New fish

I just received an order of juvenile rainbow shiners and moutain redbelly daces. These juveniles are very small and a few of them are more like fry. I'm currently very slowly introducing them to new water. When I ordered them I didn't expect them to be this small. I'm scared to put them into my tank with the other fish. What are the chances that the smaller shiners could become food for the others? My minnows and most my darters are aggressive feeders. I have a 10gal tank that I could setup something simple for them to grow in, but I don't want to do that if I don't have to. So, what do you guys think I should about these little guys? If I put them into another tank, how long should I hold them there?

You might want to add what size your tank is, your stock and the size of your stock, and cover (plants, rocks, driftwood, etc). Depending on these, you may or may not be able to add them. If you have plenty of cover, the darters may be able to get under rocks, driftwood, etc. Your dace may be more suseptable to stress, but it sounds like minnows are the only inhabitants. They may not be eaten, but if chased around all the time, or fins are being nipped, they may succumb to stress or disease.

Right....good point.

It's a 30gal with one piece of driftwood and plenty of rocks and hiding spots.

As of now I have

3 bluntnose minnow
1 unidentified minnow
1 unidentified shiner
4 Rainbow darters
2 Greenside darters
2 Variegate darters
2 Banded darters
1 Frecklebelly darter
1 Emerald darter

I really just worried that the minnow/shiner will mistake the two or three of the really little ones as food. I mean, they are nearly fry-like.

So....updated thoughts? As of now I'm thinking of throwing together this 10gal tank I have to let them mature in, but I'm also worried about the tank cycling and killing them if I set it up. Would using water from my 30 reduce cycle if trasfered to another tank?

What kind of filter are you using on the 30g? You can take the media and transfer to the 10g. That will help with the cycle.

Just feed a lot and do water changes frequently and they'll be big enough in no time.

Would using water from my 30 reduce cycle if trasfered to another tank?

Some people say no, but I think it speeds things up. I think most of the bacteria colonizes the surfaces in the tank, but there should still be some in the water. It's better than starting out all new. Some filter media like Drewish suggested is the best way to get bacteria. If you can get enough of that you don't need anything else. Another thing that will help is some substrate from the established tank. Live plants are good, too. They start consuming waste right away. Or if you have some plastic ones in an established tank, they will have bacteria on them, too.

Ok, from reading these posts and from talking with a near expect tropical fish keeper here at work, here is what I'm doing.

Setup the 10gal using water from the current tank and some of the gravel from that tank. I'm going to add a couple live plants/driftwood in the tank. It will be using a small powerfilter, I'm going to see if the filter media from a 10gal filter from a current tank will transfer to the one I'm going to use in this tank. As of now I don't have a lighting setup for this tank...should a light be added?

As long as they are not somewhere that it's dark all the time, they should be fine without a light.

The fish will be fine, but not the live plants...do you know what kind of plants they are? Do you already have a lamp, and if so, what kind, how many, and what wattage of bulbs does it take?

The fish will be fine, but not the live plants...do you know what kind of plants they are? Do you already have a lamp, and if so, what kind, how many, and what wattage of bulbs does it take?

I'm not concerned with the livelyhood of the plants. I'm familiar with the requirements of growing live plants. Sometimes I think they are harder to maintain than fish. If these plants last a couple weeks, they've done there job.

I was thinking......would a "clamp-on" style desk lamp with a compact fluorescent bulb do the job? I'm sure these can be picked up cheap at wal-mart. But, if I invest 10bucks in one of those, I could buy a hood w/ light for roughly 20 bucks. did I mention this tank doesn't have a hood....I hope MRBD aren't jumpers

I must say, it's not a bad looking tank for something that I cleaned, filled, added gravel, rocks, driftwood, and plants to in about 20 minutes. The tank was sitting outside waterlogging a piece of driftwood. Do you think that Clorox I used to clean it with could hurt the fish..............just kidding, I didn't use that or any other cleaning product.

Edited by jblaylock, 19 September 2008 - 10:31 PM.

I'm not concerned with the livelyhood of the plants. I'm familiar with the requirements of growing live plants. Sometimes I think they are harder to maintain than fish. If these plants last a couple weeks, they've done there job.

I was thinking......would a "clamp-on" style desk lamp with a compact fluorescent bulb do the job? I'm sure these can be picked up cheap at wal-mart. But, if I invest 10bucks in one of those, I could buy a hood w/ light for roughly 20 bucks. did I mention this tank doesn't have a hood....I hope MRBD aren't jumpers

I must say, it's not a bad looking tank for something that I cleaned, filled, added gravel, rocks, driftwood, and plants to in about 20 minutes. The tank was sitting outside waterlogging a piece of driftwood. Do you think that Clorox I used to clean it with could hurt the fish..............just kidding, I didn't use that or any other cleaning product.

MRBD are jumpers in my experience, but if in a tank that's well planted or with some overhead cover they are less likely to exit when startled. Also be careful with any clamp on type light as they can fall out of position rather easily and that combined with water is a bad thing.