My First Tropical Tank

[goldencomet]

This is my tank with
9 cardinals
1 male and 1 female dwarf gouramis
5 corys
and my latest addition my queen arabesque plec (L260) B)
and also 7 malaysian trumpet snails

I plan to add 3 otos and mybe 3 or 4 zebra danios or would i be overstocked??
please comment on any improvement

 

[donna123]

hi,
i think it looks good ,
i must say your pleco is very nice .
well done

 

[The Amazonian]

Nice Tank... Thanks for the spoon Idea!!!



Click ME

 

[black molly3]

nice tank lovein ya pleck i was going to get a L27 plec. what do the letters
and numbers mean.
o yeh thanks for the spoon idea

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Nice tank and plec

 

[goldencomet]

thanks everyone

does enybody else get problems with their sand compacting
I keep finding dark spot underneath the sand that absolutelty stick

 

[RadaR]

thanks everyone

does enybody else get problems with their sand compacting
I keep finding dark spot underneath the sand that absolutelty stick

Other people will find that. best thing to do is buy 10 or more trumpet snails. They bury into the sand and sift it up.

 

[Sibelius]

Yes, and I love the spoon!

On a serious note, I notice you've left the lead on your swords, it might be best to plant them without the metal chocking them.

 

[goldencomet]

it might be best to plant them without the metal chocking them.

actually they didn't come with metal on they came with this carboardy thing (around the roots it crumbles easily and is very damp) on them which i was advised to take most of it off so i did there is still a bit left though

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Great looking tank, and of course you know how much I love that L260.

What kind of filtration are you using on the tank?? How long has it been up and running?? What type of gouramis have got??

The tank needs to be very mature for oto's. They need plenty well established plants for resting on and to eat algae from. I can't see a nice group of about 6 danios being a problem. As long as the filtration is good, it should be ok.

 

[goldencomet]

What kind of filtration are you using on the tank??

it's just the standard juwel filter but i might get an external and put all the media from the current filter into the external and put the big inlet pipe thing inside the box along with the heater and put a spray bar at one side

How long has it been up and running??

since christmas

What type of gouramis have got??

they're just dwarf gouramis

do you think the juwel filter will cope with about 4 zebra danios and 3 otos?
i don't think the juwel filter is too bad for keeping the water stats good but is a pain for getting bits out of the water and maintenance
but if it can't cope i will switch to the external

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

I've heard people leave one sponge in and remove the others and pack the filter with bio balls or other high capacity bio media materials. We use Eihem pro porous balls. What ever change with the filter media should be slow, so the enzymes transfer to the new media.

What type of algae do you have at the moment?? The tank goes through different cycles, and there are different algaes.

When you do add the fish, add the oto's very slowly. They are very sensitive and a very slow introduction is essential. When we buy new fish, we empty the bag into a clean container and float it in the tank. We slowly add water for about 45 minutes, before releasing the fish. It's best to have the lights off during this and for a while afterwards.

 

[goldencomet]

the algae's brown and there's lots on the 3d background and some on the glass with tiny hairs coming off it
I might get some zebra danios today

and it would be a little bit messy replacing all most of the media with bio balls unless there's a cage you can buy to put them in,
i'll probably replace the nitrate and carbon sponge (what does the carbon on do?) with the blue sponges

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Oto's LOVE brown algae. So that's good. Best for algae eating are the oto's and bristle noses. But saying that, we moved our albino BN to our other 4 foot, because he was hassling the L260 a bit. The oto's don't bother ours much and they only seem to want what the other fish are eating, before breeding. They do love cucumber, courgette and dandelion leaves (all blanched of course).

Good luck, don't forge to update us with pics when you get your fish. Just remember to introduce the oto's very slowly, 45 minutes should do.

 

[goldencomet]

thanks i'll probably get zebra danios today and otos next weekend
i'll also replace the nitrate and carbon media with a normal blue one