New Tank - Need Fish Ideas Please

[tjckrueger]

Hi Folks! I'm new here and love the wealth of information I've found here. The kids and I have just started this new hobby of keeping fish and it's been quite the learning experience. Since my ventures of fish keeping as a kid were dismal failures, I'm trying to avoid my kids having the same problems.

Anyway, enough chit chat. I'm looking for sugestions on populating the tank. The only criteria I have would be to have four to six different types of fish to present to my four children for choices so they feel that they have had a say so in fish design. Obviously going for a non-agressive community tank. I'm looking for quantities as well. I've started researching the fish profiles but to be honest I'm lazy and I know that there a lot of people here who can type it out without even thinking about it. The tank is a 23 gallon with the following dimension 3'x12"x12". We currenlty have the tank set up and cycling. We will use fake planting and decorations. It's been running for about a week. We put a decoration in it from a smaller tank plus some water from a water change. I hope this is enough to start the cycling. I will start testing the water this weekend. The kids already understand it can be up to 2 months until we start putting in fish. Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[jo3olous]

2 months is a bit long although it could happen, I would say you should start getting normal water readings within the next week or 2.

23G community hmmmm...

school options (choose 1) there are a lot of choices these are a few
a. 5 platies
b. 5 mollies
c. 8 tetras
d. 6 danios
e. 6 hatchets
f. 6 harleqins
g. 7 cherry barbs

centerpiece fish (im generally bad with naming these)
a. 1 dwarf gourami

bottom feeders:
a. 4 ottos
b. 3 corys
c. one of the smaller plecos (not common)
d. 4 khuli loaches

These are just some ideas to get you started, the danios can be a bit fin nippy but are usually peaceful community fish, as long as they have a lot of room to swim. Good luck with the tank!

 

[vampirefish]

siamese fighting fish males make good centrepieces and they're lovely to keep can't be kept with fin nippers obviously but they're very peaceful fish

 

[DesignsOnYou]

I could be wrong on this, but I don't think that your tank will cycle without the bacteria that you added in having ammonia to feed on. So, you could add some straight ammonia (can't have additives or preservatives, etc.) or throw in a couple fish from your other tank. Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[homebunnyj]

We put a decoration in it from a smaller tank plus some water from a water change. I hope this is enough to start the cycling.

The bacteria you introduced can only survive for maybe 12 hours without a food source, namely ammonia. But don't despair, get some ammonia (no additives like soap, etc. -- sometimes hard to find) and start dosing the tank with it. I don't remember exactly how much, you'll have to read some articles on fishless cycling, such as the one at Miss Fishy's site (link in her sig) to determine how much to add. Have an ammonia test kit on hand before you start.

After you add the ammonia, that is the time to introduce the bacteria. You take a filter pad from the other tank and put it into the filter box of the new tank, or put in a stockingful of gravel from the established tank. Then you test the ammonia daily and when it begins to drop you add a bit more to bring it back to the previous level.

When it drops to 0 in a day, you will be testing for nitrite. That will spike, then drop. When the nitrite drops to 0 in a day, the ammonia should be staying at 0, and you should have at least some reading for nitrate. Now your tank is cycled.

Then you go buy fish, do a full water change before adding them, being sure to use dechlorinator and have the temp at the appropriate temp for the fish. Even so, you acclimate them by floating their bag in the tank for a bit, then mix a small amount of tank water in, then another small amount, and so on, gradually increasing the amount of tank water before you release them. This way they adjust to the ph, hardness, remp and other water conditions. Of course, then you'll do partial water changes weekly, while continuing to test the water periodically until the tank is well established.

Be sure you read all the directions for the water test. The cards are for reminders, they don't give all the details and you may get inaccurate results. If your kids are old enough, they'll enjoy helping with the test part.

 

[DrunkFish]

You could also throw a bottom feeder like a Pleco in there to cycle the tank quick for you.....just a side note to Judy's very informative answer.