Do You Think I Should Get Angels

[invader]

If you want your tank to look larger than it is, then I suggest you lose the big fish and stick to smaller. The smaller the fish in the tank, the bigger the tank looks in my opinion. After you have cleared out most of the fish, then you can start to really try and make a better layout, if you like. There are infinite options of decorating your tank... you have just broken the surface!

Everything starts in steps, though, so the first step would be taking all of the fish back. ALL. Good luck.

 

[SuperColey1]

My advice would be to try and resell all your fish in the buy sell swap etc or to friends, Liverpool is a big city and shouldn't be too much of a problem with what you have. You might find someone who is wanting to start a new but larger tank that will take them all.

With Regards to Angels as earlier poster said you will need a 30G (or really 29G) This is what I have in my avatar.

It is the same footprint as the 20G but is 18" tall instead of 12

If I measure mine water wise from the substrate surface to the water level it is 15".

This is arguably the bare minimum height with angels.

Seeing as you are young and probs don't have too much money to spend you could ask your folks to get you a tank the same as mine (again the one in the avatar)

Pets at home currently sell the complete kit for £129.99 which include the filter, heater foods, a couple of fake plants and some meds plus a fitted hood with 2 18W bulbs inside. V Good price (Fluval Duo Deep 800), then all you have to do is put in the gravel, cycle and get your angels.

Bear in mind that the lights in this tank will only grow low light plants like java Ferns, Elodia, Cabomba, but still you will be able to get some nice greenery going alongside your fish. (It costs another £60-70 to get very high lighting units to put in)

On thinking that the tanks in those comps look a lot bigger than yours, there are several possible reasons.
1. Plants provide a sense of depth and also a lot of these aquascapists make tanks that have a sense of perspective and they can look much much bigger unless it is in front of your very own eyes.

2. Its amazing what you can do with a camera (for example. i put 2 pics of my tank on the same day on ratemyfishtank, one from the front and one from the avatar angle, As I type now the avatar angle is 59th out of 485, the front view one is 127th - same tank different angle. if you see what I mean)

Good luck and hope all goes well for you
Andy

 

[LisaLQ]

I've got the same sized tank (I think, Rena 60l), and I'm planning on a small group of cories, and some harlequins or dwarf rasboras - the smaller fish you get, the more you can get and the busier it will look - so it will look more heavily stocked, if you get me.

Most of the smaller fish you can get are much more attractive than some bigger ones too - and many are much cheaper so easier to get when you're on a budget (like you and me!). Plus cories are really busy - and if you get a nice group of all the same species, it looks fantastic

I think your tank looks lovely - with the right fish in there, you'll have a really stunning tank!

 

[Canis-Equus]

There we go - i think that looks pretty cack now, but i was pleased with it 2 years ago. Since then that tank has gone through lots of changes, most recently fry tank for baby angels i bred in my 260l tank.

A 12g tank you should be able to plant up without going mental over CO2 or expensive lighting.

For the four footer in my previous post - that had one bog standard tube, play sand and peat substrate, and thats it. No co2, no fancy lighting, no fancy substrate.

The tank itself cost me £10 the only expensive thing on it was the external filter!

You can do these things on a budget and you can do them really well, if you read and read and read, and ask for help.

Em

 

[black molly3]

this is what i am going to do. pull the standard juwel internal fillter out as it is MASSIVE then buy an external
1 and then mabee in a few weeks get that bigger tank you have all been going on about.
are they easy to set up and clean and suff. i posted a topic on external filters but no one has replied
thanks for all your advise

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if your struggling for plants look on the aquaessentials website and order some tropica plants. they're the best you can get, will come in excellent condition and are all true aquatic plants

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

i understand what everyone is saying but i think the tank you have now is brilliant. its simple and you're gonna be able to enjoy all your fish without straining your eyes for ages amongst the plants and stuff. why not get one or two amazon swords and keep the plants you have.
tanks that are full of plants need LOTS of maintainance and alot of patience. and the whole "oh you need CO2 to make this happen" and stuff isn't true. ive grown plants perfectly with water and lights.

another word of advice. big fish (such as plecostomus) dont really work. they're really messy and unless you have a filter that will blow the plants clean, the mess they create is often too heavy for the filter to shift and their messy stuff usually sinks to the bottom and doesn't make your tank as beautiful as you imagined.

if i were you, i'd stick to the layout you have now because it doesn't look crap in the slightest. ive had my tank for over 2 years now and i think it looks crap. especially since i got my pleco and its leaves its wrong stuff all over the leaves. not a nice view lol there's a reason why alot of the HEAVILY planted tanks only have like one shoal of neons or a shoal of cardinals. they don't leave much mess. just something to think about before you tear your beautiful looking tanks to peices.

how big are your clown loaches now? people say they can get to like 12" but thats not for years! like at least 6 years or something and the bigger they are, the more you can sell them for

the golden panchax are beautiful but can eat small fish like neons and stuff. but then again alot of fish can. i see you dont like boring, simple fish (like guppies dare i say it lol) that everyone has and recommends. ill have a look and try help you out abit if you want? because i think you have the same taste in fish that i do

sorry for the full essay

 

[LisaLQ]

Clown loaches aren't as slow growing as some people think - mine went from 1-2" to 6-7" in a matter of about 5 months - and really even at 3-4" they're going to be too big for BMs tank

I'd do as folks said - return the fish (dont know about the panchax - what's their adult size?) and start afresh - researching before you buy. You'll probably find it's just as much fun, if not more, to pick out fish you want before you go to the LFS, the suspense of even maybe having to wait while they order them in is still exciting - means you get to plan in advance and think about how it's going to look.

