Bring on the fish!

[Helium_Junkie]

Went and bought a few fish yesterday, the current inhabitants of my tank are:

6 Neon Tetra
3 Cardinal Tetra
The cardinals shoal with the neons perfectly I may get a few more because these look great when all nine are roaming the tank together

3 Golden Pencils
These often join the tetra schoal, looks quite fun - I love the way these dart around and then stop completely still with their fins vibrating... similar to how hornets move really

4 Black Phantom Tetra
These guys are great, they have chosen the main open space in the tank as their area, they stay in a drawn out line, having a look around every so often.

6 Male Guppies
Absolute beauties, we have 3 with red spotty tails, who we have named Huey, Duey and Luey, one with a black body and yellow tail named Sampson - his tail is shorter than the others whose tails are fanned out more. There is a dalmation coloured one, named Pongo, and the most recent addition is a neon blue coloured body, red tailed guppy, as yet nameless (suggestions please! )

1 Red Tailed Black Shark
He is small now, but has established the pecking order nicely with all fish as they are added, we are watching him closely for any signs of aggression. If he harasses the other fish too much he will have to return to the fish shop, which would be sad because I like him. His name is Sinbad, because he loves to explore - he has found every nook and crannie in the tank

2 Rubbernosed Pleco
How big do these grow? They are maybe 6" from head to tail right now, we've named them Arthur and Martha... One is very lazy, the other has sucked just about every piece of gravel in the tank now!

And thats it!
What comments do you have on this group? Please point out anything you think wont work, or any questions etc. What else would go well with this collection?
Thanks
Pictures will be coming... eventually

 

[Helium_Junkie]

A little about the tank itself

The tank is a Fluval Duo 1200, 120*40*40cm, 38UK Gallons. The calculators I've used say nearly 2 metres of fish in this tank, built up gradually. I estimate what we have their now to be about 1 metre or so.

The tank is well planted, with lots of vasill-thingies (tall grassy stuff) in the back left corner, and a load of bushy things in the back right around the filter. We also have amazon swords on both sides and some floaty things in the top. Probably 20 plants in all (not counting floaters).

We have some rocks to make a cave, around the back of these is an air curtain which the fish love to play in, there is also a bell with an airstone inside and a castle with sandfall (which the fish like playing in too! Do they just enjoy sand?).
The main piece is a large wrecked ship, about 35cm long and 12 wide, which the fish can hide in or swim through. They all enjoy this.

A couple of days ago we installed a moon light, this is a 25w blue bulb held by clips screwed in to the hood. Its a great effect and the fish act differently when the main lights go off and this one comes on.

I'll try and get pics of everything on my digital as soon as I get it back from the guy I lent it to

Overall, I am very happy with the tank. We test the water daily (or more) and change water when needed using our groovy system of a siphon for removing water and a bin with a pump for water going back in

 

[Helium_Junkie]

So any suggestions?
What about Oto's?

 

[Helium_Junkie]

Well nuts to you lot then

I bought some Oto's, 4 to be precise. They are happily munching the brown algae from the rocks in the tank. I plan to get a few more.
I also added 3 more Cardinal Tetras, 2 more Male Guppies and 2 Gold Gouramis Very pretty fish.

Bet you'll all comment when I get some pictures

 

[bunjiweb]

Just one thing, the Fluval 1200 is 195Litres is it not? making it 51US gallons, which is surely more than 38UK gallons..

Ben

 

[clutterydrawer]

sounds nice I want pics!

 

[Helium_Junkie]

Just one thing, the Fluval 1200 is 195Litres is it not? making it 51US gallons, which is surely more than 38UK gallons..

Ben

Well the box says 171 internal capacity. The volume is 195 though. And yes, there IS quite a difference between imperial and metric gallons.

But I could be wrong, hehe. Work it out for me 120cm * 40 * 40 with 1cm thick glass.

As for pics, I'll get em ASAP I loaned my camera to a friend so will get it back soon

 

[Vip]

i was just reading up on a story of a 16" ropefish smashing its tank and killing its self. The lfs said the floor was drenched, do you think this can happen with a rope fish?

 

[pgtips]

sounds wicked.....would love to see some pictures

 

[Ben]

i was just reading up on a story of a 16" ropefish smashing its tank and killing its self. The lfs said the floor was drenched, do you think this can happen with a rope fish?

lol, thats a bit random but yeh i think they could,ive seen one and the power is awsome


i wanna see some pics helium

 

[bunjiweb]

I just worked it out again to be 192L which is 50.72 US Gallons which is 42.2 UK gallons.

These figures are obviously before displacement.

Ben

 

[Helium_Junkie]

You can see some pictures of the tank here, but these are old. Will make an interesting comparison to the new look (Which is way cooler).

We have rather good planting, some teeny weeny snails all over the place that I quite like, some floating plants too. A moon light, loads of decor, and lots and lots of fish... I can't wait to get some pictures up!

 

[Helium_Junkie]

I just worked it out again to be 192L which is 50.72 US Gallons which is 42.2 UK gallons.

These figures are obviously before displacement.

Ben

Its 192 litres if you take the external dimensions yes.
Internally though, I guessed as 118*38*38 ish. Which is closer to 170 litres which is the internal capacity written on the box. So thats the figure I've been using Which is 38UK Gallons, or 45 US
Flaming imperial/metric stuff