First Tank

thermalcore

New Member
I got a 30 gallon tank for Christmas from my parents as watching fish swim has always seemed to relax me. I went to my local pet store & purchased:
Crushed Coral Bedding
Test Kit
Salt
Bottom Filter
Syphon Vaccumm
Salt Content Test
Chlorine Remover
& a few other things that the pet store employee said I'd need. All total I spent around $250. I returned 24 hours later & dispite my wanting 5 of these little white fish that seemed to be swimming in a school he recommended that I only go with 2 because 5 would be an over-kill. Naturally I listened being that I've never had a salt water tank before & my track record with fresh water fish is a bit depressing to say the least. I had printed out a sheet of what I could expect from my tank during the first 30+ days of the cycling that I'd read about & did everything the web sites had said to do. It's been 15 days since I bought the fish & according to my chart the Nitrite levels should be reaching their peak yet when I do the tests I have absolutely none. According to this chart I'm where I should have been on day 3 which is leaving me to believe that my local pet store employee knows alot less then he's pretending he does. Needless to say I plan to go back to the pet store here in the next few days & purchase 2 - 3 more of the little white break-in fish to hopefully get the cycling back up to speed.
The reason that I'm bothering all of you fine people is that I know what my local fish retailer says I should be doing after the cycling but I'd really like to get some feedback from outside sources. I want living plants & the most colorful fish I can find. (The more the fish swim around rather then just float, the better) Just browsing this site I've found the Mandarin in the Gobies & the Valentini in the Pufferfish sections to be very appealing to me. I've never delt with more then 2 or 3 fish at a time so I don't want to get fish that are going to have conflicts with one another & I'd rather not get a fish that's going to bully the others around the tank. I'd like to get some living coral (the moving kind) or anything that's going to liven the tank up... Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 

chrismilano

Member
Im in the same boat. It all comes down to planning and do your homework. Dont overstock your tank (30 gallons is about 1-2 medium fish and 3-4 small ones), and look ahead. IE: If you want a mandarinfish, you need at least a small piece of live rock for it to feed off of. In order to have Live rock, you need a better light bulb.
Just take your time and remember, for the first month or two ONLY add damsels or clown fish. Anything else will just float until Ammonia and Ni is at 0. Sounds like youre close!
 

hillbilly

Member
Don't even think of adding another fish until your ammonia and nitrite levels are 0. You will only hurt not help the cycle.
Your LFS is nuts. It is not uncommon for the ammonia levels to stay high for two or three weeks. Your cycle could run 1 to 2 months. May go faster but You can't count on it.
A lot of LFS try to rush you. They want to make a sale and they know if it dies You will prolly be back buying again. Not all stores are like this but the newbie must be on guard.
Take it slow, Do it right!
Hillbilly
 
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