Daft question about fish

teeni

Please excuse this really daft question.

I have today taken 5 little fish into my home. I have had an empty tank sitting there for the last 4 weeks fishless cycling until it was ready and today came time to add the fish.

Now for the really daft question do i leave the lights on all the time on the tank or do fish need night time too. The guy in the fish shop said not to put the lights on until they had been in the tank an hour or so but never mentioned whether to leave it on all the time.

Fosterdog

Turn it off at night, fish need a day/night cycle too.

It won't hurt if you occasionally forget to turn them on or off but getting a good routine is best for them.

Keep an eye on the water levels, the heat from the lights can make the water evaporate quite quickly.

What fish did you get?

teeni

Thank you, I think they are called white clouds, they had a lot of gold fish which I knew i did not want as i only have a 40 lt tank and although they were pretty I had read that the tank was to small for them long term.

These are quite small at the moment but the guy said they can grow to about 4 cms long.

Fosterdog

Cloud minnows are a great first fish. They are really hardy and very forgiving and can cope with most beginner tank mistakes.

They can get to 4cm but they usually stop around 3cm, I used to have them before I changed to tropical years ago.

They will be really fun to watch, they do like to be in a bigger group but 4 is enough for a new tank and you can add a few more when it's more established.

teeni

I love watching fish but have never taken the plunge and bought them before. So when I was offered a tank i decided to have a go but don't know a lot about it.
i have read a lot but the guy in the little independent shop i got the fish from said to pop in when ever i had a query which made me feel safe. He said i could have more in the tank but said 5 was enough for a start.

They are quite active , they seemed to be a bit manic when they first went in the tank but seem to have calmed down a bit now.

Thank you for the help, i expect i will be back with more queries as time goes on, i would rather ask than risk anything going wrong.

terrylamps

I turn the light on on mine at about 11am and turn it off at about 6.30, about half an hour after i have fed them. Sometimes i don't turn the light on until later as i get alot of natural daylight in my living room so turning the light on doesn't actually make any difference until later in the day.

Fosterdog

I have my lights set on a timer so they always have set times, it's been great for when I've gone away and only had to get someone in once a day for feeding.

I did forget to say, be very careful with feeding, it is very easy to overfeed fish, less is better for them than more. Put a small amount of food in and if it takes less than 1 min for them to eat give them a bit more. If it takes more than 3 mins they have too much, scoop out the excess and feed less next time.