New To Freshwater Tropical Fish and Wanting Advice on Lighting

[bozatron]

Hi All,

I am new to keeping tropical freshwater fish and have recently purchased a 50L Blue Planet fish tank secondhand with 13 tertras, 3 guppys, a fighting fish, and a catfish. The tank was initially pretty dirty so I have given it a good clean and they all seem happy at the moment.

The tank came with some live plants (java moss, java fern, and another plant that I cannot identify). Currently, the light above the tank is the standard Blue Planet 11W AA11W-e27 globe that comes with the tank.

I am wondering if that is enough light to make sure the plants are healthy and growing, and was hoping to get your knowledgeable advice on an alternative bulb that I might be able to replace it with? In its current position, the tank is not really getting much daylight so any help would be great!

I have attached a photo of the tank in its current condition to this post.

Thanks!!

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum Im not great on plants but is the one on the left Wysteria?

Just to check when you gave the tank a deep clean, did you clean out the filters and if so how did you do this?

At 50 litres your tank is 13 US gallons - a very rough guide and by no means is it a perfect method but if you look at an inch per gallon this means that you are probably slightly over stocked... Im particularly worried by the single catfish you have listed - is this a common plecostomus? Other than the catfish though I think with good weekly maintenance you should be fine with the rest of the fish

Wills

 

[Essjay]

The plant on the right in the photo - is it planted in the gravel or attached to the wood? It is hard to tell from the photo.
This plant is java fern and the thick 'root' is a rhizome which should not be buried, though the finer hair like roots are OK buried.


I've had a good look but I can't see a catfish in the photo. The word catfish covers quite a few types, the usual ones being plecs and corydoras and there are a lot of different plec and cory species. If you could take a photo of the catfish we could identify what it is.

 

[bozatron]

Hi All,

Thank you for the welcome!

I was wondering if the tank was a little too overstocked. The catfish is a female bristlenose catfish, if that helps at all. Let me know what you are most concerned about and I'll see if I can do anything to help it!

The java fern is planted into the gravel, but you can see that the thicker roots are sticking out of the top - is that okay?

Have you got any suggestions on lighting at all?

Thank you!!

 

[Essjay]

The java fern is fine as long as all of the thick rhizome is on top of the gravel. It will rot if there is any gravel on top of it. The easiest way with this plant is to grow it attached to a piece of decor. It will have to be tied on at first (sewing thread, fishing line etc) but it will soon cling by itself.

If I've found the right tank, it is just about 60 cm wide x 30 cm front to back, which is the same as a lot of 60 litre tanks, just not as tall. This is the minimum size for a bristlenose.
But you do have other fish problems. Guppies are hard water fish and neon tetras soft water so they should not be kept together. One or other will not be happy, depending on whether your tap water is hard or soft. And bettas do not make good community fish; they are better kept in a tank on their own.
Can I suggest you look at your water supplier's website for the hardness of your tap water and post the number they give together with the unit (they could use any one of half a dozen units)

As for a light, you are restricted by the type of fitting. Does it take a fluorescent tube or a bulb?

 

[bozatron]

Thanks for your reply essjay. I wasn't aware that guppies and tertras required such different water types; I didn't purchase the fish (they came with the tank) but it is good to know!! I checked and the water hardness in my area ranges from 12 – 45 mg/L. On the website it is considered soft?

In terms of lighting, unfortunately I am restricted to a bulb, so if you have any recommendations for this tank that would help the plants and fish it would be really great.

Thanks so much for your help, it's really appreciated!!

 

[bozatron]

I also forgot to mention that we tested the pH and that appeared to be about 7.0, if that helps at all?

 

[Essjay]

Assuming those mg/l are mg/l CaCO3 (also called ppm), yes that is soft. 12 to 45 ppm CaCO3 converts to 0.7 to 2.5 degrees, the other units used in fishkeeping. [The reason I say that if the units are mg/l CaCO3 is because my water company uses mg/l Ca and others use mg/l CaO and either of these mean the water is harder than if it is mg/l CaCO3]
This hardness is fine for neon tetras, bettas and bristle noses but guppies need at least 143 ppm. You have the choice of keeping them or trying to find a new home for them.
I do understand that someone else's choice of fish might not be yours

pH is of less importance to fish than GH (hardness) provided it is not too far outside the fish's natural range. 7.0 is fine for all your soft water fish.


