My New Tank

[scentless]

So I bought a tank off eBay and managed to finally finish setting it up in the early hours of this morning *yawn*. I'm not going to post any pictures just yet because it'll be a while before i'm happy with how it looks.

For the most part i'm pretty happy with my buy. It has an under gravel filter which i'm not too sure about and may well change at some point.

It came with a rather strange selection of fish.

2 x blonde catfish
1 x glass catfish
2 x golden gourami
1 x sucking loach
1 x siamese fighting fish

It also came with 5 neon tetras but I have rehomed them in my other tank which is looking really lovely now.

The great thing is that the tank is already cycled so hopefully there'll be no massive water changes needed!

At the moment it has got some really tacky ornaments in it including a castle and a sunken ship. Totally retro but not really to my taste. I am hoping to create a completely natural aquascape with rocks and bogwood and lots of real plants.

I would quite like to get a little shoal of something brightly coloured in there too as at the moment most of the fish in there are quite dull in colour (although really interesting to watch)

What would you lovely fish gurus recommend? Also any other advice/recommendations are always gratefully received!

Scentless

 

[Wills]

Righty interesting start here

How big is it for starters?

What are the Blonde Catfish? Any chance of a photo or at a guess are they Albino Cory Cats? Also what is the sucking loach like, is it a Chinese Algae Eater (have a google for pics) or a Siamese Catfish?

I am seeing a lot of Asian fish in there so that could be a way forward with nice barbs and rasboras. Some new rasboras around at the moment are Rummynose Rasboras which are very nice fish And maybe some Asian catfish like Moth Cats.

With the undergravel filter, they are a bit old fashioned now and not the best form of filtration IMO. If its a sizable tank (30g+) I would consider getting an external/canister filter and run it side by side with the under gravel filter for 6/7 weeks (maybe a bit more) and then take the undergravel out as they can cause problems with plants (as per your plans) and also depending on what fish you want your better off with sand most of the time.

Wills

 

[scentless]

Hi Wills

It's 130l. You were right about the species. 2 x albino cory's and a chinese algae eater. That's great so i'll be able to research them now.

Yeah, the underwater filter is a sticking point really. I'm also slightly concerned about the aeration of the water as there aren't any bubbles breaking on the surface. I think I will invest in a different filter.

 

[Wills]

Aeration comes from surface agitation rather than the actual bubbles, if you think about how a rivers surface flows with the ripples etc thats how the top of the tank should look - though some fish prefer calm waters so not essential depends on the species of fish.

So if its 130 liter thats about 35 gallons. So its kind of a borderline tank for some of the fish in there as a few of them get quite large, like the Gourami and Glass Catfish.

I would be tempted to keep the Gourami, so long as they get on okay I imagine they will be fine in that tank. I would consider rehoming the Glass Catfish though as they need to be kept in schools and if you had a school of them in there you would run out of room for much else. But if you like the look of them there are a variety of other Glassfish that would work in that tank with those fish.

I would rehome the Chinese Algae Eater, glad you are reading up on them but you will find a lot of reports of them becoming a problem fish in a lot of tanks, as they grow older they get very grumpy and stop eating algae they are often known to start sucking slime coats of slow moving larger fish like Angelfish and Gourami!

Also if you have an other tank I would move the fighter as they are not suited to life in a big tank like that and can often limit you with other fish. Commercially bred fighting fish have huge fins that act like sails in currents and they can often find it difficult to swim around in big tanks - especially if you are planning to add an other filter.

And if your planning to keep the Albino Cories, you could do to get a few more Either more of the Albino or Bronze Cories as the commonly available Albino ones are a strain of the common Brozne Cory Cats If you keep these I would get an other 4 so you end up with a total of 6


What species do you like and were planning to add to the tank? I mean its a bit of a shame to get a new tank and not be able to get the fish you really want to put in

Wills

 

[This Old Spouse]

Hi Wills

It's 130l. You were right about the species. 2 x albino cory's and a chinese algae eater. That's great so i'll be able to research them now.

Yeah, the underwater filter is a sticking point really. I'm also slightly concerned about the aeration of the water as there aren't any bubbles breaking on the surface. I think I will invest in a different filter.

Sounds like you have a good plan going. I'd look at rehoming the CAE because once they mature they can become deadly aggressive to other fish.

 

[scentless]

Wow, i've just read up about the algae eater. Sounds like a right little blighter!

It's only about 4cm at the moment and the guy said he'd had him for around a year. I think I will look into rehoming him though. I don't want a 30cm wrecking machine on my hands!

