Jo84

I plan on putting 2 bolivian rams, 6 silver hatchet fish and 8 neonlight tetras into a 29 gallon tank. Will these fit in a 29 gallon, and if so which fish should I add while cycling with bio spira?

TFA101

Are you adding these fish on top of what you have already listed in the aquarium info section of your profile? If you are, I wouldn't reccomend much more unless you can tell us how many fish you already have of each species. Otherwise, yes you could add them all. And just so you know, it's best to put off adding fish to a cycling aquarium, because water parameters are so unstable, your fish could die in the process unless you make 50% daily waterchanges, and use "prime" Tapwater conditioner.

TFA101

oh, and cycling can take up to 3 weeks without bio spira. I never used it, but I know a couple others on here have

Amanda

Tetra Safe Start would cycle the tank faster, not immediatly though. I wouldn't add the fish as soon as the Safe Start - just to be safe.

Alessa

what I have understood from using biospira (I used it to cycle 28 gal) and tetra safe start is that you have to have a source of ammonia when using it, wether it is fish or pure ammonia drops. if you add the tetra safe start and no fish or ammonia immediately, you will kill the bacteria because of lack of food. The bacteria in these products need a source of ammonia and most people just add fish with the tetra safe start and wait one week without testing or doing water changes. (because during this time readings will be crazy) and then their tank cycles.

mathas

Correct. I added fish and SafeStart at the same time, and things have worked out wonderfully for me.

Amanda

Ah, should have mentioned that I had already seeded my tank with pure ammonia. I then waited 2 days - tested my water THEN added my pleco & snail. Waited a little while to make sure they were doing ok, then added my cichlids.

sirdarksol

That's the route I would take, if I were using SafeStart. If the stuff works well, there is no need for being this cautious (and, from the sound of it, SafeStart is more reliable than BioSpira was, so that's good), but there's nothing wrong with being careful with your pets' lives.

Either route should work, though.

Blub

Both routes people have said should work, so I can't say much. However, I can help with hatchets. There is a great big lack of info on them and there are a few things I learnt the hard way that I wouldn't want anyone else to learn that way because of lack of information!

Hatchets are schooling fishes, they need to be kept in groups of at least 6. They have a reputation for being difficult to keep alive because of attempts to keep them in smaller numbers. I personally keep them in groups of at least 8 though, since these fish can show some pretty bad consequences when stressed (I've tried keeping them is small numbers and they are plain difficult!). But remember: you can mix the species of hatchetfish and they will all school together!
You see those little 'wings' on the top of their body? Hatchetfish are the only actively flying fish in the world, they use those 'wings' the propel them through the air, whereas Flying fish only jump and glide. A hatchet can 'fly' several meters away from the danger when stressed. Of course, the increased stress caused by small numbers mean water change time can be tricky. As far as I know, only species from the Carnegiella genus (Marbled, Marthae silver, Pygmy and Dwarf) can jump several meters, although others are good jumpers. For this reason, a tight cover is an absolute MUST!

These fish are easily outcompeted (Platys are peaceful but outcompete them at feeding time!) and I ave lost many hatchets due to malnutrition. They need a carnivorous diet and will not take food from anywhere but the very surface. For this reason, I recommend you feed them carnivorous flake food, and Tetra fresh delcia. Fresh Delcia is really useful when feeding hatchets because you feed it from the very surface. Tiger barbs are bad tankmates because they will outcompete their delicate friends. I find small fishes like Neons and Cherry barbs are good tankmates for hatchets.

I find Marbled hatchets to be less hardy than silvers. I cannot tell you how hardy Marthae silvers tend to be, because I have had mine for only a small amount of time.

A big hazard to your hatchets in a filter! Their bodies are only a few millimeters thick, and they can easily be sucked into your filter to need a grizzly end. I have lost almost an entire school of hatchets to a filter before! So, the answer is to get a special guard for the filter. I find plastic mesh to work well, and cable ties are good to make them tight. Fit this sort of guard to ALL your filters in hatchet containing tanks! They are also useful to prevent small fish being sucked.

There is much debate about the adult size of hatchets. Want to hear my advice? Treat all the common ones as 2". Their bodys are only several millimeters thick, so even if the marbled hatchet does get 8cm (I actually read that in a few places) long it is still a tiny bio load producer.

I find that hatchets LOVE floating plants, Hornwort is an absolutely GREAT plant to have in a hatchet aquarium.

A little word about disease: Marbled hatchets are said to be prone to Ick, but I have not heard of this in other species. This may be another thing arising from the stress of being kept in small numbers, but I am not entirly sure because there is a great lack of info on these amazing fishes!

Jo84

Well I was planning on getting rid of all of my current fish (already rid of swordtails) and
plants, decorations and plants and starting over. Then stocking the tank gradually.
I meant to ask which fish would be the least stressed to start the cycle with the help of tetra safe start.
I know hatchets need at least a group of 8 to be the less stressed and that would add too much ammonia. So should I add the bolivian rams or the neonlight tetras first?

nitz

From what I've read, bolivian rams need a more established tank (ie one that's already cycled) and 'old' tank water. 'Old' I guess just means you should wait a while after you've cycled to put them in. I wouldn't suggest cycling with the rams and I'm not too sure about the tetras. I cycled one of my tanks (before I knew about the fishless route) with silver tip tetras and they were fine. Not familiar with neonlight tetras so I can't advise you on that.

jdhef

There should be enough bacteria in the Safe Start for you to put in the Hatchet's. I think in theory you could fully stock your tank when using Safe Start. But as Nitz says, I would hold off on the Rams for a while.