General Advice For Newbie With 190l Tank

[jeej]

Hello all, fantastic site here!

I've read lots of threads and got tonnes of very useful info. But I was wondering if someone might spare 5 minutes to humour me with some general advice?

Over the years I have had various types of goldfish and also guppies, but it has been a while and now I am considering starting a tropical tank.

I am thinking about getting a tank that is 36inches wide, 18inches deep and 18inches tall - which would be around 190 litres (or 50 American gallons).

Naturally I want the whole set up to look as attractive as possible, but I also need to bear in mind that I wont necessarily have heaps and heaps of spare time to dote on the little blighters, so although I will look after them very well, it would be beneficial to myself if I was to avoid fish that create a lot of mess or need a lot of specialist care. For example I'm aware that Oscars can be messy buggers, so it may be wise for me to avoid fish like that?

I was considering having a small shoal of Neon Tetras perhaps. What other fish would compliment these? Is it true that Angel Fish like to eat them?

Any advice on types of heaters and filters would also be greatly appreciated. Alas, if anyone does indeed think my post is a bit "out of line", then I do apologise and would gladly follow any links I should have perhaps already acquainted myself with.

Once again, thank you for your time.

Gavin

 

[Luketendo]

Don't get oscars to start with.

Angels do like to eat neons but I think If you put neon tetras in first and then add baby angelfish they won't regard them as food.

 

[Azaezl]

Hi,

Firstly to the forums

I assume you've read up on the cycling process? If not take a read as you will need to do this before you get any fish, yes you can do a fish in cycle but it's not really fair on the fish so please avoid doing it.

36 x 18 x 18 will give you 192L(50 US gals) but this doesn't account for the substrate, decorations etc so it will more then likely be around 172L (45 US gals) so that gives you 45 inches of fish to get You can get more but initially I'd build up to 45 inches and depending on exactly what you have, your filter & maintenance level you could add alot more. As you said though you won't have alot of time to dedicate to numerous water changes etc, so it would probably be easier if you understock rather then overstock, that way if you don't have time for a water change one week it should(not definately but should) be safe to leave it, again it all depends on your water stats, what you have etc.

You could have a fairly large shoal of neon tetras if that's all you wanted in the tank but personally I'd find it boring just having them so how about a dozen or so neons, something a little larger, perhaps a different type of tetra, bottom dwellers are always fun, I'd suggest corys as they don't add much to the bioload, so you could get a nice group of 6, then perhaps some otos to help with algae around 6 again(they like to be kept in groups also), I wouldn't really recommend a plec if you don't want messy fish, yes they eat some algae but they poop ALOT. Like you said angel fish aren't really a good idea with tetras as eventually they will eat them(or try to at least), if I recall rightly that's what they eat in the wild.

I'd suggest having a good look through the fish species index and see what takes your fancy, come up with stocking ideas and post it on here for us all to comment on, to make sure you haven't chosen any incompatible fish or ones that will get too big for the tank.

Also are you going to be putting plants in the tank? If you are will this be just for decoration / absorb some of the nitrates etc? Or are you hoping to get something really impressive(like george, amano, etc..waaa me wants ), if you are then you'll want to look into lighting, Co2, ferts, good quality substrate etc, although this could leave you needing to prune regularly(not too mention alot poorer ) unless you go with a low tech/maintenance tank.

By types of heaters & filters do you mean brands or specifically what wattage & whether to get internal or external etc?

Well there's plenty for you to have a read of, any questions feel free to ask

 

[jeej]

Thank you for responding so quickly.

I have read up all about cycling and I will do it without fish - I don't want to rush into it. Start as you mean to go on, as they say.

A couple of different shoals of Tetra sounds good. And I really like the idea of having a few different types of fish with regards to what part of the tank they tend to swim around in.

I don't really know enough about heaters and pumps at the moment (regardless of brands), are there any types/brands you would recommend for my proposed setup?

Also, with regards to plants, are 'real' ones easy enough to maintain? I guess in reality it would be nicer to have real ones, but I don't want them to spoil easily etc...

 

[Azaezl]

Are you buying a bare tank and then getting the equipment seperately? Or are you buying a package one thta has everything with it? I'm not too clued up on heaters so maybe someone else can help with that, I don't think the brands really matter as long as oyu get one that's an adequate size for your tank, it usually says on the box / packaging what size tank it will heat.

I'd recommend an external filter, purely because you have more options for media / the area of media is greater, it's also easier to clean. Although some people are wary of externals incase they leak or just find them a little too complicated or similar reasons. You could go with either an internal(or 2) or external it's personal choice you can get appropriate filters with either option. I always think it's best to slightly overfilter a tank as well, not necassary but I think it's good Most people highly rate the eheim range of filters as well as fluval, I have an aqua pro external filter and have had no problems with it at all and it does seem very similar to the eheim externals but at a fraction of the cost.

