The Tropical Tank

Rick · Member Joined: 24 Jun 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Lancashire

Hi all,

I'll be ordering my new tank in the next week or so, a Jewel Rio 180 Very Happy

, not too big but a nice step up from the 80L i currently have.

What i wanted to know was...

1. Does anyone have any good tips for cycling the second tank ? I was thinking i could give the new one a filter sqeeze from my current mature tank ? But would it be a good idea to also use the part of the filter element that i chuck away every month or so (i obviously keep the rest which holds the bacteria). I mean, could i just drop that in the tank for a period of time ?

Would moving a couple of rocks to the new tank also help ? or bogwood ?

2. If i want to "fishless" the new tank, what can i add other than food to start the process off ?

3. I have quite a happy tank of fairly peaceful fish... Currently consisting of 3 guppies, 6 neons, 6 harleys, 6 Norman's Lamp eyes, 3 Scarlet Badis, 4 Bumblebee Gobies, 7 cory's and 5 amano shrimp.

I will be moving all of these into the new tank i think and was wondering if a pair of Electric Blue Rams would fit in with these guys ok ?

Also, i wanted to get a few more shrimp, i've seen some Bumblebee Shrimp and Red Cherry Shrimp at a place near me, can anyone tell me if different varieties of shrimp will live happily together ?

Thanks for reading... Smile

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3 Male Guppies,
6 Neon Tetras,
6 Harlequin Rasboras,
7 Cory's (4 Panda, 1 Albino & 2 Sterbai),
5 Amano Shrimp
3 Scarlet Badis
1 baby bristlenose

and outside of the tank...
1 German Shepherd Smile

Apistogramma

Rick · Member Joined: 24 Jun 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Lancashire

hi Becky,

Thanks for the reply and yep, thats a great help.

The only thing would be i may now keep the smaller tank running as well as the new tank and only move some of the fish over, so moving the gravel etc might be something i can't really do. I do have a fair amount of rocks and a big lump of bogwood i could move to the new tank to help with the bacteria. I'd imagine i have to be careful not to remove too much though and upset the balance in the small tank.

The other option i have is the nice lady who owns the LFS near me is happy for me to purchase items like bogwood and stones now and she will put them in a running display tank for me until i'm ready to put them in my new tank. Would that be a good option to go for, i can't think of any reason (other than disease, which i think is very unlikely from well looked after stock, you can tell when someone takes a lot of pride in their work) not to do this
_________________
3 Male Guppies,
6 Neon Tetras,
6 Harlequin Rasboras,
7 Cory's (4 Panda, 1 Albino & 2 Sterbai),
5 Amano Shrimp
3 Scarlet Badis
1 baby bristlenose

and outside of the tank...
1 German Shepherd Smile

Apistogramma · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:08 am Post subject:

You could take half the stock and half the substrate and half the filter media. Just take a proportionate amount to the percentage of fish you are moving.
The mature tank will recover very quickly - that's the benefit of having a tank that's been running for a several months or more.
I would not be too keen to have decor from other tanks no matter how clean and well looked after they are. Some fish carry immunity to bacteria and infections that other fish don't have the ability to fight off so well. That's why it's good to buy fish from the same sources and breeders. The less introduction to new and different strains of diesease you can manage the better for the fish. Another problem with a fish shop is that they quickly move fish on, sometimes before diesease or infection or parasites have had time to produce symptoms. That's why we recommend quarantining any new fish.
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Becky

*Aimlessly drives around in the steam roller with Karena's now fairly blunt scissors...and Lisa's hedge trimmer*