16 US Gallon Tank has a few fish!

[.:Nikki:.]

Sorry that I havn't been online for a while but my brother has been hogging the computor everyday and when I wanted to go on he didn't let me. So I argued with him and he argued back and we can up with a decision, well he came up with it. I will go on everyday on the weekdays from 6:00pm to 9:00pm and he will take all the rest of the time. On the weekdays though I get Saturday and he gets Sunday
Another reason why I couldn't go on was because I was pretty much busy with my tank This is my first tank so I'm worrying over it a lot!

Well back to the subject, I got 6 new fish yesterday 3 Platies and 3 Albino Corydoras's! They are very cute and they never got stressed out when I brought them home. I made sure that I turned off all the lights and gently handeld the plastic bag. I kept the Albino Corydoras's! They are very cute and they never got stressed out when I brought them home. I made sure that I turned off all the lights and gently handeld the plastic bag.

I just have a few questions

1. What type of platies do I have? They are all different colours, one have a orange body and black fins. Another one has a blue spot near it's tail and it's body and is a white colour while it's tail is orange. And last is the platy which has the top part of it's body yellow and the bottom half orange.

2. What plants are good with platies and albino corydoras? I don't want any of my fish to eat the plant. I have lighting in my tank, not to strong or weak.

3. What type of decoration is good in a tank? I want natural decorations, not a castle or plastic stuff like that.

Thank you

 

[mandi]

1. What type of platies do I have? They are all different colours, one have a orange body and black fins. Another one has a blue spot near it's tail and it's body and is a white colour while it's tail is orange. And last is the platy which has the top part of it's body yellow and the bottom half orange.

The orange body & black fins is a Red Wag Tail Platy.
Not sure about the second one -- possibly a Mickey Mouse Platy??
The orange and yellow one is a Sunset Platy I believe.
(Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.)

2. What plants are good with platies and albino corydoras? I don't want any of my fish to eat the plant. I have lighting in my tank, not to strong or weak.

I have all kinds of plants in with my platies (not sure about the cory's though, as I don't have them) -- it really depends on the lighting in your tank. Java fern and java moss are good low-light plants, and pretty easy to grow, and if you wind up with babies, the java moss is great for them to hide in!

 

[clutterydrawer]

anubias and cryptocoryne are also easy, low light plants. the fish definitely wont eat the anubias cos it tastes bad i shouldnt think they'd eat the crypt but i dont know...

 

[.:Nikki:.]

Thanks everyone. I'll just go with your answers mandi

With the plants I'll pick:

Java Moss
Java Fern
Anubias
Cryptocoryne
Amazon Sword (my brother breeds these plants in his tanks )
and mabye some of that under water grass plant, if that is what it is named

I've have choosen some decorations as well. I have seem some lovely shaped wood and large stones that will look very nice. I'm going to buy them tomorrow with my brother

Just a few more questions ) sorry.

1. When adding the stones and wood should I rinse it or boil it?

2. I heard a rule before of adding plants. Is it true that when planting plants in the aqarium the leaves of each plants cannot touch each other?

3. Do plants need special care, like fertilizer? I know that you have to trim them when they grow too large but that's about it.

One more question, this is really of topic but should I keep bettas? I mean my brother has a lot of small spare tanks. Varing around 2-4 gallons. He has like 8 spare tanks, he dosen't use them because he dosn't have any space in his room anymore I'm just wondering if I should ask him if I could have some of the spare tanks. I mean I wouldn't mind keeping some bettas, they do look very pretty

Thank you

 

[clutterydrawer]

1 - boil it to be on the safe side. especially if you're using bogwood, you'll need to boil it or soak it for quite a while to get rid of all the tannin. have you checked the rocks are tank safe?

2 - I've never heard that I guess if the plants are really really crowded together they'd have trouble getting enough light, but i dont think it matters if they touch.

3 - the cryptocoryne and amazon sword in particular would like fertiliser in teh form of root tabs, which are little discs you stick into the gravel near their roots. I'm not sure abotu the other plants, they'd probably appreciate some fertiliser but having said that I've never fertilised my java fern or anubias and they're doing fine

if you want to keep bettas, then go for it If you go to the "bettas and gouramis" section you'll find lots of useful pinned topics on how t o take care of them.

 

[.:Nikki:.]

1 - boil it to be on the safe side. especially if you're using bogwood, you'll need to boil it or soak it for quite a while to get rid of all the tannin. have you checked the rocks are tank safe?

The rocks and wood all come from a fish store so I guess they are all safe for aquarium use I'll ask.

2 - I've never heard that I guess if the plants are really really crowded together they'd have trouble getting enough light, but i dont think it matters if they touch.

I won't make my tank too crowded I just wanted a heavily planted tank so that there is a lot of places to hide for my fish.

3 - the cryptocoryne and amazon sword in particular would like fertiliser in teh form of root tabs, which are little discs you stick into the gravel near their roots. I'm not sure abotu the other plants, they'd probably appreciate some fertiliser but having said that I've never fertilised my java fern or anubias and they're doing fine

Thak you for that information, I think I will get some fertiliser for my plants,when I get them

if you want to keep bettas, then go for it If you go to the "bettas and gouramis" section you'll find lots of useful pinned topics on how t o take care of them.

I will go and keep bettas then

Thanks for all your help clutterydrawer