Ernesto and his comrades...the saga continues...GOOD NEWS:D

[zerlinafish]

Hey all...

So I woke up this morning to my Betta Ernesto beating up pretty bad on the neons (Lenin, Castro and Mao)...for the first time really. So, after work I bought a 10 gallon tank/filter/stand (I spent an insane amount of money all told nearly 150.00 with decorations and gravel) and prepped it (I know I should have done a cycle for at least 2 days, but I was worried about the neons. So, I put the proper treatments in, let the filter run for about 30 min to cycle the water through). I ousted the neons from Ernesto's tank. So sad to break up the little comunist party, but Ernesto could not keep his fins to himself. I had the neons in a cup of their old water, and submerged it. All seem to be great.

Not 10 minutes later, Ernesto turned a brilliant color...happier...so for all of my bellyachin' YOU WERE all RIGHT.

Ernesto is in his 2 gallon by himself, and the three neons are in their new home. Thursday, I am going to add 3 more neons (Stalin and Karl and Trotsky) to school them in a group of 6, and I want to get a community tropical tank going (the right way).

Here's what I would like to do: Over the next few weeks, I want to add some fancy guppies (6 of them, 3 at a time), 2 dwarf gouramis, three flame tetras and a bottom feeder, an Otocinclus. There will be about 17 very small fish all told when the tank is done. Is this too much?

I want a nice variety of fish, and absolutely at this point cannot go bigger AT ALL...$$$ and space are gone for this hobby ('cept for upkeep). Suggestions to get a nice variety in a 10 gallon???

Zerlinafish

[onefish2fish]

a tank has to cycle longer then 2 days, usually about 2-3 weeks if not longer, i highly recommend keeping the 3 fish you have in there to just the 3 fish until the tank completely cycles..do water changes to keep amonia and nitrite levels down .. dont change or clean the filter pad ( this is one spot where the benificial bacteria finds a home )
a general rule of thumb is 1 inch of (max size) fish per 1 gallon of water for freshwater tanks, ofcourse there are exceptions of fish needing more room.
id say go with your 6 neons for now, and with black gravel or sand, they really stand out.
guppies will multiply faster then you can find a place to keep them, unless you get all males (which are more colorful) or all females, if you dont mind babies it should be a 1 male to 3 female ratio to avoid stress of constant nagging. in a 10 gallon tank alot of fry will end up getting eaten anyways unless they are removed, or ample hiding spaces are provided.
otocinclus or ottos need a school or schoal ( i think it has to be an odd number? like 3 or 5 not sure tho) to do best and are sensitive to water conditions usually they die even in established tanks..

staying by the general rule of an inch of fish to a gallon of water.. 17 fish (all growing larger then 1 inch max size) puts you at an overstocked tank..
for now id suggest stay with your 3 comrades and letting that tank cycle, doing a water change a day until it balances out of 0 amonia, 0 nitrite and your nitrates stay below 40 then add 3 more neons (which should really be quarentined, but thats up to you) and then after that bio load balances you can prob add 3 or 5 ottos because they are generally on the bottom..
im sure there are other combos you can do, but thats what id do...

[iamntbatman]

Well, the tank hasn't actually cycled yet, so you're gonna want to make sure you do water changes whenever the ammonia or nitrite breaks 0.5 ppm. Neons aren't exactly the hardiest fish so a cycling tank will surely do them in. I wouldn't add any more fish to the tank until the cycle is complete (i.e. you've got no ammonia, no nitrite, and a reading of nitrates that steadily climbs over time). Six neons is a good sized school. I wouldn't add two dwarf gouramis, since they're territorial and won't get along with one another. The gourami might also go after the guppies, so you'll have to watch out for that. If you're getting guppies, make sure to get all males or else you're going to have a whole lot of guppies in no time at all. I wouldn't add an oto at all until the tank has been set up for several months and has some algae growth. The guppies aren't really schooling fish, so I think if you cut back on their numbers you could also add some flame tetras. This will be a fairly heavily stocked tank but as long as you keep up with water changes and have some good filtration.

But again...I wouldn't add anything until the cycle is complete.

[tmz]

i love your communist neons XD


i named my male betta ivan cos he reminded me of a grumpy russian communist