New Tank Set Up

Question
QUESTION: I am a first time fish keeper and looking at setting up an aquarium for my young kids (5 and 3). I have done some research on line, but would like any advice you can offer.

Looking at a 20 Gallon long tank to get some stability of water quality, and after having reviewed pictures with my children are looking at stocking it with the following fish:

2 Dwarf Gourami (Colisa Ialia) - one male one female
6 Glowlight Tetras (Hemigrammus erthozonus)- active schooling fish
3 Albino Corydora (Corydoras aeneus albino) - keep substrate clean, active fish
2 Dwarf Suckermouth (Otocinclus Vestitus) - help with algae

From what I have read these fish are all fairly peaceful and like similar water conditions so I should be able to keep the tank between 72-79F and pH between 6.5-7.5 and all should be happy.

Tank would have a dark smooth substrate and would have a fair amount of plastic or silk plants, with some floating plants as well to help keep the Gourami happy. I do not think I would try real plants until I have got the tank stabilized and have figured out how to look after the fish properly.

I would also have some "hiding" places for fish with pots on their side, or items from pet store.  Would not be building great towers of rocks as I expect the corys will be doing a lot of digging and I do not want anything to collapse on the fish.  

If you see any problems with my set up above, please let me know.

I also have a few questions:

1) I think it would drive my kids crazy to set up the tank and then keep it empty for a couple weeks until it completes a fishless cycle.  Are any of the fish mentioned above hardy enough to survive cycling the tank?

2) What order to you recommend adding the fish to the tank once it has finished cycling? I was thinking the Gourami should be last as the might be a little territorial, and they will be the largest fish in the tank once fully grown.

3) Do you think the tank is overstocked? I am going by the 1" of fish for every 12" of surface area, so I get 30" of fish available for the tank. By my calculations I will have 29" of fish once they are all fully grown.

4) I plan of doing partial water changes weekly (hopefully with some help from the kids). How much water would you recommend to change each week? I plan on doing regular testing of the water both during cycling and after.

5) Given the fish selection, what variety of food would you recommend so they all get a balanced diet and can grow up happy and healthy.

6) Lastly, as this is all new to me, do you have any brands of filters or heaters that you would recommend?

Thank you for your help.


ANSWER: Hi Allan,

Your planned setup is perfect! There are no problems whatsoever with the setup you described above. all the mentioned fish are compatible with each other, and as long as your filter filters at least 150+ gallons per hour (output), your tank is not overstocked.

Here are my answers to your questions:

1)I would not do a fishless cycle - All of the fish are hardy enough to survive a cycle, except the otocinclus. here's what I would do: Put in 3  to 4 Glowlight Tetras in the tank. perform 15% water changes twice a week for the first month. After the first month, the cycle should be completed, and then you can add the remaining 3 Glowlight tetras. after that, add 2 fish per week, to allow the beneficial bacteria to get adjusted to the new load. As mentioned above, all the fish that you are planning on keeping are hardy enough to survive a cycle with good care. However, the otocinclus should be added last, as it can be very hard to keep for a beginner aquarist. I would not recommend it to anybody who has not kept fish before. Better choices would be more Tetras, Livebearers (guppies, Mollies, Platy, Swordtail), and Bristlenose Plecostomus (NOT common Pleco)

2)Cycle the tank with the 3-4 Tetras, then the order should be: Rest of the tetras, Corydoras, Gouramis, and then Otocinclus/other.

3)Not overstocked, but include a good filter that circulates at least 150 gallons per hour. Your tank is 'borderline', when it comes to overstocking/not overstocking.

4)During the cycle, perform a water change twice a week, approximately 15-20% each time. After the cycle has finished (you detect no Nitrite with your test kit), then you can switch to a weekly maintenance routine of 20% of the water every week, along with a gravel vacuuming.

5)A variety of food is ideal: feed a staple diet of high quality flake food (Nutrafin Max by Hagen, or TetraMin by Tetra), supplemented with a feeding of a supplementary food two to three times a week. Supplementary food includes frozen bloodworms/daphnia, (available in the freezer at a local fish store) freeze-dried food, or live food, such as brine shrimp.(probably too tricky for beginners) Flakes with frozen or freeze-dried food is great. Buy some Algae Wafers too, for your Corydoras and oto/pleco/other. You can feed once or twice daily.

6)I would recommend Marineland's products, or Hagen's products. A good filter that would be perfect for your setup would be Marineland's Penguin 150 Bio-Wheel. ($40).The Bio Wheel offers excellent biological filtration, by creating space for the beneficial bacteria to live. The Bio-Wheel is perfect for your aquarium, but if you want to go even further, then you can get Hagen's Fluval 105 canister filter. ($140)
For heaters, I'd get Marineland's Stealth heaters, a 100 watt heater for your tank would be perfect. ($40). Marineland and Hagen products are probably the best and most reliable ones out there. You can search any one of the above on Google, to get an idea of what they are like.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me!

Good Luck, and Happy Fishkeeping!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Nathan,

Thanks for the quick reply and all the information. You have already been a great help.

With regards to the Oto, I had them because I wanted a fish that would help keep algae under control. I would prefer to have a fish do this rahter than having to treat the tank with chemicals that everyone says will stress the fish. The Oto seemed like they were the smallest available and seemed to have a good reputation.  

I actually considered the bristlenose pleco, but considering they can grow up to 6", I thought that was a little large for a 20G tank.  Also replacing the Oto with the bristlenose would bring me up to 33" of fish rather than 29"

How does this sound. I will just drop the Oto from my list of fish, but not replace them with anything right away. If and when I get an algae problem, then I can figure out if I want to go the route of the Oto's or a single bristlenose pleco. This will also reduce the bioload in my tank by a little and give me a chance to get some experience under my belt before either adding a fish that can be difficult or adding a larger fish that might overload my tank.

Looks like I will be setting up my first tank this weekend (don't worry, I will wait a day or two before adding the 3-4 Glowlight Tetras to start cycling.)

Allan

Answer
Hi Allan,

That's a great idea. Once you've got everything set up, and you become more familiar with keeping fish, you could definitely keep Otocinclus, or a Bristlenose Plecostomus. The most common form of algae is the stuff that grows on the glass; it's hard and can not be eaten by Plecos or Otos. Buying an Algae Magnet Cleaner will solve that. As long as you do weekly water changes, excess algae should not be a problem.

Live plants will prevent algae, by competing with algae for nutrients and light. Live plants are not hard to keep. (I'm also an expert in the 'Freshwater Aquarum Plants' category) A good plant for a beginner would be the Java Fern. It's extremely easy to keep, and would do well with all peaceful community fish.

Any more question? Feel free to ask again!

Good Luck, and Happy Fishkeeping!