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the weight would also depend on the rock and everything in the tank. but just full, if its a 24 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 12 5/8 it would be 116. nothing to worry about with weight until you get into the larger tanks.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

Yes, the fish on the right side is a Male platy.
Your water conditioner should not break chloramine down into ammonia. Those are two totally unrelated chemicals.
Whatever water conditioner you are using, when it runs out, buy a bottle of Prime. It is worth every penny, and lasts a very long time. one 500ml bottle conditions 1000gallons of water. So if you figure you are going to be doing once week water changes of about 2.5 gallons, that will last you 400 water changes.
It also detoxifies ammonia and nitrites, and it doesnt mess up test results for these things.
The cycle will take about 21-60 days depending on how often you do water changes.
The less you change the water during the cycle the faster it will go.


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Day 2 and they're still alive

The Ammonia and Nitrite levels bottomed out before we went and bought fish. My understanding is that the conditioner broke down Chloramine, which is in our tap water, down to Ammonia. Then the bacteria took over from there.

The temp has cooled down a bit, but around 2-5pm it still gets to 80, but then cools off again down to 77-78. I've got one digital thermometer on one side of the tank, and the stick to the glass kind on the other.

I have a question about the Platy's, I think one is a male and one is female because their anal fins are different. The profile says males have a modified anal fin. http://home.pacbell.net/jerdav/imgp2056.jpg

Great news. I hope you enjoy your platies as much as I do. Its a bit worrying though that your Ammonia was on alert, are you water testing every day?

Also one tip is: when you do your water changes is to pre heat the water you are going to put in to the same temp. as the tank water, with the heater. It should only take a few mins to get to the right temp if you use water with a little warm in to take to chill off, so the tank wont cool down too much. If you use a different heater make sure you know what temp it throws out( see odd temp paragraph below)

I had high Nitrites one day about a week ago and did a 30% water change and thought the new water felt about the right temp, but it was much too cold and gave them all a shock. They hung around the top of the tank all day gasping looking very miserable and then my Betta died suddenly a few days later. The others have recovered but I learned a hard lesson and now will alwasy use the heater for water changes.

RE your "odd" temp readings:
I have now bought a digital thermometer as every thermometer I had (a glass one with a sucker on the inside and 2 strips on the tank)all showed a different reading which was also different to the heater setting!! My heater is now set on 22C (71.6) but the temp it gives out is actually 25.5 (77.9). I discovered this when I set the heater to 26C but the tank temp went up to 29.4C (85F)

Hope this helps - I am a bit shy of giving advice yet as I am so new to the hobby but these are just my experiences/obsrvations so far.

The girlfriend and I went and got some fish yesterday, 2 platys and a dwarf gouramis. And they're still alive today! They even seem to be doing well .

Hi, why not consider Platies to cycle with? There are so many nice colours to choose from and are soo pretty. I am new to fish keeping and had plans to return the platies after cycling but there is no way they are going back now, I really like them even though they are so common and cheap. They get on with everyone else in the tank but they were scared of my Betta who intimidated them rather than fought with them.
I got two males and 3 females but should have got just one male I think. I was told they were the best fish for cycling and they have survived my inexperience and surging water test results without a worry.

I had 8 white clouds in my 55g temporarily while I was moving their tank to the new apartment. They killed my otos by completely eating off their tails, tore up my threadfins and congo tetras, and chased my blue gourami into hiding. This was all in less than 4days. I kept thinking it was the sparkling gouramis because they can be agressive but they'd been in the tank for months and never showed interest in the other fish. I pulled them out anyway but later watched the white clouds dive at my congo tetras. I dumped the white clouds in the tank with an angelfish and the angel chased them off. They didn't nip anyone's fins after that and got moved back to their own tank as soon as possible.

Update: The tank is underway cycling, the water turned cloudy today(bacterial bloom?).

Ammonia level is at "alert"
Nitrite was between 0.0 - 0.5ppm (more than 0.0)
Nitrate was between 0 - 20ppm (more than 0)
GH between 150 - 300 (closer to 300 though)
KH was between 120 - 180 (Ideal according to the test kit guide)
PH was between 7.2 - 7.8
Water temp stays pretty constant around 79. The heater only clicked on when I initally turned plugged it in, since then It's been off. The room it's in stays around 75, so this seems odd to me.

As far as fish, I like them all so this is proving to be very difficult. I love Bettas, my girlfriend was in awe of some of the guppies we saw(she named one in the store ). I really liked the white cloud minnows that were suggested. I read that they won't nip so much if you keep them in groups of 5 or more. And of course, Neon Tetra/Cardinal is beautiful as well.

I'm hoping that in a couple of days, maybe over the weekend, the tank will be ready to accept the first batch of fish.


Last edited by Zaffy at 01-Sep-2005 14:47

zaffy, reposition the heater to hide it behind a plant.

I'm a horrible photographer, sorry
http://home.pacbell.net/jerdav/imgp2052sm.jpg

I forgot to put the background paper up, I can still get behind there and do it, it'll just be a bit harder than it's supposed to be.

