BillyT

Hi, Im new to FishLore and just went out and bought myself my first aquarium (unless you count my gold fish bowl i had when i was 4) Any ways, Its a 16 gallon bow front and it came with a lil starter kit. I know all about the nitro. cycle But im curious about this tetra safe start stuff (i've been looking at the forums for a lil while before now.) Is TSS the same as Bio Spira? is one better than the other? Also For my tank I was interested in Getting Platys, Guppies, Neon Tetras and cherry barbs, are all these fish compatible? what would b the best combo? I know they like to be in schools of like 5-8 or something so i know i cant get them all.

in addition to my starter kit i have bought
-an API test kit
-an air pump
-several things of aquarium gravel
-and two bubble stones

Any info or advice would be great, thanks!

bolivianbaby

Welcome to Fishlore! Sounds like you're off to a great start. The API Test Kit will really help let you know where you are in your cycle.

The Tetra Safe Start replaced the freshwater version of Bio Spira. There are a lot of members here who have great results with it.

All of the fish you mentioned are freshwater community fish. Yes they are all compatible. Platys and guppies stay at the top of the tank and neons and cherry barbs are more mid-dwellers if that helps you make your choice.

Congratulations on doing your research before you stock!

shelly80

Hi and welcome to Fishlore, im a relative noob myself so cant give you a comparison of safe start compared to Bio Spira, but thanks to the advice on here i have now become a convert to Safe Start, it just cycled my 15g in a week would recommend this to anyone now. I had some bad info from my LFS but the guys here got me on the right track.
Im sure someone will be along soon that may be able to compare them for you.
Good luck and have a great time on here, I do

Tony G.

Welcome Billy t!
well platies/mollies/guppies are livebearers so generally they get allong. Just make sure the ratio between them is 1 male per 3 females. The neons can be quite fragile to new aquariums so i would add them once the tank is established.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!!!!! bolivianbaby is correct...tetra safestart is now the replacement of bio spira (except for the marine version..bio spira still makes that ) good luck and share pics when you can

jdhef

Bio Spira was made by a company called Marineland and had to be kept refrigerated until it was added to the tank. So Marineland developed a new formula that did not need refrigeration. They then sold the rights to this new Bio Spira to Tetra, who renamed it to Tetra SafeStart. I have SafeStart in the past with good results.

Becareful with your stocking. A general rule of thumb for the size fish you are interested in is 1" of adult size fish per gallon of water. So you would want no more than about 16" of fish. You can read the fish profiles on this site to see what the adult sizes of the fish you are interested are.

Oh yeah...and Welcome to FishLore

EDIT: Wow did I get ninja'd by a bunch of people of what! And here I thought I would be the first reply!

BillyT

Wow Guys, Thanks for all the quick responses! Out of curiosity Im interested in getting a 5 gallon tank for a betta fish, would putting a lil snail buddy, Apple snail maybe? be ok with a Betta?

jdhef

Maybe...it depends on the personality of the Beta.

Shawnie

a snail with a betta could work each betta is different and some will tolerate tank buddies and some will not

JD!! I miss that with you

BillyT

Hmm, Ok Well if I put the snail in there with the Betta and they dont get along, would the snail be ok in the community tank?

Shawnie

yes

Craig-D

I can confirm that Tetra Safestart is the successor to Bio-Spira and it does work. My 12 gallon was cycled in 4 days (I only started with 2 fish in it though, it may take longer with a bigger initial bio-load). As for Blly's suggested stocking, those fish are all compatable but you are right that you can't have them all in that size tank as two of the options are schooling fish requiring at least 6 individuals. The inch per gallon rule is a rough guideline, but an analysis of the size of the fish's body and its relative waste production can allow you to skirt the rule a bit. For starters, you measure just the body of the fish, not including the fins for stocking purposes. The size maximums you'll see are theoretical maximums. Not all fish in that species will get that big. Cherry Barbs can get up to 2 inches, so a school of 6 would limit you more than a school of tetras that get to about only an inch, allowing you to get a larger assortment of the others. Platies are relatively big-bodied for their length and are huge waste producers relative to similarly-long guppies, so you can actually get away with 2 guppies for every 1 platy your tank could handle in my opinion.

For example, I have 6 panda cories, 2 platies, and a betta in my 12 gallon. Some would say that I'm overstocked as fully grown all these fish could theoretically extend past 12 inches (only if all the pandas grow beyond their current 1" length to their theoretical maximum of 1.5-2", which I doubt will happen). But it really isn't overstocked because my Betta topped out at 2 inches (theoretical maximum of 2.5-3"), one fully-grown platy only grew to 1.5 inches (theoretical max of 2"), the other is a still growing .5" balloon platy who will likely top out at 1". The pandas are really small-bodied, stick mostly to the bottom, and do not produce a lot of waste. So they do not interfere with the swimming room of the others and don't overload my biofilter. I thus easily maintain this stocking level in a 12 gallon with no problem.

So I say first pick whatever schooing fish you're going to go with and then plan around that with the appropriate combo of guppies and/or platies. Good luck! I envy you, as I wanted guppies, but they won't go so well with a betta.

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore
Great advice from the members above, as always.

Tony G.

hehe we learn from the best

tcherry

I used TSS to start my tank. But you have to add the fish and the TSS at the same time and then wait 7-10 days to test the water and see if it worked. Mine did work but I was so nervous for that 10 days that it wouldnt work & I'd have to do 50% water changes or find my fish dead. I'm not sure I'd take the same gamble again, if I had it to do over. I'd prob use a fishless cycle method.

kimb

LOL, tcherry I only wish I had access to TSS...I would give anything not to have to do the fishless (it takes soooo long)! I think if you follow the directions exactly, TSS is the way to go. Billyt, livebearers are excellent fish to start with, they are fun, active, and love havin babies! Good luck with your tanks, and welcome to Fishlore!

aquarist48

Welcome to Fish Lore BillyT. Lots of great information here. Have fun on the site

amaux2

Welcome!