Ive just setup my first aquarium

Question
Hi there, I have just setup my very first aquarium, I have added the tap water, gravel and my silk plants (didn't want to start with real plants as its my first time#.

I have turned everything on, light filter and heater, the temperature is fine. I have got a bottle of liquid I am told to put in there to get rid of the bad things in the tap water we use, so it's safe for the fish. I know how much to put it there #going by the gallon) so that not a problem.

My questions are, can I add this water treatment now and add another plant tomorrow? Or am I best off adding everything I want into the tank BEFORE adding the treatment for the water?

How long will I have to leave my tank with the treatment in before taking the water to be tested.

And what nice, colorful fish are best to put in my tank to begin with? To get this "cycle" going in my tank?

I have 50 gallons of water in there, with a few plants and a small rock plenty of room for the small fish I will keep in there, but how many would you say to start with? And how long until I can add my second lot of fish?

Many thanks for your help and time.

Scott

PS if there is more info you would like on the tank please let me know I will try and get it for you.

Answer
Hi Scott;

I'm so glad you have a nice big tank to work with! You will have fun with this as long as you start very slow and be very patient. The break-in period can take up to 8 weeks to complete. The first thing to do is browse some web pages I will give you links to that have good information about getting started. I will put them at the bottom of this correspondence.

Water conditioner is for the fish so add it right before you put in your first fish. It works instantly so you could put it in as the fish are acclimating.

Put lots of plants and hiding places for you fish in the tank as soon as you can. Fish need to have room to swim but they also need places to hide and play around in. Decorations also provide visual barriers for fish that need a break from each other. Even the most mild fish can get nervous or nippy if they don't have a varied environment to move about in. Change the decorations around every couple of weeks to break up the monotony, or just add a new one or change one or two out once in while. You don't have to do a lot, just a plant or rock or decoration or two every couple of weeks. Even us humans like to move the furniture around every so often. It also breaks up the territory of fish that tend to get a little territorial.

Just start with no more than five or so inches total of fish to get the tank through the initial break-in. A few good hardy fish to get started with are platies, swordtails, cory cats, tetras such as bloodfin, cardinal, glowlight, bleeding heart, lemon, pristella, diamond, Cherry Barb (no other barbs- too nippy), rasboras, danios. They all happen to be schooling fish so get 3 or more of each, whichever you choose to start with. Some of those mentioned are colorful, some not so. Get a test kit that monitors the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. You will know how the break-in is progressing based on the results. My links will tell you more about it.

Here we go with links to get you started, beginning with mine on new tanks;

http://expert-fish-help.xanga.com/

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/aquariumstartup/u/gettingstarted.htm

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/charts/good_bad.html

http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin.html

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_chart.html

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_chart.html

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=0&siteid=6&acatid=415&aid=...

http://www.firsttankguide.net/capacity.php

http://www.firsttankguide.net/size.php

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/aquariumstartup/a/newtankmistakes.htm


I know it's a lot of reading, but I promise it's worth your time. ;-)

Let me know if I can help any further...Most of all, have fun!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins