont want snails)

I also plan on having a couple of other small hardy fish to roam the aquarium.

Now, this question might need more of your opinion than an answer. I really have no access to established filters/sponges etc... but I just do not want to wait 2 months to get my tank going.

This thought came to mind. Could I buy one plant (from the established LFS tanks) and put it in the tank to jump start my cycling? I'm thinking the plant would have some good bacteria on it. What the heck would the plant eat? Doesnt the plant need C02? Would the plant just die? Even if the plant does die, would it still help boost the cycling? Should I get both the one plant and a bottom feeder?

Anyways, I got this 10 gallon setup. Give me ideas on how to jump start proper cycling. I don't want to use those liquid cycling helper gimics.

How bout, one plant, and 2 bottom feeders?

Either way, any information or ideas you give me will be taken lightly. Just throw around some ideas. The LFS is pretty HUGE and has a very good reputation, so I have access to just about anything.

What should I do? Should I ask for some gravel or something from a tank at the LFS?

[Captain Hook]

One plant wouldn't really do much for cycling. You would need a good amount of plants. To get into that would be a long post in itself. What kind of light do you have? You can probably grow some plants.

As long as there is good surface agitation from your filter you won't need an air pump. If all of the surface ripples you should be fine. Also there are some air pumps that are nearly silent.

There are 2 bottom feeders that would work well in your tank: kuhli loaches and panda cories. Both like to be in groups. The kuhlis look like thin eels, you could get 3. Pandas stay about an inch I think and look sort of like catfish. 3 or 4 of those would work too.

Some fish are hardy enough to withstand a cycle I believe. I've heard platies, danios, and white clouds are good for cycling tanks.

[Dangerdoll]

I know I'm not answering your questions but wonder if you are aware that your shrimp are history if you plan on keeping them in the tank as well as adding fish to it....

[daveedka]

One of the best ways to jump start a cycle is to add a sponge or media from a running tank(Gravel will work also, but not as well). If you have a friend who would loan you some, that would be best, if you don't, the LFS may or may not help you out. Just make sure if you add media, you feed it well enough to allow the bacteria to grow.
As was said the air pump isn't necessary. Air bubbles help by agitating the surface not by directly putting oxygfen in the water. If you filter causes surface agitation, the gas exchange will take place just fine. The air pump won't make any significant difference


One plant wouldn't really do much for cycling. You would need a good amount of plants.

IMO This quote is correct in a practicle sense. One plant would bring with it live bacteria and therefore speed up cycling in some regard, however, One plant would not add a lot of bacteria and therefore you would still have to add fish very slowly, and test very well to prevent spikes and give the bacteria time to grow and expand. In a nutshell, one plant would be better than no plant but wouldn't crunch your time frames as dramatically as you want.

[TKOS]

Some good advice above. If you have flourescent lights in your tank then I would suggest adding a couple of bunches of water sprite to yuor tank. It is a hardy stem plant and will help with what is referred to as a silent cycle of your tank. Still you will need to do water changes fairly often in the beginning to keep levels of ammonia and nitrite down to tolerable levels. Buy some test kits of possible.

Make sure your tank has no to low levels of salt in it as salt isn't really tolerated by many frsh water species.

Cory catfish are your best bet. Get 3 for a 10 gallon tank. The bronze and albinos tend to be the hardiest. Buy them some sinking tablet food. In the beginning while the tank is establishing itself I would add 1 tablet for the 3 cories 1 every other day. This will help keep the waste level low until the bacteria can catch up.

Then you could add after a coupel of weeks a small school of 4 tetras, or 4 platies. The smaller tetras like silver tips, emporers, and glowlights are generally hardy. Stick to one type though as they are schooling fish and do best in groups.

The Whisper is fine and as long as there is movement on the surface of the water there is plenty of air exchange.

[DrDanke]

Ok, the panda cory's sound good, I was looking at those today and they seem very active in eating on the bottom.

Now, recommend me some regular fish for my tank. I want only smaller fish, so I can have a few so they wont be lonely.

I like fish that are very active and swim around a lot. Tiger Barbs look awesome, but I noticed the LFS didn't have any bottom feeders in any of the barb tanks. Is that because the Tiger Barbs will bother bottom feeders like Panda Corys? What other kinds of small fish are active and would be compatible with a couple panda corys?

[DrDanke]

Oh BTW, my setup was the All Glass Aquarium beginner setup which uses 2 incandescent lights rated at 15 watts a piece. It also includes that whisper power filter 10 and I bought a 75 watt heater.

Today, I just picked up 15 pounds of natural gravel and a fish net!

[anonapersona]

I suggest leaving the cory cats until after the cycle is complete, you can destroy their barbels during the cycle and when the tank is unstable. Add them later on.

