Emmy

hi again...

tomorrow will be 4 weeks with my guppies. i have 4 left of the original 6 and they all look fantastic. since the weaker ones are now swimming in the great seas of fish heaven, the surviving 4 seem to get along so much better! there was a bully in the tank, after removing the last weak one he tried bullying the others but i think the others were equally tough and didn't take his , they'd flick their pretty little tails in the bully's face and i think the bully realized he couldn't pick on them and he calmed down. they all get along famously now and even school together often. they all seem to be strong and healthy and have great colouring. hopefully they will make it thru the remainder of the cycling process. my ammonia levels are still at 0.5 but everyday it does seem to be getting a bit greener. i can't wait to get out of this cycling process!

here is my plan (to give you background for my question):
as mentioned i have 4 fancytails which make about 8" of fish (or less maybe).
it's my understanding that i can have 20" of fish in my 20gallon tank. so assuming all 4 of my guppies survive (fingers crossed) i will add 3 trilined corycats. that's 6" of corys + 8" of gups = 14" so far. once the water paramaters level out after the corys i want to add 6 neon tetras, which will give me 20" of fish. i'm thinking it's ok to go a little over and add one ghost shrimp and that will be it.

my question is this:
right now i have silk plants in the tank. a month ago when i purchased the tank and all the stuff i was thinking low maintenance is best. well! low-maintenance... HA! this aquarium gets more attention than my cats right now. everyday i do a 50% water change and vacuum out all the poop. what's a little more work? keeping in mind i'm not going to make any changes until the tank cycles, i'd like to get rid of the silk plants and add real ones. i want to do this after the nitrogen cycle and before adding the corys. i would like some feedback on what types of plants i should get and how many. do plants take up any inch-per-gallon rule? will adding live plants upset the settled nitrogen cycle? any advice would be appreciated.

i have done some reading on this site and noticed people use clay and/or plastic pots for the plants, i like this idea instead of rooting them in the gravel. keeping in mind this is my first aquarium and i want to upset my fish as little as possible, i welcome any and all advice anyone can give.

thanks so much

krismoore888

i would suggest this thread
want to plant

Redvelvetsword

First I would recomend not changing the water every day. The Nitrogen cycle will be tougher to complete when you are adding 50% water every day. I would recomend to set the tank up and let it go for a week and recheck the nitrogen levels.

krismoore888

another useful link

http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/...lanted-Tank/4/

Emmy

you're the first person i've heard say that. i have fish already in my uncycled tank and from what i understand ammonia levels are very dangerous to fish. without daily water changes and the addition of prime to the water, the fish will die. i'm trying to avoid such a terrible fate for my fish!

Emmy

kris, this is an amazing link, thanks so much!!!

joy613

Check out the swap n shop at the the site. I have gotten some amazing plants, some RAOKs are really good to start with.

krismoore888

no prblem emmy, i was looking my self as i want my new tank to be fully planted, keep us posted o how u get onm

Red1313

True the cycle goes faster without water changes HOWEVER with fish in the tank the ammonia and nitrite spikes will kill them (New Tank Syndrome) or at the very least will stress them and leave them open to all sorts of infections and diseases. So when cycling with fish you need to do daily 50% water changes to keep the levels safe for fish. The cycle takes longer but your fish will thank you for it.
......
Sounds like you've got it planned out Emmy. Good Luck!