Snowman

Test kit wise it would pay to have ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph. The first three will give you an idea of how well the cycling is going and be usefull for checking how often you need to do water changes. I like to cycle the tank with a couple of fish then add some more slowly, say a couple a week to let the bacteria adjust, fish wise the sky is the limit, depends on your prefrence, swordtails and guppys are livebearers and breed easily. The advantage of a b/nose is that it will also clean up the scraps, there are gold b/nose but i'm not sure if they are available in Aussie, just be aware if you get big fish they will most likely eat smaller fish, swords and guppys will eat their young if hungry. There is a huge range of tetras, gouramis, barbs etc but its best to check on their compatibility with other tank mates. I liked the red tailed shark (until it decided to chase all my other fish) so traded it in. I haven't used the Aqua One filters but i'm sure others here have so someone should be able to comment on them. Gold b/nose female

I would have thought a tank 2 mtrs long 1 mtr high would look rather skinny being only 400 deep, 600-700 would certainly would look better and be easier to stock.

Welcome to the forums, i hope you find this site as usefull as i have, great people and awesome info that takes a lot of the confusion and head scratching out of fish keeping and breeding. There are a lot of members from the Wellington area, you could look at joining a club that would share a wealth of knowledge and give some good ideas for tank setup and fish stocking.

I would go for a 300 watt heater as there is very little price difference, it should use a bit less power as it will heat the water quicker and if you decide to get a bigger tank the heater will still be suitable, filtration is easier, you can under filter but cant over filter, depends a bit on what sort of fish you intend to keep, would you like an internal (in the tank) or external that you can hide? Myself i prefer external as they are easier to service and less obtrusive in the tank, also depends on your budget. I can recommend the Eheim external filters, a 2213 would do the trick quite well. If you can afford a bigger one means less cleaning and again if you get a bigger tank you wont need a new filter. I think most on here have started with a smaller tank, then bigger tanks then more of the bigger tanks LOL The most limiting factor is space to put the tanks (and keeping the peace with the missus) LOL

I would have thought the same Shae, haven't tested the water for chlorine levels but the GBA, swords, guppies, angels, rams, standard b/nose, clown loaches, angelicous loaches, striata loaches, queen loaches and yo-yo loaches never show any reaction to it. Wish my luck extended to lotto...

I agree Beachy, would be more to suited to a 6ft+ tank, 53 cm is a very large fish, over 1/3 of the tank length. Good price though.

Mmmmmmm...nah LOL Greg on Trade Me does some real good deals but you probably dont want to buy another one....on the other hand there is no such thing as to many tanks

You wanted suggestions..... my best one would be to drop the tank off at my place.... :lol: :roll:

Your not dumb, its the usuall instruction thing, they love to make things as clear as mud LOL :lol:

All i can say is i wish i owned the shop he has spent 15k at.

I use the cheapest stuff of all ....... tap water, no additives, been using straight tap water for 6 months now and the fish don't mind at all, the GBA still pop out eggs every 3 weeks and the last 3 lots of fry have all survived, i was doing water changes every second day using stress coat and was loosing 50% of the fry, they get no stress coat or chlorine remover now with weekly water changes and 100% survival (go figure ), i use a small squirt of Stress Zyme when i do a filter clean (i wash the sponges under the cold tap) and Ammonia and Nitrite is always 0 Maybe i'm just lucky but it works so i'm going to stick with it.

How big are they, i have about 200 guppies and swords in a 4 ft tank and never use breeding traps, they have plants for cover and in my opinion if the parents are fed well they wont eat the young, mine get fed twice a day.

As far as i know Furan wont kill the algae, blue/green algae is the same as black hair algae, the only thing i know of that will treat it is Flourish Excel, or Siamese Algae Eaters will eat it, there are 2 on trade me but the auction closes at 7.20pm tonight so you would have to be quick.

