I am a fish noob - Questions

[Fish Frenzy]

I feel kinda lost and I don't even have fish yet. I have so many questions, some are probably really stupid ones, but I need help.

I am getting fish soon, so I decided to do a practice tank cleaning. (20gallons)

Once I figured out how to use the silly siphoning device. I realized my water was slightly yellow, so I am boiling my drift wood AGAIN. Is my water ok? Since it was yellow, I removed almost half of the water.

Secondly, I got kinda confused when adding new water. My bucket does not have any measurement lines in it. But I figured out that it holds about 7 liters. So then I got confused about how much conditioner to add. And you have to add it to the water in the bucket right? Not after you put the water in the tank? And is it normal to have some bubbles and be able to see small particles in the water? Or is it a sign of my water being crappy?

Any tips for figuring out how much conditioner in? Do you measure how much water you take out or is it all by eye? What happens if you add too much? I assume the fish will get sick or die?

What do fish normally do when you are cleaning? Will they try to hide somewhere or just ignore you?

And the temperature...it seems cold. I have it at 80F and it is slightly cold to the touch. Is this right? For some reason I thought it would feel warmer.

Lastly, how important is the amount of gravel you have? At the stores, they have like 2-3inches. I honestly cannot afford to buy that much gravel. Is it ok to have less? What are the pros and cons of having more/less gravel?

Oh wait, one more Carbon. I have been reading on here that it isn't that great of thing to have in your filter. If you remove the carbon filter (I like the idea of making my own), is there something you should or do differently to take the place of the carbon?

I am really really sorry for asking so many questions. I am just completely lost. Cats, dogs, birds, lizards...no problem. But I am drowning when it comes to fish!

(PS. I am thinking of starting with some tiger barbs, maybe a few other barbs. I eventually want some cory cats, just in case that is important. I also like dwarf Gouramis, but not sure how they get along with the other fish I like)

Thank you!

 

[JeLeAk]

the yellow is tannins from the drift wood 100% safe to have that in your tank, it will eventually go away

there should be directions on the back of the conditioner bottle on how many drops you should add per gallon/liter of water

personally i just squirt some directly in the tank before/after/during the filling process, i never measure how many drops to add, i normally add wayy to much, but there is nothing bad in adding too much dechlorinator

its not important to have gravel, it only serves as aesthetics and a place for beneficial bacteria to grow gravel is needed for under gravel filtration, obviously, but if your going to use a hang on back(hob) filter gravel isnt needed, and you can use and much or as little as you would like

your temp is okay, i keep my fresh water tanks around 78-80ish

and as for carbon, i use it... people say it looses its filtering abilities after a week, but i havnt really read much into it to see if its just hear say or is actually true or not

be forewarned tiger barbs like to fin nip at other fish, so... slow moving long fined fish dont normally mix well with them

 

[Rush07]

I was going to respond to all your questions, but Jeleak pretty much said it all. As for Carbon, I don't use it, but it is personal preference. I only use it to remove medicine when needed. Also, sometimes my water feels warm to me and sometimes it feels cool, but it is always around 79F. Trust your thermometer. I also do not measure my water conditioner, just toss in a little more than you think you need. 8 liters is about 2 gallons. Depending on what type your using, a cap full should cover each bucket. Good Luck!

 

[sclabman]

i dont measure the conditioner either...

the water feels warmer or cooler based on the temp you were feeling before you touched the water. if you were running around and stuff and are hot, then the water will feel cooler. that's the idea, but you dont have to be burning hot from running, just the room may be warmer or something.

 

[Cas]

dwarf gouramis - we had three, two of them recently died rom internal parasites but i think that happened from somethign when cleaning the filter.... long story nevermind.

Anyway the gouramis were really good, the bigger ones are usually better and less shy, although expect them to be shy for the first couple weeks

(Pearl, my powder blue, was really shy when we first gt and hid under a rock permantantly for a fortnight and now she swims everywhere and is never still and one of the first to come up for fod apart from the harlequins who are fatsos and permanently hungry lol)

We have carbon in our tank but its not a necessity we used it to remove the medicine from our tank but when we had medicine in there and culdnt have it we cut some filtery cotton stuff in it instead of the cartridge and it was fine.

Dont worry about the temp being cool/hot rely on our thermometer.

Also cleaning the tank will probably stress the fish a little (i think its impossibel to avoid it at all) but they should just hide and once your done come straight back out hehe.

Gravel insteresting actually we just added some more but we have had only about 1 inch in there for abou 2 months now and its fine, really its just for the plants as a stability so they dont come out of the ground but the roots just grow sideways instead of down so its not a problem although every so often they might need a trim. I say get a bag of it for now and if you really want some more and have teh money get some its not a necessity but it might be better i like my tank i think with more gravel in it.

My conditioner well its 5ml per lid and should be 5ml per 10L, and each bucket is about 8L. So i fill the bucket up, throw a lil less than a full cap in the water (its better to overdose a little with conditioner than underdose), stir it around for about 10 seconds, let it sit if I get be patient enough lol then put in the tank. Water should be treated BEFORE it goes in the tank.

