New tank advice, please

S

sillytonto

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Sep 19, 2006
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I recently bought a used 120 gallon tank. I have tested it for leaks, cleaned it up, and am ready to go. It contains 2 large holey rocks, a bunch of plastic plants and 2 bubble machines.
For starters, I plan to add 7 or 8 tiger barbs and a 3 inch common pleco (I learned from this site that they are hardy species and suitable for a new setup). My question is, how long should I wait before adding a pair of kissing gouramis? I am not sure how hardy those guys are. Do I need the tank to be well cycled before adding them?
Also, I bought a Cascade 1000 canister filter which is rated up to 100 gallons which is slightly small for my tank. Will I be able to get away with using this filter?

Any suggestions welcome.

Awesome site!

Thanks guys,

Andy
 
What kind of a cycle do you plan on doing to prepare the tank?
 
You need to cycle the tank before adding any fish. Have you read up on cycling yet? IF so, can you quickly explain the nitrogen cycle to me and how you plan to cycle your tank (I know all this already- just making sure you know it as well)?

Common plecos, although probably one of the most hardy fish you can buy (they can even live through house fires), will not only add a LOT of bioload to your aquarium, but they grow to large for your aqurium, topping out at 2 feet in many cases.

Tiger barbs are also very nippy fish, so if you want your tank to have any fish wich have a good amount of finnage, the tiger barbs will make that close to impossible.

Most filters are rated for about twice what they can really handle, so your filter is really only adequete for a 50-60 gallon aquarium. To properly filter an aquarium, you need a filter wich puts out a GPH (gallons per hour) wich is atleast 10x the volume of your aquarium, although 9x is OK and even less will keep your fish alive, however, your goal should be to have your fish thrive, not merely survive. SO, short story is, no, your filter is not adequete.

Also, another note on the filter issue. For any tank larger than about 20g, you want to have water flow coming from atleast two sources, in order to make sure flow is spread over the tank; do not go out and buy a single filter rated for 200g - use two filters rated for 100g and consider adding a powerhead as well.
 
with the kissing gourami thing... well besides all of the cycleing stuff that dorkfish mentioned...
your tank is to small for two kissing gouramis IMO because 1. they grow to 12" and 2. males fight like heck, and they do the famous "kissing" and the loser is chased and chased and chased around the tank. there is also no way to tell males from females except for when they spawn, which is also hard to come by because of the dificulty of finding a m/f pair
 
Cycle

I am planning to do a fishy cycle. As I understand it, if any ammonia shows up during testing, I will need to change out 1/2 the water. Is it possible to cycle a tank this way with NO suffering for the fish? I am determined to manage this cycle using discomfort as the acceptable threshhold for the fish, rather than suffering. Please advise.

I have changed my mind about the tiger barbs and will get a bunch of danios instead and 1 pleco. And later, 3 bala sharks. What else would you suggest?

Many thanks.

Andy

PS I just found out San Francisco recently started using chloramine in its drinking water. I'll need to deal with that!
 
My tank is 6 feet long, 1 1/2 wide and 2 1/2 tall. Is this really too small for the kissing G's? Will it be ok for a full grown pleco? The guy I bought it from said it is a 120 gallon - I wonder if it is actually bigger?
 
yeah, I would add another Cascade 1000 on there. I currently run a 1500 on my 120 and I'm going to get another 1500 or a 1000. Oh and I have a powerhead running too.
 
jm1212 said:
with the kissing gourami thing... well besides all of the cycleing stuff that dorkfish mentioned...
your tank is to small for two kissing gouramis IMO because 1. they grow to 12" and 2. males fight like heck, and they do the famous "kissing" and the loser is chased and chased and chased around the tank. there is also no way to tell males from females except for when they spawn, which is also hard to come by because of the dificulty of finding a m/f pair
Click to expand...

its not too small for 2 12" fish actually, its probably not good to have 2 males though.
 
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