Real plants are excellent, not only do they look far better then plastic ones(although I've seen some plastic plant tanks look amazing) but they soak up alot of nitrates as well. I'd recommend getting low light / fast growers(take a look at the plant index) some like egeria, hygrophilia polysperma, anubais, java fern / moss, some root tabs & bottled plant food such as jbl ferropol should be fine for keeping the plants going.

HTH

 

[chrisdoesntmiss]

I also use an Aqua-Pro External, without complaint.

If you have not got a tank yet may i suggest something like a Juwel Rio 180. The contain the filter and heater internally and come complete with a light unit.

Tetras are always lovely, some small bottom dwellers to scavenge any missed food. Platies / Mollies and Guppys are always a nice edition and provided some hiding places will breed worse than rabbits.

Maybe some Ottos to keep any algae in check.

Chris

 

[Luketendo]

Real plants are cool, ask in the planted forum you get loads of advice.

 

[shang hi]

the filter i have is very good as it comes with a uv light that helps to keep the water clean, its an Aqua one aquis 1250 and it costs around £180 (its about $220, so much better value in ammerica!), heaters, its better to get one that will do a bigger tank than a smaller tank. you dont want the fish to be cold now do you *pictures fish in ice cube* for 190l a 200W hearer will be suficiant, a good air pump to maximise water surface movemet (disolves oxygen into the water).
hope this helps

 

[vinylman]

If you decide to go with Neons, don't add them as the first fish; even after the cycle is completed, fish like Neons and Cardinals don't always do well in new setups. Have a look around and see what other fish you like, then add the Neons after a good couple of months. Good on you for going the fishless cycle route, too. Anything you want to know, just ask away, there's always someone awake somewhere!.

 

[jeej]

I'm back again!

Found the tank I want. It is 36x18x24 and is 240L.

The old guy at the store was very helpful and knowledgeable. He said a fishless cycle was an absolute must, said not to add tetras as a first fish but choose something more hardy, and said to add fish in small amounts over time. So pretty much on the same wavelength as many of you guys - which was encouraging.

At that store they sell the tetras in packs of 10, so I still have my heart set on getting a couple of different types of tetra. I want my tank to look like a natural scene, but I also want to try and get quite eye catching fish - either in shape or colour. What other type of tetra would you suggest and also what other fish do you think would be good in my tank?

All advice greatly appreciated, as ever.

Cheers.

 

[dave_g]

Have a look at black neon tetras, xray tetras, ember tetras and glowlight tetras. The xray ones have attractive fins and the glowlight ones are similar to the neo but shine red instead. Peppered corys are also nice.

I collected a tank yesterday which was already in use- its a 20g with 2 yellow rainbow fish, 6 zebra danios and 8 neon tetras.
The rainbow fish are nice but are a bit big for my tank really. The danios are definetly worth looking at - my zebras are gold and black striped - look very nice.
I am hoping to add to this with 3 peppered corys, 2 xrays, 2 glowlights and 2 embers.

Hope this helps

Dave

 

[jeej]

Yeah thanks for the advice mate.

Is there some sort of table or matrix available that will tell me straight up what fish are compatible with each other and vice-versa? That would be so helpful right now!

I was really considering going for real plants, but now I've read all this stuff bout light levels and injecting CO2 and it all sounds a bit full on to be honest.

 

[jeej]

I have a list of fish I like the look of. If I list them, can someone tell me which are compatible and perhaps how many I will fit into a 240L tank?

Neon Tetra
Redline Torpedo Barb
Puntius Rhomboocellatus
Black Neon Tetra
Cardinal Tetra
Cochu's Blue Tetra
Glowlight Tetra
Serpae Tetra
Black Ghost Knife Fish

I know I wont get ALL of those in the tank - just throwing some names into the ring. So any advice would be great.

 

[jeej]

I've done a bit of investigating and I am thinking maybe the following for my 65gallon tank...

Neon Tetra x 8

Cardinal Tetra x 10

Glowlight Tetra x 8

Dwarf Neon Rainbow x 6

Red Phantom Tetra x 6

Might need some sort of algae eater in there too, so I'm open to suggestions.

What do people think of the amount of fish and also their compatibility? I'd rather have a pretty peaceful tank, but appreciate it will be tough to get it perfect.

Any help or advice would be great. Thank you.

 

[jeej]

Oh... and maybe a nice Discus!