Getting A New Tank

[KRamgren89]

we had a 30 gallon aquarium that sprung a leak and my parents came to our rescue with their backup 37gallon. well now we found out my parents are moving and are going to give us their 45 gallon bowfront we cannot have 2 fish tanks in our apartment per our lease so we decided we want the bowfront! currently its stocked with 1 common pleco, 2 albino corys, 2 kissing gourami, 2 balas and 1 gold gourami and an ancient parrot cichlid. they all get along fine but we are going to contact our LFS and see if we can bring her fish in, personally dont want them and our LFS is the best around here, they take such good care of their fish! ((oh we are keeping the albino corys though!))

our 37 is currently stocked with 2 sterbi corys, 4 bronze corys, 1 male swordtail, 2 platys, 3 mollys and some ghost shrimp. we want to keep all of our corys and shrimp and rehome our live bearers as we dont want to deal with the fry anymore. again our lfs is way cool and take good care of their fish and they already said they would take our livebearers because we have nice color variations and it would give them more variations for their tank.

so questions is this. we are going to keep our plants and gravel and just add more into the 45 gallon bowfront. how do we transfer the water from our 37 to the 45 (gravel cleaner??) we have to completely drain my parents tank to move it to our house or i would keep their water since their tank has been up and running for 8 years and is completely well cycled. (my father is a fish nut or was once) we are also obviously getting his filter and all the stuff that goes with the tank except decor as we like ours.

also stocking ideas would be APPRECIATED! because the only fish that are going in the 45 so far are 2 sterbi corys, 4 bronze corys, and 2 albino corys. so other idea's would be great that are not livebearers but give is a little variation with fish. we are also trading in our common pleco for a bristle nose or something that stays relatively small.

 

[thereverendturtle]

More sterbai cories. I would personally add a pair of dwarf cichlids, or males only of three or four types if you don't want to deal with fry. Then maybe a dozen or so of one or two species of tetra, or a dozen tetras, like green neons and a dozen marble hatchetfish. This would give lots of activity throughout the tank.

 

[KRamgren89]

we did plan on upping the number of corys once we got them settled into the bigger tank. im thinking 2 more sterbi and 2 more albino unless the albino will school with the bronze since they kinda look the same except the coloring. then it would be 4 more sterbi so there would be 6 of each. kinda weary of cichlids -- i heard they are pretty agressive. and our hopes (which i forgot to put in the last post) is to maybe be able to find types of fish my betta could live with in our new big tank. again stocking idea's are more then welcome!

 

[Lufbramatt]

As long as you keep the filter with water inside, don't worry about keeping the water, just fill the new tank with new, dechlorinated tap water- if you let it stand for 24 hours with an airstone in it you can put the fish straight in. keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite for the first few weeks but if it has a well established bacteria colony in the filter you should be fine. I've done the same thing several times and it always works fine. Just make sure you acclimate the fish slowly.

 

[KRamgren89]

awesome! thank you..


now for the FUN PART!!!

stocking ideas aside from corys...

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

If you want to investigate the betta route for this tank I recommend you have a read of this thread: Betta Fish Compatibility

Two decent sized, mid to top dwelling, schools would look nice in there

 

[KRamgren89]

Ok. so i finally got my husband to sit down and narrow down to 5 different schools of fish we like out of the betta compatibility list. here are the schools.

Harlequin Rasboras - 6
Cardinal Tetra- 6
Neon Tetra - 6 (if our LFS doesnt have cardinal)
Zebra Danino - 6
Cherry Barb - 6

Currently the tank will have 2 sterbi cory 4 bronze cory, and 2 either upside down catfish or albino cory i cannot remember which i'll have to ask my mom.

Looking for a centerpeice, we went with schools from the betta compatible list because I personally want squishy or betta in the tank but if it doesnt work out we are willing to get a different centerpiece. so if our betta doesnt work for us can someone give me idea's for a centerpiece please (1 or 2 fish)

oh! and please help us narrow down our choices for schools. big questions are for a 45Gallon (170 Litre) tank how many schools of 6 can we have

 

[Man of fish]

Personally instead of those schools of six I'd go 12 cardinals or neons, whichever you can get (I prefer cardinals but.....) and then 6 cherry barbs 3 males 3 females. I think that the bronze should school with the albinos if that's what they are (they're white and look like the bronze) then if your betta doesn't work out, maybe a peaceful dwarf cichlid such as apistos, Bolivian rams, scarlet badis, etc? Maybe even a gourami if no betta?