Best Starter Fish for Big and Small Tanks

[capper]

What are the best options of starter fish for a new big tank (157 liters) and 2 very small tanks 25 liters and 12 liters or so? Looking for some good options...

 

[Fishchaser]

i would maybe start out with some platys or mollies on the 157 lt tank or in the 25 i would go with maybe some neon tetras or guppies and in the 12lt i woulg make it a betta tank or maybe a couplsmall fish maybe like 3 tetras but thats just my opinion theres way more

o if you wanted to you could make the big tank into a cichlid tank there beautiful fish i have a about a 140 lt tank with cichlids in it and it very nice

 

[MOsborne05]

Depends on what you mean by starting up. Are the tanks cycled or are you using these fish to cycle them? If the tanks are already cycled then you can use pretty much anything. Cardinals are the only ones I can think of right now that are really sensitive. If you want fish to cycle the tank, I'd suggest zebra danios or white clouds because both are very hardy.

 

[Fishchaser]

yeah if its not cyclex get veryhardy fish or else they will die for sure if it is cycled use any of the ones i said or pretty much any thing else good point mosborne05!

 

[Seleya]

What do you hope to eventually keep in those tanks? That's how I would determine what to start with. Have you read the fishless cycling stickies?

 

[capper]

Thanx for the advice. The big tank is uncycled and the other smaller ones may or may not be. The smallest has had fish but likely lost its "cycle" since it hasn't been used in quite a few weeks now. The next smallest has one platy at the moment but will probably be empty for 2 weeks before starting up again.

 

[capper]

How about using the African Lampeyes we have to cycle our 157 liter tank. They seemed to do a good job cycling our smallest tank a couple of months ago. They're tough fish and would enjoy swimming freely in such a large area with all the plat life.

 

[Seleya]

If your tank hasn't been used in a week or two, the bacteria have died off for lack of food (ammonia and nitrites). You can certainly cycle your tank with the lampeyes so long as you closely monitor water parameters throughout and stock slowly thereafter. The thing to keep in mind with cycling is that your biofilter is only supported by what is in there. if you cycle with lampeyes, the tank the lampeyes come from loses a bit of its biofilter (for lack of food) and the new tank only has sufficient biofilter to manage the waste of however many lampeyes are in it. Even with fishless cycling or biospira, only so many fish can be added at first (be very conservative).

If you use some live plants and add fish VERY slowly, you can minimize the problems associated with fish-in cycling. You can even borrow some gravel or filter media from your more established tanks or those of friends (these MUST be from long term cycled tanks)

 

[cybersymes]

i would maybe start out with some platys or mollies on the 157 lt tank or in the 25 i would go with maybe some neon tetras or guppies and in the 12lt i woulg make it a betta tank or maybe a couplsmall fish maybe like 3 tetras but thats just my opinion theres way more

o if you wanted to you could make the big tank into a cichlid tank there beautiful fish i have a about a 140 lt tank with cichlids in it and it very nice

platties have been great for me...
a week of 'cycle'...[i know peeps don't like it]...
then 3 platties...water change after a week...25%...
and then 3 more platties...

now i add new fish every week...
checking my water evey time i get new dudes...

black neons are great shoaling guys...
do for your middle tank...

and yep...a betta and some small fishes for your nano...

 

[fishkid64]

I would say some Zebra Danio's they're very hardy too

 

[SPIKE88]

I use zebra danios to cycle all my tanks. In the long run they are great for community tanks or they could eventually end up a meal in a cichlid tank.

 

[swordtailraiser]

i would also recommend using danios.they are very sturdy fish.