I love ordering fish in. Which reminds me....got some ordering to do lol...

 

[DiscusAngel]

Black Molly you hav great ideas. like if you replace your internal with an external. Id Get rid of Everything but the Panchax a you said you like them. go plant shopping plant it. then get 5 Corys all the sme type and then pick a shoaling fish.

These are my ideas. Not me teling you what to do

 

[black molly3]

can uoi tell me how much the postage and pacaging is for that aqua essensials is
please. im getting some plants and ive seen an external filter what does a tank upto 60
liters and its only 15 pounds
also will i need co2 in my tank if i order them ones

 

[Canis-Equus]

depends which plants you need.

I like aquaessentials, however they only sell Tropica plants which ARE expensive. You may be better useing Greenline http/www.aquaticplants.eu.com/ I have had plants from these guys and seriously, they are top quality AND value for money.

For your tank plants requiring low light/not requiring CO2.....

Eleocharis Vivipara - tall hairgrass (i think thats whats in George Farmers tank pictured earlier in the thread)

Vallisneria - that tall grass like stuff. There are giant, normal, straight and twisted versions, id go for the normal and/or the twisted kind. That likes good flourescent light, nothing more.

The great thing about the Greenline site is this - the plants are listed foreground, mid ground, background, floating. If you click on each plant where it says 'more' it tells you if the plant requires strong lighting or any extra things (says vallis requires calcium, for example).

If you DO want to do CO2 then you can use the cheapo kit (forget the name someone will know), and use your own CO2 mixture which is easy to make and there are instructions on this somewhere on this site.

The HOB filter from Aquaessentials is the very same one im going to get for my little tank, cant fault that at all.

Em

 

[newtotropical]

Blackmolly,
Dont be down mate! You can & will have a great tank because you are passionate about it. You can tell from your posts that you want to have a great tank and thats why your not happy now & wont be till you have the tank..........Keep up the good work. All the best

 

[stargirly1208]

Clown loaches aren't as slow growing as some people think - mine went from 1-2" to 6-7" in a matter of about 5 months - and really even at 3-4" they're going to be too big for BMs tank

I'd do as folks said - return the fish (dont know about the panchax - what's their adult size?) and start afresh - researching before you buy. You'll probably find it's just as much fun, if not more, to pick out fish you want before you go to the LFS, the suspense of even maybe having to wait while they order them in is still exciting - means you get to plan in advance and think about how it's going to look.

I love ordering fish in. Which reminds me....got some ordering to do lol...

i've had mine for a year and they're only 3 inches, maybe it depends what u feed them

i understand what everyone is saying but i think the tank you have now is brilliant. its simple and you're gonna be able to enjoy all your fish without straining your eyes for ages amongst the plants and stuff. why not get one or two amazon swords and keep the plants you have.
tanks that are full of plants need LOTS of maintainance and alot of patience. and the whole "oh you need CO2 to make this happen" and stuff isn't true. ive grown plants perfectly with water and lights.

another word of advice. big fish (such as plecostomus) dont really work. they're really messy and unless you have a filter that will blow the plants clean, the mess they create is often too heavy for the filter to shift and their messy stuff usually sinks to the bottom and doesn't make your tank as beautiful as you imagined.

if i were you, i'd stick to the layout you have now because it doesn't look crap in the slightest. ive had my tank for over 2 years now and i think it looks crap. especially since i got my pleco and its leaves its wrong stuff all over the leaves. not a nice view lol there's a reason why alot of the HEAVILY planted tanks only have like one shoal of neons or a shoal of cardinals. they don't leave much mess. just something to think about before you tear your beautiful looking tanks to peices.

how big are your clown loaches now? people say they can get to like 12" but thats not for years! like at least 6 years or something and the bigger they are, the more you can sell them for

the golden panchax are beautiful but can eat small fish like neons and stuff. but then again alot of fish can. i see you dont like boring, simple fish (like guppies dare i say it lol) that everyone has and recommends. ill have a look and try help you out abit if you want? because i think you have the same taste in fish that i do

sorry for the full essay

i agree with you because i have plants without C02 and they grow just fine, out of control even! i have clowns also and i've had them for a year and they just reached 3 inches (they were 2 inches when i bought them) so they don't grow THAT fast... you could keep them until you get a larger tank i would say.

 

[LisaLQ]

They do grow that fast in the right tank though - if they didn't - mine would have stayed at 3" too. I personally believe clown loaches (and indeed all big fish) should be in big tanks from the word go - as it's obvious from our experience that that's what they need to grow properly. Ours went in a 6ft tank and grew as quick as any other fish. Of course if they're in a 12g tank they're going to grow slowly, that doesn't mean it's ok to do it or what's best for them

No-one can guarantee they can get a bigger tank in the future when needs be - something could always come up to ruin those plans - has with me recently even. I just believe that if you want a big fish, you should have that tank before you get them, instead of saying "Maybe in a years time" - in that year the fish dont get what they need, and that's what's more important than having the fish there and then.

No offense to black molly here as it's not her situation I'm commenting on here, just it's sad reading about how you could keep something rather than how you should.

 

[black molly3]

ok well listen to this idea. they are only realy small now just over an inch. ill keep them in my tank
untill they reach about 2 and a half then take them back and swap them for 4 endlers because clown loaches around mine are
only 2 pound.
does that sound like a gud idea