STARTING A 45G TANK..WHAT TO PUT IN?!

Hi all-
I am not sure if you remember, but about a month or so ago I posted a message re:a cloudy tank. Turns out it was a bacterial bloom that nothing would cure and my whole tank died. Anyway, I have cleaned the tank for a month and have left the water out of it in hopes of killing every last little stupid bacteria. I am thinking in the next week or two of getting the tank back up and running. I was thinking of putting in 3 turquoise rainbows, 3 giant danios, 2 kissing gouramis, and 2 blue gouramis. I would be putting the fish in the tank in that order, but 10 days apart as to allow for adaptation and make sure they are healthy (very anal I know, but I don't want any more surprizes). I would greatly appriciate any feedback on if this sounds good with the different species and number of each since I know some of these fish may be aggressive. Thanks for helping me. Like I said I know I am anal now, but I just don't want my tank to die again. THANKS.

 

hey the blue gouramis like to pick on each other i would keep at least 3 of them together if you want to keep them or just 1
this is just from my experince i had to at one point to make along song short i only have one now

 

Are you planning on doing a fishless cycle or just letting it cycle with the fish? I recommend doing the fishless method since your fish will be a lot less likely to die that way.

Also, I think you will be a bit overstocked with that selection. For the most part, gouramis, danios, and rainbow fish fall under the 1" adult fish/gallon rule. I suggest removing 2 or 3 of those fish from your list.

-Chelle

 

:wink: Thank you for all of the advice. I think I will just put in 1 blue gourami so that way not only is by itself, but it will cut down on the number of fishes I have. I am going to do a fishless cycle for about a week with the tank all set up and everything. Any other ideas, comments, or concerns would be great since I am so worried about everything now. THANKS A LOT! :y_the_best:

 

It will most likely take longer than a week to complete the fishless cycle. Just running the tank for a week isn't going to do anything. You need to add pure ammonia every day and moniter your water parameters.

-Chelle

 

I thought that I did what willie stated in an earlier post:

willieb18 wrote:
ok i think i have it!!
so all i have to do is put water in the tank, and keep the ammonia at 5ppm untill there are no ammonia or nitrites, and some nitrates.

when i don't have any ammonia or nitrites but i have nitrates then it is ok to do a 30% water change and add my fish.

then i do a water changer like once a week to keep the nitrates down.

I am using spring Monadnock water so I am thinking since it is filter and everything that the levels will already be close or in the right ranges of zero.

Maybe I am wrong since I thought spring water didn't have much of what tap water has, but as I have learned you don't want to use the tap water where I live.

 

Using spring water has nothing to do with it. Fish produce ammonia, then bacteria converts it into nitrIte, then nitrAte. No matter what kind of water you use, fish will always produce ammonia. When you're doing a fishless cycle, you add the ammonia to simulate the presence of fish (so you are not actually submitting fish to the toxic levels of ammonia & nitrIte that happen when a tank cycles). Eventually you'll read 0 ammonia & nitrIte because there is enough bacteria to convert it quickly so it doesn't accumulate.

-Chelle

 

Oh, okay, I get it. Thanks. I just have one more question, can I get the pure ammonia at a fish store or can I just you regualr ammonia from the hardware store. Also, do you know on average how long it would take for this cycle to occur? I read someone is on five weeks and still going, does it usually take that long? THANK YOU AGAIN!

 

HCL113083, i found this link one on of the topics. The link was posted by t_chelle16 and i talks about a way to completed the cycled in 12 days.

http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html

 

I've heard that the Walmart brand (Great Value) ammoinia is okay to use. Just shake it up and if it doesn't foam it's safe.

It generally takes anywhere between 3 - 8 weeks to cycle a tank but you can speed it up a little if you seed the tank with bacteria from an already established tank. Either by using some filter media or gravel. There is also a product called Biospira (not the imitations like Cycle or Stress Zyme) that contains the bacteria and is reported to cycle a tank in less than a week if you follow the instructions exactly. However, I've never used it so that's why I'm not so quick to recommend it.

-Chelle

 

Wow... all of these ideas are new to me...lol I have had a 55 gallon aquarium for around 10 years. I have never added ammonia or the like... I use Aqua Safe from tetra : TetraAqua™ AquaSafe® makes tap water safe for fish by eliminating chlorine and heavy metals present in municipal water supplies. AquaSafe® also neutralizes chloramine by breaking down the bond between chlorine and ammonia while reducing both fish-toxic chlorine and ammonia components. In addition, AquaSafe® provides slime coating to help wounds heal and protect fish from abrasions.

This is all I have ever used... I had angel fish for 5 years. Then when they died of old age... I put in 2 bala sharks, 6 black skirt tetras, 6 neons, 6 rasbora hets, 2 hatchets, 3 zebra danios, 3 cat fish, 2 placostomos (sp), 1 chinese alge eater and 4 neons that are green... not like the red and blue ones. I have some live plants and a few fake ones.

I know you are suppose to do a water change (they say every week) but I do not do that. :shock: I check my water occasionally. lol I do a 25% change about once a month... If I have the time to do it. I rinse my filter about once every two months. It is a Aqua Clear 300, I also have two power heads at each end and air stones in the two middle tubes.

I haven't added any fish for about 6 months now. And when I do add new fish I leave them in the bag for 15 minutes floating in the water. Then I take out part of the "store" water and add some of mine. Then after another 15 minutes I add the fish and the water. I know some say not to do that but I have had very good results doing it this way.
Before buying fish I examine the tank at the store very carefully... (my husband hates going with me because I take to long looking at stuff! lol) If there are any signs whatso ever of illness or weakness in any of the fish I point it out to whoever is working and move on to the next tank. There have been several times I left with no fish at all and come back in a week to see how they are this time.

*edit* Let me say that our tap water is well water... not city water that has been treated with who-knows what type of chemicals. We have very very clear water ... it is a bit on the hard side and a little heavy on the alkiline side of the scale.. so I do treat for that if I add a whole bunch of new water like I did when I moved my tank. But for just a 25% I don't treat unless after I have added the water to the tank and test it. Then I adjust as necessary.

 

All I can say is you are VERY lucky.

-Chelle