Advice On My 180 Litre.

[Genesis]

In my large fish community (LFC) tank I already have 3 Gold Severums, 2 Silver Dollars, 1 Angelfish, 2 Disc Tetras and 1 Red Tailed Shark.
I plan on moving my 6 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish to the 180L also, but as they are less than an inch (2cm) long I plan on moving them when they get to about 2 inches (5cm). Will these DNRs be alright with the tankmates already in my LFC aquarium?

Also, I beleive my Silver dollars need a bigger shoal than just 2 (one sadly died, as I bought 3). How many SDs do you recommend in a small shoal? I was thinking about 6, would this overstock my tank?



All help and advice would be very much appreciated!



- Genesis

 

[Genesis]

 

[rabbut]

A 180l tank isn't large enough for those large community fish i'm afraid

The dollars are going to get dinner plate size, severums get on for a foot length, angels again can get to 1foot height, 8 inch length. As it is your overstocked, and if any of the current occupants are over 6 inch, the rainbows will be at risk, even when fully grown, so I'd leave them in the tank they are in.

SD's need a minimum group of 6, so yes you need more in your group. However, at presant you are pushing it with the fish you have in, so I wouldn't up the numbers.

For your existing fish you would want a minimum of a 75 gal (about 350l), though many would still think this overstocked. A 150gal would be better, but these ususly need to be built on site, and break the bank equipment wise

I would seriously re-consider the stocking, and loose some of the fish you have. The angel would be the only thing I would consider keeping. Mebe add some larger tetras, or an RTBS.

Sorry if this sounds like a rant, I don't intend it as such
Rabbut

 

[Genesis]

No offence Rabbut, but I would not consider myself overstocked atm.

Severums average out at about 20cm fish, as do silver dollars.
Angels get to about 15cm and the tank is nearly half a meter deep.

I also do regular water changes and regular clean-outs.

As they are now these big fish are all about 10cm and the tank looks very open and empty.



This being said, I really need to get some more Silver Dollars as my shoal is less of a shoal, more of a pair.
So I'm glad you agree on six of these.



I will, in a few years time be upgrading to something around the 80 gallon mark and as these fish can reach a decade of life, I'm sure they will be able to be rehomed during their later life.




I appreciate you're only trying to advise what you beleive to be best for my animals.




- Genesis

 

[rabbut]

No offence taken

People who are offended by things on the internet need a garsh reality check IMO, as the real world is far worse.

However, these fish are fast growers, and all though the values you quote are correct adverages, you should IMO plan for then to reach full size. I would advise moving the upgrade forward if possible, or stunting may be an issue

All the best
Rabbut

 

[rocknurworld2006]

you aint got the best mix of fish ideally. and i would say when fully grown you are gonna be overstocked
what length is aquarium?
silver dollars are also shoaling fish!

 

[Genesis]

aquarium is 101cm long
i should be getting another 3ft aquarium in the next few weeks

 

[rocknurworld2006]

severums need a 4foot tank and silver dollars need a large tank as well and should be kept in a school of at least 4!

 

[shroob]

I take it you have a Juwel rio 180 (by dimensions and volume). If I were you I would buy a bigger tank than 80G when you upgrade (though I'm talking USG, 80imperial gallons would make roughly 95USG, depending on dimensions it may be ok - though filtration would have to be top notch).
I would be concerned if two of your severums paired up, they would attack the other severum (and probably the other fish), so I would remove 1 severum.

When you are getting a bigger tank, do you mean in addition to your current one or in place of? As I would keep the 180l for the angels, tetras and rainbows then I would put the severums in the bigger tank along with the silver dollars - I recently returned my silver dollars to a trusted LFS, simply because I don't think I was being fair on them keeping them in a juwel vision 260, for how active they were and the size of them - like size of my hand span I just felt they needed more. For your big tank I would aim for atleast 48x18 footprint for this tank. So with the 3ft tank you are getting soon, I would stock that with new fish (or use it as a sump for your big tank).

So to simplyfy things:
180litre - angels, tetras and rainbows (you could add more angels to get a pair, and more tetras to get a school)
Bigger tank -severums and silver dollars
3ft - spare.

 

[Genesis]

Thankyou shroob.
Your ideas and thoughts will be taken into consideration, if I feel my fish are not being fairly treated in terms of space (and I am a very compassionate person when it comes to animal welfare) then there is a LFS within 20 minutes of my home which will gladly take any tankbusting fish free of charge.


I'm feeling rather patronised by some other members, I'm not a newbie at the hobby as I have 3 years experience and I know what I'm doing.
The only reason I have so few silver dollars is because some died, not because I do not know how to keep them (which I do). I plan on purchasing 3 or 4 more to create a shoal.
Also, Severums do not need a 4ft tank, they need a 20 us gal tank. But I'm not going by what they need, I'm going by what I can afford and by what I have space for, which, at the moment is a 3.3 foot tank. It's nearly 4 foot and, to be honest 20cm would not be much more beneficial.



This new 3ft will probably become a planted community tank.

 

[rabbut]

Also, Severums do not need a 4ft tank, they need a 20 us gal tank.

Please tell me the latter quote was ment as a joke?

A severum can get almost as big as a 20usg

I'm gonna back shroob up on this. 4ft (75usg) minimum for sevs As you will know though, the bigger the better.

I appologise if I'm one of the ones you are finding patronising, but unless you state otherwise, I assume you are new to the hobby, and advise you as such. Like RDD, I'd rather give too much advise, or dumbed down advise, to giveing too little, or overly complicated advise to a newbie to scare them off and have them make a mistake.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Genesis]

If we're talking bare-minimum survival, a 20usg could just about hold a sev. but I would seriously discourage it.


On the subject of being a newbie;
<--- It says there; Join Date: Nov 05 and I have nearly 1000 posts on this forum since then.
Still, that is besides the point.


When I look at the meter long, near-half meter wide fishtank to my right-hand side, I can see the year-old 10cm Sevs and I can see it's going to be a while before I need to add those extra 19cm to my aquarium length.