nina_k

Hi I'm Nina and I used to have fish but i kept killing them and gave up. Now i have decided to start up another tank but i am doing it right this time. I have gotten a 4ft standard tank and a stand and thats all so far. I am hoping to keep a dwarf gourami, 4 guppies, 4 harlequins and a bristlenose in there eventually. Is this a good idea? I'm just really hesitant about doing anything this time. What sort of filter and heater would be good for them? I just really need some help getting started. Thankyou, Nina

Chief_waterchanger

Have you read up on the nitrogen cycle and water chemistry? http://www.fishlore.com/WaterChemistry.htm and http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

4feet in length, but do you know the depth and height of the tank also? (That is how we can tell actual gallon or liter capacity of the tank, by having all 3 measurements. )

I am glad you are wanting to work hard at keeping the fish happy and healthy, and we gladly welcome people like you, Nina, to our site.

Awsome22

having little to no expirience with that i cant help much but welcome to fishlore

sirdarksol

A decent setup (with room for the guppies to breed, if you get both males and females, or simply an under-stocked tank, which, in my opinion, is the most beautiful type of setup). My one warning would be to not buy the dwarf gourami yet. There is a virus that is going through the DGs in Singapore. There is no way to tell if a particular fish is infected, and an infected fish will just die a week or even a month later. We know that this virus can hop species, we just don't know precisely to what fish, so any fish in an infected tank may be at risk.

For filter, you can get either a hang on back (simple, common option) or a canister filter (more expensive, more complicated, but very customizable). I don't know what brands are available in Australia, so I'll leave suggestion of brands up to others.

I think the Stealth heater is a favorite on this site. My suggestion is to remember "you get what you pay for." A cheap heater may break down or, worse, severely overheat.

Welcome to Fishlore and keep the questions/updates coming.

nina_k

thanks for the quick replies! the tank is 4'lx18"hx14"w. and thanks for the warning about the gouramis. i was browsing an aquarium today and 2 of the dwarf gouramis were dead and the other 6 or so weren't looking too good. maybe it was that.

Awsome22

mmhmmmmm and never ever ever ever get fish from a tank with dead or sick looking fish even if others look fine.

MissMTS

Welcome to Fishlore!
Thanks for looking out for your fishies. I really commend a beginner who is dedicated to doing things right
If aquaclear filters are available, they are a favorite of mine.
If you are nervous about cycling, I would try to get some bio-spira (I'm not sure if you can get it in Australia). If you can get your hands on it, you can have your tank cycled in a couple of days and you can add your fish pretty quickly without having to go through the headache of cycling

Awsome22

I've learned that with bio spira you need to add like one or two fish immediatly so they can provide the ammonia for the bacteria of bio-spira to live

Chief_waterchanger

You have approximately a 203-204 liter tank, which is 52-53 gallon tank.

You can look to buy a heater and filter rated to handle 55 gallon (220 liter) tank and be great. That would be a beautiful tank with such an understocked level of fish. (The fish you are wanting to stock would be thrilled to be in a tank that size with as few as you are wanting to put in there, and will probably thrive because of it.) A lot of plants would look awesome in there.

Awsome22

You should post pics when its all set up

MissMTS

I have tried using biospira with fish, but I had to put the fish through the cycling process and even though it was faster than normal, I still don't like to do it cause its stressful to them. Since that experience I have cycled my tanks with just bio-spira and then added the fish afterwards. It works either way, but I prefer to do it without the fish in the tank

lilsoccakid

just be sure if adding bio-spira without fish, that their is a source of ammonia for them in the tank until fish substitute it (pure ammonia, fish food, etc)

Awsome22

cool, thanks for the correction

Shawnie

before I knew about the cycle, I had to cycle my 75 gallon with fish and bio spira...it was a long 9 weeks and tons and tons of daily buckets of water hahaha...since learning about it, bio spira rocks and I do it also fishless by either feeding the tank with bio spira, or putting a small piece of raw shrimp in with the bio spira..I dont use fish because it does stress them with the high ammonia and nitrite spikes that you get with a new cycle...goodluck with the new tank!

peacemaker92

PLEASE! Don't add any fish when you haven't done the nitrogen cycle yet. Do follow everyone's advices here. There's a lot of well experienced fish keepers here, they know what to do. Good luck!

Lucy

Hi Nina, great advise given above.
I like the Visi-therm Stealth heaters too, I have 3.

Good luck, congrats on doing research first. You'll have a much more pleasant experience.

Biscato33

Hi Nina,

Welcome! I'm pretty new at the fish hobby too, and went through that some-what terrifying, and educational time too several months ago. If you are looking for guppies, and get males, AND females, you are bound to have fry in a few months! If you want to have a planted tank with live plants, you might want to get some plants for the fry to hide in, like Baby's Tears, Watersprite, and many other plants that your LFS workers will help you if you tell them you're getting female and male guppies, their bound to know what you're looking for!
I hope I helped! And have a great time starting the journey of the amazing fish hobby!

~Ali

nina_k

ok so it seems like australia has the same brands as usa so what exact filter/heater/light should i get? and do i need an air pump? im not really sure what its for (apart from the obvious) but it seems like the filter would do about the same job. thanks, nina