Can someone give me the basics on a fresh water set-up

[epleeds]

I have no fresh water experience....so go easy on me...

 

i just got a 2.5 gallon fresh water set up for my kids. I went to Petco and got a small gold fish, and two other small fishes. I bought some of that water conditioner and put that in per the directions. I have some crushed coral substrate in there, a few fake plants and some shells.

 

Do i need to do anything to it aside from changing the water out every few weeks and feeding the fish?

 

Do i need an air stone or anything else?

 

thanks..

[roni]

I have no fresh water experience....so go easy on me...

 

i just got a 2.5 gallon fresh water set up for my kids. I went to Petco and got a small gold fish, and two other small fishes. I bought some of that water conditioner and put that in per the directions. I have some crushed coral substrate in there, a few fake plants and some shells.

 

Do i need to do anything to it aside from changing the water out every few weeks and feeding the fish?

 

Do i need an air stone or anything else?

 

thanks..

 

goldfish produce a lot of waste. what other fish are in there? probably a little too high a bioload. a female betta makes a low impact inhabitant in a 2.5. if you are diligent about water changes, you can probably make it work. if the kids aren't too attached to the fish, i'd change them out, get pH neutral gravel, and maybe get a few live plants. i have a 2.5 that we never changed water on that was running >2 yrs with live plants as the only filtration.

[treesprite]

First, you can't use crushed coral with fresh water fish because it raises the pH when most freshwater fish need a low pH. Most tetras and many other tropicals, need pH between about 6.8 and 7.6.

 

I agree with Roni on the gold fish - they are dirty, also it's not good to mix goldfish and tropicals. Also, if you look on some websites you will find that many people are against keeping goldfish in tanks that small.

 

Not sure why Roni specified female betta over male - males are ten times prettier. They may be ok in a tank that size, but contrary to popular pet store belief, they need more space than those little "betta bowls".

 

Some really small type tetras would be good, like 2 or three. Whiteclouds are very small - you could probably put 3 in there. Neon tetras maybe at most two.

 

Plants are important in a freshwater tank IMO - the more the better. Some folks will tell you plants need certain substrates - I stick them in the regular gravel and they do fine.

 

If it was me, for a tank that size, I'd put in 3 whiteclouds, a couple java fern plants, and some anacharis. Ph to go no higher than 7.6

 

A website I like when it comes to freshwater, is Fish Geeks... not sure of the url.

Edited September 12, 2010 by treesprite

[roni]

First, you can't use crushed coral with fresh water fish because it raises the pH when most freshwater fish need a low pH. Most tetras and many other tropicals, need pH between about 6.8 and 7.6.

 

I agree with Roni on the gold fish - they are dirty, also it's not good to mix goldfish and tropicals. Also, if you look on some websites you will find that many people are against keeping goldfish in tanks that small.

 

Not sure why Roni specified female betta over male - males are ten times prettier. They may be ok in a tank that size, but contrary to popular pet store belief, they need more space than those little "betta bowls".

 

Some really small type tetras would be good, like 2 or three. Whiteclouds are very small - you could probably put 3 in there. Neon tetras maybe at most two.

 

Plants are important in a freshwater tank IMO - the more the better. Some folks will tell you plants need certain substrates - I stick them in the regular gravel and they do fine.

 

If it was me, for a tank that size, I'd put in 3 whiteclouds, a couple java fern plants, and some anacharis. Ph to go no higher than 7.6

 

A website I like when it comes to freshwater, is Fish Geeks... not sure of the url.

 

i just like the female bettas...plus you can keep a couple in the same tank. other fish to consider...3 of a dwarf rasbora (3 spots are great), sparkling gouramis, ember tetras, badis badis, etc.

[epleeds]

guess i need to go back to the store tomorrow to get some gravel. hopefully the fish will be ok. they are really small, so we shall see.

[epleeds]

do i need an airstone in there, or anything else? and what temp am i shooting for?

[Big Country]

Get the shells out of there also. I kept my freshwater tanks about 76-78 degrees

[treesprite]

You need an airstone or a filter. You can get one of those mini drop-in filters, they're about the size of a medium-sized mag float.

[Prunfarm]

I would add my 2 cents, but roni and treesprite hit the nail on the head. Follow their advice, and you'll do well. Just FYI, the 2.5 gallon is susceptable to the same things a nano reef is - temp flucs, ammonia, nitrite/ates, and very vunerable to the sometimes heavy handed feeding of children. If you would like, I could send you java moss, which would help with natural filtration and looks nice with no work.

[tygger]

Did you cycle the tank before putting adding the fish?

[roni]

oh yeah, i have a ton of micro swords as well if you want them.

[Charlie]

Forrest, you're half right on the crushed coral. MOST FW tanks require low pH, but for Cichlids, they need pH at around 8 (and change). You really don't need to cycle a FW tank like you do SW. One of the things about FW is most of the fish are a lot smaller, so your bio-load is less. I would go with gravel (and put the crushed coral in my sump), a small heater, an Aqua Clear HOB filter (I've never liked the air pump method for a tank and the only time that I use it is for minnows when I'm fishing). One thing that is nice about a tank that small is that your 10% change is only going to be a quart . That said, you should be able to put in a couple of tetras or some of Roni's swards and they would be happy with a few plants (real ones if you want something really cool). I think that you'll find FW much easier than SW, but it does come with it's own challenges and you use platies for algae control.

[treesprite]

I know about cichlids, but I said "most ".... typically the tropical fish people keep in small tanks are ones requiring lower pH.

[beatle]

If you want to get really specific, African cichlids like higher ph. Discus and most South/Central American cichlids prefer lower ph.

 

Airstones aren't really necessary, but I remember I liked the bubbles when I was a kid.

 

Dwarf puffers can be interesting, albeit tiny fish. It was fun to feed mine worms.