Next Fish

Question
Hi,

I have just completed my fishless cycle and bought 4 zebra danios for my heated 60l biorb (big round goldfish bowl shape). I bought these as the local fish store told me they are the hardiest fish you can start off with.

My question is how long should I wait till I add my next fish and what would you recommend to add and how many? I understand that the biorb will not take all fish due to its shape, but ideally I would like to add the most colourful fish I can as really this is for my 2 year old daughter.

Should I continue to take my API 5in1 test and how frequent, this tests for everything bar ammonia? Sorry to be a pain but I guess you would know I lot more than me.


Answer
Hi,

first of all, I would suggest taking the zebra danios back to the pet store as they like tanks of at least 4 feet in length.  If you would like color, you could add some neon or cardinal tetras (6 of them) maybe a dwarf gourami as a centerpiece fish, and maybe some guppies, they are very colorful...but stick with male guppies so you don't get a lot of babies.  so I would put 6 neon tetras (6 inches total) 1 dwarf gourami (3 inches) and 6 male guppies (6 inches) This would max your tank out at this point.

If you did a fishless cycle with ammonia and maxed the ammonia out at 3-4ppm, and now ammonia and nitrite are at 0, and there is trace nitrate, then you should be safe adding the 6 guppies at once.  Keep testing for a few days with a liquid reagent set (api masterkit is a good one, the dipsticks are very inaccurate) and when everything is still at 0, add the male dwarf gourmi.  Test for a week, and when everything is still at 0, add the neons.  Good luck