Time to Get Fish!

Thank you Fish Lore! There were some times when I had doubts - just little ones - that the water changes and measurements would do what you said. Oh me of little faith! But yesterday the nitrites went to 0. They have been sliding down all last week - which is good since we weren't home much due to a new grandbaby being born. Ahhh - babies and fish. Who could ask for more?

Now we're ready to add a couple of fish at a time to our 55 gallon tank. I have completely bonded with the six Cherry Barbs (3 male and 3 female), our two male guppies and our pleco. I am leaning toward a few more guppies - we really like these guys. And maybe some platies? Our pH is 8.2 so they have to be able to acclimate to that. The Dwarf Gouramis sound interesting also. Any suggestions?

 

Have you thought about cichlids? You have great pH for some africans.

 

Hi!

Cool. My idea is to get six more female cherry barbs to maintain the 1 male three female ratio, 8 more guppys, 1 male Dwarf gourami, female Dwarf gouramis and 1 BN to replace the common pleco who will outgrow the tank and be unhappy and hard to home as stores know that people don't take on big fish as much as little fish.

 

Thanks for answering CoBetta - Cichlids were recommended to me from the beginning. I am so new to this hobby that they inhibit me a little. The word aggressive keeps coming up in my research! Can they be in a tank with the fish I have already? And are there any that remain small? At one of the LFSs the sales guy was very helpful when I got the Cherry Barbs (he didn't mention the nitrogen cycle however and hence I cycled with fish). Anyway - he showed me how the cichlids came to his hand on the outside of the tank and told me they are very intelligent fish. My thought was maybe too intelligent for a beginner? Also - our high pH coastal water is treated in our development and is very soft. Do Cichlids need a harder KH? By the way - the filter changes you recommended is working great. And the substrate material seemed to take me over the edge to finishing the cycle.

Thanks Hatchet - I'm not sure what kind of pleco I have - I've got a picture in my gallery and will try to load it here. He is one of our favorites - we call him Scooby Doo - so it would be hard to trade him for something else. However, my son has a pond so that might be a possiblity in the future. I like your recommendation of more Cherry Barbs and guppies - I probably won't get as many as you said though. Again - I'm an inhibited beginner! Don't want to run into problems from having too many fish.

I'm still experimenting with adding plants, driftwood, etc. It's all new and is great to have this forum to go to for advice.

 

Hi!

You need to get that many cherry barbs, or the males will really fight a lot. If the pond is heated, then pleco might have a future in our care. Also, my 'four' key isn't working right now, I meant get four female dwarfs.

 

Thanks again - I will take your advice about the female Cherry barbs and add them this week. My six have been fine - but I don't know enough to know if their behavior is stressful for the females. So it will be interesting to see how they change when more are added.

I don't know if you read a previous post I had written where we had disaster from a bad trip home from the LFS. I plan to go prepared to transport very carefully this time around!

 

Hi!

I heard about those little guys. Well, yeah, the females will be constantly chased by all the males which is why I have 1 male 5 female.

 

My husband got six female Cherry Barbs this afternoon, transported them safely, I acclimated them and they are in the tank and doing well.

We'll let them all get to know each other and then will venture out and add something else. Right now we're looking at the Dwarf Gouramis, guppies and platys. Not sure yet.

By the way....when the weather warms up how do you keep the temp from rising too high in the aquarium?

 

Hi!

Is your tank in direct sunlight? That will be a problem - a very big one. Otherwise it should be OK - in the UK I don't have to do anything much to stop it getting hot in there.

 

No direct sunlight - it's in a shaded corner of the house. So I guess I'll just keep an eye on the thermometers in the tank. We don't run our air conditioner all the time since we like the ocean breeze coming through the house....but it usually isn't above 80 so I think you're right - the water temp should stay within the correct range.

 

Cichlids are not too hard to keep, but they do love their territory and with Cherry Barbs I don't think I'd add cichlids. Too much aggression issues potentially there with Barbs and Cichlids.

Some cichlids are very mild tempered, stay smaller and get along with other fish easily. Our Angel Fred, is actually enjoying the platys and gups that we added to his tank. Our Julies will only get to about 4-5" each. Like most fish, they adapt to local water conditions, especially ones bred locally.

Thanks for answering CoBetta - Cichlids were recommended to me from the beginning. I am so new to this hobby that they inhibit me a little. The word aggressive keeps coming up in my research! Can they be in a tank with the fish I have already? And are there any that remain small? At one of the LFSs the sales guy was very helpful when I got the Cherry Barbs (he didn't mention the nitrogen cycle however and hence I cycled with fish). Anyway - he showed me how the cichlids came to his hand on the outside of the tank and told me they are very intelligent fish. My thought was maybe too intelligent for a beginner? Also - our high pH coastal water is treated in our development and is very soft. Do Cichlids need a harder KH?

 

Hi!

Dave - Cherrys wouldn't harm a fly. *Mmm... A fly!*

 

Thanks for the info about cichlids. I think I will keep looking at them as a possibility if I catch MTS!

I added 6 female cherry barbs last week and today have just acclimated and added 4 male guppies. I'm keeping an eye on ammonia and will do a partial water change this week.

I got some frozen brine shrimp today since I have seen it recommended for the guppies. The Cherry barbs seem to like the cucumber slices that we put in for the pleco.

We're enjoying the current residents of our tank - we might stay status quo for awhile. It's great not to be doing water changes every day!

 

Hi!

Cool. When is pleco going back to the store? Remember the longer you wait, the harder it will be and you'll be buying an indoor pond...

 

HI Hatchet - I am going to keep the pleco. If he needs to go somewhere I'll find him an outdoor heated pond with friends. Since he weathered the cycle and we have liked having him around I'd like to keep him. I'm not sure if he is a common pleco - but if he is I'm hoping the 55 gallon tank will hold him for awhile. I am planning to stay understocked just in case!

thanks for the suggestion, though!

 

I was looking through the forum and my pleco seems to match the pictures posted for the Common pleco. Lots of people said a 55 gallon tank is fine for him....although it sounds like I should be prepared for lots of poop in the future!

I am surprised that there is so much advice to take fish back to the fish stores - I haven't tried it but wonder if the ones I've dealt with would take fish back....

 

Yea.. a 55 gallon is the bare minimum for a common pleco. Even a 75 gallon is minimal for them. The amount of poop a pleco leaves is incredible! We put 3 4-month old fry in a 5 gallon q.tank and I'm cleaning the bottom daily from all the poop these 2 - 2.5" young plecos make.

 

If we have problems with too much poop I have found some other options for him. Thanks Co-betta. It's funny how a fish can have a personality...even my husband is making sure we have cucumber slices and treats for him.

I got 4 more guppies Monday so now have six. However I couldn't find one as I fed them tonight....so that's gotta be bad news.

Going back to the cichlids - would an Angel be ok with my group? If not then I think the next and last addition for awhile would be a dwarf gourami.

 

Hi!

Dwarf gouramis really need to have at least 1 female.

 

If we have problems with too much poop I have found some other options for him. Thanks Co-betta. It's funny how a fish can have a personality...even my husband is making sure we have cucumber slices and treats for him.

I got 4 more guppies Monday so now have six. However I couldn't find one as I fed them tonight....so that's gotta be bad news.

Going back to the cichlids - would an Angel be ok with my group? If not then I think the next and last addition for awhile would be a dwarf gourami.

HI Faye,
One angel would do fine, you wouldnt have to worry about aggression between more of them. Same with the dwarf gourami, who would do fine with being the only one in the tank. Not sure how the barbs would do with the angel tho, may be tempted by the fins but I'm just not sure on that.

~ kate