New Member

S

steven21044

AC Members
Feb 8, 2004
6
0
0
46
Maryland
Visit site
Hello,
I Am new to this Forum. I thought id intoduce my self. My name is steven.

Anyways I purchased a 20 Gallon tank. I am going to be using it for fresh water fish. So Far I have had the tank Running for the past 4 days with the filter running at high. So far my ph levels have been easy to adjust, fortunatally i dont have hard water problems.

My ph level is at 7.1 at the moment and the tank temperature is at about 74 deg.

Today I placed 4 tablespoons of salt into the tank. I have read through the forums on this site and seen many suggestion on salt. But this is what i decided to do for fresh water fish.

http://www.aquarium-tips.com/aquarium-chemistry.html

I am using Proquatics
water conditioner
water clarifier
bacteria starter

those where placed into the tank day 1
along with the tap water. gravel ect.

Ive been researching the additon of live plants and will have to obtain the fish first. I have 3 days left to let the tank run without any fish. I want the ph to be constiant at 7.1 as oppsed to be fluxuating between 7.1 - 7.4.

Last note any suggestions on fresh water fish with bottom feeder combinations ?
 
There are endless possibilities. Tell us what you like and we can go from there. Cichlids, rams, livebearers, labyrinths, etc... too many schemes to choose from. I prefer a tropical community scheme with 1 centerpiece fish, a few small background fishes, and a few bottom dwellers/cleanup crew. For example: 1 dwarf gourami, 3 tetras/guppies/danios/whatever, 3 small cories or kuhli loaches, and maybe a snail or some shrimp.

Don't rely too heavily on the Proquatics bacteria starter, I haven't heard too many good things about it.
 
There are several fish i was interested in.

First the Clown Anemone Fish ( amphiprion Ocellais)
There is a a question with that. They are classified under marine fish.
Facts I do know about them from research
Ph 8.2- 8.5
77-82 deg.
strong light
so that leaves me wondering if this is fresh water or salt water most important.

Next
Are the Mollies I do know they are fresh water fish.

With mollies in a 20 gallon tank how many would you introduce as the first fish in the tank. ( i have read and read more introduce a small amount) I also know 1 inch per gallon equation.
but how many is a good start 2- 3 or 1-2.

finally at the same time i buy the fish I would like to know what bottom feeders are a good match with the mollies or the clown anemone fish (if possible).

I personally was think of buying a 5 gallon tank to raise bryne shrimp as a secondary food source.

crabs / snails or shrimp ?

Ive read taht loaches and catfish are good. Would it be good for the mollies to feed them shrimp along with other food ? also having live snails or crabs.

Note i Have no plants yet and no sand
just gravel and one decsent size ornament in the tank
thanks
 
I'm with Aquarium on the bacteria starter. The best way to get it going is to find someone or a lfs and get some established gravel and put it in your tank. Watch out on the chiclids, some can get quite large and will outgrow your 20 gallon. Do you plan on livebearers, want to breed? These are questions you have to ask yourself. If you plan to breed you will have to get more tanks, etc. Seeing as how it sounds you don't want to breed, and it sounds like you are just starting out. I would get about 4 zebra danios and 3 cory cats. Start with that and go from there. You can always add more later. Don't add 20 fish in one day. Make sure you get small fish that will grow into their environment. Take it slow, it's a lifelong hobby. :D
 
Okay, you and I were typing at the same time. One thing I forgot to mention is the fact that you are able to keep your ph where you want it. You are a lucky soul, most of us don't get that pleasure. You originally said you want to keep it at 7.1, but now are talking about a fish at 8.2. That is high and not too many fish will like that. Gotta figure out what ph you want and go from there. Mollies are a great choice in starting. But remember this, 2 females per male. Otherwise the females will get stressed from the males always wanting to mate. They like about a 7.4 ph. They mix good with the zebras and cories I mentioned. The cories are a great cleaning crew. If it's mollies you want, I'd go with 4 zebras, 3 cories, and 3 mollies. If you plan to plant the tank you will have more mollies in a few months from the babies, as they will hide in the plants and grow up. Stay away from the clown. ph is probably too high for the others. Keep tank temp about 76-78 and your set.
 
Hi,

The Clownfish is saltwater, so that's out. There are a few discussions going on mollies, I wouldn't recommend them as a first fish - I've found them to do better in brackish (that's like "half saltwater."

From your first post, it looks like you're cooking up quite a chemical broth there. All of that normally isn't necessary.

I dunno anything about the bacteria in a bottle stuff, but don't trust it and stock very lightly at first... just a couple of fish.

