Good books

[Country joe]

I wish to purchase two books, one on setting up an aquarium easy to understand, and a book on African Chiclids I would like to keep the small variety. I've had
A look at setting up books but there's a few out there and don't know what would be best, I'm thinking of a Jewel Rio led 125, it has all the equipment.

 

[Wills]

I like the Back to Nature books on Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi though as much as I love aquatic books a lot are often quite out of date and the best way to get real upto date info is the internet. Via forums like this or there are some good Facebook groups out there - Youtube is a fantastic resource and once you get started you'll lose whole days haha!

This guy is the best for Tanganyikans - https://www.youtube.com/@JasonsCichlids Loads of great info here might be a bit indepth but really shows what Tangs can offer.

I like this channel for a lot of Malawi stuff, its not 100% perfect but loads of good info https://www.youtube.com/@CichlidCharmer

These guys cover a broad range of cichlids but a lot of African content and some amazing tanks between the three brothers https://www.youtube.com/@CichlidBros

And I love this channel for showing us top quality footage of the actual African lakes https://www.youtube.com/@hagebycikliden569 gives you a great idea of what the fish we keep actually live in.

Wills

 

[Colin_T]

There's no need to buy a book on setting up aquariums. It's the same regardless of what fish you keep. If you need help, just start a thread saying how do I set up a tank.

If you really want a book that tells you about filters, water chemistry, diseases and common plants and fishes, then look for Baensch Aquarium Atlas freshwater fishes, volume one. It is a very informative book, although expensive so check out secondhand bookshops for them. There are 7 volumes, and some saltwater ones too. The other volumes are more unusual fishes and plants. The book comes in hard and soft cover. The hard cover is more expensive than the soft cover but the information inside is exactly the same.

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Regarding books for African cichlids. Which type of African cichlid?
Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria are Rift Lakes that have hard water with a high pH. There are river cichlids from soft acidic water too. Most books specialise in either the individual Rift Lakes, or the river species.

 

[Country joe]

There's no need to buy a book on setting up aquariums. It's the same regardless of what fish you keep. If you need help, just start a thread saying how do I set up a tank.

If you really want a book that tells you about filters, water chemistry, diseases and common plants and fishes, then look for Baensch Aquarium Atlas freshwater fishes, volume one. It is a very informative book, although expensive so check out secondhand bookshops for them. There are 7 volumes, and some saltwater ones too. The other volumes are more unusual fishes and plants. The book comes in hard and soft cover. The hard cover is more expensive than the soft cover but the information inside is exactly the same.

Server Busy

--------------------

Regarding books for African cichlids. Which type of African cichlid?
Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria are Rift Lakes that have hard water with a high pH. There are river cichlids from soft acidic water too. Most books specialise in either the individual Rift Lakes, or the river species.

Sorry all im not mucking you about, today I visited my local tropical fish department and have went for the Jewel Rio 125 tank with cabinet, I had a good look at the fish and although I should not be put off, I'm going for a communal tank, which would be okay for me, the fish I liked were. Denison barb, gold barb, pentagonal barb, cherry barb, red tailed black shark, and perhaps one of you can recommend small catfish,or any other courfull barb I may have missed out, how many of these fish could I keep on the size of my tank, and what water temperature would you recommend ? In case any one was liking my name Country Joe, older members who remember Woodstock, one of the best bands that appeared was Country Joe And The Fish.

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

 

[Essjay]

The Rio 125 is 81 cm/32 inches long x 36 cm/14 inches front to back x 50 cm/19.7 inches tall - I used to have one. Though that 50 cm tall is right to the brim, because the lights sit below the brim the water surface has to be several cm below the brim.

Denisons barbs need a much longer tank I'm afraid.

Sahyadria denisonii – Red-line Torpedo Barb (Barbus denisonii, Puntius denisonii) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

As does the red tailed black shark

Epalzeorhynchos bicolor – Red-Tailed Black Shark (Labeo bicolor) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Cherry barbs are fine in this tank. Make sure you have more females than males - females may be less colourful but males spend their time chasing females and each other. I have a shoal of these and one of the males chases everything in the tank, and continually encourages females into the plants. One egg made it to hatch, and I now have another half grown male in the tank.

Puntius titteya – Cherry Barb (Barbus titteya, Capoeta titteya) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

The tank is just about big enough for pentazona barbs (5 band barbs) and they are compatible with cherry barbs. If you get them, don't confuse them with tiger barbs (which are notorious fin nippers)

Desmopuntius pentazona – Five-banded Barb (Systomus pentazona, Puntius pentazona) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Both cherry and pentazona barbs need a temperature of 20 - 26 deg C so around 23 to 24 would be best. They are both shoaling fish so at least 6 of each, preferably more.


Gold barb - if you mean this fish

Barbodes semifasciolatus – Golden Barb* (Barbus sachsii, Puntius schuberti) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

They do really need a bigger tank. And they need slightly cooler water than the other two barbs.

