Complete Novice

[Tropicalnovice]

I set up my aquarium in Jan of this year and have now got around 20 fish of different types. They all appear to be doing fine and fingers crossed I haven't lost any. But I do have a few questions, I originally set my tank up using a mix of fine substrate and medium, as I have 3 loaches and a catfish that like to burrow, I do not use an under gravel filter as I was informed originally that this can harm the ph levells of the tank, but the filter i am using seems to be doing a good job at keeping the clarity of the water clear. The issue I have is that I would like to add some plants to the tank, (I have four with lead weights that I kept in the basket already) But would like to introduce some directly to the tank, will I need to alter the substrate I have in order for the roots to feed, If so how do I do that without stressing the fish to much? My CAtfish is a spotted Rapheal Catfish, I know they are nocturnal and not very energetic, but mine seems incredibly sluggish and doesn't seem to feed that often, is this natural?? JUst for information my tank size is approx 160 Litre and I have the following, (please excuse the spellings, like I say I am a novice!)

4 x Blue neon Tetra - 7 x Red tail tinfoil barb - 2 x Dwarf Gourami - 2 x Sucker loach - 3 x Red finned silver loach - 2 x Butterfly fish - 1 x red fin albino shark - 1 x Spotted Rapheal Catfish. 1 x American Dwarf frog.

Like I say any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[oscars r ace]

Hi and welcome to the forum

you shouldn't need to change the substrate, aslong as it is deep enough to plant the plants, they should be ok, i feed my plants with bio stimuol once a week, it's just a liquid plant food, you can get it from your lfs.

Tom

 

[pammy172]

Welcome - and sorry straight off for some bad news! Yuo need to get the tin foiled barbs out of there. They grow to 10 - 12" and are not the best community fish. They'll eat your neons when they're big enough.

Neons really do better in bigger groups and often don't like new tanks so keep an eye on yours.

What do you mean by Butterfly fish?

It's an interesting combination of fish you have there and not the best mix perhaps for a novice, but more importantly is the adult size of many of them meaning you will be overstocked in the future if they all do survive and grow to their potential.

 

[oscars r ace]

butterfly fish are weird things, they sit at the top of the water, and have the tendency to fly. i spoke about them with a bloke at my lfs he says they put them in the top tank because when they come the next day, they will be spread about in the surrounding tanks to the sides and underneith where they have jumped out of the tank they are in, quite why they don't put a plastic guard over the tank i don' t know, but there you go.

 

[Tropicalnovice]

I cannot remember the real name but butterfly fish, kind of ugly things that look upside down, they tend to swim just beneath the surface. I was told the barb would be fine, oh dear!! The theory with the tank that I have a variety of top/middle and bottom dwellers, therfore the territory would not be an issue. But sounds like I will be looking for a larger tank in months to come!!

Thanks for the info on the plants I will have a go at this later in the week. The substrate is fairly deep so should not be a problem.

 

[Craster]

There are some plants that tend to prefer to feed from their roots rather than from the water column - Amazon Swords, for example. You can still grow these in a decent depth of gravel, but they will appreciate 'root tabs' - slow release feed capsules that you push into the gravel near the plants.

 

[pammy172]

I cannot remember the real name but butterfly fish, kind of ugly things that look upside down, they tend to swim just beneath the surface. I was told the barb would be fine, oh dear!! The theory with the tank that I have a variety of top/middle and bottom dwellers, therfore the territory would not be an issue. But sounds like I will be looking for a larger tank in months to come!!

Thanks for the info on the plants I will have a go at this later in the week. The substrate is fairly deep so should not be a problem.

Are you sure they're tin foiled barbs and not Tiger or similar?

Although you're right to look for a mix of dwellers - 160l is still quite small in fish terms and there's not a huge amount of space for them to be able to avoid each other , especially if that list is right as some grow very large. So, nature will kick in and the smaller will become fodder for the not totally peaceful and omnivorous tank mates.

 

[Truck]

african butterfly fish will eat anything they can fit in their mouths, they need acidic water and are not for the beginner. they do best in heavily oxygenated and planted tanks, and hover at the surface.

 

[Tropicalnovice]

Thanks for all your advice, I have now planted my aqaurium with various plants, also with the help from WATERZOO in peterborough. Thanks also for info on the fish, although I have to say the butterfly at present seem to be very chilled.

Martin

 

[bae1994]

another waterzoo user its good isdnt it

 

[Tropicalnovice]

They certainly are, highly recommended.