Tropical Fish Tank setup help!

[elitefatcow]

Hey guys. I'm kind of new to this community and this whole tank setup and whatnot. I started to grow an interest for fishes when I saw my friend's fish tank, and i have been reading quite a few of websites which seems to contridict each other, so i am hoping that someone can help me.

For starters, I have:
- a 35-ish gallon tank
- Rena xp3 filter
- a heater
- fishes that includes - 3 Lemon Cobra Guppy, 5 neon tetras, 2 Koi Swordtails, 3 Ghost Glass Catfishes and 1 Gold Algae Eater

As for real live aquatic plants, I don't have any at the moment. I don't know where or what kind of plants i should get. And the same goes for the soil, rocks, sand etc, whatever I need.
Any help and suggestions with the plants / soil and what else kind of fishes I should get is greatly appreciated. I just want to have a nice, Tropical fish tank setup

[Sanctum38]

Hey guys. I'm kind of new to this community and this whole tank setup and whatnot. I started to grow an interest for fishes when I saw my friend's fish tank, and i have been reading quite a few of websites which seems to contridict each other, so i am hoping that someone can help me.

For starters, I have:
- a 35-ish gallon tank
- Rena xp3 filter
- a heater
- fishes that includes - 3 Lemon Cobra Guppy, 5 neon tetras, 2 Koi Swordtails, 3 Ghost Glass Catfishes and 1 Gold Algae Eater

As for real live aquatic plants, I don't have any at the moment. I don't know where or what kind of plants i should get. And the same goes for the soil, rocks, sand etc, whatever I need.
Any help and suggestions with the plants / soil and what else kind of fishes I should get is greatly appreciated. I just want to have a nice, Tropical fish tank setup

IMPORTANT: Fishkeeping is a hobby, yes. However, it takes some researching and knowledge to do it properly. It can be a wonderful, relaxing, beautiful thing to be a part of, and can get very addicting. Make sure you understand how to take care of an aquarium.
ALSO: PATIENCE IS IMPORTANT. IT TAKES MONTHS TO ACQUIRE A BEAUTIFUL FULL GROWN TANK.

Well first off, the number one most important thing you can do, is make sure you set up your tank, and run it through its nitrogen cycle before adding fish. (people can cycle using fish, but its more advanced, and very frowned upon as it is very stressful to the fish.) Not having the water properly cycled and harmful bacterial still living in there, along with chlorine, etc, can seriously harm your fish, eventually leading to their death.

PLEASE READ: The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle (includes ways to cycle your tank)

Some good ways I know of personally to cycle a tank are as follows:

Buy some cycling liquid from your LFS. The one I am used to is Nutrafin Cycle.
Its basically a fabricated bacteria culture that jump starts the cycling process when added to your running aquarium.

Another, easier way: You say your friend has a fish tank? See if you can borrow some of his filter media, and put that into your filter. This will really but the cycle into high gear and almost cut down the whole process within a few days.

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Your filter, the Rena xP3, is a great filter it seems, after doing my research.
It seems a bit of overkill for your tank, but I am not sure. Someone else might know a bit more about this filter.
I read that the xP3 is aimed at 175gallon tanks :P
An Instructional Video on your filter. Given you end up using that filter.

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A heater will be used of course, this will help keep the temperature at tropical levels, which a lot of common tropical fish will need.

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About your fish choices. (I am hoping you havent purchased them yet, unless your tank is cycled).
All seem like great choices for a nice tropical community tank. Glass cats are awesome to look at.
ALTHOUGH, the koi swordtails CAN get aggressive. Its really up to their personality and should be fine, given you have some nice hiding spots in ur tank, be it plant cover, a cave, etc. I am pretty sure 35 gallons is big enough to let them have their own 'turf'.

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Plants / Gravel / ETC

Planting a tank is a wonderful experience. Although it comes with a price, that which I dont know alot about, but want to know myself. I know that there are a lot of beginner plants out there, for minimal lighting situations, and that dont require Co2. Co2 and lighting plays a big factor when running planted tanks.
I am sure there are some great threads on here to help you with that, as I have seen many beautiful planted tanks in the tank journals section.

As for gravel, try to stay away from those colored rocks. Especially with plants. Also with plants youll want a more natural substrate. A finer sized gravel, or especially a specific gravel made for planting. Ive heard of some, but again I dont know much about the gravel for planting either.

If you end up keeping fish that enjoy digging, you will want more of a sandy / fine substrate.

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Hope some of that helped :P

Keep in mind, with this hobby research is great. And of course joining this forum is brilliant. The people here are wonderful, and very helpful. Its a great community.

Also remember, any fish you see at a fish store, or online... research it before saying 'okay, im going to buy that fish right now!' You want to know what it requires as far as feeding, temperatures, is it aggressive, hardness of water, etc.

We try our darndest to create as close to nature for these beautiful creatures.

-------------- Guys help me out here. Im pretty sure most of that is accurate. I am new as well. trying to lend a helping hand.

[neven]

I am one all for fish cycling a tank, there are certain fish that can tolerate the beginnings of a tank quite well. I wouldn't say its frowned upon, its just a controversial topic with people supporting both sides of the argument quite firmly. If you happen to know someone with healthy fish tanks, do yourself a favour and get them to give you a piece of their filter sponge (or floss). Keep it wet and put it in your filter. It'll jump start your tanks nitrogen cycling.

your filter is indeed overkill and you'll need to mitigate the flow to avoid stressing most of your fish. Point the spray bar towards the glass slightly upwards, just enough so the water flow rolls at the surface a little bit, but not break the surface and create bubbles.

for a substrate, fine grain gravels, sand and ADA (+clones) work well