Most of the other commonly available barbs need bigger tanks I'm afraid.


Colourful catfish - there are some colourful varieties of bristle nose around these days, for example yellow. There's a lovely photo of one in this contest thread

🐡 FOTM - VOTE NOW - August 2023 Fish of the Month Contest (Loricariidae / Suckermouth Catfish)

POLL HAS ENDED Loricariidae :fish: :fish: :big_boss: PLEASE VOTE! We have 9 awesome Loricariidae entered into August 2023 Fish of the Month Contest. View all the entries and descriptions below and then go to the top of page - click on your choice for FOTM and then click the "cast" button...

www.fishforums.net

beware though, many of the pretty catfish need big tanks.



Colin mentioned hardness. Scottish Water's website can be hard to navigate. First you have to find your supply zone, then download a pdf for that zone.
First enter your postcode here

Water Quality Search - Scottish Water

Water Quality Search

www.scottishwater.co.uk

and make a note of the "site name".
Then download the 2022 Water Hardness Data pdf from here

Water Quality - Scottish Water

Water Quality

www.scottishwater.co.uk

and look for the 'site name' you found on the other page. You need the numbers in the "hardness in mg/l caCO3" and "German degrees" columns. Post them here.




Just to warn you - most fish store workers haven't a clue, they make things up to get a sale. Never ask them for advice or believe anything they tell you until you have researched it yourself. For example, I bet they didn't tell you about cycling the tank before getting fish.

Cycle Your Tank! A Complete Guide For Beginners

Fishless cycling https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ Silent or plant cycling https://www.fishforums.net/threads/planted-silent-cycling.470400/ Fish-in cycling...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Country joe]

The Rio 125 is 81 cm/32 inches long x 36 cm/14 inches front to back x 50 cm/19.7 inches tall - I used to have one. Though that 50 cm tall is right to the brim, because the lights sit below the brim the water surface has to be several cm below the brim.

Denisons barbs need a much longer tank I'm afraid.

Sahyadria denisonii – Red-line Torpedo Barb (Barbus denisonii, Puntius denisonii) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

As does the red tailed black shark

Epalzeorhynchos bicolor – Red-Tailed Black Shark (Labeo bicolor) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Cherry barbs are fine in this tank. Make sure you have more females than males - females may be less colourful but males spend their time chasing females and each other. I have a shoal of these and one of the males chases everything in the tank, and continually encourages females into the plants. One egg made it to hatch, and I now have another half grown male in the tank.

Puntius titteya – Cherry Barb (Barbus titteya, Capoeta titteya) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

The tank is just about big enough for pentazona barbs (5 band barbs) and they are compatible with cherry barbs. If you get them, don't confuse them with tiger barbs (which are notorious fin nippers)

Desmopuntius pentazona – Five-banded Barb (Systomus pentazona, Puntius pentazona) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Both cherry and pentazona barbs need a temperature of 20 - 26 deg C so around 23 to 24 would be best. They are both shoaling fish so at least 6 of each, preferably more.


Gold barb - if you mean this fish

Barbodes semifasciolatus – Golden Barb* (Barbus sachsii, Puntius schuberti) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

They do really need a bigger tank. And they need slightly cooler water than the other two barbs.

Most of the other commonly available barbs need bigger tanks I'm afraid.


Colourful catfish - there are some colourful varieties of bristle nose around these days, for example yellow. There's a lovely photo of one in this contest thread

🐡 FOTM - VOTE NOW - August 2023 Fish of the Month Contest (Loricariidae / Suckermouth Catfish)

POLL HAS ENDED Loricariidae :fish: :fish: :big_boss: PLEASE VOTE! We have 9 awesome Loricariidae entered into August 2023 Fish of the Month Contest. View all the entries and descriptions below and then go to the top of page - click on your choice for FOTM and then click the "cast" button...

www.fishforums.net

beware though, many of the pretty catfish need big tanks.



Colin mentioned hardness. Scottish Water's website can be hard to navigate. First you have to find your supply zone, then download a pdf for that zone.
First enter your postcode here

Water Quality Search - Scottish Water

Water Quality Search

www.scottishwater.co.uk

and make a note of the "site name".
Then download the 2022 Water Hardness Data pdf from here

Water Quality - Scottish Water

Water Quality

www.scottishwater.co.uk

and look for the 'site name' you found on the other page. You need the numbers in the "hardness in mg/l caCO3" and "German degrees" columns. Post them here.




Just to warn you - most fish store workers haven't a clue, they make things up to get a sale. Never ask them for advice or believe anything they tell you until you have researched it yourself. For example, I bet they didn't tell you about cycling the tank before getting fish.

