Hello Everyone!

[Ferg1985]

Hello everyone!

Just this minute joined and what a daunting task it is going to be reading through the thousands of topics! I'm joining because I am at present waiting for my new fishtank to arrive (it'll be a bit of a wait, mind!) and despite successfully keeping fish in the past, it has been about 4 years since I've kept tropical fish and I feel I really need read up on what I know and this time ensure I am making the most of my tank.

I got my first fishtank when I was 11, a tiny little thing with 6 goldfish.. the hobby grew to the point of having a 2 tropical tanks, a coldwater tank, axolotl tank and a pond (for those original goldfish!) but after moving my older brother took my fish for his much, much bigger pond and took the tank. Now, I'm 24 and I've really missed having an aquarium of my own.

I've ordered a 430+ litre setup, (151 long x 45 wide x 60 high) Because this time I want to have the most amazing tank I can maintain (and afford!) I want to make sure this time I have everything prepared before getting it, unlike previous tanks where fish were naively bought without much idea on cycles and overstocking or knowing what equipment to use etc.

My aim is to set up an Amazonian riverbed community tank, but probably with a selection of Barbs (even though they're not from the Amazon haha). After doing some initial research into fish I decided on perhaps the following fish:

3 x Longfin Barb
6 x Golden Barb
6 x Rosy Barb
8 x Tiger Barb
8 x Albino Barb
8 x Green Tiger Barb
12 x Serpae Tetra
12 x Black Widow Tetra
18 x Buenos Aires Tetra

2 x Pictus Catfish
8 x Cory Catfish

and I do want some shrimp and/or a pair of Aquatic Frogs (if possible!) and an Algae Eater to keep on top of the glass cleaning

Basically all the fish seem to cope within the 22-24c and a more neutral water, just want to have a well-stocked, active shoaling tank with some fish with character (and I always loved watching my old Beunos Aires tetra's patrolling the tank) I have kept most of these fish before but not at the same time and not in the same quantities.. I'm hoping they are a good mix, and with so many fish I can start off with a few fish to get the tank going (using my brother's established tank to start the cycle up) and within a few months build up to the list above, fingers crossed!

I haven't decided on filtration options yet, or substrate (I'd like a lot of live plants (despite the leave-picking fish chosen) with some artificial ones to fill it up, say a ratio of 60:40. For lighting I have been looking at an AquaFX set up, very expensive I know (given I'd have to buy an additional bulb to cover the entire length of tank) because I'd really love to have the fade in/out lighting and dusk settings to give the tank a more natural feel.. Are there cheaper options than this? or perhaps a cheap LED light to go in additon to a normal filament set up? (I'll read into this on the forum)

A lot to consider, as always and I'm sure you friendly bunch will give me better ideas or solutions as time goes on, and I hope I can offer the same at times.. I'll be hoping to post lots of pictures when I start setting it up. Suppose I better leave it at that for now, Off to read some pages!

 

[Assaye]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum!

What a great tank to get - gives you some awesome options for fish. Nice to see you're going for a community tank - I like active tanks with loads of smaller, colourful fish!

I have a feeling that your choices will rather overstock you . . . if you went for a large sump filter you could perhaps get away with it, but tbh I'd remove the longfins (as they're going to get nipped and need larger groups anyway)and the pictus (who should be kept in larger groups and will eat the small fish). In addition to that, I'd remove one of the tetra groups and one more barb group.

The barbs do get pretty big (3-5 inches, depending on species) and they're such active, nippy fish that they do need quite a bit of space.

That would give you (ignore my arbitrary removal of rosys and black widows):

6 x Golden Barb
8 x Tiger Barb
8 x Albino Barb
8 x Green Tiger Barb
12 x Serpae Tetra
18 x Buenos Aires Tetra
8 x Cory Catfish

Of course, if your tank is going well a year or so down the line, has excellent filtration and happy, healthy inhabitants, I don't see why you couldn't add a shoal of barbs or tetras back in. I always find it useful to plan to slightly understock rather than making a plan that puts the tank at (over) max capacity straight away.

and I do want some shrimp and/or a pair of Aquatic Frogs (if possible!) and an Algae Eater to keep on top of the glass cleaning

Algae eaters are a bit of a weird one. Getting the right eater for the kind of algae you have is often a headache and many algae eaters (such as chinese algae eaters and siamese algae eaters) are predatory and mean. A group of otocinclus would probably work but the poor things might be picked on. Algae is best handled with lighting management, good water changes and a scrubber.

Shrimp might be OK, assuming the barbs didn't decide they wanted lunch. I'd give it a go - I've never had a problem with shrimp being eaten around small fish. They definitely wouldn't be OK with the cats, though.

Basically all the fish seem to cope within the 22-24c and a more neutral water, just want to have a well-stocked, active shoaling tank with some fish with character (and I always loved watching my old Beunos Aires tetra's patrolling the tank) I have kept most of these fish before but not at the same time and not in the same quantities.. I'm hoping they are a good mix, and with so many fish I can start off with a few fish to get the tank going (using my brother's established tank to start the cycle up) and within a few months build up to the list above, fingers crossed!

Are you going to use mature media, then? If you get enough, you wouldn't need to cycle the filter yourself. However, if you do cycle the filter (and the tank will "mini-cycle" whenever you add new fish anyway), then you should think about using mature media to kick start a fishless cycle. That way, once it is done, you could probably add 1/4-1/2 your stock in one go =)

I haven't decided on filtration options yet, or substrate (I'd like a lot of live plants (despite the leave-picking fish chosen) with some artificial ones to fill it up, say a ratio of 60:40. For lighting I have been looking at an AquaFX set up, very expensive I know (given I'd have to buy an additional bulb to cover the entire length of tank) because I'd really love to have the fade in/out lighting and dusk settings to give the tank a more natural feel.. Are there cheaper options than this? or perhaps a cheap LED light to go in additon to a normal filament set up? (I'll read into this on the forum)

I'll let other users comment on this - I'm just getting geekly with lighting and plants myself so don't want to advise.

A lot to consider, as always and I'm sure you friendly bunch will give me better ideas or solutions as time goes on, and I hope I can offer the same at times.. I'll be hoping to post lots of pictures when I start setting it up. Suppose I better leave it at that for now, Off to read some pages!

Read this! Especially the bits on cycling the tank =)