Tropical Fish

[VW BUSH]

Maybe a little cold hearted but 99% of people who start up a tank do something stupid and wipe out most of their stock.
It takes time to learn and patience which is seldom found these days, most folk will buy the biggest shiniest fish in the shop and sod the good advice folk give them.
From a financial point of view it makes sense, ethically we could argue all day, would I rather see someone learn on guppies and tetra's? Yes.
Not everyone takes to fish keeping especially tropical, and it pains me to see long lived fish sitting in a zombie tank until they all die or the owner gives them up to a river.

[Rislar]

Try African Milawies, excellent Fish and hardy 

[vw_golf_nutter]

african malawis will not fit in a 60 litre tank!! you need to seriously overstock african malawis to disperse aggresion as they are very aggresive towards each other!
the only cichlids you could keep in this size tank is tanganyikan cichilds and even then you are only looking at a pair.

if you are a beginner i would suggest doing some serious research from decent sources and not going on advice from joe bloggs of your local fish shop who will undoubtedly sell you something unsuitable because they are there to make money at the end of the day.

[T_J_G]

Yeah the tank size is approx 24 inches. We have now purchased the tank and stand as it was on special offer at Pets at Home.

We have done plenty of research into the cycling, can anyone recommend a test kit? The tank won't be set up for a while as its not ideal at the moment. But some quick cycle stuff came with the tank so should have it running nicely in about a week.

[vw_golf_nutter]

http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/catalog/api-freshwater-master-test-kit-p-1091.html

By far the best and most acurate.

I am guessing u got stress zyme with the tank and it tells you to add some then add some hardy fish?
If you google stress zyme reviews you will see its no good and doesnt cycle your tank.

If you are not planning on getting fish for a while could you not set it up and get it cycling? It will prob take 4 weeks for the tank to cycle. You need to add a source of ammonia, i use a prawn and put it in a fish net at the top of the tank, it will break down and start off the bacteria you need to keep your tank clean.
If you test everyday for Ammonia, And Nitrite you should see them peak then fall and when they are back to 0 you test for Nitrate, at this point it will be high but you do about 50% water change then test again.
You should then add a few fish, if you leave the water with no source of ammonia the bacteria will die and you need to start all over again.
As i say, you should allow 4 weeks.

[T_J_G]

Nope can't have it up and running til we've moved house.

I'll have a look at what potions we've got and update this, we aren't going to rush in to this.

Edit: nutrafin cycle - says tank ready in 48 hours although will leave longer and test levels.

[Britman]

It wasnt intentional I didnt end up selling the rest, I thought looked quite spacious for 6 the tank is acually 35 by 35 height and is 45 deep, unsure what the litre tha makes it. I thought was big enough, they are female and not very big fish. Everyone seams to say something different same on some forums.

I ment to quote the reply must picked wrong thing 

[vw_golf_nutter]

There is a good site, aqadvisor that you put your tank dimensions in and the fish you have/want and it tells you of any potential problems and how stocked your tank is. Worth a look.

[T_J_G]

After a very long wait to get the house we've made some progress. Was going to set it up but haven't got any gravel.

Please ignore the 1980s curtains   

[VW BUSH]

90 ltrs?