Hello from Dubai

Hey all,

I'm new to the hobby. My wife just bought me a 50 gallon fresh water aquarium <Rena (made in France)> for our anniversary and I'm excited to get started on beautifying our apartment with beautiful, colorful fish. I know saltwater fish are more exotic and colorful but require a lot of maintenance and me being a beginner at fish tanks, she felt this is the right way to start and i agree.

The guys from the pet store have come in and installed the tank which includes a sponge filter, air filter, heater and have put in the pebbles and tap water. I was instructed to let the tank go though the fishless cycle for 2 weeks by putting in a bag of phos zorb (chemical filtration) and ceramic rings (biological filtration) under the sponge filter. The first mistake I made was I had opened the bag of phos zorb and put it in than put in the ceramic rings. I was suppose to put the entire bag in not open it and dump the chemical filtration inside it. Anyway after two weeks I put in the first bach of fish which were 2 black molly's, 1 rosy barb, 2 tiger barbs, 1 platty and 1 plecostomus being told that these are easy fish to take care of and i should go with these to see if my tanks atmosphere is ready to go. 8 days after doing the aforementioned 1 black molly has died and the remaining fish are still alive. My tank was getting really foggy because I had opened that bag of phos zorb so i consulted a fish store on how to get rid of the white foggyness in the tank and was told to empty the tank 20% and add new water. Than to get rid of the whitness I should add a bag of ALEAS super activated carbon (without opening the bag) under my sponge filter.. it actually worked and my tank is much more clear. The only issue is that the pebbles have got some of the phos zorb in them now. I am thinking of having a guy come in and clean that up. Anyway the day put in the water and the bag of super activated carbon I also added a real plant tied to a small log (don't know the name), a piece of drift wood, fake plant, some colorful props and a clown loach. The tank was installed on January 4th and I want to get some more colorful fish and some more props. I'm liking the malawi cichlids i've seen at the fish store but i hear they are aggressive fish and they will kill my black molly. I don't think the black molly will survive for that much longer anyway because I have not put in any salt in the water and through research i have recently come to know that they require a bit of salt. I also like Angel fish. I don't really know which fish are compatible with which and that's why i'm on here and to learn whatever i can about fresh water aquariums.. Any comments or tips of the trade are welcome..

Rgds
Alexander

 

noted that molly's don't need salt. i checked my tank today with the TetraTest 5 in 1 and the results were as follows:

PH 6.8
WH 0deg
GH 10deg-16deg
No2 0deg
No3 0deg

I have not checked the Ammonia level yet but i guess I should do that... I'll go get an Ammonia tester tomorrow. What should the Ammonia level be at?

Also if salt is a medicine, what do i have to look for before I put it in my tank... wouldn't it be bad for my freshwater fish?

 

Anthony,

I didn't add any salt to the tank, but how do I know when the tank has fully cycled? I've had the 1 rosy barb, 2 tiger barbs, 1 pleco, 1 platty and 1 molly for about 2 weeks now and they all seem like their doing good. I feed the fish twice a day (morning and evening).