Cycle Your Tank! A Complete Guide For Beginners

Fishless cycling https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ Silent or plant cycling https://www.fishforums.net/threads/planted-silent-cycling.470400/ Fish-in cycling...

www.fishforums.net

Can you recommend which bottle of ammonia and how much I would need for a jewel reo led 125 tank 27.5 gallon I'm only going to have plastic plants, I met a fish keeper when in the shop and he said I should paint the outside back of the tank with black emulsion paint, is this a good idea.?

 

[Colin_T]

Don't paint tanks, just get a double sided picture (aquarium backing) and sticky tape it to the outside on the back. You can also use coloured card, plastic bin liner, even newspaper. The double sided backings are plastic and last longer and don't rot when wet. You can buy them from any pet shop or online.

 

[Essjay]

Can you recommend which bottle of ammonia and how much I would need for a jewel reo led 125 tank 27.5 gallon

Ammonia is hard to find in 'real' shops, so look on eBay/Amazon. Read the listing carefully to see if it has any detergent, surfactant or perfume listed in the ingredients. if it has, look at another listing.

If the ammonia has a % concentration listed, there is ammonia calculator at the bottom of the forum's Aquarium Calculator

Calculator

Just fill in the tank volume and the % of ammonia and it tells you how much to add. Syringes are useful for measuring small amounts - your local pharmacy or eBay/Amazon sells them - if you go to a pharmacy ask for a babies' medicine dosing syringe or you'll get the third degree about what it's for.
Tank volume - manufacturers quote the volume as the amount of space occupied by the tank not the amount of water it holds. You need to allow for the space between the water surface and the brim of the tank, and the amount of space taken up by the substrate (gravel, sand, whatever is on the bottom of the tank). The amount of water in the tank is always less than the quoted volume. I would treat the Rio 125 as 100 to 105 litres for adding things like ammonia or fish medication.



Silk plants look more realistic than plastic

 

[MuddyWaters]

Ammonia is hard to find in 'real' shops, so look on eBay/Amazon. Read the listing carefully to see if it has any detergent, surfactant or perfume listed in the ingredients. if it has, look at another listing.

If the ammonia has a % concentration listed, there is ammonia calculator at the bottom of the forum's Aquarium Calculator

Calculator

Just fill in the tank volume and the % of ammonia and it tells you how much to add. Syringes are useful for measuring small amounts - your local pharmacy or eBay/Amazon sells them - if you go to a pharmacy ask for a babies' medicine dosing syringe or you'll get the third degree about what it's for.
Tank volume - manufacturers quote the volume as the amount of space occupied by the tank not the amount of water it holds. You need to allow for the space between the water surface and the brim of the tank, and the amount of space taken up by the substrate (gravel, sand, whatever is on the bottom of the tank). The amount of water in the tank is always less than the quoted volume. I would treat the Rio 125 as 100 to 105 litres for adding things like ammonia or fish medication.



Silk plants look more realistic than plastic

yeah I found out how hard it is to find ammonia- back when I was cycling my big tank I went to several stores trying to find it. The only ammonia I found was lemon scented. Seems like ammonia used to be as common as bleach and would be right there with it in the grocery stores- I wonder what happened? Isn't it a good cleaning agent?

The only time I remember using it was when I was 15, I worked clean up at Dunkin Donuts and the mgr used to have me pour a quart of ammonia down the grease trap every Friday. I had to hold my breath while dumping that thing in there LOL. This was back when Dunkin Donuts actually made and fried all the donuts on site, so there was plenty of grease. I don't know what ammonia does to grease, but he wanted me to do that every week.

 

[Colin_T]

A lot of places that carry marine fish will have ammonia to start the cycling process. It's not always called ammonia but that's all it is.

 

[Essjay]

Ammonia can be used for illegal purposes, that's why it's not commonly available.

My grandmother had a number of brass ornaments and she used to clean the tarnish off with ammonia. She took them outdoors to do it.

 

[Oldspartan]

Sorry all im not mucking you about, today I visited my local tropical fish department and have went for the Jewel Rio 125 tank with cabinet, I had a good look at the fish and although I should not be put off, I'm going for a communal tank, which would be okay for me, the fish I liked were. Denison barb, gold barb, pentagonal barb, cherry barb, red tailed black shark, and perhaps one of you can recommend small catfish,or any other courfull barb I may have missed out, how many of these fish could I keep on the size of my tank, and what water temperature would you recommend ? In case any one was liking my name Country Joe, older members who remember Woodstock, one of the best bands that appeared was Country Joe And The Fish.

WOODSTOCK ……. You surely sparked my memory bank.

 

[Colin_T]

WOODSTOCK ……. You surely sparked my memory bank.

Nothing but a bunch of young kids playing hippy music and smoking stuff that makes any music sound good, or at least far out man.

 

[Oldspartan]

Nothing but a bunch of young kids playing hippy music and smoking stuff that makes any music sound good, or at least far out man.

Oh, so much more.