Advice For Coursework Project

[vonster]

Hello there! I’m studying an animal care diploma and my current module is fish. I’ve always liked fish, but cannot even begin to explain the amount I have learnt and the appreciation I have gained for these amazing creatures – and I’ve barely even scooped the surface water in the ocean of fishy knowledge!
 
I’m now onto my last essay of the unit, for which I have been given a scenario. I have been supplied with (an imaginary) tank that is 120cm x 50cm x 50cm. This is 66 UK gallons and 79 in US gallons. I have to make the aquarium ‘as visually interesting as possible’ while providing a suitable home for the fish, and choose several species to live within it (as well as explaining how to care for them, all equipment required, maintenance, etc.).
 
According to the AqAdvisor tool, my stocking list below fills the tank to 70% and the recommended water change schedule is 22% per week. I am happy with these numbers and would like to understock to 1) allow the fish to plenty of room, 2) have some room for fry once they are old enough to join the tank (note I will be writing about the need for a breeding tank too!).
 
However, I don’t want to completely rely on the tool, and would like some advice please.

• Do you think my stocking list is suitable?
• Have I got an appropriate amount of each fish to keep them happy?
• Have they got enough room?
• Can the two types of cory cats live in harmony?
• Are there any other fish you would rather choose?

I have chosen…

• 5 common hatchets (is there are a male to female ratio for these guys?)
• 4 mollies (not sailfin. 1 male, 3 females for the 1:3 ratio)
• 16 guppies (4 males, 12 females for the 1:3 ratio)
• 6 peppered cory cats (4 males, 2 females for the 2:1 ratio)
• 2 bearded cory cats (1 male, 1 female)

I wanted fish that were relatively simple to care for, require similar water parameters, and are peaceful for a community tank, as well as of varying shapes and sizes in order to display how different fish can be.
 
Any suggestions and advice would be much appreciated

  Thank you for your help!
 

 

[Freedom]

What an interesting project!  I will be watching this space for information.
 
I found this site regarding your 2 cory:  http://fish.mongabay.com/corydoradinae.htm%C2 Under 'salt and pepper catfish' it says these are easy prey for larger species.  These grow to max 3 inches, while the bearded cory  grows to 5 inches.  Is that an issue?  Another reason I will watch this space!
 
Why did you want 2 different sorts of cory in your tank?  There must be a reason behind that stocking, right?
 
This site: http/www.aquaticcommunity.com/corydoras/bearded-cory.php states this:   "but behavior can differ slightly from corydoras species as this species belongs to a different genus, Scleromystax. "
 
Of course it does not specify HOW the behavior differs. 
 
Pending your response as to why you have 2 sots of corys, I think go down to just one and up the numbers on the other fish.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You do not understand live bearer math. It is said the real trick is not to have them spawn.

 
Livebearer females can store the male's sperm. They can usually spawn at a pretty young age. As a result it is said that most female livebearers are born pregnant. If you are lucky your stock will eat most of the 1,000s of babies which will be born into the tank. If you provide lots of cover, many fry will still survive. If a mommy fish has 30 babies and 1/2 are fm, and they all live, in 3 months they will each be having 30 babies. So from one come 450 in just over 3 months. Hopefully all 225 females from that group don't each have 30 babies in another 3 months. Yikes 6,750 fry. And that is live bearer math. And you will be starting with 15 female live bearers. Now, I have oversimplified things some because when they first spawn they will have fewer fry (15-20) but as they age the number per spawn goes up and would eventually go over 30. Even if you halve the number, your females will reasonably produce upwards of 6,000 fry in the first year.
 
The guppy and mollie would like harder, higher pH water and the corys which should be kept in similar groups of as many as possible (5-6 of any species minimum), prefer softer lower pH. The hatchetfish,which work best in bigger numbers than 5, would like similar parameters as the corys. Oh yes, the hatchets are notorious jumpers so need a tight lifitting lid.
 
Hope this helped some?

 

[KrystaK]

This does sound like an interesting project.
 
Do you have imaginary water stats as well or are you allowed to make those up?
 
I know nothing about Hatchet fish, so I can't help you there.
Mollies prefer a pH of at least 7.0, they also prefer slightly salty water, otherwise they get what's known as the Shimmies.
Other than the breeding the Guppies will do, consider how that many of one type of fish will look in a tank. You not only want to consider colour in this instance, but also shape.
Corys are scale less fish, and don't do well with salt at all, it gives them sores. So you may want to re-think either your Mollys or your Corys
I would recommend only one type of cory as they prefer to mix with their own kind. 
 
