Gimme

Thanks Caryl. I have done a 50% water change tonight (giving the stones a good vacum) I will pick up some Whitespot treatment tomorrow. I also cranked up the Temp to 28, (how long should I leave it that hot?) thanks for the advice. How do you tell if you tank has cycled properly? does the growth of the good bacteria have any phyisical signs? ie my filtration "noodles" are still bright white (do they get a visible growth of bacteria/alge at all??) Cheers

I am all set up now, birthday surprize went down a treat.. the 3 platties were sweet for around 2 weeks on their own. We got an addtional 6 neons and a small bristle nose on thursday last week. I took my water into test the the nitrates were bad so I brought some 'holding' stuff which also ages water and did a 50% water change (the tank had started to get dirty as I was over feeding them). all seemed ok although I did notice the platties were all acting a bit weird, like almost cowering, fins against their bodies, often sitting still either in a hidden corner or near the surface behind the pump. I noticed tonight that all 3 platties appear to have some small white specks on their tails... I am assuming the worse that they have picked up something... any thoughts or suggestions from the helpful crew on the forum???

Jim, when you say overfeed them is there a guide to how much/ how often? I ended up getting 3 smallish Platies... all seem very vibrant and healthy, took to their new home happily enough. They are all about 3cm long so I assume they are only young? (the guppies I had intended to get all looked a bit beaten up in the lfs, hence opting for the Platies) I have been feeding them a really small amount of tropical flake twice a day, is this right or am I over doing it? Cheers

Well, I ended up getting 3 smallish Platies... all seem very vibrant and healthy, took to their new home happily enough. They are all about 3cm long so I assume they are only young? (the guppies I had intended to get all looked a bit beaten up in the lfs, hence opting for the Platies) I 'think' I have one female and 2 males based on the descriptions I could find online. not sure if or when these are capable of breeding, I guess we will find out in time! I have been feeding them a really small amount of tropical flake twice a day, is this right or am I over doing it? I must have spent a couple of hour just watching them over the weekend, they are better than TV Hopefully I can keep them happy and healthy until the next batch in a couple of weeks.

hey folks, big day on Sat, introducing first fish! to get the cycle up and running I am going to go with a couple of fish to start things off....thanks for all the advice. the birthday is still 2 weeks away so I thought a couple of fish for a couple of weeks will mean that we are good to go for the birthday, when we will introduce another 4-6, then all going well another 4-6 a few weeks down the track. final(ish) list: 4-6 Neons or Cardinals 4-6 guppies (3m, 3female?) a small bristlenose and see how that all works out will post after the first couple are bedded in cheers

ah TradeMe, of course! thanks jolliolli To answer your question Caryl, the Jebo R331 has a filter box built into the lid, drawing water up from a tube/filter head near the bottom, then it pumps the water over a sponge thing and some noodles before in flows back into the tank from above. Interesting comments about borrowing filter media etc to help get it the set up cycling. I have started this (??? i hope) but using a product called 'cycle'. I also added 3 live plants and a small amount of water from the petshop tank they came from, so I was hoping this would help with getting the cycle set up?? if this doesn't sound like enough, please let me know. I guess without some kind of testing kit I won't know if the 'cycling' is underway or not? Cheers Guys PS I live in Petone and work in central wellington if anyone does want to offer a gunky piece of filter media... in exchange for my first born failing this I will ask the petshop about the used media idea... any suggestions about the best shop to use (for fish, supplies etc) I have visited ANimates L/H, Hutt Pet centre and a little place in the mall at Wainuiomata in my travels so far... its hard to tell who is good...

thanks everyone, I like the sound of your suggestion cichlid7. I was wondering about a bristlenose as opposed to the corys, but part of that decision will be what the total bill looks like on the day:) ... I thought I might start but putting in a bottom feeder a couple of days before we 'give her' the tank and then go and get 4-6 fish (lets say tetras) that she chooses on the big day and then another 4-6 fish (say guppies or platties) a week or so latter so the ammonia levels don't go too bananas... I am now faced with the (daunting) task of working out which testing gear to buy, to be honest it was a shock how much all this stuff ends up costing! based on some discussions with a friendly shop assistant they suggested just getting the PH kit and an ammonia kit... (a mere $30 odd dollars!) is there some way to buy these tests in one pack or cheaper methods of doing the testing at all? I will keep posting progress on the tank if people are interested? let me know Cheers and thanks again for the advice so far

Thanks evilknieval69, would the 'platties' be as well as, or instead of, the others I mentioned? I know there are some measures around for the number of fish per cubic inch of water... but (maths aside, it was never my strong point) would there be an ideal number of small fish in a tank that size? I had also thought of (perhaps) a couple of coolie loaches??? (the long snake like one with the orange/ black stripes?) because of the body shape and colours.... Cheers

Thanks Caryl... and everyone else Feeling better now! One more question before I go to empty the tank and get the rinsing/drying underway... The Tank is a Jebo R331 (21 lt?), so pretty small... and I was thinking of letting my 6 year old 'choose' her new friends from a recommend range... My guess was something like 6x Neon Tetras and maybe some sort of bottom feeder or algae type eater... Any thoughts? on the quantity / types of fish that would be hardy, colorful (she is a a 6 year old girl after all!) and suitable for beginners? Ironically my parents used to have a pet shop and I grew up with lots and lots of Oscars, Discuss and other more exotic species, but I was too young to learn much about the care and maintenance side of things and also I want to take it slowly so cost and up-keep don't ruin things Again, thanks for the feedback and any suggestions you may have regarding the above Cheers

Thanks Snookie, I can look my wife in the eye again! Cheers

Hi Folks, newbie Simon here... I just purchased a small Jebo tank off TradeMe to set up for my 6 year olds birthday in a few weeks time… so far so good. Tank arrived pretty dirty, so I decided to give it a good clean (here is where it gets bad)javascript:emoticon(':oops:') ... the tank, filter, tubing, noodles etc were pretty dirty so I gave them a scrub in the sink with some dishwashing liquid.... but I couldn't get the nasty gunk out of the clear plastic tube from the filter (the one with holes in it that lets water flow onto the filter-pad and noodles)... so I dropped the tube, the noodles and the plastic grill from the filter box and the small tube that pulls air into the filter (but not the tank itself) in a weak solution of Janola.... everything got a thorough rinsing in tap water afterwards... (Looking much cleaner) and I then filled the tank, reassembled the filter, tubes etc and let in run for a couple of days (to check for leaks and to make sure the filter was operational. This all seemed to work... but while purchasing various items today in a pet shop rocks, heater, chemicals etc in preparation of setting up the tank properly, I casually mentioned my 'cleaning' of my new gear.... shock horror, I was pretty much told that I had sentenced any future inhabitants to the tank to a nasty end…. So before I start trying to set up the tank to cycle, and introducing anything like a live plant or fish, I wanted to ask if I have royally stuffed up by using the dishwashing liquid and bleach, or whether I can rescue things by giving everything a major rinse out???? Any help or suggestions would we welcomed as I was dead keen to start setting the tank up (cycling etc) so it would be ready for my little girls big day. Cheers