tropical aquariums

cokey dokey i been to garden center and Mr fish man recommended i only buy a few and go for the hardy variety as been as the tanks new, i got 5 red eye tetras and 2 sword tails for now and they recommend i add more each week instead of stocking it from scratch.

Have you got any friends with a tank already set up?
If so, when they do a water change, grab some of their water, the bacteria in the tank water will speed up the maturing time.
I took about 100 litres out of my community tank and put this into my malawi set up. topped it up with tap water and added fish 3 days later.

[fizzwheel]

We've got red eye tetras in our tank, I really like them.

Yep stocking it slowly is the best way to go that way you are leaving time for the filter to mature properly. If you put to many fish in to soon, your filter wont cope and it wont remove the amonia from the water ( fish pee is amonia ) and basically your fish suffocate and die as they cant get enough oxygen.

i just looked at the aquarium box and its 100litres.

i empty'd my old aquarium water down the pan because alto it was mature it didnt look very nice.

[fizzwheel]

What about the filter from the old aquarium ? If you still have it and its still wet, it might still have its bacteria colony on it, if so drop the old filter in the tank with the new one and you might get the bacteria transfer onto your new filter and it'll jump start the cycle.

arr good idea i'll do that now.

Originally Posted by kwak zzr

i empty'd my old aquarium water down the pan because alto it was mature it didnt look very nice.

What sort of filters were you using on the old tank?
The filter media will contain bacteria that you can still transfer to the new tank to aid maturity.
If you listen to shops and read all the books they will tell you to wait about 6 weeks before you put fish it ( dependent on local water ph ect ) but I have never had any problems with this method.
I never use chemicals of any sort in my tank and have never used "tap safe" either.
I have had my fish breeding now for about 10 years with no real problems.
Everyone has their different views on tanks so if you ask 10 people, the chances are that you will get 10 different answers

Most good shops will do a free water test for you before you add fish if you take a sample into them.

i'd just use a bacteria booster for maturing the filter don't take long anyway.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

What about the filter from the old aquarium ?

it's a fluvel thingy with sponge in the bottom.