About to begin...and panicking!

[Scrumpy]

Hello all!
You've probably had questions like this a hundred times, but I'm getting my knickers in a twist about it all and need advice if you have the time/patience! I've done a lot of swotting!  ???

I would like to set up a tropical freshwater soft-medium hard tank.

I've been thinking of getting a Tropicquarium 68 (19 gallons). Is it ok...is the filter (Biolife) that comes with it ok?
I'd like darkish gravel and backdrop, and I thought I'd use biggish chunks of slate, and maybe a piece of drift wood which I understand will help make the water more acid? I think this will bring out the fishes colours?
I'd like lots of plants...but only a few types. I like hair grass a lot....maybe I could get away with just hair grass, though I think some fish like big leaves?
As for fish, I was thinking of..
6 neon tetras
6 black tetras
2 guppies
2 dwarf gouramis (?)
2 zebra danios
2 leopard danios
2 green tiger barbs
2 Rosy barbs
I'd really like some Australian rainbow fish but they seem to get rather big and like salty water?
Is that too many fish, or could I have more...and will the barbs cause trouble (I believe they bully some fish and nip tails)?
Will they swim at different levels or do I need some sort of cat fiah or loach?

I'm planning to buy Hagen "cycle" and Aqua plus to condition the water, and I was thinking of adding the 6 neon tetras while the tank cycled, and adding a few more fish every month or so if the tank is stable. I was planning on getting  ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kits and feeding flake food with treat foods like freeze dried daphnia and blood worms.

I'm stumped by the hardness and ph business. My tap water must be hard because I get limescale in the kettle...so does that mean I could soften my water by boiling it and adding a mixture to the tank?
I was planning weeky 20% water changes and buying a Python to do it...are they ok? If you use one...how do you add the chlorine removing chemicals since the Python seems to fill straight from the tap?

I'm also planning to get a small net and an algae scraper  

Erm...that's as far as I've got!
Am I planning the right things, or making a complete mess of it? I'd be very grateful for your thoughts on my plans!  :-/

Thank you

Scrumpy

 

[JWright]

Step one, read the article on this site about fishless cycle. "Cycle" and the like aren't going to do anything for you, just waste your money. You should cycle the tank without fish to save the stress on those first few fish.

Don't worry about the pH or hardness. As long as it's stable, your fish will be happy.

That's a few too many fish for 19 gallons. I'd suggest you lose the neons (regular and black), and the guppies. You could then add 4 more Tiger barbs. You might also pick up two more tigers in place of the rosies. As far as Tiger Barbs go, the more the merrier.

I've never heard of a "Tropicquarium," sounds kinda scary if you ask me... You might be better off buying all the parts seperately.

Josh

 

[Scrumpy]

Thanks for the reply. The green tiger barbs are mostly included to keep my husband happy...so I don't want to add more unless they'd be unhappy in a pair. How about if I left out the rosy barbs, the dwarf gouramis and the guppies and leopard danios if I have to...in that order (keeping as many of them as I can). I'm especially fond of tetras, but I suppose I could replace 12 neon and black tetras with say 8 cardinals?
I might give the fishless cycling a whirl. I'm inpatient to get started of course, but I don't want to make any fish suffer.

 

[JWright]

2 Tiger Barbs will be a terror in the tank. They like to pick on things, and if they don't have other Tiger Barbs to pick on, they'll pick on other fish.

How about the neons and the danios? That would work well.

Josh

 

[ronrca]

Agree with Jwright! Tigers like neons are actually school fish therefore should be in a school of 6 or more. I have had green tiger barbs myself along with neons in my 30G and I really loved the tank. I also had 2 german blue rams in the 30G and they started to breed therefore I had to take the neons and barbs back to the fish store. I really to miss them. Some might be surpised that I had tiger barbs and neons together. My neons were quite big and I had enough tigers to keep them out of trouble.

Im not sure about danios. I have heard terror stories from my trusted lfs. I would not recommend them. Id rather go with neons. Rosy barbs are also peaceful and a beautiful choice.

I definitly would go with the fishless cycel since I use it all the time also.