new to the fish game....need advice/info

[lunatics]

i am getting a 55g tank in about a week or so, i am just going to get a arrowana, and maybe some pbass. i wanted to know, what do i have to add in the tank after the tank is filled up with water??? this may be a dumb question, but any help/info will be appreciated....like i said i am new to this.

 

[dragonfish]

Welcome and good job looking for info first. Your water will need to be dechlorinated and your tank cycled first. Just search through here and you will find info on these topics. Unless you are planning on upgrading your tank size very soon please reconsider the arowana due to its quick growth and eventual size.

 

[mojo2776]

A 55g will be far too small for an aro or pbass... they'll outgrow it in a short time. You may want to wait to get those when you can get a suitably sized tank for them.

 

[V1xIII]

Yeah, 55 gallons is too small for even one arowana or peacock bass. You would need a few hundred gallons for them.

 

[silverdragon]

Ok so you obviously know now that your gonna need a bigger tank soon if your going to keep those type of monsters yeh lol id go for the bigger setup from the get go but its up to you.. In regards to your water your going to need to add some sort of dechlorinator to remove chlorine and chloramines from your tap water, i use Prime made by Seachem, really good stuff and to help cycle your water your gonna need to get some good beneficial bacteria in there, you can do this in 2 ways, either a "fishless" cycle where you add benefecial bacteria by using products like Cycle or Nitrivec, i use Nitrivec, youll need to do this for 10 days or so while monitoring your water paramaters, or you can put in a couple of Rosey Reds are some other hardy fish to cycle your tank for you..

this is a helpful link that describes both ways ive mentioned above
http://www.bluecrayfish.com/cycle.htm

 

[MDK500]

If you are new to fish keeping the fish that you want are not suitable for beginners. What fish have you kept in the past?

 

[lunatics]

i have had goldfish, but i want to get more into the exotics. i may reconsider getting what i said since i know those are some expensive fish and don't want to take the chance of them dying on me. might get some oscars or so....thanks for the help guys.

 

[fishfobia]

wow!

 

[bluehairman]

one oscar would be ok in a 55.
a bottom dweller would be good too.
chlorine evaporates within 24 hours, but dechlorinater is good to have for water changes.
look for bio spira or dr tims one and only nitrifying bacteria to speed up the tank cycling process
dont add any expensive fish while the tank cycles.. add a small fish and slowly add fish to the tank, about one every week.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165378

 

[andyjs]

i have had goldfish, but i want to get more into the exotics. i may reconsider getting what i said since i know those are some expensive fish and don't want to take the chance of them dying on me. might get some oscars or so....thanks for the help guys.

If you go with oscars, one oscar is all that tank can really hold and that's pushing it. An oscar can get up around 14" and a 55 is only a little over a foot deep, so it would just barely be able to turn around. If you don't plan on upgrading soon, I would stick with either a community of lots of small fish or a handful of medium sized fish. I'd skip larger fish unless you plan on only using this as a growout tank and upgrading as they grow.