My tank is cylced,what to add??? :)

Hi,
Looking for any inputs into what to add to my 30l tank, Its finally cycled and the fish that I bought with it have all survived!
1 male crown tail betta
2 male guppies

so the question is what can I add?

Tentatively, I was thinking 4 more male guppies and otocinculus or some or other small corys...

how many otos or corys need to be added together to keep themselves happy (schooling)?
my betta hasn't had any gripes with the 2 guppies there currently, will adding more p*ss him off? (he is more important to me than the guppies are)
will adding more guppies put my betta at risk?
what other small (5 cm or less at maturity) can be kept with the guppies and betta (I know the guppies and betta should not be kept together, but they are putting up with each other quite nicely)

any other suggestions more than welcome.

 

What filter do you have in the tank? How often do you test your water parameters, and do the results of the tests determine when you do water changes? At the moment you have a very small bio load in the tank, if you have good filtration that cycle the water volume of your tank 6 to 8 time a hour, and you do regular water changes, you will be able to put more fish than the recommended quantity in your tank. If you have poor filtration and dont keep up with the water changes the tank can become over stocked very quickly. You need to give more information about you setup.

 

uuuurrrmmmm, I have some or other very primitive corner filter... nothing fancy. I dont really test my water, unless I have cause to, havent been able to get hold of a test kit, so take the water to the lps for testing.
At the moment I do a 20% water change every week (I'm religious about this), and add some nutrafin cycle to the water at every change.

 

Those corner filters that run off air pump are ineffective. The flow rate is unknown and the filter media capacity is to small. If you can, rather get a filter like a HOB or an internal filter with a spray bar. With these you will have a good idea of how many times they cycling the tanks volume in an hour. If you can't, get the best air pump that you can, but if you shop around you will be able to get another filter for less that R200. I would rather get two smaller filters that give the same flow rate per hour as one big one. So, if one packs up, you don't lose all the filtration in your tank.
I run my 300l tank of two canister filters, one of 1200 liter per hour and another of 700 liter per hour. To this I have added a internal filter with a output of 800 liter per hour. That give me a cycle of about 9 times per hour, and the tank is actually under stocked.

 

@miccimarie I agree with kuhli loach. Even if you can get one hang on the back filter and run it with your corner filter it should be enough depending on the bio load. Try and turn your tank around at least 3 to 4 times a hour. Most my tanks turn at that rate and it is working for me.

Hope this helps

 

@HeinrichvH & @Kuhli Loach, what you are saying deeply saddens me... I just want new fish, not a new filter ;P

My tank is one of those cheapo's with a flimsy black plastic lid (need the lid for the betta) I presume I can't use a HOB on a tank with a close & low fitting lid, can I?

I don't really know much about this stuff, if I am gonna start shopping, what am I looking for? So a 30l tank I would need filter flow rate of atleast 120l/hr for an hourly turn around rate of 4 or above, no?
what other options are there?
FEED MEEEEE.....

 

You can buy a little internal power filter easily enough. 120lph should be fine. I have several, though I've upgraded/pimped all the media from what they came with. Be sure not to get one which has special catridge replacement media - you ideally just want a little powerhead perched over an empty basket/box then you can use pukka media that doesn't cost a fortune to replace... ok, just a sec, I'm gonna go take a pic for you, it's easier than trying to explain what I mean!

 

ok, here's one: it's not my favourite, I have another that skips the internal catridge, thus giving MUCH more media space, but here's the idea anyway...



Then, the VERY dirty internal housing:


the little box that once held carbon, now has Matrix (sorry, its blurry!)

 

Putting it back together my way:

sandwich style, first batting, then sponge:

finally, ready to reinsert:


I run 2 similar ones in my 50L std 2ft/60cm tank, the other with a much larger amount of Matrix. HTH!

 

@miccimarie, why do you need a canopy for the batta? I am sure he will do quite fine without it, or you can get a piece of glass, cut to the right size to fit on the tank and to accommodate the HOB. The other option is an internal power filter, but make sure it is one with spray bar. With either the HOB or the filter with spay bar you will not create too much current in the tank.
120 liter per hour should be fine taking in to consideration that you let the corner filter run as well. But I would rather aim for something in the 150 to 200 liter per hour.
I know Boyu make a small canister filter, have one myself. Flow rate of 200 liter per hour, and the advantage is that you have more that enough space for filter media. You can even add a sponge on the inlet to work as a pre-filter.

