New 12 gallon tank

[noicegarry]

I recently received a 12 gallon tank as a gift. I put all the water, conditioner, bio start, filter, heater and 2 live plants in. I let it sit for about a week and a half before putting the fish in about 2 days ago. In the tank I have 2 Guppies (male and female), 3 Platy fish (2 male, 1 female) and 2 small angel fish (can't tell if male or female). The bigger male platy is usually following the female platy around and the angels mostly stay around each other. The male guppie almost all of the time shows no interest in the female which is disheartening since I want them to breed. The male guppie will usually follow the Platys around? About an hour ago one of the angels (white) was chasing around the other angel, but after recently checking the smaller (black) angel now is either not harassed by the bigger one or will be slowly tailing the bigger one.

They are all fed tropical colour flakes, although I have been considering using other forms of frozen food. The temperature is pretty much all the time set between 78-80°F

If somehow the guppies do have fry and they survive I will likely give them away maybe keep 1, same with the platys. I plan on doing 25% water changes fortnightly. I use an aquatopia internal filter that uses a sponge cartridge. Any ideas on how to clean this? The tank comes with day lights and a moon light that I Normally turn on for about 2 hours before I sleep and about an hour before I turn all the lights on in the morning.

I use a gravel substrate that I rinsed out before putting it into the tank.

The ph levels when I checked the pm a few days ago are at 7.7

Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated!

P.s - would really like some info as to why my guppies aren't mating!

 

[FreshyFresh]

Welcome and you've got some work ahead of you. Like mentioned in your other thread, you should read up on "tank cycling" and have a means to measure for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You don't have a proper cycle in this tank which will lead to ammonia building up to lethal levels with no corrective action. I would do daily 50% water changes until you know the tank produces nothing but nitates, then gear your water change schedule such that the tank doesn't see more than 20ppm.

For cleaning your filter sponge, just squeeze it out in a bucket of tank water and re-install.

 

[noicegarry]

Welcome and you've got some work ahead of you. Like mentioned in your other thread, you should read up on "tank cycling" and have a means to measure for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You don't have a proper cycle in this tank which will lead to ammonia building up to lethal levels with no corrective action. I would do daily 50% water changes until you know the tank produces nothing but nitates, then gear your water change schedule such that the tank doesn't see more than 20ppm.

For cleaning your filter sponge, just squeeze it out in a bucket of tank water and re-install.

How long does it usually take for a nitrogen cycle to establish

 

[FreshyFresh]

How long does it usually take for a nitrogen cycle to establish

Depends on what method you use. If you do a fishless cycle by adding ammonia it takes 4-6 weeks typically. If you start your new tank up with a filter off a mature tank you are cycled instantly.

 

[noicegarry]

I added the bio start chemcpicle which claims to speed up the process

 

[Tifftastic]

Those chemicals don't really do what they say they do. Some are better than others, but most are just a waste of money. You'll need to test your water to find out where you are in the cycle.