New member & first timer

bucaday

You can get a school of danios, if they are what you really want in your tank.

Platy is a great fish to start out with but I agree you will get fry very QUICKLY. if you have fry, I recommend a breeder tank.
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Guppie luver

Most likley you could do like 2 or 3 male platys and maby a school of danios but not realy.

lilras

Okay so I bought the substrate, driftwood and Anacharis plants. did another set up then conditioned the water. Everything is back on.

I did an ammonia test for the tap water only without conditioner, ammonia level came out to .5ppm. I aslo tested the hardiness of it, and it's pretty hard. Between 150 to 300ppm. This is WITHOUT the tap-water conditioner.

I have a question though, should i get a small tank (5 gal?) as a quarantine tank before I put the fish in the original tank. Or could I do it with the fish inside the bag, and have it float in the tank for a while before setting the fish free?

this is a picture of the set up so far, i'd probably get a few more plants soon. The store didn't have much of "good" Anacharis left.
And then I'll be able to know what kind of setup I want lol

Temp is currently at 78 degrees.

How's everything looking so far?

bucaday

you can do it with the bag floating in the water so the fish could acclimate to the tank water.
make sure you cycle your tank first (nitrogen cycle) then put your fish in, but if you like you can cycle with your fish in the tank

Guppie luver

Net the fish before putting them in the tank to keep the store water out and put some tank water in the bag and add it slowly.

Byron

On the ammonia: this must be in your tap water. Have you tested just the tap water on its own? If ammonia is present, I would recommend a water conditioner that detoxifies ammonia as well as chlorine and chloramine. Not all do, check the label.

On the quarantine: once you have an established aquarium, quarantining new fish is wise. But in the initial setup with the first fish, I myself wouldn't bother, since this is a smallish tank and there is nothing in it yet fish-wise.

As mentioned by others, float the bag for several minutes (15-30) to even the temperature; sudden temp changes can severely shock and stress fish, so this slowly gets the bag water to the temp of the tank. Then open the bag, being careful not to let water out into the tank; if the bag is quite full, I remove some of the water and discard it. Then use a small cup or something similar to add some water from the aquarium into the bag, maybe a cupful. Wait 10-15 minutes. With hardy fish this is usually sufficient, but with sensitive species I repeat this step, sometimes twice more. When ready, use a small fishnet to transfer the fish.

You will need more plants first, to handle the initial ammonia from the fish. If not, another way to "seed" bacteria is with a good bacterial supplement. There are two I know of that work. Seachem's Stability and Tetra's SafeStart. A small bottle of either will be sufficient. These products contain live bacteria to jumpstart the colony.

redchigh

What kind of light is in that hood? It looks extremely blue to me.

One of the most fool-proof methods of cycling is the shrimp method... Basically, you get a small shrimp (from the seafood department of a grocery store), place it in a piece of pantyhose or mesh, and hang it beside your filter. IT will decompose, creating ammonia. Seems a lot better than buying a huge bottle of ammonia and dosing daily... If you have a shrimp in the tank you can pretty much ignore it, and just test the water every week or so.

In my opinion, a Bristlenose Pleco is do-able in a 10 gallon since they stay small. If you just want something active on the bottom though, cories or shrimp would be better.

Since you have basic water, rather than neons, I would try to find Celestial Pearl Danio.
It may be listed as Celestichthys margaritatus or Danio margaritatus. They are very beautiful fish, and fairly hardy. (compared to neons.)

lilras

I tested just the tap water on its own yesterday. Ammonia level came out to .5 ppm

I just bought a new water conditioner which is API tap water conditioner (removes chlorine and detoxify chloramines and heavy metals) which i added to the water last night for the 2nd set up. Ammonia level is at .25 ppm just like it was with the first set up.

I'm guessing I would need another water conditioner or is this fine and the plants will take care of this?

This is a white florescent bulb. 8,000k full spectrum daylight 15w

lilras

Added a few Anubias and Anacharis to the tank today.

Temp is at 82 degrees

I'm going to go ahead with the fishless cycle using shrimp. Which I will begin tomorrow.
From what I read, this will help provide a steady flow of ammonia.
Would i be able to "seed" bacteria with bacteria supplement bottle with this cycling method to help kick start the bacteria colony?

How long does the cycling usually take? And what about the pwc i'd have to do after it is completed.

Tank so far, still trying to figure out what kind of set up I want lol

lilras

Maybe I could go with a Zoo Med t-5 HO flora sun max plant growth fluorescent bulb for the plants in my tank? Or should I leave the tank lightning as is?
I have the standard 15w fluorescent bulb full spectrum daylight.