Monters for a 30 gallon?

[guppy]

What you gonna do for a background?

 

[Fish_are_fishfood]

What you gonna do for a background?

I bought one of those generic backgrounds, with all pretty plants and rocks and such, so I think I will use that. Its double sided, so if I dont like it I can turn it over to use black, or my lfs has many more to choose from.

Once it is up and running, let it run for one day, and then should I just test it out with goldfish for a while, to make sure the water is ok, or should I get something better than goldfish but not as good as the monsters I wish to get...?

 

[Vince]

Wow! it's starting to look nice already Goldfish would be OK, but I just use a piece of raw shrimp, just a tiny piece to aid the production of ammonia to get your nitrifying bacteria. It would take a good two weeks. First it would get cloudy, and then once it clears, that means your ammonia is getting broken down and converted to nitrite by the bacteria living in yout filtration systems. Change your water to about 50%, and wait a couple of days, and you should be able to add fish to it. make sure you test it first for nitrite before adding your fish. Show us some pictures when you get it going!

 

[tom h]

set it up and let it run for a week (don't forget the dechlorinator!) then get some feeders guppies rosie reds or goldfish whatever your new monster will eat
think of it as a "first supper"
btw check out some of the syndontis catfish some of them would be happy in a 29 also check out batrochoglannis raninus (bumblebee catfish or dwarf marbled catfish) they only get to be about 6" but they will eat anything it can even partly stuff into it's mouth it may not be big but it's a monster in my bookalso check out half beaks

 

[Fish_are_fishfood]

set it up and let it run for a week (don't forget the dechlorinator!) then get some feeders guppies rosie reds or goldfish whatever your new monster will eat
think of it as a "first supper"
btw check out some of the syndontis catfish some of them would be happy in a 29 also check out batrochoglannis raninus (bumblebee catfish or dwarf marbled catfish) they only get to be about 6" but they will eat anything it can even partly stuff into it's mouth it may not be big but it's a monster in my bookalso check out half beaks

Cool catfish, I was thinking about looking into them, ty for the info along with yours vince. I am lucky though, because I get my water from a well, no chlorine for me, don't you just love country life ....but I will make sure all my water is clean and such...I'll keep you guys posted on the progress of my tank, and what fish I finally decide on, I cant wait to get it up and running, it will be so cool.

 

[guppy]

I woould start with a dwarf gourami or a large weatherloach as they can handle the fluctuations as your tank cycles in, just remember to add fish 1 or to at a time with a couple days between additions to let the bacterial colony catch up. Replace the charcoal with small chips of well washed lava rock for extra biomedia. You can also seed your filter with filter sludge if you can beg some from someone with a healthy tank.

 

[MaJiKTeRRoR]

You can also seed your filter with filter sludge if you can beg some from someone with a healthy tank.

True this works very well. I've done it with my first and used that one to seed the rest of my tanks.

 

[Fish_are_fishfood]

I finally finished the gravel and put in all the water..

I need to get a more powerful airator for the undergravel filters and still do all the readying the tank for fish. My neighbor had a fishtank a couple years ago. I'll see if they still do, and maybe theyll give me sum sludge...

 

[finsandfangs]

i would put 15 exodons ( bucktoothed tetra) and a cray fish.... they are mean when it comes to feeding and the crayfish will eat what ever makes it to the bottom if anything

 

[guppy]

Now for some plants