Hit A Brick Wall With My Stocking Plan....

[Ben M]

hi, most of that looks good, but are you aware that the bolivian rams may well eat the shrimp. also, the black ghost knife fish will eat the shrimp and tetras as it gets bigger. other than that though i think your tank will look great!

cheers

 

[Zoepop]

yup starting to think the shrimp were a mistake bought them on a bit of a whim on ebay when I bought the corys!

I won't be putting anything else in for about a month thought after I get the corys in so the shrimp will help keep the tank clean until I get the SAE in and the other fish then I'll find the shrimp a new home so they won't all become lunch!

Thanks for your imput pest control greatly appreciated

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Zoepop

I agree with the advice pest control gave you. Corys sold as C. julii are almost always C. trilineatus or some other similar looking fish. C. juliis are rare and can usually be identified only if you know for sure where they were collected.

If you like corydoras, do them a favor and keep cichlids out of your tank.

 

[Zoepop]

If you like corydoras, do them a favor and keep cichlids out of your tank.

yup think i will they should be ok with the rams though?

my other problem is I have gravel and all the sites I've been looking at recomment sand for the corys...i was put off the sand as i've put down tetraplant substrate and i thought if I went for the sand and it mixed it would look terrible!

What I'm thinking now is that I might make a sandpit area somewhere in the tank, dig out the gravel and the tetraplant, have a rocky edge to hold gravel out and sand in and use this as the main feeding area for my corys I know they will be all over the tank looking for little bits to hoover up but do you think they'd apreciate a special sandy feeding area for themselves? was thinking of giving them a corner maybe about 30cm square? I did toy with the idea of taking the gravel out altogether but my plants have already rooted in it and to be honest not sure I have the energy! Just got it looking nice

 

[OldMan47]

If you have smooth gravel, no sharp edges, the cories will do fine. The actual bottom where cories are found is neither sand nor gravel, it is mud and leaves.

 

[Zoepop]

I did add a little 'river' of sand running through across the tank, have to admit when I put the corys in today they do seem to love it I am tempted to take out all of the gravel the thing that is putting me off is the tetraplant substrate that i've put in under the gravel, thinking if I leave that in and put the sand on top of it it will end up mixing and look terrible!

Anyway since I put the sand in the water is just a little misty, not enough to say cloudy i've red something on here about adding something to the filter to 'polish' the finer bits out of the water what exactly should I be asking for if I pop to the LFS? and where abouts in my 405 filter would I put it? does it matter?

Thanks

 

[Ben M]

hi, the water should clear after a while on its own.

 

[Zoepop]

hi, the water should clear after a while on its own.

Thank you again