New To Fish & New Tank Setup (30g)

[MattDunbar]

I've got an older tank I just cleaned up, and setup again. Seems to be holding water fine, so its all good on that end. I don't have the exact measurement, but the tank hold either 29 or 30 gallons.

I've set this up as freshwater, I'd like to try a marine tank in the future, but I don't have the money to spend freely on that kind of setup at the moment.

I am still only 18 now, but when I did get this, I believe I was 13-14 and my dad pretty much took care of the tank for me.

I have setup a new filter and an older heater (rinsed it, and it seems to be running perfect, it never was dirty). The tank seems to be functioning (water is getting warmer, though, it isn't quite warm enough yet). I also used conditioner to clean up the water when I finished filling it a few hours back.


I am now wondering what further steps I need to take, and what would be a reasonable stock for my tank.

Also, I wouldn't mind keeping a live plant in the tank, but I am wondering what the whole lighting situation is there. I have a light at the moment (Its a long tube, thats all I know).

From what I can see, all thats left is buying fish (I know only a few to start, and something on the hardier side to let the water cycle).


Based on what I've said, I'm looking for recommendations on anything I can/should do, and interesting fresh water fish (preferably, several fish, I have been considering a few variations of Tetras, and a few of the fancier guppies, but after keeping an arrowana for a while, they tend to bore me a bit). I know I can't realistically keep an arrowana in the 30gal tank anymore, but the first thing I thought was "I really liked that arrowana".

I'm willing to set aside 10 minutes or so a day and up to an hr over the weekend, so a bit of maintenance is okay, and I know required, but I'm not looking for any fish that are going to need me to do too much more than that.

I do work from home so at least when I'm not at school (going to college now next sept), I spend 8 hrs+ in my mini-office setup in the basement. I've put the tank right there, so I'd really like something on the more interesting side that I can turn to watch.


Please suggest fish (the entire stock if possible), when/over what time span to add what in, and if theres anything else I should be doing before stocking fish.

Thanks!

 

[ShadowBass]

You don't have to cycle with fish if you choose not to. You can add pure ammonia to get bacterial colonies established. If you want to do that I can link you to information on doing so. It takes about a month to two months to finish cycling, just like if you cycle with fish. But on the plus side, you don't have to worry about doing water changes constantly to keep your fish alive while the tank is cycling, since the amount of ammonia you add is exact and there's nothing in there to kill.

If you do cycle with fish (and I'd be a hypocrite to tell you not to, since that was always my choice - though I haven't done a fully cycle on ANYTHING in a long time due to having already established media), then I would just add a few danios. They're very hardy and that's what people often cycled with before fishless cycling became popular.
You don't want to add more than a few because large amounts of fish will spike the ammonia to the point where you'll have a fish die off and have to start all over again. And you don't want to feed very much because excess food is also an ammonia source.
To properly cycle with no chance of fish death, or risking the ammonia becoming high enough to impede bacterial development (which CAN happen, though granted the levels generally have to be very high), you are still going to have to do water changes to keep the ammonia around .25 and no higher.
Then when your ammonia disappears you're going to have to monitor the nitrites and do the same. Once the nitrites disappear you try to keep your nitrates below a recommended 40ppm at most.

So if you want to set up a tank with no chance of screwing up and killing your fish, you're going to have to buy a master test kit, and most of use the API liquid test kits (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH), and monitor the levels closely during your cycling period.

As far as what can go in the tank long term, you have a ton of choices.

I can't really think of many fish that are arowana like that would fit in your tank size. If you like watching that type of movement, gouramis could be one choice since they swim throughout the whole tank and often at the top the breathe air.
But I'm not sure if you're looking for something predatory or that just behaves similar. An african butterfly fish is similar to in arow in several respects and is predatory.

 

[MattDunbar]

Thanks ShadowBass. I'm not looking to do a fishless cycle.

How much will a test kit cost me, and can you recommend anything in particular (any specific kit)? The LFS doesn't seem to have much of anything for testing water other than PH strips, so I'm thinking I'll probably order a test kit online (I'm in Canada, so any suggestions of who ships here would be great). Is it okay for me to buy my fish on saturday, and have my test kit probably within 2-3 days at the most to start testing then?

Also, for my 30 gal, does this seem reasonable for stock:

8x Tiger Barb
10x Dwarf Loach
4x Dwarf Gourami
9x Dwarf Cory


And what out of those would be best to cycle the tank with. I have looked at pictures of all of them, and tried a few online calculators based and that seems to be an "at capacity" tank.

Is there anything from that list that would work best for cycling? If not, I'm thinking of buying a few guppies to cycle, and giving them to a friend as feeders. I'd rather not use the guppies though, thats a last resort.

