Bought New Fish Tank

[degsod]

Ok, I was feeling not too good over the weekend especially after being let down by some one I was buying a tank off. So I went on ebay and bought another tank, went and collected it on Sunday.

Its a 30L x 15H x 12W it has a external filter lights but no heater, (am picking that up later tonight), and is on a stand.

Now the problem, what do I put in it, do I use gravel or sand, what fish?

Any ideas??

I will try and post some pictures later on

Regards


Derek

 

[lordofthesea]

depends entirely on personal preference i use sand in mine as i think it looks nicer. as for fish the possiblitys are endless!!! i mean, freshwater, saltwater, cichlids, odballs, reef, community, are you planning anything in particular?

 

[tenohfive]

I'd go with play sand for convenience - its cheap and looks good, and once you get used to it its easy to clean. I generally go for a bogwood pile or two with a couple of caves and some hardy plants in between for community tanks.

Heres a possible stocking list:

1 x angel fish
Pair/trio of apistogramma cacatuoides
6 x cherry barbs
6 x panda/pepper/pygmy corys
5 x oto's

 

[Curiosity101]

I personally would have sand, with a pair of GBR's and then plan the other fish around them...(considering that they should really be kept at around 28 degrees)

That's just me ...really it is all personal preference in the end

 

[arobinson1984]

Its only 15" high, ideally you want 18" for an angel fish

Andy

 

[tenohfive]

Its only 15" high, ideally you want 18" for an angel fish

Andy

I've heard both figures quoted for angels, 15" was the consensus I heard settled on.

 

[Curiosity101]

It's still only 88l, wouldn't that stocking be pushing it a little?

 

[tenohfive]

As long as its well filtered (ideally an external and an internal,) it should be okay. And obviously setup over time - alot of those fish will want a more mature tank.

Thinking about it, the length of the tank does concern me slightly for angels - 36" would be better.

A decent sized gourami would be a better alternative.

 

[degsod]

depends entirely on personal preference i use sand in mine as i think it looks nicer. as for fish the possiblitys are endless!!! i mean, freshwater, saltwater, cichlids, odballs, reef, community, are you planning anything in particular?

Saltwater is out really (this time round) and probably not community as my other 2 tanks have ended up being community, so probably oddball/ cichlids i suppose, hmmmmm

I'd go with play sand for convenience - its cheap and looks good, and once you get used to it its easy to clean. I generally go for a bogwood pile or two with a couple of caves and some hardy plants in between for community tanks.

Heres a possible stocking list:

1 x angel fish
Pair/trio of apistogramma cacatuoides
6 x cherry barbs
6 x panda/pepper/pygmy corys
5 x oto's

Sounding good, the tank came with bogwood

 

[tenohfive]

Lol, you've said you don't want a community tank but thats exactly what I've just posted.

 

[degsod]

Lol, you've said you don't want a community tank but thats exactly what I've just posted.

I know, it always ends up like that.

Deffo don't want a community this time. So no community themes please.

 

[lordofthesea]

community of what though what about a cichlid community. tanganjikan shell dwellers and julies...... a couple ofmbuna....

 

[tenohfive]

community of what though what about a cichlid community. tanganjikan shell dwellers and julies...... a couple ofmbuna....

I wouldn't mix mbuna and tangs, and I've kept a 90L tang tank before - stocking options are limited. Some ocellatus and some julies maybe, but you can't have many flavours in there. Saying that ocellatus are gorgeous so still worth thinking about.

There is a school of thought coming through about apisto's of keeping huge numbers in tanks that size - stacks and stacks of bogwood, then a huge shoal of them there to imitate how they're found in the wild. Think I heard of 50 being kept in a 20 gal tank. Worth thinking about, if you can afford the stocking costs.

 

[degsod]

community of what though what about a cichlid community. tanganjikan shell dwellers and julies...... a couple ofmbuna....

I wouldn't mix mbuna and tangs, and I've kept a 90L tang tank before - stocking options are limited. Some ocellatus and some julies maybe, but you can't have many flavours in there. Saying that ocellatus are gorgeous so still worth thinking about.

There is a school of thought coming through about apisto's of keeping huge numbers in tanks that size - stacks and stacks of bogwood, then a huge shoal of them there to imitate how they're found in the wild. Think I heard of 50 being kept in a 20 gal tank. Worth thinking about, if you can afford the stocking costs.

I like the idea of Apistro's do you stock the same species or mix them, I like the look of Apistrogramma Agassizii, are these ok with sand? How much bogwood would you reccomend?

 

[BigTom]

community of what though what about a cichlid community. tanganjikan shell dwellers and julies...... a couple ofmbuna....

I wouldn't mix mbuna and tangs, and I've kept a 90L tang tank before - stocking options are limited. Some ocellatus and some julies maybe, but you can't have many flavours in there. Saying that ocellatus are gorgeous so still worth thinking about.

There is a school of thought coming through about apisto's of keeping huge numbers in tanks that size - stacks and stacks of bogwood, then a huge shoal of them there to imitate how they're found in the wild. Think I heard of 50 being kept in a 20 gal tank. Worth thinking about, if you can afford the stocking costs.

Woah. Sure that wasn't 200g? I'm sat here looking at my 20G and utterly failing to imagine how you'd cram in that number of fish.