Introduction and Stocking Questions!

[ChrisInDC]

Greetings everyone,
this is the first fish forum that popped up when searching fishkeeping forum so i'm glad to be here, was hoping to find a friendly place and after some investigation it seems as though i did just that. I started with a betta a year ago having no idea what i was doing. I went off the advice of the employee and only after losing a tetra did i discover how poorly they give advice at the big stores. A year later and i have several nano tanks going strong, and just set up a 20 long pea puffer tank that i love.

Now to my reason for being here:

My coworker has tasked me with a big project. he bought a 75g at a dollar per gallon sale and told me to make it a work of art. I've already gotten the sponge filter, substrate and hardscape settled and now i'm deciding on plants and would love to lean on some seasoned veterans to help me on stocking. This is what my idea is:

4-5 Bolivian Rams
5-9 Green lantern Platys
4 Honey Dwarf Gouramies
6-8 emerald corys or some other type of small cory if emeralds aren't available.
I also have a lot of mystery snails that i accidentally allowed to breed

if anyone could point me in the right direction on quantity or compatibility that would be great.

 

[Wills]

Greetings everyone,
this is the first fish forum that popped up when searching fishkeeping forum so i'm glad to be here, was hoping to find a friendly place and after some investigation it seems as though i did just that. I started with a betta a year ago having no idea what i was doing. I went off the advice of the employee and only after losing a tetra did i discover how poorly they give advice at the big stores. A year later and i have several nano tanks going strong, and just set up a 20 long pea puffer tank that i love.

Now to my reason for being here:

My coworker has tasked me with a big project. he bought a 75g at a dollar per gallon sale and told me to make it a work of art. I've already gotten the sponge filter, substrate and hardscape settled and now i'm deciding on plants and would love to lean on some seasoned veterans to help me on stocking. This is what my idea is:

4-5 Bolivian Rams
5-9 Green lantern Platys
4 Honey Dwarf Gouramies
6-8 emerald corys or some other type of small cory if emeralds aren't available.
I also have a lot of mystery snails that i accidentally allowed to breed

if anyone could point me in the right direction on quantity or compatibility that would be great.

Hi welcome to the forum Scape is looking great! Very interested to see your puffer tank too!

In terms of your stocking I dont think its a great mix, the platies are a harder water fish and the rest are softer water fish. Do you know what your tap water is like in terms of ph and hardness?

I think your numbers overall are a bit low too for 75 gallons there is a lot of room to play with Also when you say small cory the emeralds are quite a big fish as adults, I've seen them about fist size before so are you sure they are the ones you want?

Wills

 

[thuctoanvietnamese]

I don't think a sponge filter is suitable for such a big tank. Maybe get a canister filter ?
Also imho your tank looks a bit weird due to the rectangular rocks. On stocking, I woudn't really recommend the platies cuz they breed like rabbits.

 

[ChrisInDC]

Hi welcome to the forum Scape is looking great! Very interested to see your puffer tank too!

In terms of your stocking I dont think its a great mix, the platies are a harder water fish and the rest are softer water fish. Do you know what your tap water is like in terms of ph and hardness?

I think your numbers overall are a bit low too for 75 gallons there is a lot of room to play with Also when you say small cory the emeralds are quite a big fish as adults, I've seen them about fist size before so are you sure they are the ones you want?

Wills

Ok, didn’t know that about the emeralds, good to know. I’m assuming a 75 is still big enough either way. Good call on the platys. My water tends to be quite soft so I’ll reconsider that. Is 5 Bolivians a number or should I adjust that?

 

[ChrisInDC]

I don't think a sponge filter is suitable for such a big tank. Maybe get a canister filter ?
Also imho your tank looks a bit weird due to the rectangular rocks. On stocking, I woudn't really recommend the platies cuz they breed like rabbits.

I have a sponge filter rated for 150 gallons. Also I agree with the weirdness of the left side rocks. I’m not the best with hardscaping. Or any kind of scraping actually

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

Agree with the above comment on upgrading your filtering

 

[ChrisInDC]

Welcome to TFF

Agree with the above comment on upgrading your filtering

So what would the thought be behind that? It’s rated for 150’gallons, but even if it were rated for 75 are we thinking that sponge filters are inadequate?

 

[Slaphppy7]

So what would the thought be behind that? It’s rated for 150’gallons, but even if it were rated for 75 are we thinking that sponge filters are inadequate?

A sponge filter will not provide the turnover rate for gallons of water you would want in a tank that size.

Have a look here: https://theaquariumguide.com/articles/filter-flow-rate-guide

 

[ChrisInDC]

A sponge filter will not provide the turnover rate for gallons of water you would want in a tank that size.

Have a look here: https://theaquariumguide.com/articles/filter-flow-rate-guide

Ah ok, thank you so much for the input

 

[ChrisInDC]

A sponge filter will not provide the turnover rate for gallons of water you would want in a tank that size.

Have a look here: https://theaquariumguide.com/articles/filter-flow-rate-guide

Is there a canister filter that's generally recommended. i got a sponge because the channels i watch all swear by them. Is fluval sort of the gold standard?

 

[Slaphppy7]

I like the Eheim Classics, have a look at the Eheim 2217

 

[Wills]

Thats all great to know I agree with the others a canister filter would be a good option. Ehiem is a great brand as mentioned above but check out the Fluval FX range I think a 4 could be ok but a 6 would be better. The other option is an Oase Biomaster Thermo 850 but lower flow than the others but the advantage is hidden filter and much easier to clean with the prefilter - it is also the most expensive.

In terms of stocking, I think you would be ok with Bolivian Rams no problem but you could get an odd scale between them and the Emerald Cories. Have you considered a larger cichlid maybe something like a group of Red Head Tapajos Geophagus? Gets to 5-6 inches and does well as a group of 4. If you have soft water an Amazon tank could be great, maybe a stocking like this.

4 Geophagus Red Head Tapajos
8 Red Pencil Fish
5 Headstanders - Ternetzi, Spotted or Marbled (maybe a few more if you did spotted)
10 Flame Tetras - or similar smaller disk Tetra
10 Corydoras - I'm thinking a species like Green or Gold Lazer or one of the chunkier black and white species?
3 Whiptail Catfish - probably a Sturisoma species but the Red Lizards are cool too!

Wills

 

[The603]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Is the sponge filter run off an air pump or a power head (electric water pump)?
If it's a water pump then it's probably fine. If you can post pictures of the filter and pump, we can go from there.

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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, most tetras, 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.

 

[emeraldking]

Welcome to our forum...
You can use a sponge filter but more likely a sponge mat and filter power head for that size of tank. Or go with a mechanical filter as already bene mentioned by others.