Finally Decided

[Ace Of Spades]

Hi, I finally decided to get a Juwel Vision 450, and will bet getting it in the next few weeks.

I just wondered, I wanted to make it a heavily planted tank and wondered what fish thrive in a heavily planted tank? and maybe a list of plants (if not dont worry)?

 

[chicklette]

All fish thrive in a planted tank actually. It lowers the nitrates and adds a lot of oxygen in the tank. I would pass on the cichlids as they will dig up and eat the plants. What you are looking for is fish that will not snack on the plants.

Algae eaters and plecos will eat the plants.

You could go with neon tetras, rasaboras, grouamies, guppies, platys might snack on them but I’m not sure. You could go with angelfish. Tiger barbs make a nice tank as well. They are nippy so I would house them by themselves. Loaches would work depending on the size of your tank.

 

[BigC]

Pay particular attention to these areas when starting a planted aquarium
Substrate and additives
Fine grain gravel is best (not pea or sand) Mix enough unwashed gravel with a laterite type gravel additive and place to about a 25mm depth in your aquarium the place a further layer around 35mm of washed fine gravel on top.
Lighting
Proper spectrum balanced tubes.
Heating
I know this sounds daft but certain plants thrive at different temps
CO2 Injection
Not essential initally but may be worth thinking about for the future.
Plant feed and additives
Yes plants need feeding too.
Above are just some of the essentials for a sucessful planted aquaria.
There are many pitfalls along the way
Ask George Farmer for his advice (planted section Guru)
As for fish selection, the list is endless but personally a large shoal of cardinal tetras and an equally sized shoal of Black Phantom tetra, this IMO forms the basis of a nice colour balance. Then proceed to fill the top and the substrate levels. Dont buy fish on impulse, If your not sure of a certain fishes charactaristics that you see in a dealers tank then leave it until you research information on it/them, and then see if it fits with your ideal vision for your tank. I would personally stick with small shoaling types a couple of species rather than a whole range of different ones. Cuts down on bickering, large Vs small incompatabilitiy issues etc etc. That way you will have a nice peaceful theraputic aquarium.
Anyway, Good Luck with your venture, post some pics along the way


http/www.tropica.com/default.asp


Regards
BigC

 

[aaronnorth]

All fish thrive in a planted tank actually. It lowers the nitrates and adds a lot of oxygen in the tank. I would pass on the cichlids as they will dig up and eat the plants. What you are looking for is fish that will not snack on the plants.

Algae eaters and plecos will eat the plants.

You could go with neon tetras, rasaboras, grouamies, guppies, platys might snack on them but I’m not sure. You could go with angelfish. Tiger barbs make a nice tank as well. They are nippy so I would house them by themselves. Loaches would work depending on the size of your tank.

Plecs won't eat plants as much as they will uproot them, i have 9" plec with plants, i am in the process of changing from stem plants to rossettes as s/he is constantly pulling up my stem plants. If you want an algae eater, go with BN plec as they stay small, shrimp, ottos, siamese alga eaters (SAE)

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Thanks for the info.
I was looking for a small group of (BIG) fish to be the center piece of the tank, and have smaller fish in the background if you catch my drift?

I did like the look of the Frontosa (I think thats what thier called) well I might pop down the LFS and look around

Many Thanks
Ace Of Spades

BTW Chicklette its a 450 Litre tank, So About 100gallons would be my guess.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

How hard is a Cichlid setup, such as Malawain? I think thats how you spell it anyway

 

[aaronnorth]

They need ph 8 - 9 hard water and a rocky environment and lots of shelters, you cannot have plants with them though as they will destroy them. You cant mix cichlids feom diiferent lakes either.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Oh ok then, Ill do some more reasearch and make another post for your opinion, Many Thanks