New fishkeeper, advice sought

Hi Folks,

I've recently been feverishly browsing the net looking for info on setting
up a freshwater tropical tank, but I can't find the answer to this
particular conundrum on any website and can't rely on the advice of my local
fish shop.
The fish shop in question sold me a betta, pleco and small (approx 10 litre)
tank three weeks ago. I went in believing that a betta was a delicate
tropical species and came out having been told it was a hardy 'all weather'
species which could breathe air and was used to a natural habitat of mud
ponds- dark and murky. Lies, I now know, but not in time to save my poor
betta who succombed to a fungal infection the day before we were due to move
him to a new home - a heated, lit and filtered 50 litre tank.
The pleco survives and is in the tank, since my newly purchased ammonia and
nitrate tests (and the dead betta) showed that the old tank wasn't safe by a
long shot.
So now the pleco is in the tank with two plants, mod cons, shelter and a
piece of cucumber which he is ignoring. I want to cycle the tank fully
before introducing any new fish and I'm aware that plecos aren't an ideal
species for this (ideally I'd be doing a fishless cycle but it's a bit late
for that). The question is, is a 2" pleco going to be ok in an uncycled 11
gallon tank while the bacteria get their act together?
The tank has had AquaSafe chlorine treatment, "Stress Zyme" bacterial
supplement (though I've recently read that such supplements are pretty
useless) and a dose of anti-fungus, in case the pleco is at risk from the
infection that killed the betta. The funcicide is phenoxyethanol based and
claims to be "harmless to filters and all species of fish and plants".
A small amount of water from the old tank will have made its way into the
new tank while transferring the pleco, though I think the problem was water
quality rather than any virus or unusual pathogen. I still have the old
tank, in case I find out that I can speed things up by recycling the gravel
(after a good rinse) - perhaps I could test it out with a dose of ammonia in
some fresh (dechlorinated) water?

My current plan is to keep testing, replacing a portion of the water
depending on results, until the tank stabilises.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer,

David

PS. Can anyone recommend a good fish shop in London?

I forgot to also ask:

Ultimately I'd like the tank to contain some shoaling fish, and if possible
another betta. The shoaling fish are more important and I've heard that fast
shoalers can damage bettas' fins - is this true?

Thanks,

David

The fish shop in question sold me a betta, pleco and small (approx 10
litre)
tank three weeks ago. I went in believing that a betta was a delicate
tropical species and came out having been told it was a hardy 'all
weather'
species which could breathe air and was used to a natural habitat of mud
ponds- dark and murky. Lies, I now know, but not in time to save my poor
betta who succombed to a fungal infection the day before we were due to
move
him to a new home - a heated, lit and filtered 50 litre tank.

Not really. Wild bettas do in fact live in little more than puddles in their
natural habitat. They have developed the ability to breathe atmospheric air
because of the lack of oxygen in these small patches of water. Also, because
the body of water is so small, there are quite considerable fluctuations in
temperature throughout the day.

That said, it is no excuse for not looking after them properly in captivity.

So now the pleco is in the tank with two plants, mod cons, shelter and a
piece of cucumber which he is ignoring. I want to cycle the tank fully
before introducing any new fish and I'm aware that plecos aren't an ideal
species for this (ideally I'd be doing a fishless cycle but it's a bit
late
for that). The question is, is a 2" pleco going to be ok in an uncycled 11
gallon tank while the bacteria get their act together?

The fish you have in there will be safe enough so long as you don't overload
the filter with waste products.i found the best way to feed a plec was to
cur a 2" circle of cucumber and put a plant weight through the rind. Put it
in the tank just before light's out and in the morning you should have a
perfect circle cut out and the rind intact.

The tank has had AquaSafe chlorine treatment, "Stress Zyme" bacterial
supplement (though I've recently read that such supplements are pretty
useless) and a dose of anti-fungus, in case the pleco is at risk from the
infection that killed the betta. The funcicide is phenoxyethanol based and
claims to be "harmless to filters and all species of fish and plants".

I have used StressZyme on a regular basis over the past 10 years. Not sure
if it actually does a lot though. You may be better off getting hold of
Waterlife's Bacterlife instead. It is a little more expensive but has a
different conncentration of bacteria. Again, not sure how long they live
once put in a bottle, but....

