Hey,

So im new to fishkeeping only bought my tank yesterday and getting everything else for it tomorrow and gunna start a fishless cycle, first of all id like to say im glad i found this site and join because i've found tones of good info on it :D, so my tanks a weird shape and is taller than is it wide or deep. its quite big (42 litres) so i was thinking about building a "second floor" i my tank, you know more space for gravel, ornaments and plants. would this be a good idea and what material should i use (i was looking at plastic.


cheers

What are the actual dimensions of the tank?

I can see this will be a problem as it sounds like there won't be much surface area which is how oxygen gets into the water and CO2 gets out. Unfortunately surface area is very important when stocking a tank so you'll be very restricted in terms of what you could keep.

In general, we wouln't advise anything but a single Siamese Fighting Fish for a tank less than 60 litres, but the lack of surface area may make that impractical too. Another option would be to stock with shrimps and use tall, moss covered branches for them to climb on. That could make quite an attractive display

the inner measurements are hieght 43.5, width 44 and depth 29 cm. and its got 42 litres of water in at the moement


and your say about the surface area, you'd still hve that at the top of the tank and the "second floor" wouldnt cover the hole of the tank it would be more like a shelf running along two of the walls.

And i was planning on putting 8 black tetra's and 4 cherry shrimp in there when its cycled are you saying that its too small for that?

Hi Kahlenda, welcome to FK

A few things first which may help...

1. Those measurements show a tank that holds 55 litres. You have to knock off 10% though for decor, gravel displacement so realistically about 49 litres.

2. Stocking with fish (other than size, behavior, territorial issues etc) is generally dictated by your local tap water readings. Can you post readings for pH - a cup of water left to stand for 24 hours so we get the 'true' reading and GH - you can test for this immediately?

Some fish suit softer water hard which is more acidic like Tetra but wouldn't be happy in harder water.

3. The tank needs to be fishlessly cycled first (i.e. adding liquid ammonia for up to 4-6 weeks as the pretend inhabitants) this allows the filter time to grow the bacteria it needs to keep water levels safe when any livestock goes in.

Linky here to our article:
http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... hless-cycling-article.htm

4. To be honest the tank is rather small and will limit you stocking wise. Given the generally used formula of 2.5cm of fish per 4.5 litres of water, you are looking at a maximum of 5 fish who grow no more than 5cm's in a new tank set up.

This would include the black neons if the local pH and GH are suited (?) Given these are shoaling fish so 6 min, but the more the better to get them to display naturally, until the tank is mature when you can increase slightly, I'd be tempted to consider much smaller fish until a tank upgrade is on the the cards.

Give us your water readings and lets see what other options you have perhaps

Quote:

No I meant that the surface area would be small, irrespective of the second floor.

Black Neons need a tank 2ft wide, and this, at only 17 inches is not wide enough.

I wouldn't recommend anything other than shrimps or possibly a shoal of one of the micro species for the tank: Ember Tetra, Celestial Pearl Danio, Emerald Rasbora or similar and as V said what species are actually suitable depends on the pH and hardness of your local water.

ahhhh ow i get you :) well ive just started cycling and heating the tank now i used the API master kit and the PH is around 7 and 7.2 im going to take a sample of the water down to pets at home at some point and they said they'll test the water hardness for me.

Ok so taking the advice ive been given and reading up and thinking about it if my water hardness is right im looking at getting 10 ember tetra and 10 cherry shrimp

Ember tetra top limit on PH is 7.0, according to the caresheet on here. It's borderline whether your water suits them.

Did you test standing water (after 24hrs) or water straight from the tap? It can have a significant difference (mine from the tap is 7.4, but after standing is actually PH of 8)

The Celestria Pearl Danio is probably more suited to your water

i filled the tank on tuesday and the waters been standing there since then and did the ph test on the thursday

update on my tank i added stress zyme and stress coat yeasterday and some food to start my fishless cycle cam back about 20 mins ago, and the waters up to temp and cloudy as hell, i did some test's yesterday ammonia 0.5 ppm, nitrite and nitrate 0 ppm today ammonia between 0 and 0.25 ppm, nitrite and nitrate 0 ppm is this right? or should i be seeing and in crease in the nittrite readings? (im assuming the cloudy water is a sign of bactria grwth.