jimmyhg

So its been a while since I posted but I finally got around to take some picks of the tank. I found it hard to get a good picture (I use a film camera). The tank has turned out great. It is currently stocked with 6 rasboras, 5 neon tetras, and 2 ottos. I have mostly live plants which are all growing. I did have a couple of casualties however. One of the neons was sucked up by the aquaclear within one hour of being introduced. It died within a day due to the injuries. That neon seemed a little strange from the beginning because it wasn't schooling and seemed to freely get sucked up. I buried the intake of the aquaclear to eliminate the possibility of this happening again. The second casualty was an otto who died a couple of days after introduction. It never ate and grew pale in color, I was able to get a free replacement. I have to say I love the rasboras (espei), they usually swim in the top of the tank and school more than the neons. They are also fairly energetic and have a deep orange color. Sometimes I observe 2 or 3 of them shaking at eachother with their fins spread out. I assume his is some sort of mating behavior? The ottos have been great at munching algae on the plants and glass. Since most of it is gone I have been feeding them with some blanched spinach or cucumber. They really like the spinach though. I have also have noticed a few snails in the tank. They are still very small so I have not been able to identify them yet. The fishless cycle thing worked well and I have not had any problems with ammonia or nitrites after the first introductions in early December. My nitrates have been around 5-10ppm with 25-30% weekly changes. I use a little fertilizer as well. The water wisteria grows but is a little yellow compared to the growth that it had during the end of the fishless cycle. I assume its because the nitrates levels are much lower. Thanks to everyone who has helped out with the tank. I think it has turned out great so far and look forward to its future.

Thanks for the plant suggestions Shai. I might just add more than one plant to the tank now. Your 10g tank in your sig sounds pretty cool. Not far off from the direction I seem to be heading. I assume it would be ok to add plants before the cycle is complete so at least I can do something with the tank other than test the water. I hope your 55g works out alright too. As far as LFS stores go I would have to agree with you as pisces still seems to be my favorite. Its surprising how little that place has changed since I last had fish almost 15 years ago (when I was a kid). They have lots of plants and a great selection of fish. They are also one of the closest. Its funny you mentioned Northland Walmart because I was there recently and the tanks were dirty and dry with no fish. I have never been to Royal Oak. I also never knew about Riverfront until I found these forums so I stopped by to take a look last week. There still are some places like elite aquatics (mentioned above) that I haven't visited but I will stop by as my work takes me to various locations over the city. I had no idea there was a place in the sunnyside either. Thanks for your LFS info Shai.

Waiting for the tank to cycle is kinda painfull. Its day 12 of the cycle and I'm currently reading .3 mg/L on the nitrite test so I know the cycle is in progess and I have at least some bacteria.

Based on what I found they look like Harlequin rasbora (hetamorpha) exept they are smaller (less bio load) and less black and more orange. I was thinking about these because they are orange/black and they neons would be red/blue giving me some varied colors. Now that I know they are available they remain as a possibility of course the Endlers would bring lots of colors to the party too. Thanks, I think at this point I think I will go with two ottos and leave to cory's out (at least for now). I have and aquaclear 30 on the tank but at this point don't want to add another filter. I hope for my wallets sake that the "disease" you describe doesn't catch on too quick. My revised stock list is now 5 neon tetra 5 hengeli rasbora or some endlers instead 2 ottos (later) I am also now looking into adding a java fern as it will accept low light and I just need a rock or some driftwood for it to live on.

Thanks for the info and good discussion. I will be installing a GFCI in replacement of the wall plug. Jimmy

Good point about the availability. I don't know the answer to that. I may have to scrap that idea for that reason. The reason I thought of the hengeli rasbora is they are similar to the heteromorpha but smaller/slimer (3cm) so less impact on the tank. I think I will shy away from the danios though. I looked up the Edler's livebearers you suggested and I think they would be a good alternative. Very colorfull. Since they are not a schooling fish I would not need that many. Thanks for your advise FishEdGirl.

Hey guys I'm new to the forum and I have a 15 gal non-planted tank which I'm currently fishless cycling. I had fish when I was a kid 15 years ago and I'm getting back into it. I have learned lots of new stuff from forums/sites about proper stocking/cycling ect. I look back at how things were when I was young and realize how brutal things were back then with the lack of information (internet). I am currenlty deciding what to stock the tank with when its done cycling. I have read about several ways of calculating fish load (total inches, grams/Liter, and surface area). I don't want to over load this tank but would like to have a couple schools. I was thinking about this combo: 6 neon tetras 6 hengeli rasboras or zebra danios -I am worried about the zebra danios bothering the tetras and whether the danios are too big fully grown. 1 or 2 spotted cory 1 or 2 otto (when algae starts to grow). Also I'm in Calgary and I am aware of the large selection of Fish stores. I feel wary of purchasing fish from a place like Walmart of course but wonder about the quality of fish at others. Do the chains like petland/petsmart/petcetera sell good fish or should I go to a place like Riverfront or Pisces. Your opinions and advise would be apreciated. Thanks

Hey guys, my first post. Just got my tank a week ago and currently doing fishless cycling. I was wondering how many of you use a GFCI. I have looked for a power bar that has one built in but with no luck. I was thinking to replace my wall outlet with one. I know how and can do this safely. I was wondering how many of you use a GFCI and what your opinions are. Thanks