I suppose this is the beauty of a forum ! Right !!! Here Goes ! I'm obviously a TWAT !

I have a 60l orb ! Love loads of fish ! I'm a PICEAN !! maybe thats the attraction !

What sensibly do I need !! Equipment wise !? Remember Im Scottish!

Ive got 1x Siamese Fighter (new), 2x Silver sharks (1yr+ 1 lrg ~ 1 sml ), 3x platty (small orange)(new), 1x Guppy(6 mths), 5x neons (smallish, up to 2yrs old), 1xMolly white (new)(did by 2 but 1 died before got home, was that me ?), 1x Corydoras Bronze, 2x silver/black widows.

3x plants (new) 2x potted, 1x leaded , usual orb filter, ceramic media (never washed) and heater (set at 24/26c), plastic log hideaway and dayglo clay hidaway thingy !

the tank has been on the go for 2yrs give or take ~ Been plodding along doing partial changes10% or so weekly - frtnightly, major changes up to 50% every 6-8 months! always adding water treatment (stress coat brand) washing filter every 6-8 in tank water and replacing every 12-18wks, getting some brown build up and some casualties, namely siamese but i here they like to be alone (is that completely alone ?), had 11 neons at 1 point (lost 6 over 1yr ish). Not noticed any pattern eg deaths after changes, only the odd casualty when the brown stuff appears and builds! not loads of green stuff ~ nice covering on the hidaway things which Corydoras likes!

feeding once per day on either flakes or tera prima mini granules ! missing the odd day over 2 weeks !

Some immediate q's ~
is it overstocked !
been told to get the sharks out they are bad news ! true /false
siamese cant stand the fast pace !
what nitrate / ph testers do i need ! test how often etc!

ive read the pinned topics which im trying to remember !

yes i know i should by a book ~ im a bloke and cant focus on anything or multitask !

cheers, all info well received !!

This post has been edited by craig663: Apr 19 2008, 12:32 AM

OOOOOOH where to start..

First off.. not entirely a twat. Asking for help lowers the twat level significantly (following advice given lowers it further).

1. The silver sharks, bala sharks yes? Silver jobs with black edging to their fins? These do need to go:
a./ these are schooling fish, they want to be in a group of around 6
b/ they are far too big for that tank. (Ive got a vision 260l, i wont put them in MY tank as I dont think its big enough).

2. Siamese fighter - I dont know if you mean they dont like the fast pace of the other fish (probably not) or the fast current in the tank (probably not). They will not do well with tank mates who are long finned (get confused and think they are other bettas sometimes), and they do not do well with nippy aggressive fish (and certainly black widows and neons will be that given teh chance, small as they are they do like to nip fins).
If you are consistently killing them, I would stop putting them in there really.

3. 1 guppy. These like to be in groups, not alone.

4. 1 Corydora. These like to be in groups a LOT and really dont like being alone.

5. Black widows, schooling fish, 2 is not a school.

You dont have room to have a school of guppys, corys and black widows along with the fish you do have already. With the silver sharks in there too you are over stocked.

I would take the sharks back. Take the siamese fighter back. Take teh corydoras back.

Basically... keep the platties and the neons and the molly. (Though bear in mind, I belive mollies do do better in a brackish tank however someone else can tell you about that as they are not my 'thing').

Actually if it were my tank, I would ditch everything but the neons. Get a few more neons, get a few algae eating shrimp and leave it at that.

Increase your water changes to either two a week or one 20% change a week.

Turn your lights off sooner or put the tank away from sunlight, as thats probably whats causing the algae growth.

Hope this is helpful!

Awww, 'Canis-Equus' you havn't left much for the rest of us


craig663, I was a bigger T**t than you when I first joined these forums (Ok, quieten down the rest of you ) Not because I did anything particularily wrong but because I though everything I did was right! (What do you lot mean, 'no change there then' )

The only thing I'd like to add to 'Canis-Equus' s excellent reply is do all the suggestions ASAP especially taking back the Betta (siamese fighter)

BTW, to the forum, the leveler of T**ts

Thanks,

make my day guys ~ i knew i was of base a little but ~ not by that much !

thanks for the info ~ will the local fish shop take them back !

can you elaborate on the rest of the set up !!

The Tank sits away from as much light as poss as its against the main window wall so all the light come in past !

The lights on about 6 hrs very day usually 6pm till bed time 12-1- or 3 pm if im on here !

where is 60l in the scheme of things - am i limited really to a school of guppy et al !

Thanks again !

60l tank... v small.

Ive got one, and also a 260l tank in my living room - as I said in my previous post, some of the fish you have in what is, with decorations./planting/substrate not much more than a 10gallon tank, i would think twice about keeping in my 260l tank.

Whats called for is an appreciation of the smaller fish available in the hobby.

Have a look around the web and on here for blue eyed rainbowfish, pseudomugilidae - these are tiny, gorgeous and full of character too (ive just spent, cant call it wasted, an hour watching mine flare at his tank mates).

Zebra danios are not very big, I think a lot of the rasboras are suited to that tank size, and then of course there are the fresh water shrimps, all of which bar the giant african filter shrimp would be ok in your tank (er, not the long armed fish eating type, stick to the algae eating types!).

Shrimp are loads of fun to watch, always busying themselves with something, whether its rummaging around on a piece of bogwood eating algae, or playing Mine! Mine! with pellet foods.

Anyway - I doubt very highly if there is anyone on here who didn't make some errors when they first started. What distinguishes actual muppetry from simple ignorance is the desire to learn and correct mistakes.

(And yeah.. I bought a sailfin plec for my 10g tank when I first started *ohtheshame*... not knowing that he ought to grow to 18 inches or more!!!).

if you where a twat as you say you would not be asking for help on the forum
so i wouldnt say you where anyway
just follow the other advice youve been given and you wont go far wrong m8
scot

hi

in my experience, brown algae is not really due to too much snulight but if anything lack of light

it should be easy to scrub off, and mine died down with the tank maturing