Newbie here

[ztdudek]

Hey everyone...i just started getting into the hobby i bought my tank yesterday and got the water running over night and i'm going to buy my fish tonight. I bought a small 10 G tank to start i know its harder to maintain but for the budget and the space i have thats all i could do for now. I want to do tetras i think whats the maxium amount of fish i can get in a 10 G aquarium?


Let me know of any other good starter fish that are fun

Thanks

Zac

 

[fish_chic]

you need to cycle your tank before you put fish in there. you can also cycle your tank with fish maybe some zebra danios but i like to do the fishless cycles. i believe there is a sticky you can go to in the freshwater beginner information/questions about cycling a tank. read up on that and decide what you would like to do.

 

[ztdudek]

i talked to a friend that does fish alot and he said that you can cycle with fish pretty easily if you dont add a bunch right away....is that true?

 

[seastaar88]

you can but it's not recommended. during thecylcle process, even hardy fish will be stressed. remember, fish produce ammonia, and without the proper bacteria in your tank, you could easily end up with a tank full of dead fish.

if you wanted to help speed up the cycling processes, i would recommend getting at least a handful of gravel (or filter media) from an established tank (many good LFSs will do this.. keep moist at the least during transport) and put the gravel in the foot end of a pair of pantyhose; cut off the excess pantyhose and knot the end and put it in your tank. this will allow beneficial bacteria to spread faster than if you had to start from stratch. be sure to add ammonia (check out iggy's recipe for a fishless cycle (a sticky in the beginners forum) to feed the bacteria. keep an eye on your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. when ammonia and nitrite are at zero and you start having a nitrate reading, you're set to go.

 

[blade_pride]

Almost everyone will tell you it’s not a good idea to do a fish cycle, even though most of the world most likely does it. It’s hard on the fish, plus if the fish do live it may have hurt them in some way that you can not see. Having said that…

Cycling with fish is not that hard (At lest not on you). Stock-up on water testing supplies, read up on the water conditions, and be prepared to do a lot of water changes to keep the water condition safe for your fish. Read every post here about cycling so you know what to expect. If you think you will not be able to keep-up with testing the water, think about fishless cycling( Think about it any way).

As said above Zebra Danios work well, if there like mine they will live a very long time.

See if your friend will donate some gravel or filter material to help the cycle along

Good luck.

 

[MissFishy]

Before you do anything, you should at least know what "cycling" a tank means. If it helps, there is a link in my signature that has some cycling information with fish and without.

 

[blade_pride]

Nice guide MissFishy, I remember seeing that a while back but forgot about it.

They should add the link to the "Freshwater Beginner Stickies (READ ME FIRST)" post.

 

[ztdudek]

Thanks alot for all the advice..i'm going to try and do a fish-in cycle i'm gong to ask the guy at the fish shop to give me some of his gravel that seems to be the idea

So you think that tetras are not the way to go with a starter tank??


Let me know

 

[lauraj]

Welcome to the tank....I've gotten lots of good info from this site since I first got fish just after Christmas.

I did a fish-in cycle, but not by choice. I unfortunately found this site and all it's info about cycling a few days after I bought my fish. The lfs staff neglected to tell me anything about what I was getting myself into. They did however recommend and sell me hardy fish....platies. They probably thought I would kill them, but thanks to everyone on this site, they made it and seem to still be quite healthy. My first cory cat was not as lucky....they're more sensitive to toxins.

Which brings me to tetras and your question......they are too sensitive to make it through a cycle. I would go with danios or platies.

My cycle took just about 6 weeks with many many many partial water changes and daily checks of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

If you have access to media from someone else's tank or Bio-Spira from a lfs, it will be quicker. Good Luck and keep us posted!