Some more corys would be lovely. While we're on the subject, is it normal for them to be darting round the middle and top of the tank? The only time i've ever seen them before is when they are just along the bottom. Mine are like on speed.

I would love some of these. Kribensis They are just so beautiful. Maybe 2 or 3 of those.

I also love Bleeding Heart tetra. So maybe 6 of those....actually maybe they would get too big.

A zebra plec would be amazing too.

There are so many I want! Maybe some shrimp too.

Firstly I will look into rehoming the algae eater. I'm not sure what to do about the fighting fish. I think my other tank is already fully stocked (30l bioorb with 7 assorted tetras and 2 platy). I could always move some things around I suppose.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Just go slowly with adding new fish and do as much research as you can stomach and you and your fish will be great.

I don't know much about bettas, but I would think it would be fine in your 30l.

 

[Wills]

I think the Betta would be okay in the Biorb to be fair I think that would be full stock then but I think its doable? When you say 7 assorted tetra in there what do you mean? Tetras need to be kept in schools of their own type ideally so it might be worth considering which tetra you want to focus on and perhaps move the other species to this tank and up their numbers?

Zebra Plecs are awesome but very expensive! Some are selling for £300 now but you can get for about £150 just a thought

It is quite usual for the cories to dart around but if they are near the surface it might be worth checking your ammonia and nitrite levels in the tank. You mentioned before that the you were worried about the oxygen in the tank maybe lower the water level a bit if that is the case so the outlet pipe of the filter disturbs the waters surface more.

Kribs and Bleeding Hearts would do well in the tank but I think you would need to choose between the Gourami and the Kribs as I dont think the tank is big enough for both of them. If you like shrimp the Kribs could eat them if you get both.

Wills

 

[scentless]

Oh Wills, what a palava this fishkeeping is eh?

I had no idea zebra plecs were that expensive. Maybe I could start a 'buy scentless a zebra plec fundraiser'.

I've got 5 neon tetra and 2 silvertipped tetra in the biorb. The silvertip were a recommendation from the LFS as 'good and hardy first fish' and she wouldn't let me have more than 2 I suppose because of the ammonia and nitrite levels.

The ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0 in the new tank but interestingly the pH is only at 6 whereas in the biorb it's at 7.5.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I second the recommendation to go with a new filter. The cories will prefer a sand substrate, but that isn't really an option with an UGF. One thing about going with a canister, you could actually switch over sooner than the 6-7 weeks. The gravel is your filter medium, so take the gravel (or as much as you can fit) and place that into the canister. The bacteria will cling to the gravel, so there isn't too much concern about losing them. That should be the very first thing in the line from your tank through the filter. Place the new materials after that and any bacteria that do get dislodged will have a chance to grab on to the new material - this will actually allow you to remove the gravel down the road and replace it with new materials - although that isn't really necessary. The gravel will work very similarly to ceramics in the canister filter.


I would recommend the first fish you add to the tank be more albino cories. They do much better in larger numbers (at least 6). Once you've done that, there are some very colorful rasboras. Check out any of the Trigonostigma spp. Espei are a little smaller, but brilliant. Heteromorpha are a little less colorful, but the back half turns a nice dark red color when they are fully "happy".


Personally, I'd steer clear of the Kribs. If they pair off and breed, they will be a terror, especially to the cories. Some other options for cichlids that might be of interest are either Bolivian Rams (hardier, slightly less colorful and prefer longer tanks), German Blue Rams (prefer higher temps, a little more sensitive, but brilliantly colored), or Apistogrammas. My personal favorites are the double red cockatoos.

 

[scentless]

Great advice eagles!

There are some absolutely beautiful fish that you recommended. I especially love the German Blue Rams.

The Apistogrammas are incredible. So many brilliant colours.

You're total right about the corys. I'm going to leave the tank for a week or so and then get some more.

Also need to start researching new filters!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

What filters are you looking at?

 

[fluttermoth]

Can I just point out that silvertip tetras are well known fin nippers, especially if in smaller shoals, and could be a problem for the betta.

 

[scentless]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/364183-filters-fe-reduced/

Do you think either of these would be any good?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think you are going to want more filtration that those would provide... If I were you, I would be looking at a HOB filter or external... Internals I believe are best for very small tanks (<10 U.S. Gallons). Your tank is about 35 U.S. gallons, so a Penguin 200 or similar would work nicely. I use 2 of these filters on my 56 U.S. gallon tank (increased circulation and extra filtration space), but it started with only one and did a fine job.


An external is another option. These are far more expensive though....