# would this be a happy tank?



## nuthingspecial (Feb 23, 2005)

hi,
Im new to the fish hobby. one day i decided to go for it. I thought it was going to be a nice way to relax until i researched what i needed. it made i pretty big hole i my pocket but i feel that it is going to be worth it. so i bought: 1 30 gal. long w/ fitting top, a peguin 350 biowheel, a 150watt heater,20 lbs. of gravel, 8 fake plants, a cave, an air pump, a bubble wand, and a weird waterfall thing that i dunno why i bought but whatever. i also got all the test stuff to. so i setup the tank and let the filter run for 4 days to get anything that was in the tank. i wanted to wait a week but my mom went ahead and bought fish when i went to my friend house. oh well. she got 2 tiger barbs and 2 tin-foil barbs. these are alright for cycling the tank right? i read up about both and i think in the long run ill probably add 4 more tiger barbs. as the for the tin-foils i dunno about those since they can get up to be 13 inches. I blame petco for not fully describing the needs for the fish. but whatever ill probably will get a 70 gal. in a year. so that is my story. now for my questions. do i need to put salt in my aquarium? if so how much and do you recomend any certain type of salt? another thing is, with my barbs will i be able to keep an electric blue cichlid? if not what about some gouramis? also, i might want to get some snails or something to clean up any algae. ive been looking around town for a place with snails, but so far, nothing. another thing, do you recomend any fish types with the barbs? im considering anything right now. i dont really know any other fish i might want. i want really colorful fish maybe 4-5 inches. 
thanks for your time.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Sounds like you've got a super setup!

In my opinion, the first thing you should do is take back the tinfoil barns annd get 2 more tiger barbs. Yes, you should have 6 tigers eventually, but you don't want too many fish in there while you're cycling the tank. And I think that tiger barbs woul d be good for cycling your tank. Barbs in general are quite tough fish.

Skip the salt! Unless you're seeing evidence of nitrate poisoning, and then you only need a very small amount of salt, *much* less than the 1 tsp/gallon sor of thing that many people recommend. See
http://www.algone.com/salt_in_fresh.htm
for more info.
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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Sounds fine to me, with the exception of the tinfoil barbs... if your fish end up not making it through the cycle. Do a fishless one instead . Take a piece of cocktail shrimp and let it decompose in your tank, check your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates every day or every other day until you've got 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 10-20 nitrates. That means your all cycled and ready for fish... (this can take 4-6 weeks sometimes so be patient). 

For fish I would recomend 
5 Tiger barbs
2 dwarf gouramis of some sort
3 oto catfish (they will take care of your algae and stay much smaller than plecos)
and maybe some Platys, or Mollys, or Tetras that don't get to big.


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

Ya I would take back the tinfoil barbs... they grow huge in a little amount of time, I had them in a 29G and that was a HUGE mistake. I'd keep the tiger barbs through the cycle...
No you cant keep a cichlid with tigers tecnically but I have and they were fine. 
Sounds like a nice setup! And Welcome! :fun:


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

welcome to fish forums! srry no experience here with tiger barbs! had a tinfoil barb once, but he got big so we took him back, he became a huge tweaker


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## Imbrium (Feb 7, 2005)

With the tiger barbs you'll want to avoid any fish with long fins, because they will nip them.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

tiger barbs as fin nippers are slightly over rated... (basically it depends on the fish you get) IME a group of tiger barbs aren't horrible as long as they aren't extremely long fins... I have sailfin mollys in my tank and the barbs don't pay any attention to them.


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## Imbrium (Feb 7, 2005)

I had a group of tiger barbs that were so aggresive they had to be kept by themselves, and even then they went after eachother. I'm sure not all of them are like that, but the potential is there. I wouldn't hesitate to put them in a community tank with shortfinned fish, but I would definately advise caution.


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## nuthingspecial (Feb 23, 2005)

*is it ich*

i was watching my fish that my mom got for the nitrogen cycle, and i saw that my tiger barbs were chasing each other when i noticed that they always seemed to rub up against a certain rock that i put in there. its pretty big, about 5inches in diameter and very smooth. but whenever they pass it they rub it with their bellies. when the tin-foils chase each other and pass it they dont do that. is this ich? if it is, what should i do? should i get a quarintine tank and put them in? if i do that, will i be able to complete the nitrogen cycle?
-thanks


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

its probably either ammonia burn (water quality issues) since you exposed your fish to the cycle. Get your water tested first, if everything checks out it might be ich, but I doubt it. Sometimes fish just scratch cuz it feels good (kinda like when someone scratches your back) but my guess is its water quality.


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## nuthingspecial (Feb 23, 2005)

well if it is the ammonia burn, since i tested the water and got between 2.0 and 3.0, should i halt the cycle, return the fish to the lfs, and begin a fishless cycle?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

I would recommend the fishless cycle!!! If you can take them back I would. Then get a cocktail shrimp and throw a piece of it in the tank. Get your water tested every two or three days and when they parameters look like this

Ammonia - 0 
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 5-20

You are ready for fish!


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