I'm afraid that with lighting, I've only used fluorescent tubes and LED tubes. I will have to leave it to someone else to help you with light bulbs.

 

[Byron]

Re the light, as it seems to be screw-in (incandescent) bulb, how many sockets are there in the fixture? I use CFL Daylight bulbs in such tank fixtures which works very well on small tanks like this one. But before suggesting wattage, I need to know if there are one or two sockets.

CFL are those spiral screw-in bulbs, and Daylight means having a rating of 6500K. This is the spectrum or colour of the light.

Welcome to TFF.

Byron.

 

[bozatron]

It looks like there's just the one socket, for one bulb. What wattage would you recommend and is there a brand that you get that your prefer?

Thanks!

 

[bozatron]

Assuming those mg/l are mg/l CaCO3 (also called ppm), yes that is soft. 12 to 45 ppm CaCO3 converts to 0.7 to 2.5 degrees, the other units used in fishkeeping. [The reason I say that if the units are mg/l CaCO3 is because my water company uses mg/l Ca and others use mg/l CaO and either of these mean the water is harder than if it is mg/l CaCO3]
This hardness is fine for neon tetras, bettas and bristle noses but guppies need at least 143 ppm. You have the choice of keeping them or trying to find a new home for them.
I do understand that someone else's choice of fish might not be yours

pH is of less importance to fish than GH (hardness) provided it is not too far outside the fish's natural range. 7.0 is fine for all your soft water fish.


I'm afraid that with lighting, I've only used fluorescent tubes and LED tubes. I will have to leave it to someone else to help you with light bulbs.

Thanks so much. This has been a great help. I will have a think about what to do with the guppies. Just out of interest, what other fish/inverts would be suitable for this type of tank?

 

[Byron]

It looks like there's just the one socket, for one bulb. What wattage would you recommend and is there a brand that you get that your prefer?

Thanks!

I use GE Daylight CFL bulbs, but Phillips and Sylvania might make them too. The important thing is the spectrum, 6500K, which has peaks in the red, blue and green. You may have to look around for these. As for wattage, since you only have one, I would try one around 20w. I don't know the wattages above 9w (which is what I use, but with two of them) or 13w, but the next one up should work.

To the other question of more fish...the 13 neons and BN are fine; the Betta may or may not work. Betta are not community fish, meaning they should be housed alone; sometimes they seem to manage, but this can suddenly change. The Betta may take a dislike to the neons (I had a Betta that easily ate neons) or the neons may decide to fin nip the Betta. They must be separated should either occur.

The Betta is limiting other fish options. Upper level fish would be a good match, as the neons remain in the lower half of the tank, but the upper-water Betta is such a risk. Best to leave things alone.

Floating plants will help all these fish, as none of them like overhead light.

Byron.

 

[bozatron]

Thanks so much for your help and suggestions. I've found some Osram 15W Daylight Mini Twist Spiral Globe - do you think one of these would do? It says its 'mini' and I cannot seem to find any larger ones!

Also, could you give me some examples of upper level fish for soft water, as well as floating plants that may me good?

Thanks!!

 

[Byron]

Thanks so much for your help and suggestions. I've found some Osram 15W Daylight Mini Twist Spiral Globe - do you think one of these would do? It says its 'mini' and I cannot seem to find any larger ones!

Also, could you give me some examples of upper level fish for soft water, as well as floating plants that may me good?

Thanks!!

I went searching for this and found this one:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Osram-Dul...27-/122502600250?_trksid=p2349526.m2548.l4275

I would suggest that this linked Osram, which is 6500K, would be good in the 23w size. I don't know if this is the same type as you mention or not, but the data is what you want.

Floating plants...Water Sprite, Water Lettuce, Tropical Frogbit. As for upper fish, the tank size limits this, but more importantly, the Betta is an upper level fish and may not take kindly to other fish in "his" area.

 

[bozatron]

Thanks so much, I'll definitely look for one of those globes then and will let you know how it goes!