May I also suggest the chemical CYCLE its just an alround one for fish and tank health doesnt cost too much and you cant really overdose on it, that can be added whenever although I usually add the wholes tanks dosage to one of the buckets to dilute it a bit.

No probs with all the questions i felt exactly the same about 2 months ago hehe.

Cory cats shoudlnt be with "nippers" as they nip the barbels (whiskery things) and shouldnt have sharp gravel and it ruins their barbels as well. As a first fish may I recommend platies or neons platies try 2 - 4 we got 3, one died but the other two are going great, or neons/harlequin rasboras we got 4 of each but may I suggest 6 they aren't that big and a really nice school of them looks really great.

Any more questions dont hesitate to ask me or PM me im always on ill be glad to answer them!

Cas

 

[Fish Frenzy]

Aw thankyou so much guys! I feel better about it now.

 

[homebunnyj]

Have you read up on fishless cycling? It's by far better than fish-in. You sound as though you may have read through the stickies at the top of the freshwater beginner section.

Patience really pays off in this hobby. But if you can't bring yourself to take the time to cycle your tank fishlessly, then you can buy BioSpira and add to your tank at the same time you stock it with fish. It will jumpstart the cycle so that you don't have new tank syndrome and lose fish.

Now, before you have fish, is the time to decide which way you want to cycle your tank.

 

[Fuzz16]

first ill start off saying there are NO stupid questions, just stupid answers....or something alone those lines

yellow water will go away, its just tinted from the dritwood. should only last a week or so. do you have a filter on the tank right now?

when i measure water conditioner i do it for almost as much as the tank or close to estimate as possible as i can get. with most conditioners it will not harm the fish with excess.

depends on the fish, when i clean mine, theres always a fish who picks at me, tried to nip me, avoids me, ignores me...or gets sucked up out of stupidity. depends onthe fish.

and ya....for most communities you will want to keep the water at 76-80, so its a good solid temp to stay at.

and with gravel...gah its expensive i know! terrible too...paying 12$ for a bag of rocks...pish. it depends if you want to plant or not. i actually beleive with gravel you can go to a gardening store or landscaping place and use it...but not 100% positive on that.

get a silter pad without carbon in it to still trap debris. but use carbon with removing meds, while cycling(which will be a couple weeks when you first set the tank up), and suppodely adding new fish.

and i would not reccommend tiger barbs in a 20g. they get pretty nippy and decent sized. they say 3" but they dont include height in that. so i would personally pass on tiger barbs until you get a bigger tank. the gourami would be a great choice, great fish. kinda like a betta but not, lol. ive not noticed either of mine to be a bother in either community tank i have, and for the most part no fish really bother bottom dwellers. kind of ignore them. cept like maybe puffers, most barbs, cichlids MIGHT, which you should look into those! great fish with a great personality. a german blue ram would suit your tank very nicely i beleive

any other questions just ask, we're here to help

 

[Fish Frenzy]

and i would not reccommend tiger barbs in a 20g. they get pretty nippy and decent sized. they say 3" but they dont include height in that. so i would personally pass on tiger barbs until you get a bigger tank. the gourami would be a great choice, great fish. kinda like a betta but not, lol. ive not noticed either of mine to be a bother in either community tank i have, and for the most part no fish really bother bottom dwellers. kind of ignore them. cept like maybe puffers, most barbs, cichlids MIGHT, which you should look into those! great fish with a great personality. a german blue ram would suit your tank very nicely i beleive

any other questions just ask, we're here to help

WOW, the German Blue Rams are very pretty. I read that they die easy though...and I don't want something that hard since I am just starting.

And can I start a tank with a Dwarf gourami? I really like them, how do you pronounce gourami?

 

[FroggyFox]

I think a 20 would be fine for tiger barbs as long as you aren't going to try and mix other fish with them. I'd probably do about 5 tiger barbs, and maybe an apple snail or other smallish bottom feeder.

You could do a dwarf gourami, however they can be difficult to match tankmates to in a tank that size. Gouramis are kind of like bettas in that they have vastly different personalities. They also get larger than those tiger barbs.

Did you read up on cycling? You said "start a tank with..." so I'm not sure. I would NOT want to fish-in cycle with a gourami (or any other fish for that matter)...you will probably want to either do a fishless cycle or invest in biospira or Stability. If you do some searching on the boards you'll get a fair amont of comments on the whole topic.

As for the product that someone talked about above "Cycle"...its not worth your money.

 

[JeLeAk]

And can I start a tank with a Dwarf gourami? I really like them, how do you pronounce gourami?

yeah you can start with a dwarf gourami

i pronounce it gore-ah-me you can also call it graw-me, and the fish store will still know what your talking about so dont get too worried about saying it right... if all else fails i resort to pointing and saying "that one" *twirlysmi

swordtail, corydora, guppy, betta(one male), oto, tetras, danio, are all great beginner community fish that would be worth looking into to see if you like them or not