New Tank ! Fish combinations question

I was just at PetSmart this past week (nice healthy selection of fish, terrible unhealthy plant selection!) and saw a beautiful 16 gallon bow front tank stand. From my memory the price was reasonable and the stand itself was amazing. Made me want to ditch my tank and find a 16g bow..alas, finances are trying to kill me as is. If you're close by to a PetSmart stop in and see if you can find it. I tried looking online for it, but no dice.
 
i really like my bow front tank, as it really makes the tank (and its inhabitants) seem much bigger than it really is. Also, i felt that a longer aquarium will feel much less crowded for fishies, than a squarish and tall aquarium...even if it is same number of gallons...

i am way too busy with work to go buy a "real non-rubbermaid" stand... i am also having a hard time concentrating at work - always replaying a disaster scene in my head where the whole stand collapses and floods my apartment... at least i didnt yet buy my cocktail fish collection...

btw, i am now on day 4 or 5 of cycling... can i start putting in plants? do i have to do any water changes?
 
sounds like hes just got the tank setup and running ...

You only have to leave it running for 24 hours if that before you add fish .. .>.>

It's not goign to cycle magicaslly on it's own you need to dos omething to cycle it. I first cycled with 4 danio in my 20 long and then slowly added cardinals in pairs each week afterwards. (took the danio back and got six cardinals at the time).

You can consider using Bio-Spira or learning how to do a fishless cycle if you want. Some people don't feel too well about fishy cycles even if you keep ammonia levels down.

I don't really mind it so much because I know how tough Zebra Danio are. I kept six of them in a bucket for 3 days doing water changes once a day. they toughed it out like champions.
 
HELP - got a stupid pine plant

see pic below. i just got a plant that looked nice at the store, however, a bunch of bit and pieces are falling off that look like pieces from a xmas tree.. .the plant looks like a "pine tree" type.... is this a piece of junk plant and I should get rid of it? or is it like this only for the first day??? am i polluting the heck out of my aquarium? hellllllllllllp! :help:

my tank - 02 copy.jpg
 
ok, the plant stopped shedding, i think i realized why: it was place on top of the air pump bubbles - even tho they are not that strong, they were tearing pieces off.... but i am still not sure about this plant - i would like a low maintenance plant... today i tested the water and it seems to be quite stable.. so i decided to start off the tank with some hardy fish.... my aquarium store convinced me to buy two baby dwarf gourmies - they are an inch long... they are pretty funny in that they follow each other EVERYWHERE.... when by mistake they are seperated, they run towards each other... they seem extremely lively in the tank - is that a sign that my tank is healthy and read to accept more fish? although they spend way too much time going up and down on the glass looking at their reflection in the mirror - is that normal for gouramies? are they that, umm, low-intelligence? :sim:

my tank - 04.jpg my tank - 05.jpg
 
do they look like two males??? the lighter-colored one ALWAYS follows the darker one around... the darker one sometimes very lightly pushes the lighter one around with its mouth..
 
well normally with dwarf gourami the males are the coloured ones and the more silvery ones are the females but yeh my two males dont hang round together at all .( males can be very agressive to each other at times).
 
OK, stop right there.

You have now chosen the fishy cycle. Do you know what this entails? Have you started testing your water parameters?

The fact that the fish are swimming by no means indicates your tank is healthy! Do not add more fish until you have cycled the tank.

If you do not know what cycle means or how to do a fishy cycle, speak up!
 
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