tropical tank - help

does anyone here know anything about tropical fish tanks?
we bought one a couple of weeks ago, its a jewel rio 125 tropical fish tank.
As advised by the pet shop we let it settle for a week, then added some hardy fish, 5 little zebra danios.

anyway,
couple of things...
we bought some plants for the tank, but i cant figure out how to plant them? they are like, just ends of plants so dont have roots stuck together, they are all like seperate pieces. how do i plant them into gravel? they are currently tied together at the bottom by some weird soft stuff and put in a plant pot.

second question, the pet shop said i could add a couple more fish each week, but after reading some info on a website, i should have done a fishless cycle for like 8 weeks or something.
my ammonia reading is 0.25 at the moment, i havent done any other readings.

Hi

One tip I have for you the less you worry the better your fish tank will do. The plants normally have a piece of metally type thing wrapped around the roots. This is then pushed into the gravel if this is not like yours then best thing to do is push the roots into gravel and try to put something on top of the roots. Test your water by putting fish into it I do about five at a time. Even if your water is fine some fish do still die, has nothing to do with you. If you are worried about the quality of your water take a sample to the shop and they will test the water for you. I have sold (yesterday) my marine tank as we are moving and I didnt want such a big tank in my new house. Another tip I will give you is check your new plants for snails cause they will take over your tank if you let them in.

Good luck
Take care
Janet
xx

thanks janet.
i took one of the plants out of the plant. shud i of taken the stuff from round the bottom that keeps it together?
cos i did and then had lots of loose bits, so tried to bury it in the gravel and put a rock on top shud they just grow their own roots?

Hi Jenny

Was it a metal colour holding the plants together?

The plants should take root in the gravel. Some of my plants then took hold on the rocks and grew like crazy. My fish and tanks are another one of my hobbies....got to say though tropical fish is alot cheaper than marine......my god with the marine fish all I did when one of those died was cried..........they cost a fortune. Did you put in normal tap water and if you did, did you put any water treatment in? Also the best water to put in is RO water which again you will get from any good stockist.....buy a water container so you can refil with the RO water this way you do not have to treat the water.

Please post some pictures of your tank when you have it set up with more fish.

Take care
Janet
xx

I have just recently started a tropical tank, 2 months ago in fact.
I 'cycled' with fish. Some Lemon Tetras and some Bentosi Tetras. You shoul go and get some test strips, they aren't that expensive and keep an eye on your Ammonia and Nitrite readings , that will tell you when your tank has cycled then you can start adding some more fish. I did 20 - 30% water changes every 2 or 3 days which makes things a lot easier on the fish. My tank cycled fairly quickly and so far, touch wood, have not lost any fish at all.
Best of luck with you tank and your fishies