Beginner: A Few Questions

mark4785 · Jun 2, 2010

Hi,

I'm fairly new to tropical fish keeping. I have never kept tropical fish before and I am still conducting a fishless cycle in my 150 litre aquarium.

One question I have relates to the name of a particular tropical fish that I've seen in various LFS'. I took a picture of the fish during one visit to Wharf Aquatics in Pinxton, I was wondering what it's common/obsolete name is, here is the picture:
Edit: Is the fish below a tropical salt water fish?

Another question I have relates to the keeping of tropical plants. I have been keen to install some authentic tropical plants as the one's made of plastic are not too appealing to me. I was keen to go about placing some plants in some sand substrate a long with an embedded plant fertilizer but just recently I've learned it isn't that simple to ensure the growth of the plants. I have come across various posts stating 'c02 diffusers' are a necessity to ensure plants stay healthy.

I'd be grateful if someone could explain how compatible this instrument is alongside several tropical fish in a 150ltr tank. Some forum threads seem to imply they are complex to run, may cause fish to die from lack of oxygen and the c02 injected into the aquarium will only remain there under specific conditions. In addition, I also don't know how relevant they are; can plants survive without it?

Mark.

meguro · Jun 2, 2010

u can use the plant substrate or pond soil/orindary soil/john innes no.3 underneath ur sand. the most important part of plants is light, get some decent lighting and u should be able to grow almost whatever. beginner plants are hygrophila (eg. h. polysperma and h. difformis aka water wisteria), amazon swords (echinodorus spp.), java fern (microsorum pteropus) and anubias.

those fish look like desert gobies but i could be wrong. why didnt u ask the staff at the shop/s u saw the fish in?

edit: forgot to say taht co2 and fancy ferts arent necessary, though they can help. depends on ur goals. most high maintenance tank owners come home to a jungle of mess after 2 weeks holiday/away time etc.

jacko32 · Jun 2, 2010

not too sure about the fish but the plants i may be able to help with a bit

hi i grow all these plants without co2 and they all grow very well and healthy i just dose sera aquatic plant food and add plant food root tabs around the base

these ive found are exellent plants for begginers

Aponogeton Crispus
Aponogeton Boivinianus
Aponogeton Longiplumulosus
Bacopa Caroliniana
Bacopa Monniera
any cryptocoryne and anubias
Hygrophila Polysperma
Hygrophila Augustifolia
Sagittaria Platyphylla
Water Wisteria

heres a link so you can look them up see which you like hope this helps

http

/www.java-plants.com/

mark4785 · Jun 2, 2010

meguro said:
u can use the plant substrate or pond soil/orindary soil/john innes no.3 underneath ur sand. the most important part of plants is light, get some decent lighting and u should be able to grow almost whatever. beginner plants are hygrophila (eg. h. polysperma and h. difformis aka water wisteria), amazon swords (echinodorus spp.), java fern (microsorum pteropus) and anubias.

those fish look like desert gobies but i could be wrong. why didnt u ask the staff at the shop/s u saw the fish in?

edit: forgot to say taht co2 and fancy ferts arent necessary, though they can help. depends on ur goals. most high maintenance tank owners come home to a jungle of mess after 2 weeks holiday/away time etc.

Thank you for the reply.

I have a light within the tank (I haven't checked it's specifications but its the default light that comes complete with Cayman 80 aquariums). Is soil absolutely necessary? I was thinking of letting the plant routes grow in the sand and place a fertilizer tablet next to the routes in the sand. The reason for this is I don't like the look of soil in water and it will either make the water more acidic or alkaline whereas the sand I have does not affect water stats.

I didn't ask about the fish name as no one was around to ask.

If anybody can identify what the fish name is I'd appreciate it if you also tell me whether it is a salt water tropical fish or not? I hope it isn't as I am not setting up such a saltwater aquarium.

jacko32 · Jun 2, 2010

mark4785 said:
meguro said:

u can use the plant substrate or pond soil/orindary soil/john innes no.3 underneath ur sand. the most important part of plants is light, get some decent lighting and u should be able to grow almost whatever. beginner plants are hygrophila (eg. h. polysperma and h. difformis aka water wisteria), amazon swords (echinodorus spp.), java fern (microsorum pteropus) and anubias.

those fish look like desert gobies but i could be wrong. why didnt u ask the staff at the shop/s u saw the fish in?

edit: forgot to say taht co2 and fancy ferts arent necessary, though they can help. depends on ur goals. most high maintenance tank owners come home to a jungle of mess after 2 weeks holiday/away time etc.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply.

I have a light within the tank (I haven't checked it's specifications but its the default light that comes complete with Cayman 80 aquariums). Is soil absolutely necessary? I was thinking of letting the plant routes grow in the sand and place a fertilizer tablet next to the routes in the sand. The reason for this is I don't like the look of soil in water and it will either make the water more acidic or alkaline whereas the sand I have does not affect water stats.

I didn't ask about the fish name as no one was around to ask.

If anybody can identify what the fish name is I'd appreciate it if you also tell me whether it is a salt water tropical fish or not? I hope it isn't as I am not setting up such a saltwater aquarium.

you can grow the plants straight in the sand or gravel you dont need to use special substrate but it does help for the more difficult plants for the plants i listed earlier they will grow in sand quite easily with root tabs

TheHolding · Jun 2, 2010

They definately look like some kind of goby to me.

Most gobies are brackish which require a little marine salt.

mark4785 · Jun 4, 2010

TheHolding said:
They definately look like some kind of goby to me.

Most gobies are brackish which require a little marine salt.

Thank you. *Makes note of their name*

I'm sure there are similar looking species. It would be better for me to find a species not reliant on salt water.

GAB99 · Jun 4, 2010

im pretty sure that those are either brackish or saltwater, sorry, like earlier they do look alot like gobies but more pics would help for a better idea.

and yeah with the plants if your keeping a few and not doing a true scape then easy to grow plants like explained would do fine. now lets say you want carpets and a jungle look then youll need CO2

mark4785 · Jun 7, 2010

GAB99 said:
im pretty sure that those are either brackish or saltwater, sorry, like earlier they do look alot like gobies but more pics would help for a better idea.

and yeah with the plants if your keeping a few and not doing a true scape then easy to grow plants like explained would do fine. now lets say you want carpets and a jungle look then youll need CO2

Thanks,

I think at the most I will be adding 3 tropical plants for decorative purposes. I really don't like the idea of c02 diffusers as they come across as dangerous (I'm only a novice though) so for that reason I won't be creating a miniature jungle look :crazy:

I don't have anymore pictures of the particular fish. I think I will try and get some details about it's water chemistry compatibility next time I visit that LFS.