My Fluval Edge

[ben3486]

Thought I should share a few pics of my tank. Im pretty happy with it for now, Im sure ill add a few things, take some away, and maybe add one fo two more friends. At the min I have 6 Cardinal tetra and 2 cherry shrimp.

All set up the day it arrived.

Birds eye view, one of the reasons I love the Edge.

This one on the rock is "cute" according to the missus lol.

Comments welcome

 

[ian]

looks good Ben, get some real moss balls in there and the shrimp will love ya forever!

 

[ben3486]

I'm a bit reluctant to put live plants and moss in there as I want the water to remain crystal clear, well as clear as I can keep it. Also want to try prevent algae growth as i hate the look of it and having to clean it lol

Will a real moss ball cause the water to colour? or a algae bloom? Its my first proper tank so sorry for the probably silly and obvious questions lol.I've only ever had a male betta in a small small tank lol

 

[jennybugs]

Real moss balls (as long as you squeeze them clean in old tank water first) won't cloud, stain or do anything bad to the tank. They're beneficial as they use up nitrates
the tank looks nice. I have mine as a marine coolwater tank.

 

[ian]

the moss balls will benifit the tank more so, the water will remain crystal clear. The shrimp will also benifit from the moss balls.

are you after a bigger tank yet Ben?

 

[ben3486]

I've only had this one for two months so i think im just going to stick with this for now. I was thinking a nice bit of bog wood would look good in there, after a long long soak so the water doesnt turn brown. But eventually I would like a big tank. Maybe a big cichlid community?!

How will the tank benfit from live moss? and what do the shrimp love about it?

Just had a look at your tank too....very nice. Do you find your cardinals are very shy? evey time I go near the tank they group together in the back corner? And they dont seem to want to eat much? I ordered some of that hikari micro pelet and have stopped feeding them flake as it was just making a mess and turning the water cloudy (and trust me I didnt put much in and made it into small chunks for the fish.) At the minute im crushing some larger floating pellets so they can eat it, but they dont even seem that interested in that?

 

[ian]

cheers, i have a shoal of 20 in mine now, they are shy fish, as all are. It can take up to 2 weeks for em settle. They great when they get fully grown, they colour up more and more. The best tetra imo. They moss balls will give the shrimp something to do, also give it a source of food. Saying that they wont strip them and eat all the moss ball. They will eat paticles that collect on them. The Cardinals will eat, just make sure you don't over feed. They don't need much food at all. I think in your other thread you asked what else you could put in your Edge, i would probably pop a couple more shrimp or a snail in there,oh and check Jennybugs Edge out, theres a link in her sig. Its ace!

 

[dave_oddballs]

live plants (and moss) absorb nitrates, as a source of food if you like, and as all plants do they absorb carbon dioxide and thus release oxygen into the water, your shrimp will feed off the micro organisms which grow on live plants, you will find they will spend alot of their time on them if you got some, they will also look a bit better.
in all fairness both neons and cardinals like a lot of space, even thought hey are small fish, they live in big shoals, the bigger the shoal the safer they feel, you could have 50 and that would still be a minute percentage of a wild shoal, they are open water swimming fish so appreciate space and lots of cover at the same time, you may have been better going for one of the microrasbora species and a few more shrimps, maybe add a couple of the nicer looking snails like assasin snails, they always add a bit of interest.
looking good though, i love the way the light is concentrated and looks like a beam of light, very nice

 

[ben3486]

I'l maybe have to go and try find some moss balls then. There doesnt seem to be a really good, well stocked LFS around me though. Its either pets at home or one in dereham which isnt very big at all. Really friendly guy in there just not alot in there that I want any way.

Could I get away with one or two clown loaches? the tiger stripey looking ones. I know its pushing it probably, but when the bio load is sorted from these fish and with weekely water changes I dont think it'll be too bad? Just want a bit variation. and not really into snails lol.

And jennybugs tank is wicked......but looks like a lot of hard work lol

 

[dave_oddballs]

nope definitely no clown loach's! grow wayyy to big for that tank.

 

[ben3486]

Bummer, lol. Really like the look of them, and they always look ok for size in the shop lol. how big do they get to?

Is there any other interesting looking fish i could put in there? only one or two.

What would be the most amount of cardinals in there?

 

[dave_oddballs]

well clown loach's get to about 9" the biggest being about a foot i believe, id say you could probably have 10 cardinals maybe? get others opinions, i would still probably go for one of the microrasboras though like galaxy rasboras or briggette rasboras they are smaller than cardinals but absolutely stunning. if you want to stick with cardinals then i'd say 10, maybe get a few pygmy corydoras or khuli loach's?

 

[ben3486]

im off to look them all up

thanks alot

 

[ben3486]

LOVE the little khuli loaches! they're prety strange looking, almost eel like. I saw these when I got my cardinals and didnt ask what they were (stupid) and loved how different they look. I think they will be making an apperance soon lol.

Thanks dave

 

[ben3486]

Does any one fancy giving me some advice on feeding? Some Hikari micro pelet just came through the letter box. Gave the fish some and again didnt seem too interested. Is it fair to say cardinals arent big eaters and maybe feed every other day? not the three times a day like the packet says? lol