A small amount of water from the old tank will have made its way into the
new tank while transferring the pleco, though I think the problem was
water
quality rather than any virus or unusual pathogen. I still have the old
tank, in case I find out that I can speed things up by recycling the
gravel
(after a good rinse) - perhaps I could test it out with a dose of ammonia
in
some fresh (dechlorinated) water?

This is one of the best ways to seed a new tank. Your gravel will have
bacteria in it from your old aquarium. If it still had water in it, I would
say to rinse the gravel thoroughly in the old tank's water before
transferring it over to the new one. You don't want to run it under tap
water otherwise what little bacteria you have will die. That said, you will
need to clean it under the tap if the gravel has been sat in the tank and
gone stagnant.

PS. Can anyone recommend a good fish shop in London?

I'm in Leeds so that doesn't help. But if you say whereabouts in London, you
may get a better response.

Regards

Mark

I started keeping fish in August and one of the best advice sites I found
was http://faq.thekrib.com/begin.html

I feed my pleco Hikari's Sinking Wafers - he loves them - one most evenings
and he has almost doubled in size in 2 months!!!

Good luck

Simon


"Marksfish" wrote in message
...
The fish shop in question sold me a betta, pleco and small (approx 10
litre)
tank three weeks ago. I went in believing that a betta was a delicate
tropical species and came out having been told it was a hardy 'all
weather'
species which could breathe air and was used to a natural habitat of mud
ponds- dark and murky. Lies, I now know, but not in time to save my poor
betta who succombed to a fungal infection the day before we were due to
move
him to a new home - a heated, lit and filtered 50 litre tank.

Not really. Wild bettas do in fact live in little more than puddles in
their
natural habitat. They have developed the ability to breathe atmospheric
air
because of the lack of oxygen in these small patches of water. Also,
because
the body of water is so small, there are quite considerable fluctuations
in
temperature throughout the day.

That said, it is no excuse for not looking after them properly in
captivity.

So now the pleco is in the tank with two plants, mod cons, shelter and a
piece of cucumber which he is ignoring. I want to cycle the tank fully
before introducing any new fish and I'm aware that plecos aren't an
ideal
species for this (ideally I'd be doing a fishless cycle but it's a bit
late
for that). The question is, is a 2" pleco going to be ok in an uncycled
11
gallon tank while the bacteria get their act together?

The fish you have in there will be safe enough so long as you don't
overload
the filter with waste products.i found the best way to feed a plec was to
cur a 2" circle of cucumber and put a plant weight through the rind. Put
it
in the tank just before light's out and in the morning you should have a
perfect circle cut out and the rind intact.

The tank has had AquaSafe chlorine treatment, "Stress Zyme" bacterial
supplement (though I've recently read that such supplements are pretty
useless) and a dose of anti-fungus, in case the pleco is at risk from
the
infection that killed the betta. The funcicide is phenoxyethanol based
and
claims to be "harmless to filters and all species of fish and plants".

I have used StressZyme on a regular basis over the past 10 years. Not sure
if it actually does a lot though. You may be better off getting hold of
Waterlife's Bacterlife instead. It is a little more expensive but has a
different conncentration of bacteria. Again, not sure how long they live
once put in a bottle, but....

A small amount of water from the old tank will have made its way into
the
new tank while transferring the pleco, though I think the problem was
water
quality rather than any virus or unusual pathogen. I still have the old
tank, in case I find out that I can speed things up by recycling the
gravel
(after a good rinse) - perhaps I could test it out with a dose of
ammonia
in
some fresh (dechlorinated) water?

This is one of the best ways to seed a new tank. Your gravel will have
bacteria in it from your old aquarium. If it still had water in it, I
would
say to rinse the gravel thoroughly in the old tank's water before
transferring it over to the new one. You don't want to run it under tap
water otherwise what little bacteria you have will die. That said, you
will
need to clean it under the tap if the gravel has been sat in the tank and
gone stagnant.

PS. Can anyone recommend a good fish shop in London?

I'm in Leeds so that doesn't help. But if you say whereabouts in London,
you
may get a better response.

Regards

Mark