Try this site that has a stocking calculator http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/tools.php enter your tank dimensions and it will tell you how many fish you can keep depending on filtration. Personally i think your tank is fairly heavily stocked, the 338 is about 33 ltrs if i recall correctly.

How long would 1 ltr last on say a 150 ltr fresh water tank?

The goldfish will be fine Tanks looking good :lol: I usually go for big heaters as they are thermostatically controlled, the only thing would be that if you compare the 100 watt to the 200 watt in your tank, during winter the 100 watt will be on a lot longer than the 200 watt because being a higher wattage it will heat the water much faster. Remember the heater shuts off at the temp set by you so it cant overheat. I always buy 300 watt as they are nearly the same price, on for a lot less time (less power consumption) and when you do get a bigger tank you dont need to buy another heater. Also have the heater running either diagonally or horizontally as the thermostat is usually at the top and because heat rises, if it is vertical it may shut off early with the heat rising from the heater.

It's never a bother when asking questions about things, in my opinion the worst thing you can do is not ask questions as no one knows everything. Seems so easy to put some fish in water and feed them but the more you get into it the more there is to learn, the old saying "a lifetime of learning" is very correct. Stick with it and it is extremely rewarding, you will end up with fry from your fish and that will surely put a smile on your face, i know how you feel and congratulate you on actually caring about your fish, to me thats the biggest step. You are doing everything in your powers to care for your fish so you are doing awesome. If you can cut down on stock and let the bacteria build up then restock the tank slowly you should find the ammonia stays close to 0. Hope this helps Maxy

LOL my GBA get pleco chips, courgette, nutrafin bottom feeder tabs and shrimp pellets, the shrimp pellets go first as does the courgette then the bottom feeder tabs and last is always the pleco chips. All except the courgette goes into the glass container to stop it getting into the substrate, makes for a cleaner tank and less gunk at vacuuming time.

They love the shrimp pellets, i use a glass contaniner about130mm long 90mm wide and 80mm deep to put the shrimp pellets in.This was a suggestion by David at Hollywood Fishfarm as the shrimp pellets disintegrated and ended up in the substrate, this way it all stays in the container and doesn't make a mess in the tank. Works brilliantly now they get shrimp pellets 3 times a day and the fry seem to grow much faster. :lol:

Thats quite a low fish stock so you don't have to have an air pump but can if you want. Once the tank is cycled you could easily add 3 more platties double the numbers of neons. If you do add more fish i would add say 3 platties, wait 1 week (for the bacteria to catch up) then 3 more black neons, wait 1 week then 3 more neons. There is a site that has usefull calculators for things like stocking levels, its http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/tools.php That should help with how much you can keep in the tank.

Must have been selective vision LOL To many fish to many prices, thats my excuse and i'm going to stick with it :lol:

It possibly is marks left from the algae wafers, may also be a form of algae, the darker substrate doesn't seem to get algae on it like the lighter stuff and is also less noticable. The ottos will be fine with small pieces in the substrate. You can turn the heater off in the 10 gal, leave it for 5-10 mins to cool off then remove it, with the temp you have the water will cool off slow enough that it won't stress the goldfish, an air pump depends on fish stock and surface area, what size is the tank? e.g. length, width, height, and how many fish and what sort of fish are in it. A bubble wall can look attractive in a tank so that's another consideration. Good to hear the ottos are doing their job

Was at Hollywood today and from what i can remember they had about 6 different sorts, around the $70-$80 mark i think.

Hollywood Fishfarm in Mt Roskill, wasn't sure if you are in Auckland as you don't have a location listed. Awesome range of fish and accessories and about the cheapest in Auckland for most things. I just see from one of your post that you are in Wellington so may be a bit far to go for a filter, worth a call to see if they are cheaper. Wouldn't cost a lot to courier to Wellington.

630 ltrs is tiny???????????? 90% of tanks would be smaller than this so it all comes down to budget. How big would your tank and co2 setup be if YOU had to actually pay for it like most of us do? We all want more and bigger tanks and i would be quite happy with a tank that size.