can anyone with tropical fish please come and answer a question for me?

[thisisyesterday]

boys were given a fishtank for christmas. we've set it all up and just waiting a week before we get the fish

dp is reading up all about settling new fish in and is getting concerned about our new arrivals!

basically what he is reading is about new tank syndrome and bacteria and stuff and how you shpouoldn't put too many new fish in at once (this is fine), but also that even if you only put a couple in it's very easy for them to get very ill and possibly die.

clearly we don't want ds's to choose their precious first fish and for it to die. he is now banging on about "fishless cycling" and all sorts

so my question is:
when you set up your tank, did your first fish die or become ill?

(i am trying to see how common this is, so hopefully i will get plenty of answers lol. also any thoughts on fishless cycling and getting gravel etc from an established tank and that kind of thing would be appreciated

When I first set up my tank it was many years ago but we started with fairly hardy fish (platys) and didn't lose any for a while. In fact they liked it so much they bred, and interbred (we had 2 types). However, the more fancy fish (guppies, gouramis) were a bit more fragile.

MIL bought a small freshwater tropical tank just before we got here to Aus as well - she lost a couple of guppies and the male dwarf gourami; and one neon tetra.

You are best off going for small, inexpensive and shoal fish to start with - I don't know how big your tank is (or whether you are doing freshwater or salt) but a small shoal of e.g. platys or neon tetras, plus a cleaning "suckyfish" (Plecostomus) should be ok.

Ask in the fish shop as well - they will tell you which fish will go together, how many is ok to start, and how to acclimatise them etc.

HTH.

it's freshwater

in which case platys or neon tetras would be fine to start with, plus the plecostomus. The plec will keep the tank clean of algae as well, so a useful fish to have.

Gravel - clean it whether it is new or old; can harbour all sorts of stuff, organic and non-organic. I expect you have already bought the water treatment stuff for "ageing" water (takes the chlorine out etc.) - if not, get some of that too.

So long as you are circumspect with your first purchases, you should be fine. Build up the tank over time - get them some live weed as well (and wash that before you put it in the tank) - in fact, you can start with weed before the fish to give it a chance to settle in and oxygenate the water more.

yeah we have live plants in there and the water treatment stuff.
will talk to the fish shop man and see what he recommends to start with!

thanks

you need to buy a product that neutralises the chlorine in tap water as it can burn some fish and makes them shudder

Yes it is dangerous to add fish to an uncycled tank. It takes around 6 weeks to fully cycle a tank and you shouldn't add any new fish during this time. Some tough fish may survive the cycling process but using fish to cycle a tank is old-fashioned and cruel. Even if they survive, being exposed to the ammonia and nitrIte levels will cause long term health problems and shorten their lifespan.

So yes your DH is right, you should absolutely do a fishless cycle. It's very easy and will prevent so many problems.

I wouldn't listen to the fish shop man, I've met about 3 fish shop staff ever that actually know what they are talking about. He'll probably just try to sell you some snake oil or other that you don't need and that won't do your fish any good. It would be better to join a fishkeeping forum and get free advice off geeks that won't stand to make any money from you Choosing the right fish can be tricky but it's very important to get it right. Some of the plecs that Thumblebells mentioned can get up to 2ft long and you wouldn't want to be stuck with one of those.

Here's an article about fishless cycling- LINK

I would definitely not go for any breed of goldfish I have a few tanks and the goldfish one is the hardest to care for.

sweetnitanitro, would it be benificial or not to see if we can get some gravel and snails and things from my friends well-established tank to help the build-up of bacteria?

You could do, if your friend has got a healthy established tank then the best thing you can get is a small piece of sponge or ceramic media from the filter. That will be chocka with good bacteria but you need to move it over quickly because the good bacteria will start to die off without a steady flow of water (this is why you should never switch a filter off unless you're cleaning it). You also need to be absolutely sure there is no disease in your friend's tank.

That will cut down the time of the fishless cycle but I would still leave it a couple of weeks. Make sure you add a source of ammonia during this time to keep the filter ticking over. A handful of fish food in an old pair of tights suspended in the tank will do the trick.

Make sure you do your own research of different types of fish because you need to take into consideration things like water parameters (ie if they like acid or alkaline water, hard or soft etc) and whether or not they might eat each other! There's loads of info on the internet, a lot of it conflicting but you get the general idea from looking at a few different sites. This one's fairly reliable- badmanstropicalfish.com/