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Recently Empty ~40g, need advice

4K views 30 replies 5 participants last post by  Bongox3 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I don't usually post to this part of the forum, as I generally keep to the betta-specific section. :)

However, my goldfish recently passed away from flukes:evil:, and now I have a 38g tank that is empty. It also has .3% salt and Prazi Pro for flukes. Obviously I don't want to introduce any fish to this mess until I know it's safe. How would I go about doing this?

Should I try to save the cycle and just keep treating the tank? Or should I not risk it and nuke the tank (tear it down and give everything a good cleaning)?

If I do tear it down (which is what I'm leaning towards), I'm thinking of going with a fishless cycle using ammonia. Any advice there?

-38g tank
-Penguin Biowheel 350 filter (big for the tank size due to the goldfish)
-All-Glass Aquarium heater 200W (unused)
-Active airpump
 
#3 ·
No live plants. Here:

-38g tank
-Penguin Biowheel 350 filter (I also have an unused Aqueon filter that is made for 40g)
-All-Glass Aquarium heater 200W (unused)
-Airpump
-Decor, all artificial

I also have an already established tank I can use to seed this one, if that helps.
 
#4 ·
I don't know how effective treating a tank for flukes is so I won't comment on that. Otherwise if you were going to have plants you could nuke the tank, set it up fill with water plants and start adding fish right away.

Without plants you are pretty much stuck with recycling the setup to be sure it is clear.

Jeff.
 
#6 ·
Welcom to (this side of) the forum

Parasites require a host to survive, so simply leaving the tank running, but empty for a period of time, should take care of that. The bacteria in the filter will absolutely outlive the parasites, so you do not have to worry about losing the cycle. The same is true if you were inclined to administer a treatment on the tank. I see absolutely no reason to tear the tank down and start over.

The filter is of normal size for the tank, in my opinion and experience.
 
#8 ·
Suit yourself :) If you already have an established tank, then all you need to do is transfer some media to the other tanks filter and you will have your cycle.

I've got quite a bit of experience with gouramis. In your size tank, you have a few options. A single dwarf gourami, a group of honey gouramis, a pair or maybe even a trio of pearl gouramis (if the tank dimensions are good), or a single 3 spot gourami. There is also the moonlight gourami, of which I have no experience. If their temperament is is similar to the 3 spots, then just one. Based on the behavior of the one's I've seen, I strongly suspect that it is. Other not so common species are the banded and the thick lipped gourami. I don't have experience with them either, though I know people that do and they're not as aggressive as the three spots. Can't comment on conspecific aggression, as the people kept them singly, and I have not seen them in the store. Yet another option is the paradise fish - best described as half gourami and half betta. There are some small species too, like the sparkling gouramis - another group oriented species.
 
#9 ·
The group of honey gouramis seem intriguing. What would you recommend? (i.e. males:females, group size, heave VS light decor, filtration...the whole 9 haha)

And what about tank mates? Cardinal Tetras? Neons? Loch Ness Monster?

Thanks for all the help BTW!
 
#10 ·
I would start with a group of 3, and possibly get one or two more later. For tankmates - I would layer the tank with some fish that swim in the top half, some fish that swim in the bottom half, and some bottom dwellers. That's pretty much the standard way to stock a tank - you don't want all the fish to occupy the same region of the tank. Cardinals tend to stay higher in the water, and neons tend to stay lower, for example. For bottom dwellers, I would look at either kuhli loaches or corys.

For filtration - I am a believer in big filtration, though that's not very popular on this forum.
 
#16 ·
For filtration - I am a believer in big filtration, though that's not very popular on this forum.
I use to just have filtration that recommended for the size of the tank. I now have filtration that bigger. I have better water condition with such setups even with plants.
On my 29 gallon I have a canister that's rated for a 60 gallon tank. In my 10 gallon have a Saul sponge filter which also rated for a bigger tank. Now I still think current needs to be passed on the fish but there are ways to deal with depending in the filter.
 
