Hello (introduction)

[Elena82x]

Hi I’m Elena
I bought a 15 gallon tank a few months ago knowing nothing about cycling and having had poor advice from the LFS, and was saddened to lose all the fish very quickly. Fast forward six weeks and a lot of education I was able to fill my cycles tank with mollies, guppies and cory catfish. The mollies have bred already and I have 8 babies in a mini enclosure in the tank. I want to give them all more space so have bought a 52 gallon tank which I’m soon to start a fishless cycle in then plan to transfer them all. I also want to buy a couple of clown loaches as my plants seem to have created me a snail problem and I’m not a fan of snails, well not as many as I’ve got anyway! The LFS also recommended that I could add a couple of rams, though I’ve not read up on those yet.
Anyway that is my introduction, pleased to be here

 

[The603]

Welcome to the forum, this is the right place to have your questions answered.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi Elena and welcome to the forum

The tank is not big enough for clown loaches, they can grow to 12 inches long but usually only reach 6-8 inches in big aquariums. They also need to be kept in groups of at least 6 or more.

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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 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, blue & Bolivian rams, 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.

 

[Elena82x]

Thank you. The new tank will be 121x55x41cm 240l (52gallon). I am unsure of some of the measurements you mention so I will find out. The PH is over 7.

 

[Boundava]

Clown loaches are also notoriously hard to keep alive.

A good way to clear snails is to place some lettuce or cucumber slices in the tank overnight and then toss it and all the snails on them away. Repeat for a week or so and then as needed in the future.

 

[Elena82x]

Clown loaches are also notoriously hard to keep alive.

A good way to clear snails is to place some lettuce or cucumber slices in the tank overnight and then toss it and all the snails on them away. Repeat for a week or so and then as needed in the future.

Oh wow I'll try that thank you

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

 

[emeraldking]

Well hi there Elena,
Reading up on certain species won't hurt before you'll actually purchase them...

 

[Elena82x]

Thank you.
So after reading comments here and looking online I'm already thinking zebra loaches are more suitable than clown loaches!