Questions about fish tanks...

[Hayls]

I know there have been LOADS of threads about fish tanks and goldfish but I have a few queries that I couldn't find the answers to in the archives....
We bought a 14L tank last week (with a filter) and are going to set it up tomorrow then buy the fish next MOnday. We would like 2- is this about right for this size tank?

I know you are supposed to do a partial water change every week but I@m not sure exactly how you do this. Do you add water conditioner (whatever it's called) to some water in a bowl then add the water to the tank or do you add tap water to the tank then add conditioner to the tank? Does that make sense??!!
If i have a filter how often should i change the water? Or is it enought o just do a partial change weekly?
What is the best fish to buy? Was just going to go for goldfish but heard they can be a bit mucky...

Finally, from personal experience, what is the best type of food and how often do you feed? Waht do you do if you go on holiday?

Oh, one last question. Dd wants to cal them Bobby and Barney. IS this ridiculous?

[Hayls]

BUMP? Anyone around?

[Hayls]

Another shameless bump, sorry!

[CarlK]

my experience is with topical fish so may not be entirely relevant for cold water fish
you should allow as a rough guide 1" of fish for every inch of tank length as a maximum.
our tank is 36" long so we could have 18 2" fish iyswim. not much help with a round tank tho'
Water changes in our tank with a gravel bottom are carried out with a syphon, pressing the syphon into the gravel , this sucks up the poo and removes the water rinse the filter out in the dirty water so as to preserve the bacteria in it.

It is worth waiting a bit longer before putting fish in the tank to allow the tank to mature. you can buy bacteria to seed the tank with to speed up the process.

I would recommend buying a good book from the shop, as the sales people to recommend one.

add conditioner to the water prior to putting it in the tank. remember to add the right amount for the water you replace, not the total.

HTH.

[CarlK]

guide

[Gingerbear]

Hello Hayls.
I have two fish tanks - a 40l tank and a 120l tank - both tropical, but the principal is the same for coldwater fish.
Firstly, please dont buy the fish next Monday. Your tank needs to 'cycle' first. This means that a bacterial colony has to be built up in the filter that will convert fish waste (ammonia) into less harmless nitrite and nitrate. You can do this over about six weeks - by putting one fish in your tank, monitoring the ammonia and nitrite levels (test kit from pet shop) and doing very frequent water changes to get the levels down to non-toxic amounts. Or you can start the cycle by adding household ammonia and some squeezings from a friends filter (which will seed your filter with bacteria)This article explains how and why.
fishless cycle
Water changes - goldfish are big poopers - and cause a lot of waste - you may need to change 30-50% of the water each week. To do a water change you can buy a syphon tube - known as a gravel cleaner. This removes the dirt trapped in the gravel at the same time as changing your water.
To fill up again, make sure the tap water is a similar temperature to the tank water - use a brand new bucket for this(no soap allowed). Add dechlorinator then fill the tank up again.

If you dont fancy the goldfish, add a small heater (about £10) and there are lots of different fish you could choose. Bettas (siamese fighting fish) are very colourful - and easy to keep. Although you could only keep one male in a tank. My DD has a red one in the small tank - Ricky his name is.

[Gingerbear]

I feed as much as the fish can eat in one minute - any more is overfeeding. twice a day.
holidays - you can buy automatic feeders or get a friend to look after them. Tetra, king British and Nutrafin all good brands. Goldfish also like to nibble plants - put in some elodea - cheap and grows quickly. They might like to nibble a crushed deskinned, defrosted pea, or some cucumber weighted down.
Don't buy the holiday blocks - they pollute the water too much, and you could end up with sick fish on your return.

We left our fish to themselves for two weeks - no food at all, and they survived. As fish are coldblooded, they don't need to eat everyday - you will feel sorry for them and try to overfed- their instinct is to gobble everything they can - it looks like they are starving, but they are not!
Overfeeding causes more fish deaths than underfeeding.
Oh, and Bobby and Barney perfectly acceptable IMHO.

[Hayls]

Thanks for all the tips. Gingerbear, thanks for info about not waiting 1 week. I was surprised actually as when I bought the tank they would have sold me the fish straight away but 'suggested' I wait a week. BUt 6 weeks??!! DD is impatient already after 1 day!
I have used the dechlorinator and something else (can't remember the name) that balances the nutrients and bacteria or something.

AFter I posted I thought, actually, HAyls, you should buy a book. I'm sure these won't be the only queries I have! I just want to do everything as well as I can.

Dh doesn't want goldfish- are there anyohter coldwater fish that are good?