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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| 150 gallon fresh water tank
i just bought a 150 gallon tank. i set it up sat. letting it run for a while before i put anything in it. my daughters want to have community fish. no oscars or giant fish. too bad for my wallet,lol. gonna have to get 500 little fish,lol. any sugggestions? i want all live plants. running wet dry filter system and im thinking about going with schools of tetras and mollies and such but open to suggestions. | 
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Moderator
| Hello and welcome to fishlore. 
With that size tank you are wide open on your choice of fish. Your aquarium info says that you know about the nitrogen cycle. I hope that you plan on cycling that tank first w/o fish and do water tests til it is cycled? It would be much better on your fish and save a lot of daily water changes for you with that large a tank.  Any thoughts on what species of fish you like the best? If you let us know, we can help you with finding out which ones are compatible with each other and which do not do well together.
good luck with your new tank,Im sure you daughter is going to love watching the fish in that tank! | |
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| welcome to fishlore  150 gallon is huge and will be sooooo much fun for the kids....cant wait to see pics ...goodluck! | |
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| cycle
yes im going to cycle the tank first, i was told by local pet store to put 4 danios in the tank to speed this process up. so there are 4 danios in the tank now, i hope he wasnt misleading me on this. they seem to be doing fine he also told me to test the water on friday and maybe by monday of next week it may be good to go. the last thing i want to do is kill fish. he said the live plants speed this up also. any help would be great. | |
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by davenohio29  yes im going to cycle the tank first, i was told by local pet store to put 4 danios in the tank to speed this process up. so there are 4 danios in the tank now, i hope he wasnt misleading me on this. they seem to be doing fine he also told me to test the water on friday and maybe by monday of next week it may be good to go. the last thing i want to do is kill fish. he said the live plants speed this up also. any help would be great. | well with that large of a tank, and such small fish, it mite take awile to see the affects...alot of us here use the API master liquid test kit and its wonderful...cycleing with fish is much more work...u have to change water daily once you get an amonia reading...ive been cycleing my 75 gallon for over a month and its still not cycled  ..i have big fish tho ..oscars...getting the test would be a huge benefit so you can watch the readings yourself and not depend on the pet stores...goodluck! | |
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Moderator
| Hi dave,
I agree with Shawnie, that 4 zebra danios is not going to help much in cycling such a huge tank. Can you get a hold of any Bio-Spira? that product will cycle your tank asap and once you use it you can start introducing new fish immediately. It is the only such product that has been known to work this way as it introduces the right beneficial bacteria that your tank needs. There is another product called turbostart 700 ( I believe that is the name of it) that works as well.
A tank normally takes a long time to cycle and would expect your tank will take over a month or so. As was recommended you should by the API master freshwater kit to test your water. You should test your water and when you get ammonia readings you will need to do some water changes so that you do not stress your fish that you have in the tank, as the ammonia is toxic to fish.
Once you get ammonia readings you will have to look for nitrite readings and then after that are the nitrate readings.. which will be awhile before you see this. Once you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and nitrate readings of 10-20 you will have a cycled tank and ready for fish.
Its a lot easier to cycle a tank without fish in it, and if possible I would return those zebra danios and cycle the tank w/o fish. You can feed your tank fish flakes or a piece of raw fish or raw shrimp to start the ammonia and cycle going without having to worry about water changes til the cycle is complete.
hope this helps..
~ kate | |
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| i just called another local pet store and they do carry Bio-Spira. i am going to pick some up today, now im very excited they said 8 hours later you can add fish, but im still going to wait till this weekend to add anymore fish. thank you so much for the help and i cant wait to post pics when everything is up and running. i love this site everyone is so helpful and kind. thank you all very much for the help and im sure there will be many more questions in the future | |
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| hey dave...if ya can, get the api test kit also...then you dont have to rely on what pet stores tell ya... goodluck! | |
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Moderator
| Hi Dave
that is great news you were able to find some Bio-Spira. Remember that it needs to be kept refrigerated til you are ready to use it. I would suggest to use it and within 12 hours introduce your fish. Since the bacteria feeds on ammonia, without any fish in the tank producing ammonia through fish waste and uneaten food, the bacteria will starve with out it. If you cannot add any fish til the weekend, maybe you can take the time to finish decorating your tank, researching what fish you would like to add, and please let us know before you buy them or at least research them first to make sure they all get along ok together.. Then when you are ready to buy the fish, you can add the bio-spira.
Good luck.. and remember we are all happy to help! | |
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| 1 more question, i know im going with smaller fish.... guppies mollies, tetras and such. is there a scale as far as how many fish per gallon of water or anyway to know a good scale of how many fish to end up with? | |
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April 2nd, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| the usual is 1 inch of adult fish(not size of purchase) to 1 gallon of water...but take into account bio load of the fish as well...so the bigger fish have more poo so depending on if your getting any big fish, depends on how many..if you stick with small ones, most like to be in schools..go to the article page here on fishlore ..they have just about every fish listed there and sizes, agression, schooling, compatabilities etc are listed as well...  | |
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April 4th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and nitrate at 15. thanks for the help. i have taken a few pics not really stocked yet but just to show how far it has come so soon.should i post them under pictures area or right here? | |
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April 4th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| AWESOME job Dave..what did you use to test with?? cause that was sommmmme fast for 150gallons...took me over a month for 75 ... | |
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April 4th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| Small fish tend to get lost in a really nice size tank....I have a 125, and have some smaller fish, but really enjoy having a couple of larger ones also...mine are bala sharks....very fun lovely fish, that get along with the whole community crowd.
I have some favorites in the medium size range....Rainbows for one, they come in many different colors, but get along with each other very well.....IF you get a male and female, the male will show his lovely colors more readily....
The last fish I would suggest are CONGO Tetras...a group of 5 or 6 would just make SUCH a lovely splash. They are schooling fish, and do much better in a tank with at least 5, but they are lovely, sparkly fish with long flowing fins...They get along very well with other community tank members. | |
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April 4th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| im still wondering how the heck he cycled it so fast LOL ..lucky thang... | |
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April 4th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| There were fish in this tank for a few days before the bio-spira was put in.....there should have been a LITTLE ammonia in that the bio-spira would have had to work on....
One thing I would say in that the fish should go in in groups..3 or 4 at a time...JUST to make sure....checking the water tests a couple of days after each addition, before more fish....
IF the ammonia or nitrite go up......STOP adding fish and let the bacteria catch up.... | |
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April 4th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| ahhhhhhhhhh I didnt see where he added bio-spira, just that he was going to get some..if he did, that explains it LOL...my brunette moment for the day! | |
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April 4th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| lol yes i added bio, i love all the suggestions, i really do. im writing them down and looking them all up now. im having trouble uploading pics but i see there is a link to help on this and i will be reading up on it now. yes i added bio and also put a "dirty" filter from another tank from the pet store and everything has tested great with api freshwater test kit. im so excited well im going to try uploading again now ill check back in  | |
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April 4th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| ok pictures are up | |
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