Hia All

[Ste_1]

Hia all, my names Ste. Thought id pop a quick hello in and introduce myself . I've only really been into indoor fish keeping over the past year so ive still alot to learn!

I currently have 5 tanks;

Main tank= 6ft x 1ft x 1.2ft - Stocked with 1 x 7" Pleco, 2 x 1" Angel Fish, 1 x 2" Red Fin Black Shark, 2 x Paired up Platy's, 2 x 1" Bristlenose Plecs, 6 x Endlers and 3 unknown fish that are under an inch and a shrimp. Its decorated with a silver sand bottom, a stone island and a few live plants. Its been up and running for just under 2 months hence the small fish but im not impressed with it at the moment. I have around 5ft of free swimming space and the fish look lost in there so my next plan is to get a nice pair of larger fish that have a bit of character but as Im new to fish keeping I havn't found anything that has taken my fancy just yet, well other than a couple of nice discuss but they are a bit high maintenance for me.

My other 4 tanks are smaller 80 litre tanks. One has a breeding pair of convicts that I am hoping to get rid of as they came to me when I purchased a tank with the seller informing me he had nowhere for them to go right when I came to pick up the tank(thats also where my pleco came from), so I took them on. The other 3 are empty which I have been using on and off to raise the platy fry and the convict fry to give the parents some space. Id also like to set one up as a mini reef but Im still learning about marine setups so we'll see where that goes.

So far I haven't had any deaths and patience is paying off as the tank is starting to come together. Im still a bit apprehensive about buying fish I like because im not very experienced, so thats why im here!

 

[Wills]

Hi there welcome to the forum! That 6 foot tank of yours I bet is amazing! One problem with that tank though is that it is only 12 inches wide which is important to consider when choosing larger fish for your tank, as if you add fish that will grow large their turning space is going to be compromised by the narrowness of your tank.

If your after larger fish you need to bear in mind that your endlers and tetras would be at risk of being eaten, but I think they would be at a little risk of the angel eating them at present as well.

Do you have a water test kit for your tank? If not I would recommend the API master test kit its about £15 but has all the essential tests you need and more!

On the bottom of the tank do you have sand or gravel? This can often dictate which bottom feeders you should go with.

For bigger fish to consider in that tank, how about a few more angels? Or some South American cichlids like Blue Acaras or some of the smaller growing eartheaters like Geophagus Tapajo sp. Redhead very peaceful and very nice to have in a tank.

Wills

 

[Jenste]

Wills said it all...so I will add in, WELCOME!!!

btw, we LOVE pictures on here!!

 

[Ste_1]

Thanks Wills, I think the Geophagus Tapajo looks fantastic!!!! I have a master test kit, all is well and I haven't had any ammonia spikes as Ive been introducing fish literally 1 by one or pair by pair, and the base of my tank is aquatic silver sand. Also the current filter setup is two fluval 3 internal filters and a cheapo 3rd filter I use upside down where the air bubbles from my air-stone collect, which seems to keep the surface of the water completely debris free. I should have a fluval fx5 by next friday so I can get rid of the ghastly internal filters and provide enough filtration for future expansion.

From your advice and a bit of searching I think ive come to a conclusion that I should move the smaller fish to one of my spare tanks. Perfect excuse to setup a planted tank that will hopefully let them breed happily. And then get some cichlids in there.

Here is a short list of ones I may take interest in, including the Geophagus Tapajo;

Keyhole Cichlid
Rainbow Cichlid
Male Festivium Cichlid
Emerald Cichlid
German Blue Ram Cichlid
Nicaragua Cichlid

From what ive read each should be quite happy in my tank. I was just wondering are there any specific shoal-ing fish that could be kept with the above? Or comments on the above list?

Many Thanks for your input it all helps! I will get a picture up, but only once the tank is nearing completion .

