New Fish Tank

[Robotochan]

Hi all, I've been lurking around the forums for the past wee while taking in advice and experiences. I'm picking up my new fish tank on Saturday and will let it cycle, so this gives me a lot of time to decide which new fish I will get.

I currently have 4 Zebra Danios and a Siamese Fighting Fish called "Mr Friendly Fish" (my brother chose the name, odd since the fish is a grumpy git) They've both been in my other tank for a few months now. I was thinking of getting some corys, either Pygmy or Sterbai would these be OK? I was wanting to get some Dwarf Guarami's but after reading some posts on the forum I think I'll pass!

The tank is 72 litres and all I can find about it is it has 2 light tubes with a timer (which will be very conveniant as the Betta can see his reflection every time it gets dark and the light is left on!) It also comes with a BioLife Wet/Dry filter, anyone got any ideas on whether this is good or not?

 

[chibi]

I don't know about the filter, but I've kept 7 pygmies with a betta in a 6 gallon and the betta only nipped at them once. You'll probably be better off with sterbais since they're bigger.

 

[doresy]

I am not an authority on Bettas but I believe the tank to be a little big for a fighter and not sure if Danios aren't a bit lively for tank mates. Dwarf Gouramis need a well planted and MATURED set up and are NOT good with fighters.

Wey/dry filters are very good

 

[Robotochan]

Glad to hear the filter is good The Betta and Danios' seem to ignore each other 99.9% of the time, the other 0.01% is when I forget to turn off the light and the betta can see his reflection and chases the Danios' for 5 seconds. Was thinking of making a safe haven for the betta using plants and rocks.

I think I will go with the Sterbai Corys if I can find them, we only have a few shops around here and I don't really trust the LFS, looks dirty and sells Hammerhead Dolphin Sharks. So I'm left with the Dobbies Superstore and Pets At Home which sold me an algae eater which hurt my Betta so was returned.

 

[doresy]

good idea with the safe haven thing. just watch the betta as he gets older. you'll hate me, I have 5 lfs in a couple mile radius and probably 5 more within 10 miles.....proper spoilt

 

[Robotochan]

5?! Crikey, I live in a blackhole called Fife unfortunatly

 

[Robotochan]

Well I've got my tank running now however the filter seems loud. It pushes out a lot of air bubbles along with the filtered water which make most of the noise. Is that right? and is there any way to quieten it down a little?

 

[merry78]

is your filter properly full of water? mine do this until they fill and then are quiet/air bubble free.

 

[Robotochan]

The chamber where the pump gets the water from is full of water when I take the pump out, can't really say when the pump is in though. The trickle tray seems to be getting just water and that comes from the pump as well

 

[rust81]

I have the same tank as you - a Tropiquarium 68 with a Hagen BioLife filter. I think what you are describing is perfectly normal. The pump is pretty powerful for the tank and does create a lot of disturbance on the water line - but this is good for oxygenating the water. As far as i can see, there is no way to turn down the speed of the pump - so you'll probably find that any fish that like to hang about in the top strata of water will no doubt live lower down in the tank.

 

[Robotochan]

Ahh, cheers Wish it was quieter as it's standing 5 foot from my bed, suppose I'll just get used to it.

 

[rust81]

Yes, it is quite noisy - which is why it is as far away from my bedroom as possible.
In my tank i have 3 dwarf gouramis, 3 neon tetras, 3 cardinal tetras and 3 tiger barbs. I did also have a bn plec, but that died this morning (not sure if it has picked something up off the gouramis).
I'm planning on moving the tiger barbs into another tank as they do not go with gouramis at all.

What are you stocking?

 

[backtotropical]

5?! Crikey, I live in a blackhole called Fife unfortunatly

You have UDA. Also theres a good LFS in Dundee, House of Pisces. You ever been?

 

[Robotochan]

Never heard of UDA Dundee is a 2 hour round trip which I would not like to put fish through.

Planning on stocking Danios, Cory and my fighting fish in it's own little section

 

[backtotropical]

Never heard of UDA

UDA is Ultimate Discount Aquatics, the biggest LFS in Fife to my knowledge. See Here

It's worth a visit.