Alright this is my first fish tank and out of all the things that have inspired it was the need to keep my neighbors fish from going down the toilet.... So time is an issue because he wants to get rid of it because he doesn't like the way it looks.... So I bought a tank,filter,rocks,heater,etc.... Now I started it today and time is an issue because he will flush the fish and I hate to see that happen(yes im a softy) and i was told not to put any fish in it for a week.... not really sure if this fish has a week... would it really hurt if i put the fish in the tank earlier... and if it can go in early how early..... and would stress zyme help to make it suitable earlier.. or anything really... Any help would be appreciated...

Jon :ph43r:

There is no need to wait for a week. Aerate the new water and make sure the filter and heater are working. That should all take less than an hour. Years ago, they used to say to wait because they didn't have dechlorinator back then. As the water sat and aged, the chlorine would leave the water as chlorine gas so that after a week, the water was safer for the fish. These days, we have dechlorinator so it's a moot point. I would have taken the fish right away if they are in danger. Stress-Zyme will help seed the tank with some bacteria but until there's either fish in there to produce ammonia, or you add liquid ammonia, those good bacteria won't have any food to grow. So, get the neighbor's fish in there ASAP and hope for the best. What kinds of fish are you getting? How big is the tank? If it's better than their current home, then that's an improvement. Good luck!

my tank is just 10 gallon and its freshwater the type of fish im undecided... guess whatever kind will mix well with this one... its a gromey(spelling?)... so the only plan i have is i would like colorful fish and natural plants.... Just wondering are there any freshwater fish that glow in the dark? The light goes off at night and just thought it would be kinda nice to see the fish with the lights off(without having the tank light on)... Dont know first tank and so yeah.....

Jon :ph43r:

I'm not sure what the "gromey" is. Could it be guppy? You'll need to know what kind of fish it is before you add other fish. There are no freshwater fish that naturally glow in the dark but some salt water fish have parts that do. There is a human-created zebra danio that was implanted with anemone genes. It sort of glows. It's called a Glofish or glow danio (not to be confused with the real species of glowlight danios or glowlight tetras).

this fish i will be given is a blue gourami... just from the way he was saying it made it sound like gromey... didnt think i would find a freshwater fish that would glow but guess it doesent hurt to ask... I am going to get another blue gourami to go with this one... is there any issues with combining them like cant have two males together or anything? Even if there was an issue i dont think i would know the difference between the two... Checked my tank ph was about 7.2 and everything else was just fine including the temp for a gourami... The only thing that I was unsure of was the hardness of the water... Showed I had hard water.... I dont know about the hardness... Is it good to have hard or soft or what water? Sorry if I ask so many questions but Im trying to make a nice home not a place that will not be good for them to live in so want everything right before i put them in there.... One more thing my GF really wants to add a frog of some sort... I guess she knows of some kind that lives in water she says... Is a frog alright to put in a tank with fish?

Thank You,
Jon :ph43r:

Blue gouramis are pretty fish. I've never had one myself. They may eventually need a larger tank. They can be boisterous with each other. If you ended up with two males especially, they could fight. Some fish like soft water and some like hard water. Gourmamis like it about in the middle, not too soft and not too hard. If your water is hard, the only way to reduce it would be to buy a reverse osmosis system which are very expensive or to dilute it with other water (such as spring water). If the fish is coming from a neighbor, you probably have similar water chemistry so the fish should be used to it. There are two species of frogs that live underwater (and don't go on land). The African dwarf frog stays small. Larger fish might harm it. If the gourami is still small, they should get along. The African clawed frog gets bigger and eats small fish as an adult. It probably wouldn't eat an adult gourami but being that it's a larger frog, it would eventually need more than a 10 gallon tank. My page on those two species of frogs is at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/frog4.htm

Thank you Robyn :)

Jon :ph43r: