New 40G need ideas

[jimbooo]

Hi Everyone,

well i've done it, blown my bonus on a Juwel rio 180 (180L / 40G). so far i've bought the structured background tiles and fixed them in place with Silicone, bought air pump and bubble wall and upgraded tubes to Arcadia original tropical lamp and Marine white lamp with reflectors.

i'm not putting water in until tomorrow so was wondering if anyone had any sugestions for the tank before i get it wet.

got most of the fish already in my overstocked ) 10G

all and any ideas welcome.

i'll post pics when all up and running.

 

[bunjiweb]

What have you got in the 10 Gallon, We would be more than happy to tell you what to add to your current setup if we know the stock list

I can see in your avatar that you have some albino frogs. I would say keep these in the 10G and move everything else across, increase the number of each species of fish then add some other nice stuff (a plec? or a nice school of corys?).

Ben

 

[JustinSane]

Well mate, I don't mean to be rude or anything but your 10g is majorly overstocked right now and even if you transfer all the fish to the 40g. it would be grandeously overstocked too.
Let's see (assuming you're profile has got it right

1 silver shark <- a schooling fish that grows up to 14" which is pretty much about the width of your average 40g. Meaning that the fish could just barely turn around. Also a very strong swimmer.
1 Angel Fish <- has a high body shape, 20" high aquarium is a minimum
2 Dwarf Gourami <- ok
2 shark catfish <- a HUGE fish, up to 14" , but can reach even 24" also a strong swimmer.
2 Pleco catfish <- if these are "common plecos" they'll probably grow up to 12" have potential to grow all the way up to 24" if not, you still should find out the accurate species since there are some species that can reach 40" or more...
4 Baloon Mollys <- require quite different water than most fish, alkaline and hard that is.

I seriously recommend some refurbishing with the stocking mate

 

[bunjiweb]

Also Shark Catfishes are Brackish as far as I remember.

Same goes for Mollys,although it depends on your supplier as they can be easily weaned onto freshwater fish.

So, to recap,

You need to get rid of the following:

Shark Catfish,
Silver Shark.

The pleco, as said depends on what type it is, and may be ok, but really depends on the species.

The Angel may be ok, I am not sure how high the Rio180s are, but it would be OK.


If you take all of this into account I would follow the angel/gourami route, although I never reccomend dwarf gouramis as they dont last long and so many are diseased and stupidly inbred. I would look into Honey or Pearl Gouramis.

Ben

 

[jimbooo]

Ahh sorry all to clarify here is the current fish list:

1 shark catfish (with Hole in the Head) - on last legs
1 Boesmani Rainbow
1 swordtail
2 pleco's (the monster variety - will move when get too big)
1 bala shark
6 zebra Danio
2 shrimp
1 red crab
no Molly's
no Angel (died a month ago)
no Frogs (hungry shark catfish)


had a little mishap with sharky and he's solving the overstocking problem himself!!! unfortunatly inhereted a disease in the process and on his last legs Found the Bala attacking him last night whereas he normally rules the roost.

 

[bunjiweb]

Well I hope you learn a lesson from your previous mistakes.

Right, going on that list you can keep:

1 boesmani rainbow - get it some friends, they do well in groups of about 6.

1 sword tail - get it a couple of buddies - if it is male, 2 females would be good, if it is female, just get 1 male and 1 female.

2 plecos - well, you wont be able to house them for ever but they will manage up to about half a foot long or so.

1 bala shark - you are stilll going to have to get rid of this - they get huge and will give you more problem that it is worth

6 danios - will thrive in the new tank but dont get any more.

and as for the 2 shrimp and crab, you can keep them fine, although dont expect the crab to last forever without somewhere for it to crawl out of the water to shed its skin, but then you run the risk of making an easy escape passage.

One thing I would say is to keep the 10G up and running as a quarentine tank. If your shark catfish is ill, keep it in there on its own with any other ill fish.

Hope this helps.

Ben

 

[JustinSane]

Well you still need to get rid of bala shark / silver shark, your aquarium is just simply too small for this huge speedy.

The Bosemani Rainbow is a schooling fish also, you should get him some friends, he will fit the 40g. though he's quite a speedy too.

 

[jimbooo]

Thanks people, really usefull stuff.

bala will have to find a new home (just need to find one)

crab has shed 3 skins already he climbs onto the filter pad and dumps it there in the 10G, the 40G is identical just 4x larger so i think he'll do ok. same with the shrimps.

best news of all i can buy more fishies, you've made my day

Thanks

 

[bunjiweb]

Just remember not to overstock it this time, and if you plan to get any fishes that you know nothing about, dont be afraid to come on here and ask first, thats what we're here for

Ben

 

[jimbooo]

Thanks Bunjiweb,

i originally had 3 rainbows and 5 swordtails.

sharky ate most of them ( didn't eat the tail fins though - strange) i think i'll replace them first that should keep me going for a while.

before that i've got to cycle the tank anyway, bone dry at the moment so were a month away from adding fish anyway.

on that point out of the previous list which fish should i put in first. i understand when cycling you can add 1/2 small fish after 2 weeks to jump start the process?? is that right?

 

[MrMashashin]

its always good to ask your lfs clerk or manager what size the fish gets before you get it. Some how that happened to my little sister. She wanted some black mollies so I told her she could get 2. She picked them out and about 2 months later one of them was a black shark catfish! The thing was like 6 inches big! I keep telling hetr she needs to find a new home for it or it will "eat her other fish". I told her a crack pot lie but it may sink in one of these times and she will take it to the lfs with me.