 

[Wills]

Hi yeah the FX5 is a beast of a filter cant fault it at all! Thats a good list of cichlids and I can see a good community coming from that a few things I would avoid is the emerald cichlid also known as the chocolate cichlid as they get very large and would suffer from the lack of turning space in a foot wide tank. The other one to watch is the german blue ram as they need a high temperature of around 30c and a low ph as well which some of the other fish wont be able to hack. The last one to comment on is the nicaraguan - I have one and she is without a doubt my favorite fish it is her tank no doubt about it I also have some severums but they are just doing my nut in at the moment with fighting (a risk with all cichlids) but yeah back to the nic make sure you get a female they are the pretty ones the males get much bigger upto about 10 inches where as females make about 6 inches though mine has gone from an inch to 3.5 inches in seven months so not sure when she will hit 6. But yeah the males get big and IMO pretty ugly their heads go a bit bulbous and their colours dont match up to the females.

Based off your fish at present and those you have talked about I would possibly do a final stocking like


1 Female Nicaraguan
2 Rainbow Cichlids
2 Angel Fish
4 Bolivian Rams - as an alternative to the germans
1 Red Fin Black Shark
2 Platy - you said paired up? just an other thought about if you want to try and keep the fry or is nature going to take its course with the tank mates?
1 Pleco - do you really want to keep this as they do get big and messy and will impact on your over all stock quite heavily
2 Bristlenose Plecs
6 Endlers - these will get eaten by your angels or other cichlids

I would also add a school of something to keep your cichlids distracted from each other something like a school of columbian tetras

Wills

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Ste 1.
That 6 foot tank of yours sounds a bit unusual in shape. Can you post a picture of it?

 

[Ste_1]

I miss-measured my tank, its 6ft x 1ft x 1.6ft. It is very slender looking! I'm happy to avoid ones unsuitable for my tank, especially due to size restraints, as I doubt ill be expanding anytime soon!


From your list I have decided to end up with;

1 Female Nicaraguan
2 Rainbow Cichlids
2 Angel Fish
4 Bolivian Rams
1 Red Fin Black Shark
1 Pleco
2 Bristlenose Plecs

I can't part with the pleco, he's too interesting! But the platy pair & the endlers are going in there own tank, hopefully they will carry on breeding.

And finally the Columbian tetras look like they will do nicely. Im planning on drilling my rock island so I can plant it without using un-necessary space, its 1.7ft wide and just under the surface of the water. I mention this as id imagine any shoal would stay quite close to the island, so how many do you think I should get to make a nice size happy shoal without over-doing it!

Also can you recommend anywhere to purchase the fish? I live near quite a few quality stockists but as far as I can remember Maidenhead Aquatics is the only place I found a couple. I don't mind buying online if they are recommended.

Thanks very much for your advice, its taken me quite a while to find some quality information to help steer the direction of my tank!! Ill get some pictures of it up once its finished (the painted blue background makes me cringe at the mo)

 

[Ste_1]

I thought id give a quick reply. I've managed to get hold of;

1 x Geophagus Redhead Tapajos.
4 x German Rams
5 x Danios

Did a quick water change as the nitrate was a little high before I put them in, time to get my island planted i guess!. PH is 7 and Ammonia and nitrite is 0 so everythings looking good. I desperately need to get a better water change system as a builders bucket full is just under a 5% water change and im lazy so carting and dechlorinating 5 buckets just for a partial change is starting to get tedious!

The 2 platys ive left in for now, as they seem to be getting along fine. But the endlers are all in their own tank, and I found a fish that I can't ID, I never knew I had it I couldn't tell you where it may have come from , ill try get a picture up but its just plain silver about 3cm long and the endlers love it.

The shark hates the danios so we'll see how that goes, at the moment he's the only thing in the tank that can keep up with em so im not sure if its aggression or play as he isn't really hitting them just a bit of a chase.

The redhead doesn't come out really, he found his spot and stuck to it.

The rams are quite placid and have chosen separate spots around the tank to relax in.

Overall im quite happy with the current stock, thanks V-much for your help Wills, I may change the danios if they don't calm down to a shoal-ing fish thats a bit steadier as there making me dizzy. I purchased the fish after a quick email to Ferrybridge Aquatics, if anyone reads this and is local they are well worth a visit. The fish selection is amazing and very cheap and I live near a maidenhead aquatics! They have a website if you google the name. The next things on my list of tank to do are; Fit some decent ambient lights for enhancing the fish colours and for night viewing, drill & plant my island and plumb my filter in.