The salt isn't really necessary, fish dont need salt to build their slime coat - but it's okay that you put it in there... the change in salt levels might have a small chance of killing something undesirable you bring home on your new fish. Probably not, but small doses short term wont hurt em. I wouldn't keep using salted water for your changes though, it's just extra trouble - plus it may irritate some fish.

I dunno what water clarifier is either, but it's not necessary - your water should be clear on its own merit (unless you run peat, but even then carbon will clear it up)

What was your pH and alkalinity before you started messing with them? How did you adjust it? 7.1 is very good generally, but if it was 7.4 before it's probably not worth the trouble/possible risk of adjusting it all the time for general community fish (remember, you'll have to adjust your water change water too - you'll be adding that chemical the rest of your life like a junky lol)

Check out this link for some good beginner info, and some good info about first fish:

http://faq.thekrib.com/
 
Originally posted by steven21044
snipped

I personally was think of buying a 5 gallon tank to raise bryne shrimp as a secondary food source.

crabs / snails or shrimp ?

Ive read taht loaches and catfish are good. Would it be good for the mollies to feed them shrimp along with other food ? also having live snails or crabs.

Note i Have no plants yet and no sand
just gravel and one decsent size ornament in the tank
thanks
Click to expand...

Hatching brine shrimp is easy and good food for small fish, but you dont need the extra complication when you're just starting out. Raising the baby hatched brine to adults isn't worth the effort unless you want a big tank of "Sea Monkeys" lol Any good starter fish will do well on flake/pellet food with an occasional frozen, live or even freeze-dried "treat."

I wouldn't get into the crabs, shrimp, snails ect until you have the fish thing down pat. Like travelinman said, take it slow.

Cory cats are fun little bottom dwellers, but they are sensitive to salt (they dont like it) so getting them would be a ways off.

Maybe get a few plastic plants for your fish to hide behind. You can always try real plants later if you want.
 
First off thank you for the input.

Several things I still need to know before I actually buy the mollies at the end of this week.

Plants
I was told at petsmart and at a pets store at are mall that it is better to plant after bacteria is more established in the tank. meaning have fish in the tank for some time ( 2-3 weeks)

bacteria
i have an abundance of stress coat and stress zyme
these i recieved with the tank and the ph test kit i bought.
i also have the proquatics which is in the tank now. Should i add the stress zyme before i add the fish?

Filter
I lowered the ph in my tank by decreascing the flow of the filter.
(bad) I have it now running at high, its not to noisy so i dont mind it.

Food
not to sound redundant
is it a good idea to esatblish a small tank to raise the shrimp in

Mollies
im thinking
2 females
1 male
1 bottom dweller
and several snails

is this to much to put into the tank all at once ?
 
Yeah plants can be added in a few weeks time. Some say they help balance the tank during its cycle, but im not so sure.

Stress zyme? Honestly i never add any chemicals to my tanks other than water conditioner (only when i dont let the water sit overnight) and occationally 'Cycle'. I dont think its a good idea to have tooo many chemicals in there. Bacteria will naturally build up in your tank during the first month (this is called cycling). However the cycle will only start when you add fish- no matter how long you let the tank run for. Unless you added that bacteria in a bottle stuff- im not sure. but the bacteria wont survive very long unless you have fish in there producing ammonia.

Decreaing the filter flow drops ph levels? honestly i've never heard this before... it actually works? someone else here can probebly clarify. I dont see how it would work.

If your willing to put in the extra work to raise your own brine shrimps or snails thats all good. it wouldn't hurt!

that would be a good amount of fish to start with- if your going to go with cory cats as bottom dwellers i would start with 3 instead- they like to be in groups.

HTH :)
 
I've never heard of the flow rate dropping the ph either.

The plants can be added later. Start slooowwww.

Ryoken has a good point on the salt and cories, and if you want mollies, salt is a good idea. They will do better in with some salt. It keeps the parasites down.

Right now I would start with 3-4 zebra danios and 3 cories and wait a month. If you want to add mollies later you can do that, but only put in half the salt, and add it before you put the mollies in. The cories should be fine with that. I agree with putting the plants in later, maybe 2 weeks after the fish get going, but you have to look at the big picture. Adding a lot of plants will eat up the nitrates in no time and you will be left with starving plants. Add according to your bio-load. If you want lots of plants, plan to add nutrients for them.

Be careful with all the chemicals you got. Kribs is right. Too many chemicals can make for an unbalanced tank that can be a time bomb.

It's tough to learn and you have to take it slow. You can't go in like a bull in a china shop or you will be starting from scratch in no time. Trust all of us, we've all made our mistakes and that is what makes this site so wonderful. You get great info from the people who have messed up in the past and you get to learn from our mistakes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom