Long Term 55G Community Plans For A Beginner

[N0body Of The Goat]

I do seem to be going round in circles at the moment with stocking ideas, getting uncertain when I thought I had made a good decision!

Just when I thought that 8-10 Rainbows that will start off at ~5cm and will grow to <12cm (if the interweb is to be believed) would be fine in a Rio 240, with the two mini-schools enjoying the company without getting claustrophobia, I'm now worrying that this will put too much strain on the ecosystem despite the upgraded 1000 bio filter set that comes with the very attractively priced (£350)Seapets offer
http/www.seapets.c...inet-black.html

If two mini-schools of 3-5 Katubu and Boesemani is too much for the setup, I'm so torn as to which species I would choose. The Katubus might just edge it, given that the Bosemanis are by no means a "dead cert" to get the striking vibrant yellow/steel blue contrast colouration (due to breeding techniques). If I had to choose one group of five of the Katubus or Boesemanis, I would be tempted to get ~5 Praecox instead.

I like the idea of 6-10 Hatchets, due to their unique look (I generally love "leftfield" designs), but I do worry that
They are small and sail like, making them more prone to "bow waves" from the bigger fish long term
Given some of the youtube clips I've seen of Boesemanis at feeding time, I'm concerned that Hatchets may get freaked out by the commotion!
This then makes the "Houdini" nature of these little guys more of a worry

I like the idea of ~6 Kuhli Loach, due to their unique snake look in the Loach family and their vibrant bands of colour. But like you said, Oldman47, there is a lot of conflicting sources out there about whether a mini-group will increase the odds of them ever being seen, not to mention that this increases the odds of finding at least one of these guys in an area of the tank where they should not be! I've read about owners finding them stuck in the filter, hidden in dead/dying plants which are removed from the tank etc!!

~6 Congo Tetra instead of a dedicated top dweller is a new possibility, having seen their wonderful sheen colour spectrum and having read that they tend to use the whole tank depth. Like the Bosemanis, they appear to be able to turn on the turbo speed in the blink of an eye! In a good way, they should roughly match the size of the Rainbows, but then this makes me question the whole thing about claustrophobia again.

Like the Congos, another mixed level possibility is ~6 Cherry Barb. They will add some calmness to the tank, as well as a reddy pink colour. They are also reasonable hardy, like the Harlequin Rasboras, making them good cadidates for early introduction to the fishless cycled tank.

For Corys, I'm pondering on the choice between ~6 Pygmies, Jullis or Sterbais. Purely on looks, the Sterbais win for me, but they would be another ~9cm mini-school and are not so common in the shops. The Jullis are a close second, seem readily available in my LFSs and they only reach ~5cm.


In conclusion, the choices that trouble me are...
Top dwellers or fish that will use the top: ~6 Hatchets or Congo Tetras or Rasbora or Cherry Barb
Mid dwellers: 6-10 (3 to 5 of each species) Katubu and Boesemani, or ~5 Katubu with ~5 Praecox
Bottom dwellers: ~6 Sterbai or Julli or Pygmy Cory, ~6 Kuhli Loach, or just a Bristlenose Plec
Other life: 1-3 Hillstream Loach, 5-10 Bamboo Shrimp, 5-10 Amano Shrimp, 1-5 snails (Apple and Trumpet/Ramshorn mix)
Plants: Mixture of different sized hardy and low tech real plants (no CO2 system planned), concentrated around the back and sides
Decoration: Small slate slab complex at one end of tank, small complex of another rock (possibly Amethyst infused) at opposite end, small bogwood and spindly branch complex centre-back, Animal skull ornament (Sabre tooth tiger looks awesome) in centre foreground
Substrate: 1-2 inches Caribsea Eco complete, covered by 1-2 inches of either Amethyst infused fine gravel or fine black gravel

 

[OldMan47]

The rainbows do indeed grow to a good size at around 7 or 8 cm being typical, certainly not maximum. The hatchets again are a nice choice as long as you have a tight fitting lid, they can easily reach about 5 cm when full grown although the ones for sale are often smaller. For the bottom on a tank the size you are contemplating, I would favor the sterbai or trilineatus over the various pygmies. The trilineatus are often called julii in the trade although they are not true julii. They will most likely be the ones you have seen called julii. The low tech plants are a great choice. The easiest plants to deal with are easy as heck to pick out, because they are easy care, they are the cheapest ones to buy. The plant breeders expect to be paid good money for the ones they find difficult to raise and distribute. It is how they earn a living after all. In your position, I would revisit the rasboras as a nice versatile fish that uses a lot of the space in a tank and is hardy enough to be considered a good choice for a fish-in cycle attempt. The eco-complete is a good choice for a planted tank but is far too expensive for a fish-only tank. You must decide if plant growth is worth the extra expense.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Just noticed that I had not updated my research plans for almost a week...

I take delivery of my "Juwel Rio 240" tomorrow afternoon after work, with my local Maidenhead Aquatics matching the price and extras of the Seapets deal at £350!
We have bought and assembled two new matching and smaller computer desks in the back room, it looks so minimalist now relative to the last 4 years we have been here. We now have a space on the back wall that receives a little late afternoon sun for the tank, which will spread the weight over three floor joists of out first floor maisonatte.

Fish wise, I have now settled on the prospect of a mostly Western Africa biotope...

