First Tank

[thomtom]

Hi All,
 
This is more of a 'Hi' and introduction than anything else but please let me know if we are doing something wrong. So we have had a tank for about 6 months and now starting to put some more effort in and make the tank a bit more interesting. Recently made a switch from fairly coarse gravel to fine sand so that we can add some real plants (do I need fertiliser?). We have a 45L tank with the following fish:
 
5x Scissortails
5x Rosy Tetra
5x Albino Coradoras5
5x Harlequins
4x Snails
2x Cherry bar
1x Guppy
 
Please let me know if you can foresee any problems with this fish variation, although they seem to be getting on fine.
I apologise if the image is skewed/too big.
 

 

[This Old Spouse]

That's a whole lot of fish for a 45L tank. Good that you put down a sand substrate. Your cory will be much happier.
 
Your cherry barbs would be much happier in a larger group of at least 6-8, but with your small tank I wouldn't recommend getting any more. Do you have any plans to get a larger tank?
 
The one pictured looks quite nice. Do you have a photo of the updated one?
 
And of course, 

 

[thomtom]

Interesting that you feel there is a lot of fish in there, I guess its ok at the moment because they are all still quite small but I would love to go to a bigger tank in the future . We haven't seen any issues with the amount of fish, what should I be looking for to tell if it is overstocked?
We did originally get 5 barbs (as suggested in the store) but the others were lost quite quickly, I think we were too impatient when doing the fishless cycle.....lesson learnt the hard way. I would ideally have more that one guppy too but this was donated by a friend who found their fish being too nippy.
 
That is the updated picture, it doesn't look like sand because we left some older gravel in there too but its still fairly small and mainly sand. The Cory we purchased not long after changing to sand, I think they are my favourite in the tank

 

[Lunar Jetman]

As a rule of thumb, you should be looking for about 25cm of fish for that size of tank and i'd suspect you're closer to double that. I'd make sure you're carrying out regular water changes to make sure your Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrate levels don't get too high as a result of too many fish.

 

[This Old Spouse]

You'll likely see a few problems as the fish reach their adult size, but as Jetman said just be sure to keep your tank very clean. 
 
Another advantage of getting a bigger tank is that it's actually easier to maintain. Slight variations in water temp and ammonia don't affect the water quality as much. Plus, of course, then you can have more fish! 
 
At that point you're in danger of contracting MTS, of course. (MTS = Multiple Tank Syndrome. Must ... have ... one ... more ...) 

 

[thomtom]

Thanks for all your advice, I have been doing roughly 25% water changes every 2-3 weeks and had no problems so far. But I will refrain from buying more fish until I get a bigger tank anyway, now I have an excuse to get a new one

.
 
Do you guys have any advice about the live plants? Up till now I have always had fake ones. I presume that I should remove any broken or browning leaves, but do I need to get any fertiliser in there? Guy in the shop kept talking about getting nutrients in the sand.
 
Thanks all!!

 

[Robaidh]

hi i am fairly knew to fish keeping had a tank for just over a year or so. i dont have live plants in mine but a pal got some plants and then over time he started to see loads of snails appearing in his tank. maybe its just the place/person he got them from but just be weary of that i guess? 

 

[This Old Spouse]

Thanks for all your advice, I have been doing roughly 25% water changes every 2-3 weeks and had no problems so far. But I will refrain from buying more fish until I get a bigger tank anyway, now I have an excuse to get a new one

.
 
Do you guys have any advice about the live plants? Up till now I have always had fake ones. I presume that I should remove any broken or browning leaves, but do I need to get any fertiliser in there? Guy in the shop kept talking about getting nutrients in the sand.
 
Thanks all!!

 
You can get root tabs to, well, feed the root systems of your plants, or dose with something like Seachem Flourish. If you really get into it you might get yourself a CO2 system. Maybe post the question in the Planted Aquarium section. I just use Flourish.
 

hi i am fairly knew to fish keeping had a tank for just over a year or so. i dont have live plants in mine but a pal got some plants and then over time he started to see loads of snails appearing in his tank. maybe its just the place/person he got them from but just be weary of that i guess? 

You should really start your own post about this, but it's fairly common to get pest snails with plants. So long as you don't overfeed your fish and keep a clean tank you should be fine. If they become a problem, consider getting assassin snails which will rid your tank of pest snails.

 

[thomtom]

Hi All,
 
Thanks for all your advice, I have now found a cheap (second hand) 96L aquarium and stand that I will be collecting on Friday, I cant wait to get them into a bigger home. Now....what to do with the old one (MTS )
 
I may create a new thread with pictures of the new tank once it is setup.

 

[the_lock_man]

Do you wanna post the dimensions of your tank up - I agree with everyone that you have a helluva lot of fish for a 45l tank, but the tank looks to me to be bigger than 45l, from the photo.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Hi All,
 
Thanks for all your advice, I have now found a cheap (second hand) 96L aquarium and stand that I will be collecting on Friday, I cant wait to get them into a bigger home. Now....what to do with the old one

) (MTS

))
 
I may create a new thread with pictures of the new tank once it is setup.

Yes! Journal! We love photos.

 

[thomtom]

Do you wanna post the dimensions of your tank up - I agree with everyone that you have a helluva lot of fish for a 45l tank, but the tank looks to me to be bigger than 45l, from the photo.

Your right, after looking at the dimensions I think it is a 54L tank (not a huge difference), would that sound about right? Anyway I think the fish will be happier in the 96L that is coming soon .

 

[the_lock_man]

Do you wanna post the dimensions of your tank up - I agree with everyone that you have a helluva lot of fish for a 45l tank, but the tank looks to me to be bigger than 45l, from the photo.

Your right, after looking at the dimensions I think it is a 54L tank (not a huge difference), would that sound about right? Anyway I think the fish will be happier in the 96L that is coming soon

).

 
As it goes, I'd have said around 70-80l, but then photos can be deceiving.

 

[RCA]

Hi All,
 
Thanks for all your advice, I have now found a cheap (second hand) 96L aquarium and stand that I will be collecting on Friday, I cant wait to get them into a bigger home. Now....what to do with the old one

) (MTS

))
 
I may create a new thread with pictures of the new tank once it is setup.

Yes! Journal! We love photos.

 

  ThomTom, well done on getting a new tank for your guys, yes please start a journal on your new journey as it is always great to see what is happening for others, and we can all learn and share experiences.  Oh, and do not worry too much, I have MTS too, but it is contagious, to yourself that is 

 

 

[thomtom]

Update can be seen HERE.