Biotype Help

[LauraFrog]

I'm setting up some tanks (five of them) for my school and to add interest (and scientific value) I've gone with five different biotypes. The tanks are too small IMO (2 foot, about 16 or 17 gallonish) but they're all I'm going to get. I've thrown my weight around a bit and convinced them that it will be a LOT LOT LOT easier if they let me take care of it, because nobody really knew where to start, there was just a vague whim to have some fish tanks in the science classrooms. The general plan, as far as I know, was to turn up one day with a bottle of water conditioner and a heap of fish bags. Needless to say, I went and printed out enough of my own notes to convince them I know what I'm talking about. Result, I've now had everything (planning/scaping/planting/stocking and buying all the supplies) dumped on me - but at least this way the tanks will be fishless cycled and I know the fish will be properly cared for and fed.

The tanks are display tanks and they are there for their impress value. This means overstocking. I don't mean ludicrous overstocking, but I mean I'm going to overfilter and then put more fish in there than would be generally recommended, and then do big water changes, a lot of them. My five biotypes are Australian billabong, Chinese mountain stream, South East Asian acid swamp, Amazon pool, Mexican river.


My ideas were that the Australian one be a single fish species tank for Iriatherina werneri, one of my all time favourites, with native plants, waterhouse snails and glass shrimp.

The Chinese one will house zebra danios (longfin) and white clouds. I wanted to put a hillstream loach in there, but I decided against it because the tank will be overstocked and they are very sensitive to oxygen levels - not worth the risk. Are there any other bottom dwellers that can go in this tank, or will it just be the little cyprinids? Also is there a feature fish that's okay with being alone or a pair? Got to be biotype specific, small tank compatible and non plant eating. Goldfish are too big. If there's not one, I'll just stick with the little fish. Should I go with soft or hard water here? It makes no difference in easiness, the tapwater is soft and buffer is cheap and easy to use.

The South East Asian one will be rasboras, I'm still trying to decide between heteromorpha and hengeli. I'm going to use a gourami as a feature fish, and I'm thinking about khuli loaches but I may run out of room for them since I'd want to keep four.

The Amazon will be very heavily planted with a school of black neon tetras and three diamond tetras as feature fish, as well as a school of small corys and a bristlenose.

The Mexican river will be a livebearer setup with platys and guppies. Is there a Mexican - central - south American bottom dweller that can be kept as one or two and tolerates hardwater, or should I stick to what i have?



So: Does anybody know of a bottom or top dwelling feature fish for a Chinese biotype that is small tank compatible and largely idiot proof?
What pH and hardness should I be using to keep zebra danios and white clouds? The internet sources all disagree.
Is there a bottom dweller native to Mexico or central or South america that is tolerant of hard water?

Thanks guys!

 

[Colin_T]

I would use P. signifer for the Australian tank rather than I. werneri. They will breed more readily and the students will see them showing off and perhaps be able to rear up some of the young. Always good in a science class

Zebra Danios aren't from China. A tank of White Cl0ouds could be left as is and again they would breed and the students could see the young white clouds growing up during the term.

What about putting a pr of Apistogramma cacatuoides in the Amazon tank with pygmy corydoras and black neons.

Zebra Danios and white clouds do best in cool soft neutral water. If kept in warm hard water and not bred, the females beocme egg bound quite quickly.

 

[LauraFrog]

Okay, I'll leave the mountain stream tank soft. If it goes acid I'll put some bicarb in there I suppose. I really did want to put some zebras in there so I might make it less specific in terms of the biotype cause you're right about their origin.... you can tell I was up late. It would be great if the WCMM started breeding, that would be awesome! I'm sort of expecting that the platys will in the Mexican tank.

I'm worried about P. signifer as they vary greatly by collection locality. The ones from up north are pretty, gentle freshwater fish that are okay with small tanks, but they need warmer water (their tank won't be heated). The ones from down south grow larger, probably too big for the tank. They are also belligerent, the males are territorial and will fight a lot in a tank that size, and they generally don't thrive unless in very hard or brackish water. It's impossible to confirm collection locality with the suppliers I have, because Dave (aquagreen) isn't selling them. I could keep P. gertrudae, which are more suited to the tank type (small peaceful planted). But I'd be worried about the temp again. I was thinking about mixing I. werneri and P. gertrudae before... I would like to put a few I. werneri in there though cause not enough people are breeding them, and the captive population is in danger of a genetic bottleneck. I thought I might have a go, and having somewhere to put the less suitable fish for breeding would be good.

I would absolutely kill for a tank of A. cacatuoides but I might not risk it for school... mainly because they are not common and quite dear, and it would be a real shame to kill them if the students were idiots. I'm hoping that it won't happen but there's always a chance that some bored Year 8's might think it's funny to put some strange chemical in the tank or something equally dumb. I was thinking of Bolivian butterflies because they're cheaper and more common but the temp might not suit them, it will be around 25 in summer and 20 in winter.

Thanks for the help, appreciated!

 

[Colin_T]

Contact ANGFA Victoria or NSW (http/angfa.org.au/groups.html) and see if one of their members will send you some signifers from down that way. Then they will tolerate the cooler water. But all rainbows should be fine in 20C water. I left my tanks unheated over winter and they would drop to about 18C most of the time but on really cold nights they would get to 16C and no problems. I have also kept rainbows outdoors all year round in Perth and the summer temp gets over 40C and the winter temp gets down to 5C, sometimes less.
In the north of WA rainbows have been caught in 12C waterways.

As long as the temperature doesn't suddenly drop, or the fish go from warm to cold, they will be fine in tanks with 20C water. And you don't have to feed them as much in the cooler water.

A.cacatuoides are just as tough as Bolivian butterfly/ rams and if they get poisoned, it's not going to make any difference to what fish is in the tank.

I would put a piece of limestone or some shells in the white cloud tank. It will help stabilise the pH and be cheaper than using bicarb, not that bicarb is really expensive but it all adds up. And when people ask why there are shells in the tank you can give them a chemistry lesson, (ie: the shell is calcium carbonate and helps to neutralise the nitric acid from the fish food and waste). Over the course of the year the shell can be taken out and weighed and checked for thickness. Then you can say this is what's happening on the GBR. The seawater pH is dropping and corals, molluscs and other shellfish are dissolving away because of the excess CO2 dropping the pH.

 

[PRW1988]

In the tank with the danios and white clouds, if you're worried about oxygen levels then why not add an air pump and stone? Should create enough service movement to allow enough oxygen. Aswell, Mountain minnows and danios don't really have the highest of oxygen needs.