1 African Butterfly Fish
1/2 Golden Wonder Pachax OR [a few suitable Western Africa Killis, yet to find anything >7cm and a bit of attitude like the Goldens] OR 4/5 hareem group of Celebes Halfbeak OR 5/6 Hatchets
5-10 Congo Tetra
5/6 Humphead Glassfish (depends on actual cost and their hardiness, might do a bigger school of Congo Tetras if nobody can suggest a suitable mid tank dwelling biotope species)
Pair of Lionhead Cichlids (would dearly love a pair of blue ones)
2/3 small "Bush Fish"... Ornate seem to regularly die within 24 hours of transporting home! Any recommendations? Guessing the Leopard Bush would be too big of a bully for rest of fish?
3 Upside Down Catfish
Pair of Kribs (although Aqadvisor warning of probs with the tetra if they spawn) OR an alternative calmer pair of dwarf cichlids

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Well things changed again with my plans, things have almost gone a complete circle!

I have water in the tank finally, with the pump and heater operating... I cannot believe how quiet the 1000 pump is, thinking back to how noisy the pump was with my terrapin tank 20 years ago! Incidentally, is it normal to have some water being drawn up over the pump, or have I not inserted the pump firmly enough into the integrated Juwel filter/pump/heater chamber?

I've decided that the smaller rainbows will be my focus point (Celebes, Neon Dwarfs, perhaps Forktail Blue Eyes too), which thrive in hard alkaline water. With our tap water being about pH 8.2 an gH 16, I do not need to do much with the tap water and the three moderately sized bits of bogwood will help. After leaving things be for the next 24-48 hours, I will test the water and then contemplate adding some RO water before getting my first fish.

I've posted a thread in the plant section about hopefully getting some pointers towards some easy to keep plants that can cope with hard alkaline water with some current, as I intend to supplement the Juwel 1000 pump with an additional powerhead. Would there be any benefit in placing the additional powerhead next to the Juwel integrated chamber, or on the opposite diagonal?

One last silly question for this post... Do I need to add the "aqua safe" de-chlorinator before starting a fishless cycle, or should I do that one I add the plants or fish?

Hopefully going to pop out tomorrow for a source of ammonia...

 

[meguro]

The only thing on your list that might have any trouble at 24C would be the rams.

bolivian rams are fine at 24C

the betta is not the greatest choose as the ram will beat him up as well as the zebra danios

the ram wont do a thing to the betta

Do I need to add the "aqua safe" de-chlorinator before starting a fishless cycle

yes

u should probably also consider buying an external filter for a tank that size, popular ones include eheim, fluval and tetratec amongst others

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Just got some surprising readings from my tank's tap water, for a tank 1 week old; real plants since Wednesday and CO2 system for 24 hours (adding a pinch of fish food every other day)...

pH 7.8 (expected a drop from 8.1, due to carbonic acid production, but not within 24 hours)
NH3 0
NO2 0.8mg/l (up a little since last test on Friday)
NO3 110mg/l (almost doubled since Friday!)

Is there a chance that the essential bacteria could find such a high nitrate figure toxic and therefore should I do a 25-50% water change (although normally fishless cycling normally advises no water changes until after the "qualifying week")?

At this rate, I may not need to open the SafeStart and yet still get some hardy fish within the next week (torn between Zebra Danios, or some Giant Danios, the latter of which might be-friend the two Opsarius Pulchellus I am focusing the tank community on)...

 

[stiddy]

Hows the tank coming on? Its been a couple weeks since you started your cycle. Have you decided on what you want. Keep us all updated and a picture of your set up would be nice. Was thinking about going for the deal with seapets you listed on the site. A very good price, was shocked your LFS matched the price!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Things have moved on a bit since my last update to this thread!

• Bought some plants, but then discovered half of them were not true aquatics, rang LFS and manager was happy to exchange them.
• Manager did as promised and I bought a Dennerle CO[sub]2[/sub] system and a Koralis 1 powerhead
• After double checking readings for NO[sub]2 [/sub]and NO[sub]3[/sub] with another LFS (Maidenhead Aquatics branch, they will price match any web off if you bring in print off of deal), I added my first fish after acclimatising them for two hours (while in the mean time adding 200ml of Tetra SafeStart as an insurance policy for the fish)... Six Pearl Danios!
• Danios are doing great, have really coloured up with blue and red hues, one of the six seems a bit more skittish and does not school with others in the open when I'm around.
• Water readings are still good.
• Expecting ten (10) Sulawesi Rabbit Snails of at least three colour types tomorrow from "Des!" at this forum!
  

Here's a pic of the tank (slightly changed layout since then, but not much) and the five schooling Pearl Danios...






Edit: After seeing how the Danios love exploring the plant forest, I'm going to go down the smaller fish route. Planning to add some Rainbows (Praecox; Forktail Blue-Eye; Celebes); a few Halfbeaks; 10 Hengel Rasbora; some Sterbai cory; some sort of Loach (still not sure on Vietnamese Golden Sucker; Dwarf Chain; Sumo; Indian Redtail Squirrel); possibly some Sawbwa Barb. I may still try and get the pair of Royal Opsarius as the "stars" of the tank, but not sure, would need to keep close eye on whether they are true "community fish" (so little known abouty them, being a Myanmar/Burma species that reaches 11cm).

 

[OldMan47]

the idea of using some small community fish is right up my alley. I am one of those people with just the kinds of fish that are very small. My tastes run to Golden teddies( zenophallus umbratilis), Heterandria formosa (least killies), P caucana, endlers (P wingei), Girardinus metallicus (black chins) and similar fish than are less than 1.5 inches SL. Those fish are each in their own tanks in my home and are thriving and reproducing in tiny tanks of only 10 to 20 gallon size. Larger fish require much more space so my A towerii have a 29 gallon as do my X captivus and my Characodon lateralis. Both the characodons and captivus are small goodeids but not quite as small as some of the others. I am definitely someone who favors lots of single species only tanks with a small fish species in each one.