 

guys, i really dont think we need to over complicate this, its only a 30L tank. @miccimarie you should be able to get a tiny internal filter with an air venturi or a spray bar attachment rated at about 300L/h for around R60 or R70. you can normally adjust these to operate slower or faster as you see fit, with the betta, you may want to set the speed a bit slower.

as for stocking your tank, you could keep 5 guppies with the betta, but you have to observe them, iether he may go for them, or they may end up nipping him, guppies and betta's sometimes work well together, sometimes not. its something to observe.. you could then add one or 2 more little fish but not much more than that. make sure the fish you add are not agressive fish.

another thing to watch for is that your guppies may end up breeding and then the betta will end up being constipated from eating too many baby guppies. so you should be fine as long as you keep an eye on the tank. if they breed, net the babies as soon as you can and get them into a breeding tank or breeding net.

best of luck.

 

With smaller tanks you have to pay special attention to the filtration. Due to the smaller volume things go wrong very fast if they do. So make sure you have great filtration and this includes the filter media that you are going to use. If you do this right and keep to the water change schedule you won't be sorry and have fish dying for no apparent reason. Smaller tank need more attention to water parameters than bigger tanks. You might even consider doing two water changes a week.

 

Don't want to burst everyone's bubble here... but the smaller the tank, the more focus you need to give on the filter. Internal filters in a small tank is really not a good idea in my opinion, purely because even the smallest of internal filters creates too much current. And we all know that Betta's don't like current either. So I'd seriously advise you to rather look into a small HOB. And yes, the plastic canopy thing can be cut to accomodate a HOB easily.

 

Just a quick question here ... Why is everybody knocking the old school stuff like corner filters and ugf and the like i still use some in some of my tanks and have'nt had a fish death in more than a year
Les :bigsmile:

 

Because its old school... LOL,

IMO, there are simply better things out there now. Science does not change, the old school stuff mostly works if you do things right, BUT there are simply more effcient things around these days IMO.

 

fshygirl101 i agree totally some things are better now and easier to use but a lot more expensive for the normal guy who allso want to enjoy the hobby :blink1: imo lol

 

look, i hear what you guys are saying with more water changes per week and all of that stuff, but you know what, sometimes the fish just do better when you mess less with the tank and the water, believe me, i am an advocate for doing more frequent water changes, you can see that from so many of my previous posts on this forum, but in reality, with a much smaller tank, the paramater that is affected most by small water volume is temperature when you leave the tank alone, but when you fiddle with it more often, the ph can swing much more violently in a small tank than in a tank that holds more volume of water.. so removing and adding water to a small tank more often than usual, can actually cause lots of problems.. there are many factors to take into consideration, and if you keep your stocking levels correct, you can get away with it, as for the filtration for the betta, @Zoom , you are probably right and a HOB might be a better option in terms of current, but those little internal filters can be adjusted to not be quite so powerful, and can be used until such time as you can afford a HOB which costs considerably more..

you know.. a fellow fish keeper and i were chatting now the other day, and we were remarking on how well some people's fish were doing, and it was the "lazy people' that only do water changes once every 3 weeks or so, but the fish are vibrant and growing really well.. and we actually came up with the conclusion that even tho the water changes are important for fish, so is stability. we as fish keeper's need to find balance.. i remember one of the members on this forum once speaking about when he first started to keep fish many many years ago, when test kits and things were not available to the general public, and he said they used to call the tank "balanced" when things were just going along smoothly, and that they didnt fiddle too much with a tank either, i cant remember the member's name, but he's the dude with thousands of swords and platties and guppies in his ponds... @Zoom, you were astonished when you learned he had to feed his fish with hands full of fish food.. do you remember the guy?

anyway, i dont know if you guys hear what i'm saying but its something to think about surely?

 

With better marketers, devising clever ways of locking you into their shiny product too.

 

I agree with @Reaper.

I would simply replace the corner filter with a sponge filter and still run it off the air pump.

Even it does take up space, the bacterial capacity is much better. Some models have suctions cups for side mounting.

My 2c.

 

thanks for all the responses here I figure with help like this it's hard to stay a noob for too long around here... will see what's available and check back for a jury decision