hi, im not sure this is in the right place but my sister got a 12 gallon tank for her birthday. I have never kept tropical before, always coldwater, so i was wondering what fish she can keep in it and how many??
im going to set it up for her tonight when i go home, put water in, filter and heater. but i am going to let it run for 3-4 weeks with no fish.

any help is much appreciated thanks
claire

So you are going to cycle it then? You will need an ammonia source before adding any fish to kickstart the cycle.

i can add plants, but what can i use as an amonia source to kick start it?? any ideas on fish?

You can feed the intake a little flake food each day to give you the ammonia.
As for fish, once its cycled you could add some pygmy rasboras (4), 3 pygmy corydora 4 glowlight tetras or pencilfish and an otocinclus eventually for the algae.
If you want one type of fish then a pair of dwarf gourami with the corydoras or a pair of sparkling gourami.

o right sounds good, thanks. i like the tetras so i think ill go along those lines. what is a otocinclus?? ive not heard of one before.

you might even want to get either snails or something for the algae control like sandy said so maybe a pleco or something! good luck and can not wait until pics come!

An otto is a tiny little algea sucker They can be sensitive little guys so if you do decide to get one, add them last after your tank is well established. They love to eat the soft green algea and need some hiding places.

The fishless cycle is a great way to start off and should be completed in a little over a month to a month and a half. You'll know its cycled when the test results read ammonia:0 nitrite:0 nitrate: noticably higher than the tap water. Do as Sandy says, but in addition, do a partial water change once a week so you don't end up with a ton of phosphates from the decomposing food. Do a 100% water change before adding any fish.

You have a goldfish tank right? If it is fully cycled and perfectly healthy, run the tropical filter on the goldfish tank for 2-3 weeks. When your sister gets her fish, fill up the tank and dechlorinate it, then add the filter back on

thanks for the ideas, ill keep them in mind, we arent getting fish until about 26th april, but ive filled it with water and added a filter, but i will be getting a better filter in a couple of weeks and a good heater.
i have a coldwater tank yes and the water is fine in there, so ill probs run the new filter in there, create some waves, only joking!
i have a hillstream loach in my coldwater tank, which is sensitive so i know to add the algea eater last. i think they are so much fun to.
if i do a 100% water change will it not disrupt the cycle??

thank you all again

The 100% water change shouldn't disrupt the cycle because almost all of the bacteria lives in the filter, but I just heard from Toothless in another post that it might be better to do several large water changes the few days before you get the fish. However, if you are using the method with running the extra filter on the GF tank, you won't have to do a water change before adding fish.

ok thanks. ill do that. i can do 3 water changes in the days before we add fish, so that should be ok.

ill let you know when i get pics and post pics for you all to see. i cant wait, ive never done tropical before so should be fun, maybe a bit easier.