Couple Questions About 75 Gallon Tank

[Kairi]

can i add neon tetras? i know they aren't real hardy, but my mini cycle is over with now.

why do i have stringy algae growing on the lid? this is on the 10 gallon tank too- it's gross! i clean it off about once every 2 weeks.

what other fish can i add to add some color? presently i have (see the stocking list below for the individual fish) 35 total fish (counting the fry i know about)- although one of the fish is a common pleco who'll get huge.

is there any way to hide the air tubes? it doesn't bug me that much... but they get in the way of looking sometimes

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Some sort of colorful male gourami should be ok. Or a group of female bettas could also ass color.

Harlequin rasboras. Cardinals to go with the neons. Rio flame tetras. Rummy nose tetras. Pair of rams, esp. Blue Germans. If you want more livebearers, you could probably go with sme of the more colorful types, esp. lots of male guppies. Of course, not all of my suggestions will work with one another, just a few that come to mind in no specific order.

As for the algae or tubing questions... I can't quite say that I can help you out with that... sorry.

 

[Kairi]

the only gouramis i've seen are dwarf gouramis and someone said they were kinda mean. are female bettas better in big groups? i'm afraid they'd eat the fry that are surviving outside the breeder- wouldn't they? as for the rest- i dunno what they look like i'll look 'em up thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Tempestuousfury]

NP

Powder blue gourami. Honey something or other gourami. Red flame gourami. All are dwarves. generally speaking they are all mean, but they were never a problem in my tank, and I have both slow and fast fish. The male eventually just started minding his own business, though I had a male platy that kept following him around, so he did keep chasing him away, though.

Female bettas I would say keep in a large group. I have two in my tank, but one is dominant and she knows it, while the other could care less, so they never fight. Generally, the more females, the better the aggression is distributed, though I would think that if one female were clearly weaker, it might get picked on the most and end up having to be moved out.

As for the fry, yeah.. they'd probably get eaten, though it also depends on the size. You could always move them to the 1 gallon or get a ten gallon rearing tank, if possible.

Also, do you add salt to the tank? If so, tetras would not be a very good addition, since they cannot handle the salt very well. Same goes with corydoras and plecs and whatnot. I would think that gouramis are the same, though the tags at Petsmart say otherwise...

 

[Kairi]

i added a little (teeny) bit of salt recently to help hurry on the mini cycle. as i change water though, it's being diluted more and more. (i won't be adding any more unless i absolutely have to)

i have some, well one, really mean fish in the tank. she's a buenos aires tetra. she likes to eat other fish (or she acts like it at least)- i don't want anything that would challenge her... she's fat and fast- and just mean.

any lfs is no good at telling me fish. someone told me to put neons in w/ my betta... i'm sure he would NOT like that. he almost had issues w/ his snail friend.

as for catching the fry... heh, the reason they stay in the main tank is coz i can't catch them... they are fast, and the tank is too deep (or maybe i'm just a little too short)

 

[Tempestuousfury]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=137887

Why I mention the salt.

Well, the mean tetra will probably have issues with the anabantoids, then. However, I would hope that she would give up if she realized that she wasn't going to win against other fish. Takng th risk is up to you, of course.

Yes, sometimes you get... less-than-experienced lfs workers trying to give you tips.

As for the babies... the more fish you put in, the lower the chances of them surviving. Form now on, I'd suggest moving gravid females 1 week before they are due... saves you the trouble of catching the fry or watching them get eaten. Catching fry takes patience... so if they mean that much to you, you might just have to spend that time catching them if you want more fish. I, personally, could care less about my fry, since I feed the lazier/ less-than-healthy fry to my bettas as live foods for conditioning. Unfortunately, the fact that I have to use a turkey baster to shoot the fry into the battas' faces sort of defeats the purpose of feeding them to the bettas as live food. *shrugs*

Anyways... lots of rambling leads me to the conclusion that perhaps other people's opinions/ suggestions might help you more than mine.

Forgot to mention, love your dog's name.

 

[Kairi]

thanks

Once I get another tank set up for the females and their fry, I'm sure it will be much easier. The fry aren't top priority, but I like trying to save about 3 - it's fun watching them grow up. I've raised 8 now- and none of them have died (yet)

 

[mark.w.jones]

why do i have stringy algae growing on the lid? this is on the 10 gallon tank too- it's gross! i clean it off about once every 2 weeks.

In a new tank, things take a while to settle down. In terms of bacteria, algae, chemistry etc. Algae growth is quite common in new tanks. The only thing that has cured mine is adding real plants, covering 50% of my gravel and then adding a liquid fertilizer (make sure you dont have carbon in your filter if doing this it absorbs it!) More plants in tank helps out compete algae. I had mega algae problems in the initial stages of my tank but within 3 weeks of adding loads more plants it's almost all gone. I hardly have to clean glass at all whereas I was cleaning it all weekly before. I no longer clean the rock in my tank on a weekly basis either.

Click the link in my sig. for easy to grow plants.

Got mine from www.aquaticplants.eu.com/

 

[Kairi]

my fish eat live plants, and the 10 gallon isn't new- it's been set up for a good 6 months. the 75 gallon has been running about 4 months. i thought maybe it was the constant water popping up onto the glass (from the bubbles) and the light being on..... but i don't know if it's bad for the fish or what? it's gross.