Also, what are the chances of breeding (with what I have listed), and what are the time lines in which I could expect babies. My main concern is, if anything is going to be born that will overcrowd my tank, I'll probably need a month from getting this setup to have extra cash to setup a new tank for it. Are there any baby eaters, or anything of the sort I should be worrying about from this batch?


Please let me know what you think of the stock list.

Also, still hoping to get some feedback on live plants, and identifying what type of light I have/how it would do with a live plant.

With that stock list, will I need plants, rocks, anything of the sort that fish will like to hide in?

I was using aqadvisor to figure out a reasonable stock, but I know it all comes in with common sense (i.e. a 12 inch fish in a 12 gallon tank = no). I was hoping someone more experienced would be able to tell me if my stock list is reasonable, and at what point if there are babies I should start moving fish into another aquarium.

I'm thinking of setting up another smaller tank in the near future. Any recommendations on doing that (preferably, in the sub $200 range)? The fish I don't mind spending on, as I can add them over time once the original setup is done.

 

[ShadowBass]

Also, for my 30 gal, does this seem reasonable for stock:

8x Tiger Barb
10x Dwarf Loach
4x Dwarf Gourami
9x Dwarf Cory

That is a pretty high stocking level for how much maintenance you are considering. You would need to do pretty frequent or large water changes to keep nitrates at an acceptable level. While some fish are not sensitive to nitrates, loaches and cories are, and to a lesser extent dwarf gouramis.

The other problem with me assessing your list, is that dwarf loach and dwarf cory is a common name that could mean several species. So you're going to have to be more specific than that.

And what out of those would be best to cycle the tank with. I have looked at pictures of all of them, and tried a few online calculators based and that seems to be an "at capacity" tank.

None of those fish are acceptable for cycling a tank. While someone might get lucky and get one of them to live through a cycle, you're likely to kill any of them trying to cycle with them. Cories and loaches especially can die of high nitrates, much less ammonia or nitrites present during a cycle. The most likely to survive would be barbs, but you risk stressing them to the point where they come down with ich or something.

How much will a test kit cost me, and can you recommend anything in particular (any specific kit)?

$20 bucks on average.
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4345+4454&pcatid=4454
That's usually where I order stuff from and I'm sure they ship to Canada. You will have to check on the shipping cost though.

Also, what are the chances of breeding (with what I have listed), and what are the time lines in which I could expect babies.

Loaches (of any species) - Rare to spawn in captivity
Dwarf gourmis - fairly easy to spawn in captivity, but need specific conditions. They are bubble nest builders so they need very still water to establish their nest at the top of the tank.
Tiger Barbs - fairly easy to spawn but not likely in a community aquarium
Cories - This is species dependent. Some species commonly spawn in community aquariums (bronze cories for instance). Some species rarely spawn in captivity altogether.

So with your fish list, you're really unlikely to have any fish spawning.

Also, still hoping to get some feedback on live plants, and identifying what type of light I have/how it would do with a live plant.

With a normal aquarium strip (and plants do best with 5000-6000k spectrum), you're pretty much relegated to stuff like java fern and java moss. But they will generally grow ok under low lighting.

With that stock list, will I need plants, rocks, anything of the sort that fish will like to hide in?

Loaches need plenty of places to hide, or else they aren't comfortable. The others are fairly flexible as far as what kind of environment they're comfortable in. Plenty of decorations for hiding does make most fish more comfortable and less shy.
Do not use sharp substrate for loaches or corycats. Use small round aquarium gravel or sand.

I was hoping someone more experienced would be able to tell me if my stock list is reasonable

It seems like a pretty darn high stocking level, really, though you're going to have to be more specific than dwarf loach and dwarf cory for me to know what size the species you plan on keeping will get.

I'm thinking of setting up another smaller tank in the near future. Any recommendations on doing that (preferably, in the sub $200 range)? The fish I don't mind spending on, as I can add them over time once the original setup is done.

How small? A 40 or 50 breeder is a really good size for a lot of uses, and they're generally reasonably priced or easy to find used. The footprint is 36in long x 18in front to back. The only difference between the 2 is the height.
If that footprint is ok for you, in fact a 65g has the same footprint and they're a commonly available size.
I'm not really big on tanks any smaller than that because you're limited in what and how much you can stock substancially.

 

[Chicklette]

Tiger barbs are VERY nippy so you have to be careful what you put in with them. But you have too many fish listed. You could get three yo yo loaches, two or three dwarf gourami's and 5 corys, they like to be in groups. You could also get some neon testras. Personally I would not go with the tiger barbs unless you want an aggressive tank.

You can get a test kit at big als. http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl3664/cp17319/cl0/watertestkits

 

[big_tank_boy]

I say drop the dwarf corys and u should be fine.....