Need Help With My Community Tank Habitat

chickennuggets · Jun 13, 2011

Basically at the moment I have a pretty ugly aquarium as no planning has gone into designing it and I do not think is a very good environment for my fish. what items would I need to make my aquarium a great place for my fish to live in, I have two opaline gouramis, two angel fish, two keyhole cichlids, one bristlenose catfish, one hoplosternum thoracatum catfish and five zebra loaches. Help would be much appreciated, thank you !

KittyKat · Jun 13, 2011

Sand, easy plants (+ water lettuce for the gourami), bogwood.. all a good start. It would be nice to know what size tank you're working with.

chickennuggets · Jun 13, 2011

i have got a 125 litre tank,how would i change the substrate ?

divegirl · Jun 13, 2011

Changing the substrate doesn't have to be as hard as it sounds...just be well prepared.
You're going to need a few buckets!
Make sure your new substrate is well washed and ready to go in the tank!
Remove your filter into a bucket of tank water and leave it running, this will preserve your good bacteria!
Net your fish and put into another bucket of tank water.
Remove and replace substrate[have a good clean while you're there]........add dechlorinated water....to the right temperature!
Return filter.....return fish!

Lisa x

I should add...if you're going to use sand [and you have a big enough bucket] you could leave the fish in with the filter for an hour or two to let the sand settle. If you are going to use sand, do the plate trick! Put a plate into the tank and pour the water onto that as it will stop the sand entering the water column and causing major cloudiness.
Argos play sand is good and cheap to buy, but will need a hell of a rinse in a bucket before it goes into the tank!

Lisa x

chickennuggets · Jun 13, 2011

Thank you very much

StandbySetting · Jun 13, 2011

I wouldn't recommend just bunging in 'easy plants' without knowing the specific lighting arrangements, regardless of difficulty plants wont 'just grow' if there's too much light over the tank to name one reason.

What type of tank is it? I'm guessing Fluval or Juwel, and how many Watts of light are over it? And what kind of tubes are they?

chickennuggets · Jun 13, 2011

My tank is a fluval Roma 125 and the lights are 20 watt aqua glo tubes

chickennuggets · Jun 13, 2011

Could you suggest plants and items that go with my fishes natural habitat

twodoctors · Jun 13, 2011

Gouramis and loaches are Asian, cichlids and plecos are (south) americans. Therefore there isn't anything that can be "regional specific".

Any plants will be appreciated by your fishes as hiding places. Choose some fast growing ones and they will use up the nitrate for you too. Have a look at mine (see signature).

Adrian