I am a college student and enjoy keeping a fish tank in my dorm room. In the dorms that I live we are only aloud to keep a 15 Gallon tank and no more. So I bought this tank:http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productI… At the time I was keeping common goldfish ( which have since grown to big for my tank and have been moved to the family pond) so I bought a 30 gallon filter because I read that having double the filtration is good for goldfish. However now I am fishless and home for the summer. I have set up my fish tank and have it running now for about a week. For ornaments I have a large palm tree and a car that is the air bubble type.
SO my question is what would be a good fish that would be fine with these kind of decorations and a large filter. I was looking at south American cichlid but they like to be in pairs ( not the only fish in the tank or would 2 be ok in my tank) and they like hiding spots so my decorations don’t really allow for this. so im wondering what is a good hardy fish that can withstand about an hour transportation to and from school several times a year and that is relatively easy to care for.
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Hi Paige
You need to cycle the filter first before you add any fish to your new tank and this takes time and patience. Setting it up and running it doesn’t achieve anything other than churning stale water about. You need to add a source of ammonia to the tank daily until the filter grows the nitrifying bacteria needed to neutralise the ammonia the fish produce naturally in their waste. Since this is highly toxic to them you can’t add them to an uncycled tank, they will suffer all kinds of health problems and die. So…here’s what you have to do.
You’ll need to get the API master test kit, a bottle of Kleen Off household ammonia (you can get this on ebay), some baby syringes and a bottle of Seachem Prime.
If you haven’t done so already, put some Prime in your tank, switch the heater on and set it to 80 F and get the filter going. Aim the filter outflow up towards the surface to get the water agitated. Both the heat and the water movement will provide excellent conditions for the cycle to start.
Then dose the tank with ammonia to 5ppm (parts per million). This ensures the filter will grow enough bacteria. To do this you’ll need to work out your tank size in litres and then multiply it by 0.0424242 ml. For instance, my first tank was 154 litres and the ammonia dose for that using the calculation I’ve given you was 6.5ml. Okay so now you know how much ammonia to put in your tank.
Then, using the syringe, measure out the ammonia and dose the tank with it.
Next morning, using the API kit, test for ammonia. If it has dropped below the level you dosed it to, then add enough ammonia to bring it back up. Do this daily, adding Ammonia and testing, and after about a week start testing for Nitrite.
When Nitrites start to appear your cycle has kicked in and is on the way. Keep dosing daily with ammonia to the same level and continue to test for ammonia and nitrite. You’ll now see the ammonia levels start to drop and the nitrites will rise massively. This is normal. Keep dosing daily with ammonia and start to test now for nitrates.
At this point you’re testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily and still dosing daily with the ammonia to keep the level up. Once you see nitrates appear you know that your beneficial bacteria is growing nicely in the filter. Keep dosing with ammonia and testing daily.
Once your Ammonia and Nitrites measure 0 in a 24 hour period and your Nitrates are above 40 ppm (they’re likely to be measuring 80 – 1 but that’s normal) then your tank is cycled.
The crucial part is when you add your new fish. To keep the filter bacteria healthy dose it as normal in the morning, then in the afternoon do an 80% water change to get the Nitrates down to safe levels (20ppm) and then you can add your fish. The water change is essential.
Then test the water daily to watch for any ammonia spikes that may occur (this can sometimes happen when you add new fish) and generally keep an eye on the water because if anything does go wrong with your fish at any point, the water will be the first thing to go wrong.
The nitrogen cycle takes a good six weeks but you’ll be so glad you did it because you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that your fish will be going into a very healthy tank and none of them will have been harmed in the process. This is my own advice, gained after years of experience with cycling my own tanks so I can vouch for it and how effective it is.
All the SA Cichlids are out because they require a far larger, different shaped tank to yours, a specialist set up, they’re very sensitive to ammonia so they can’t be put into a newly cycled tank and they wouldn’t withstand constant transportation.
15 gallons isn’t really suitable for any cold water fish since they either need to be in larger shoals than your tank could support or they grow too big. Really you’d need to get a heater and consider small tropicals.
Good luck and best wishes
Source(s): Experienced fishkeeper
Its a tall tank so your limited .
Has it a filter i could not see one .
Tanks need cycling for 4-8 weeks before adding fish so if your just running a filter you cant of ever cycled this tank .If you have a heater
1 Betta fish
6 Dwarf Rasbora
a Few cherry shrimp.
i have Jewel cichlids not sure if they are south american or african but when we got them we had two. Now theres about 15 in our 55gal tank and two in our other tank. They breed alot. I think we have had 4 batches in the last 3 years. Besides that they are easy fish. We feed ours goldfish flakes and cichlid pellets. They typically only fight when breeding. And i think the two in our other tank are the same gender cause they never breed and they get along fine.
I have gouramis
2 Opaline, 2 honey and 2 kissing gouramis with 2 tinfoil and rosy barbs and 1 red tail shark.
I love my tank
I would suggest 3-4 same sex platies. if you have or get a heater.
A fighting fish (ALSO CALLED BETTA FISH) is perfect for the joB.
Source(s): I HAVE ONE