Lets look at the criteria of this assignment. You have a 79 gal tank. You need to make it look interesting, have multiple species be able to co-exist, and how to look after them.
 
If you want to make it very visually interesting I would recommend an African Cichlid tank, Cichlids come in some amazing colours and sizes. However I find the habitats of Cichlids very bland (They require sand, and many many rocks to hide around and in.) 
 
 
Or you could try to consider your tank an ecosystem. It needs to be able to maintain itself (including dealing with fry, algae control and scrap clean up). 

 

[Ninjouzata]

to TFF! Hope you enjoy it here..this sounds like a neat project.
 
The hatchets & cories are schooling fish so should be kept in groups of 6+. The more the better, and I think 12 or so of each in this size tank would be lovely.
I agree with sticking to just one type of cory. Looks more appealing visually.
 
It's difficult to tell the gender of cories until they're older, you don't really need a male:female ratio unless breeding them I'd think since they are quite peaceful.
 
As has been said you would be absolutely swamped with fry with all of those guppies, and the mollies are quite prolific too. You could get all males so there are no fry.
The ratio is for breeding and to make sure 1 female in particular isn't getting picked on, I think.
 
I personally would not get livebearers, for the reason of fry, but even getting all males..I just find most livebearers blah looking. No offense to those who have them!
Would replace them with a large school of rummynose tetras. Maybe another school of neons. But like said one really big school is quite a sight.
 
I'd look into a centerpiece fish or two. Perhaps some type of gourami or a pair of peacock gudgeons or apistos.

 

[vonster]

The fish module has certainly been interesting! So many broad and interesting questions. This last one is certainly a challenge.
 
Thank you, Freedom, for looking up the information about the two Cory’s! I wasn’t sure whether the two would go together, but my reason behind initially choosing the two was that I wanted the Bearded (just out of personal preference) but read somewhere that you should only really keep two of them. This would leave the bottom of the tank quite empty, so I wondered if a couple of types could be mixed. Doesn’t matter that they can’t, as I’ve changed my stocking list following responses received from various hobbyists this evening, but it’s handy to find out the info for future reference!
 
I really did mess up that livebearer math, didn’t I? I knew they produced a lot of fry, but thankfully your scary numbers made me reconsider, TwoTankAmin. Thanks for that! Also for the tips on the pH and hardness, as I think a couple of the sources I used initially were a little outdated.
 
Someone on another forum suggested I take a look at biotopes for some inspiration, which I did, and decided on a South American blackwater biotope. So, after researching the fish on the list for that biotope, I’ve chosen four which seem to work well…

• (at least 10) Marbled Hatchetfish/Carnegiella strigata (topwater, 2", 74 - 81⁰F, pH varies between sources but optimum appears to be 6.5, 5 dH approx.)
• (at least 10) Rosy Tetra/Hyphessobrycon rosaceus (midwater?, 1.5”, 75 – 82⁰F, pH 6.5 optimum, soft)
• (1 male and 1-3 females) Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid/Apistogramma cacatuoides (midwater/bottom, 2.5 – 3.5”, 73 – 82⁰F, pH varies again but optimum appears to be about 6.5, soft)
• (at least 8) Emerald Catfish/Brochis splendens (bottom, 3 ¼ “, 70 – 82⁰F, pH 6.5, 2 – 30 dH)

‘Visually interesting’ is open to interpretation, to be honest. While the common ‘crystal clear water and colourful livebearer’ tanks are super pretty, I would personally find a biotope more interesting as it’s more natural. While the fish I’ve chosen are quite small, I think I’ve got a good mix of shape, and the blander colouration of the hatchets, tetra, and catfish will really make the colourful apistos stand out (thanks for the suggestion, ninjouzata!).
 
KrystaK; I don’t think the water stats matter for the scenario, as the question doesn't state whether the imaginary aquarium is for me or someone else (usually these types of questions do), so I shouldn’t need to go into detail of the water stats in my area. I can go for any water parameters, as long as they’re suitable for all the fish within the tank.
 
Thank you to all of you for taking the time to respond and offer advice. Even though I changed my fish around, the Guppy, Molly and Cory info is still useful - the more I learn, the better! You’ve all helped me greatly and I really appreciate it.

 

[Ninjouzata]

That sounds like a beautiful tank to me, am sure you could increase the numbers for this size tank but not sure by how much so hopefully someone else can say.