Its time! It's 9 days since I first poured water in the tank and Ammonia/Nitrite levels are both zero. I put some fish food and other junk in the aquarium so that it can rot and produce Ammonia, but since the levels are still stuck at zero, I think the cycling is complete. I am not sure because usually these levels shoot up before returning to zero. May be the Fluorite gravel already had a colony of bacteria (it was wet at least).
In anycase, we decided to get our first fishes today. First fish in are going to be a schooling fish. Schooling fish in general do not have individual personality, and I personally do not find them very interesting to watch. They are still good to have as they add a lot of motion to the tank, and they also help other fishes to feel more comfortable. Local Petsmart/Petco did not have many options, the standard tetras and barbs. I used to have neon tetras before, and wanted something different this time. One interesting fish was Threadfin Rainbow. The problem with all rainbows is that they usually show there colors only when water quality is excellent and they are extremely comfortable. In stores, they are usually too stressed out are are quite dull. They looked dull in the shop, and Shailja wanted color and we settled on Harlequin Rasboara. I wanted to get 6 of these, but the Petsmart fish guy convinced us that since we have a new tank, we should only get 2 and not 6. I did not like that idea too much since these fishes are supposed to be schooling fish and must be kept in large groups. We settled on 3 with reservations.
I was right, and three was too few. When we got home, one of the fish seemed sick, it hung out near the very top separate from the other two. The other two were usually together but looked stressed out, hiding in the plants or behind rocks and trying to remain stationary. Two of them died over the next few days
In anycase, we decided to get our first fishes today. First fish in are going to be a schooling fish. Schooling fish in general do not have individual personality, and I personally do not find them very interesting to watch. They are still good to have as they add a lot of motion to the tank, and they also help other fishes to feel more comfortable. Local Petsmart/Petco did not have many options, the standard tetras and barbs. I used to have neon tetras before, and wanted something different this time. One interesting fish was Threadfin Rainbow. The problem with all rainbows is that they usually show there colors only when water quality is excellent and they are extremely comfortable. In stores, they are usually too stressed out are are quite dull. They looked dull in the shop, and Shailja wanted color and we settled on Harlequin Rasboara. I wanted to get 6 of these, but the Petsmart fish guy convinced us that since we have a new tank, we should only get 2 and not 6. I did not like that idea too much since these fishes are supposed to be schooling fish and must be kept in large groups. We settled on 3 with reservations.
I was right, and three was too few. When we got home, one of the fish seemed sick, it hung out near the very top separate from the other two. The other two were usually together but looked stressed out, hiding in the plants or behind rocks and trying to remain stationary. Two of them died over the next few days
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| Harlequin Rasboras |
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