Last edited by Zaffy at 31-Aug-2005 01:07

"White cloud minnows can be extremely nippy and mine tore the fins off everything in the tank"

Sham, Oh my gosh! I have 13 white cloud minnows and
have never seen them nip anything. They are incredibly
peaceful fish.


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White cloud minnows can be extremely nippy and mine tore the fins off everything in the tank. I would not put them with bettas. Danios are more than just active... They are insane fish. I would never put them in a small tank and I would never put them with other schooling fish. All mine did was divebomb through my tetra school and harass the slower moving fish. In a 55g they were using all the tank space and almost looked cramped. If you want a schooling fish small tetras would probably be best or else don't keep any fish with long fins in the tank. I would not attempt to add cories to that tank. A school of tetras and a school of cories would be pushing it and could cause water quality problems. Also the smaller species of cory tend to be the more sensitive and not the best for beginners.

I went to home depot and picked up a pair of 5g buckets and a furniture strap (for big screen TVs) that will attach to the outside of the tank and bolt into the wall stud, so that's all set.

I'll post later with an update on my progress, It was a long day again today so I haven't done as much as I would have liked. When my girlfriend gets home I can take a picture of the set up so far.

I'm just about ready to add water, But I've got some homework to do.... decisions decisions.

Larger tanks weigh more and therefore would be bracing themselves because they weigh so much. But in a case of a 20g which will weigh 200 pounds + gravel and decorations, If an earthquake does happen... I would still try to brace the tank too since the stand is braced and 200 pounds is a lot but you have the right idea of bracing everything just in case.

I've been looking into getting a tank, I haven't made my purchase yet but I'd found some good deals on 10g.

My question is what type of fish would be appropriate for a newbie like me. At my LFS I liked the Dalmation Mollies, Bettas, and Neon Tetras.

Would any of these fish be compatible with eachother? Some info on the Mollies I've found suggests that they might not get along with a Betta.

Also, approximatly how much does a 10g tank weigh when it's stocked?

Thanks in advance,

Is this an exterior wall? And does your tank run perpendicular to the floor joists? The only way I could think of bracing the tank is either to the stand or to the wall... but both would be tricky. I am not sure about this but you could attach the tank to the wall with some sort of clamp then screw that clamp into the wall.. I am not sure if a screw could be drilled right threw the glass . I dont think that would be a good idea. As for your stocking... its a 20g now right? So pick a fish to cycle your tank. Wait a few days after things are running and then add a few fish OR you could do the fishless cycle method and add pure ammonia. But if that is not an option I would go with a hardy fish like danios.... but I wouldnt put danios in a 20g as they require a lot of swimming room. Maybe you could work out something with your lfs and get a few danios (4 or 5, preferably small)and after the tank is cycled you could return them. If not guppies could work to cycle the tank.. but I am not sure how well they would work. As for stocking... what fish do you like? When your lfs gets new stocking go in and take a look, right down some names of fish you like and we can help you out .

I've gone and done it, I went and bought a tank, stand, etc...today. It's a 20g . I built the stand when I got home, but today was a long day so I haven't put the tank together yet. I'll do that when I get home from school tomorrow (today was the first day of fall semester:%)).

The guy at the LFS said they're getting some new stock on thursday, so I'm gonna see if my water is ready then, or friday. I've got my test kits and conditioners etc, But I think I'll still bring them a sample to double check me.

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions. Keep them coming please .

edit: I saw some of the mtn. cloud minnows and I really liked them too. I checked another LFS, but neither of them have any Cardinals, there's another place in town but I couldn't find them, even with their address. My girlfriend came with me and she really liked some of the guppies we saw, I forget the names, and I saw more Dalmation mollies

edit2: I'm so excited I forget to add why I edited the first time, I live in earthquake country and have braced my stand to the wall, but I want to brace the tank as well, does anyone have experience with this? or a suggestion on an easy way to do this? The place the tank is located has a wall stud just about dead center in the wall behind it.

Last edited by Zaffy at 30-Aug-2005 02:14

Last edited by Zaffy at 30-Aug-2005 02:19

BCW,
Glofish were available in Canada for a time,
until the government banned all genetically
modified animals and foods.
His concern is not whether they are glofish
or regular danios, but that zebra danios need a
tank size substantially more than 10g.
I keep a few in my 75g and with how active they are,
I would say keeping any in a tank less than 4 feet long is
just not fair to these active fast swimming fish.
Bettas may eat some snails, but not mystery/apple snails.
These snails grow eventually to about the size of your fist so would be too large for a betta to consume.
How about a Betta and some white cloud mountain minnows?
That would look great together.
Then fill in with the snail to keep the bottom clean.


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Ericm whats wrong with glofish???? No offense but since you are not in the USA (glofish are only sold in the USA) I am not sure how you know about them. They were scientificly made to find toxins in rivers and are completly safe. Also I am not sure why zebra danio's wouldnt work, mine are thriving in my 10 gallon and they are a great cycling fish and once your finished cycling you can always return them to the lfs.

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If I am correct... I think that bettas eat snails? Well at least female bettas? I dont have much experience with both so I am not 100% sure. For a 10g a few female bettas is a great choice . I am not sure about combining tetras with bettas as some tetras are nippy. Cardinals would be okay i guess with a betta. And most tetras require groups of 6 since they are schoolers.