70gal Tank For Platys And Cories And A Pleco

[guppy_man]

hi i will be getting a 70gal tank from my auntie because she has not got the time for fish anymore
but anyway im having the tank off her for £20, its got everything it has

delta therm 200w heater
36w strip light
rena air 400 air pump
fluval 4 underwater filter

and loadz of airstones and tubing

anyway i was thinking of having the tank stocked with platys and corys and my 6inch common pleco , i no some of the platys i will be getting are mickeymouse and sunset are there anymore that would look good?
and the corys i will have are albino and i cant decide between panda and pygmi which would you choose?

i got a budget of £40 to get the tank up and running

help would be great thanx

 

[guppy_man]

is £40 enough to get sand substrate and rocks and some vallis?

thnx again

 

[Nevergone815]

is £40 enough to get sand substrate and rocks and some vallis?

thnx again

i don't know what the money value of that in US dollars would be. if you could help i would appreciate that. then i can help you to the best of my knowledge. as for the cories a large school of pandas would look awsome with the colorful platies that you want to get. the platies basically come in a whole lot of combonations. you have blue wag platies, the mickey mouse, sunburst, black, red, variatus. the list goes on and on.

as for the sand substrate. (i don't know if you have one) go to agway or pretty much any place like that. i bough a 60 lb bag of tubing sand for $3.99 US dollars. this bag (maybe one more) would easily give you a nice layer of sand on the bottom. just be sure to rinse it thoroughly though and pour the water into the tank anbd sand slowly. tubing sand is fine but still has some courseness to it. i think it simulates the bottom of a riverbed creek better. but that is just my opinion. i heard play sand is relatively cheap also, but i havn't seen any around me.

as for rocks and other structures... just go outside and collect some from a stream or something. i did that to build a cave for my common pleco. right now he is only like 3-4 inches and i will be getting a 20 gal soon follwed by a much larger tank after that. just make sure that the edges are round (which if they are in a stream they should be from the current) so the fish don't get hurt.

whatever you decide to put in (decoration-wise) make sure that you clean it properly. what i do is let it soak in scolding hot water for about 15 min to kill all the bacteria and paracites and fungus that might be on it. then in warm water i rinse and rub all of the dirt and dead algae off of it.

here are pics of my 2 10 gal tanks so you can get an idea.