Harder To Keep Tropical Freshwater Fish

[ghhghh]

Hi my dad says that if I want to start a saltwater tank
I have to keep some delicate fish that are hard to keep
in my current freshwater tank which is pretty big
I already have 2 gouramis one pearl and one powder blue.
I also have 9 assorted danios (leopard and zebra)
5 kuhli loaches
5 cherry shrimp

so I need a short list of fish that are hard to keep and will
be freindly to my current fish. Any other fish that are hard to keep
that won't be freindly I will
gratefull if thay are put forward saying that they are un freindly
thankyou to every one in advance

 

[soccermatt]

how big is your tank?

 

[ghhghh]

Well my it's my dads tank
and he was rubbish at keepi g fish so I took
over. I askedbi
how big the the tank was and he said ABOUT 45 gallons so
I don't exactly know but Its 3 foot long and a foot wide, and about one and a half feet tall
so it's quite big
my other empty tank is 21 gallons

 

[OldMan47]

A fish that can be hard to keep and breed is Skiffia lermae. They are livebearers but need cool or cold water. They do not do well if you let their water temperature climb above about 74F, 23C, and need their temperatures to move around a lot so a heater doesn't help at all. They are livebearers but first they need to survive. DuncHP's experience with them is here, but beware, he is a master at breeding livebearers.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/255476-skiffia-lermae/

Another livebearer that is easy to keep alive this time but hard to get any live fry is Brachyrhaphis roseni. This is a picture of one of mine. They are voracious fry eaters and no tank with a Brachy in it is safe for any small fry. The adult size is only about 1 1/2 inches but I like closeups.

Obviously either of these small fish won't take much room to breed but they will take some skill to maintain and breed. They are not known for being good with other fish and the temperatures needed for the Skiffia are something your current fish would not like much.

 

[ghhghh]

Okay so if I am able to keep
these fish alive and breed them
(I have bred fish before one I'm happiest about is when my kuhli
loaches bred which is meant to be rare in captivity)
will I be on track for starting saltwater tank?

 

[OldMan47]

You will be on track to keeping and breeding difficult fish. If I understood the first post, that is what the criteria are for you going on to saltwater.

I feel so bad doing something to move people over to the dark side of the hobby .

 

[ghhghh]

What dya mean?

 

[OldMan47]

I must have misunderstood. I thought your dad wanted to see you deal with a challenge before moving over to the salty side of the hobby.

 

[ghhghh]

Okay just to say
I have another cycled tank that I was going to put
the saltwater fish in so the freshwater ones aren't going to die.

Also just quickly,
could u please list a couple of hardy saltwTer fish

 

[natalie265]

Huh? I must be confused too. Why do you want a list of difficult freshwater fish?

 

[finalfantay85]

Huh? I must be confused too. Why do you want a list of difficult freshwater fish?

If the OP can cope with looking after difficult to keep freshwater then they will be allowed to go for a saltwater set up if i understand it correctly

 

[JustFrozen]

I askedbi
how big the the tank was and he said ABOUT 45 gallons so
I don't exactly know but Its 3 foot long and a foot wide, and about one and a half feet tall
so it's quite big

that's close to 30 gallons, not 40

 

[fatheadminnow]

For a salt water tank you are going to need to get some LR, live rock, which contains it's own array of life. These life forms grow and die of over and over which produces ammonia. Among these life forms are the proper bacteria needed to cycle a tank. If you got your salt water tank all set up and add a decent size of LR, then your tank would "self" cycle in about a weeks time.

Then after that week or so when the water parameters are perfect, you can add your CUC (clean up crew) of fish, and further on down the line you can then start to stock the tank.

-FHM

 

[OldMan47]

Don't tell me you also hang out on the dark side FHM. I never realized that. If it takes salt, I don't have anything to do with it. The only exception for me so far is hatching artemia cysts. I also don't hesitate to raise nematodes as fish food though.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Don't tell me you also hang out on the dark side FHM. I never realized that. If it takes salt, I don't have anything to do with it. The only exception for me so far is hatching artemia cysts. I also don't hesitate to raise nematodes as fish food though.

I was just curious one day what sets apart the two besides the salt...lol. So this is what I learned as for cycling a saltwater tank.

-FHM