Questions about starting a new tank

[Finney]

Hi, I am new to fishkeeping and I have a few questions. I haven’t bought anything yet because I am still researching and trying to decide if I should start a tank. I would like to start a 20 gallon aquarium this summer and eventually have a community of guppies, neon tetras, bleeding heart tetras, harlequin rasboras, small cories and a blue dwarf gourami. I’m not sure of exact numbers yet, and I know there’s a limit with the tank size, but are these species generally compatible? Any other suggestions of colorful and interesting fish that are good for beginners? I would love to eventually get a Blue Ram, but I’ve heard they are sensitive.

I plan to do a fishless cycle; however, I will be away for a week approx. 2 weeks after I start the cycle. I think the cycle will be well under way by the time I leave, but will it be able to continue without a source of ammonia while I am away or will the bacteria die during this time? Would it work to add one or two fish before I leave (hopefully the cycle will be almost complete by then)? Do you think these fish would be ok with little or no feeding for the week (if I can’t get someone to feed them)? If so, what species would be best?

My other dilemma is that I will have to move the tank at the end of August. I’ll be moving one hour away for university. Is there a way to move everything that would allow me to preserve the helpful bacteria so that I won’t have to re-cycle the tank at the new place? The reason I’m starting the tank at home in the summer is so I’ll have it cycled and have some experience for when I go back to school, because I know I won’t have a lot of time once school starts (other than for regular maintenance).

Is it best for a beginner to have a planted tank? Or should I have some fake and some real plants?

Thanks for any advice and sorry this post is so long.

 

[phOOey]

hi.

right, all the species you listed are generally compatible, but because of limited tank size it may be best to have just a couple of decent size schools of certain species rather than just a few fish from each species, but we'll talk about numbers when it comes to that. blue rams are nice, and you can keep one in a 20g, they are sensitive but they are not too difficult to look after.

if you go away for 2 weeks before the cycle has ended your cycle will stop, because without a source of ammonia the bacteria will not beable to build up. adding fish could work, zebra danios are normally recommended for this, but again, if there not getting fed then they will not be producing any waste and there will therefore be no ammonia. so unless you can get them fed adding fish would be a bit pointless.

transporting fish and tanks is hard, but do-able. You can transport you filter in a tub of water and this should keep the bacteria alive, i think. For your fish, plants, gravel etc. a lot of people use 5g rubber tubs to transport them. if you add an airstone to the one with fish in this will make sure there is enough oxygen in the water for them.

as for the plant thing, its really up to you, fake plants are easier to look after, but live plants look nicer and will also absorb the nitrates in the water.

hope it helps

 

[Balloon Fish]

Hey, how long do you have till you leave? if you have like a week then you could use seachem stability to cycle your tank whihc takes excatly 7 days or biospira which takes 1 day to cycle the tank but not all local fish stores (lfs) sells that and sometimes if they do they don't put it in a refrigerator which kills it so its useless. If you do get danios you could get an automatic feeder and fill it up with enough food and that will feed like 2 times a day... On the plant thing, it is sorta hard to do it on a first tank cause you dont know what to get and what you need and dont have enough experience but it is possible if you do a lot of research before you buy... i would say research some on what your getting into if you do get into planted tanks and if it sounds like too much work to you then there is always fake plants. On my first tank (40g) i was gonna do a planted tank but the plants never really grew cause i didn't know much but on my new tank (20g) all the plants are thriving so if you are gonna get into plants start with a few and maybe add stuff to your tank as you go or start a new one but if you only have time for regular maintence then plants isn't the best way to go...