Newbie Questions

Definately keep to small fish when fully grown. I have only had fish for 5
months and soon upgraded from 96 litre(2'6" along front) to 260 litre (4'
front) There is so much more activity in the larger tank even with the same
fish, my tetras love the extra space as do the platies. Each are considered
suitable for your size tank. My planted first tank didn't give enough cover
when the inevitable "bully" appears and there always seems to be one!!, but
my large tank has no such problems. When it has cycled, cories are
delightful for the bottom, again get 3 or 4 of the smaller ones and keep it
simple to start with by either a fishless cycle or 3 fish to cycle with and
lots of small water changes to minimise the stress for them. I cycled with 3
platies (didn''t know any better at the time) who are still thriving, with
the inevitable fry on day10 of the cycle, who are now beautiful fish and I
kept them all!! I now have 21 platies, who IMO are great. I have angels,
tetra, otos and cories, but my platies add colour and activity, they are
always busy, and the angels now are helping with the inevitable population
explosion that comes with livebearers.
So, keep it simple, there are plenty of sites who recommend good first fish
and the reasons why.
wrote in message
...
I have just purchased my first tank and would like some tips from you
experts.

I have a 2ft tank have filled it up with water, heater is set for 26C and
the water temp is steady at that temp. I have bought a water softening
pillow and put in the filter for 24 hours (as I have extremely hard water
in
my area) I have also Added some tap water conditioner to the tank as well
as
some water clearing solution. When Can I add the fish?

There are 4 plants in the tank and I have added a large rock feature
(plastic resin) for the fish. I have got a PH testing kit and the PH level
is now at 7.0 which I am told is good for a mixed fish tank.

Regarding the PH levels. My tap water was a PH of 8 which was a little bit
too high, now to lower this I used water from my tap water filter (the
ones
you use to filter your drinking water) as I did a test on this water and
the
PH level was 5.5 so I guessed that adding this water would eventually
balance the PH level out.

1. Ok now what fish should I get?

2. How many fish will this tank sustain without being overcrowded? I would
like fish that don't eat each other and no fish that grow larger than a
few
centimetres.

3. Is my cheap solution an ok way of balancing the PH levels out?

4. What other "stuff" do I need to get i.e. ammonia testers, as I have
seen
so much stuff my head is spinning.

5. What food is good for the fish I am about to get??

6. When I do a small water change(not the whole tank) do I have to warm
the
new water up or can I just add it a bit at a time?

7. Anything else you can think of that might help



TIA

my e-mail address is blazer666(at)rapidplay(dot)com