#11 ·
I've had a few honey gouramis and moonlight...all had about the same temperament ... Semi aggressive toward each other - the more dominant one merely chasing the others with no harm really done...to offset this, u may want to add plants to the tank...simply put, it allows the smaller to escape or avoid being notice by the dominant one...funny thing was, my honeys only chased the honeys and the moonlight only chased the moonlights - both sets generally leaving the others alone...floating plants and or lilies also help with gouramis as they will often go to the surface to breathe - and the presence of such provides both shade from lighting for the fish as well as a sense of security from predators (real or imagined)...
 
#12 ·
#13 ·
Alright, so I'm leaning towards gouramis. Would you guys recommend 3? I do plant on decorating it heavily, so that's not too much of an issue. From what I've seen, don't cardinals tend to stay in the middle or towards the bottom? I like cardinals more than neons just because of their size.
 
#17 ·
Hi again...not sure of the official space requirements for gouramis...I know that honeys can get about the size of an adults palm...would prefer to have one of the experts provide their opinions...both can be somewhat shy at times and cardinals stress easy - so I suggest maybe a planted tank with both floating plants or lillys and some sort of ground cover like a clover (which I've never had much luck with)...with a 40g it should be pretty fun to get really creative with natural habitat wise...can't wait to see what u come up with...oh, also maybe the dwarf and cardinals coloration are too similar, but that's all up to personal taste...
 
#18 ·
I do plan on heavily decorating the tank. No live plants, all artificial, but there'll be a lot of them. If we don't get the gouramis, we'll go with a lot of cardinals haha.

And one last thing...

If I have an already-established tank, should I cycle the tank or just add some substrate and filter media and just put the fish in. I also use PRIME conditioner, which actually bonds ammonia for about 24 hours...
 
#19 ·
Contrary to how it may seem, you do not have to put live plants in your tank - the fish will do just fine with silk plants. And I thought I was the only one here who doesn't want a heavily planted tank....

All you have to do is add the established filter media to the new filter. As long as you don't overload it with fish right from the start, there will be no lag time. And time that I do something that may cause a lag in the cycle, I don't feed the tank for a couple days, which helps them to catch up. Feeding only makes for more work for the bacteria. I also dose with prime as a precaution, for a couple days.
 
#20 ·
That sounds good! So my tank is nuked. All the gravel has been washed with super hot water from the tap, the filter has been dried out, old media is gone, everything else has been dried out...no way anything survived that, right? right?! Anyway...I'll probably get the plants as soon and possible. When I get the fish I'll switch the media .
 
#21 ·
Cool! Artificial vs real doesn't really matter...so long as both provide hiding places, spawning sites, and shelter...when my cichlids get large and destructive I usually go artificial too...really its just novel right now for me because this is the first time I've had success with them....in the past I was the cause of many a plants death....not sure how safe this is, but I used to get my artificial plants at a craft shop out here called Michael's....large, realistic, and CHEAP....for better looking than those at lfs...didn't see any signs of deterioration either...
 
#22 ·
Sorry to bug again...but I was thumbing thru the net and came across numerous really awesome tanks housing cardinals or neons and discus...while Ive raised gouramis, I've never done discus (hope I'm spelling that right)...but always wanted to....just a thought....they're really beautiful looking together....
 
#23 ·
Cardinals are a common choice with discus because they like warmer water. Neons actually prefer colder water.

Discus are an option, though I have heard that they are a lot of work - big reason why I don't have them. And I don't heat my tanks.


Sent from Petguide.com App
 
#25 ·
...rather than research I just went with the fish store guy...never again.
Seems to be a common theme. You really just don't know what you don't know until you know... you know?:-D

Jeff.
 
#26 ·
Alright, so I went to my LFS to see the fish IRL, and I fell in love with the blue dwarf gourami. I remember reading only 1 per tank? More?

I also saw honey gouramis. I still need a number on how many or what sort of mix (m:f)

I also saw some pretty looking neons (good size too). I plan on 20 neons with an assortment of gouramis. *in an urgent voice* I NEED NUMBERS PEOPLE haha
 
#30 ·
*mind change again*

Alright, now it feels like I'm just changing my mind...I'm fairly certain on the rasboras, but I saw some dwarf gouramis and fell in love with them...

Alright...so how many (powder blue) dwarf gouramis? I hear they're more aggressive, so only one? A combination of dwarf and pearl? (I know they ARE different species)

Thanks for putting up with my questions!
 
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