I suggest getting 3 of whatever the main fish type will be, maybe rasboras, or some tetra that isn't too big. Then after the cycle is done, add 3 more of that same fish to make a small school, then 3 or 4 cory cats, depending on adult size

If you can get BioSpira and use that before adding fish, you can add all 6 of the main fish at the same time, which is better for the fish I think. They can all get used to the territory at the same time and not be stressedby what will seem to them to be strangers moving in on established territory.

The mid level fish probably wont' mind the cory cats. Some fish are bullies and will bother the cories, the Serpae tetras I had always tried to bully the cories, as did the zebra danios and the rosy barbs. I suspect tiger barbs would also, they bother most fish I think.

[anonapersona]

You can certainly grow plants with two compact flourescents lights in that hood. At some Walmarts and some fish stores you can find screw-in flourescents, with u-shaped tubes, 10 watts.

[musky48in]

You might try adding bio-spira to the tank to do an "instant" cycle. I am looking in to doing this as well to my tank and from what I hear this stuff is the only thing from a bottle or package that actually works. You can add fish after 24 hours. Good luck!

[DrDanke]

I set up my tank tonight. Gonna let it run and run and run! I pretty much decided how to try this with the least trouble and the most naturally. I'm going to simply add 2 fish to the tank and let them work things out for a couple of months with lots of water exchanges if the ammonia levels become dangerous.

All I have to do now is furnish the tank with plastic plants, some structure and choose what the heck kind of fish I'm gonna get and settle the tank's temperature to suit the fish.

I appreciate all of your input, it helps me think things through.

http://home.wi.rr.com/drdanke/tank1.jpg

[DrDanke]

Another question... Should I boost (raise) up the filter a little and lower the water level a bit so the filter actually has a waterfall effect on the water? Right now it ripples the whole surface pretty good, I just wonder if it is oxagenating enough as is, because it's pretty silent!!!

Remember, I am shooting for an airpumpless setup here.

[DrDanke]

Here is a pic of the surface ripples from the filter...

http://home.wi.rr.com/drdanke/tank2.jpg

[Dangerdoll]

Originally posted by beviking
Oxygen will diffuse natrally into the water even if it is perfectly still. Disturbing the surface of the water (like the ripple effect from the filter water) increases this greatly.
The bubbles do next to nothing to add O2 to the water.
Turning the filter off is bad for the beneficial bacteria - which grow very densely in the filter and require constant moving water for oxygen. If the flow is turned off, they essentially suffocate.

HTH

[DrDanke]

Thanks, that does reassure me a lot. What does HTH mean though?

Anyways, my shrimp pets are gonna have some roommates soon!!!

http://home.wi.rr.com/drdanke/tank3.jpg

[Dangerdoll]

HTH = Hope That Helps :D

[stunt 101]

o i thought HTH ment "how the hell"

[DrDanke]

Well, I finished my tank. I think it came out looking very nice and natural. I think I have decided on an undecided number of Zebra Danios to start my tank with. How many do you think I can start with in a 10 gal tank?

http://home.wi.rr.com/drdanke/finaltank1.jpg

http://home.wi.rr.com/drdanke/finaltank2.jpg

http://home.wi.rr.com/drdanke/finaltank3.jpg

[yonderway]

Keep an eye on you pH and hardness for awhile; that giant seashell is very cool but could have undesirable effects on your water chemestry (making the water harder & more alkaline).

[DrDanke]

very good observation yonderway.. BUT the best part is !!!! It's very fine and hard fired porcelain!!! I was very excited when I seen it was so beautiful and natural looking... I bought it at an antique shop.

[yonderway]

Well that is just awesome. Then by all means enjoy your new tank. :D

[DEmigh]

That's a very good looking tank!

For fish, I would consider some darker colored types so as to show well when they pass in front of/ explore the interior of the shell.

[TKOS]

For a 10 gallon tank I would say that 3 cories and 5-6 danios would be about max.

As was mentioned don't add cories into a cycling tank. If you wish to go the fishy cycling method then realize that the tank when finished cycling will only be cycled for the current load. Every new fish added will lead to a mini cycle that will have to be dealt with.

So test kits for ammonia nd nitrite are going to be needed. Do water changes when the ammonia gets near 1ppm and whne the nitrite gets near 0.25 ppm. This will help keep the fish healthy in the long run.

And assumign you are doing a fishy cycle then I would start with half of the zebra danios and wait a few weeks before adding anymore once the ammonia and nitrite have stopped climbing.

[Anne L.]

This is what I have in my 10 gallon tank (fishless cycled)
4 harlequin rasboras
3 glowlight tetras
2 peppered cories (need to add another because one died)

and lots of plastic and silk plants.

I wish I could show you a picture; I'm hoping to get a digital camera with my income tax return later on this spring.

Good luck with your tank.