New Starter, Have Questions, Help !

[mdjw76]

Hi there,

I introduced myself on here about a week ago (thanks for the kind replies) and mentioned at the time that I had a few questions that needs answering. Well, I’ve done some research etc and read loads about fish, but I still need a few things clarified. Please help....

Here is my set-up:

Rekord 70 tank
Live plants (Various)
2 x Coral Blue Gourami
6 x Kuhli Loaches
Temp @ around 25oC

Want to add:

Glass Catfish
Dwarf Puffer (See question below)
Hillstream Loach (See question below)
Golden Ram Chichlid
Small Angel Fish
Corydoras (Not sure which yet)

Questions:

1. How often should I feed fish and how much.

2. Should I vary their diet, if so - to what.

3. How often should I change my water and how much.

4. Any recommendations on particular brands of water cleaner

5. Any recommendations on particular brands of flake food (I Live in the UK)

6. Can anyone suggest odd looking fish that would get on well with the others

7. Would a Dwarf Puffer be definitely out of the question.

8. Can a Butterfly loach / Hillstream loach survive in my tank.

9. If a Kuhli loach is not able to burrow (due to substrate being to large) will it get stressed and die.

10. Can anyone suggest a good community set up (including the fish I already have) in case there is some kind of fish I havent thought of.

11. How often do I change the filter pads in the Rekord 70.

12. Would you advise buying difficult to find fish over the net.

13. Can anyone see any problems with the kind of fish I keep / want to keep.

I realise that some of these questions dont have a straight forward answer but I would appreicate your feedback, thanks for taking the time to read this.

Matt

 

[muzzy]

Hi there,

I introduced myself on here about a week ago (thanks for the kind replies) and mentioned at the time that I had a few questions that needs answering. Well, I’ve done some research etc and read loads about fish, but I still need a few things clarified. Please help....

Here is my set-up:

Rekord 70 tank
Live plants (Various)
2 x Coral Blue Gourami
6 x Kuhli Loaches
Temp @ around 25oC

Want to add:

Glass Catfish
Dwarf Puffer (See question below)
Hillstream Loach (See question below)
Golden Ram Chichlid
Small Angel Fish
Corydoras (Not sure which yet)

Questions:

1. How often should I feed fish and how much.

2. Should I vary their diet, if so - to what.

3. How often should I change my water and how much.

4. Any recommendations on particular brands of water cleaner

5. Any recommendations on particular brands of flake food (I Live in the UK)

6. Can anyone suggest odd looking fish that would get on well with the others

7. Would a Dwarf Puffer be definitely out of the question.

8. Can a Butterfly loach / Hillstream loach survive in my tank.

9. If a Kuhli loach is not able to burrow (due to substrate being to large) will it get stressed and die.

10. Can anyone suggest a good community set up (including the fish I already have) in case there is some kind of fish I havent thought of.

11. How often do I change the filter pads in the Rekord 70.

12. Would you advise buying difficult to find fish over the net.

13. Can anyone see any problems with the kind of fish I keep / want to keep.

I realise that some of these questions dont have a straight forward answer but I would appreicate your feedback, thanks for taking the time to read this.

Matt

Hehe I could be first!!

Right anyone correct me if im wrong......

Your tank is roughly 18 US Gallons so you would need to stock your tank to roughly 1" of fish per gallon fully grown (this is a guideline), this would mean you can add roughly 18" of fish.

Currently you have 2x Coral Blue Gourami = about 6" in total and 6x Kuhli Loaches = about 24" in total. If this is right i dont think you will be able to add more fish.

Can someone just make sure this is correct?

 

[Dave Spencer]

I`ll try to answer what questions I can:
1) Feed little and often. By feeding small amounts none will go to waste and start decaying. Fish should feed for around three minutes per day.
2) A varied diet will be better for your fish. Different food will give them different nutrients. Try frozen live food. Vegeterians will like things such as cucumber.
3) Regular water changes are important. I change 50% every six days, but find your own regime, depending on stock levels.
4) For water cleaners do you mean dechlorinators? If so, I use King British because it neutralises chloramines.
5) Any of the mainstream brands of flake food should be OK. Try to use a mix of types.
10) I like S. American communities: Tetras, Corydoras, Otos, Rams.
11) Really, only the filter wool pad at the top of the filter will need changing because it carries out mechanical filtration and can get blocked. Change it when you notice a drop in flow in your filter outlet.
12) Personally, I don`t buy fish over the internet because I feel travelling through the post could be too stressful. Make your own mind up on this one.
13) I suspect you may end up overstocking your tank. There are several threads on this forum on the subject.

If you are just using the lights that come with your Juwel I can recommend the following plants: Hygrophilia sp., Egeria Densa, Vallisneria sp.

 

[dizzied]

It's definitely not overstocked.

Although none of the fish you want would be a good fit in that tank either. I would probably look into a school of small mid-level swimmers.

 

[muzzy]

It's definitely not overstocked.

Although none of the fish you want would be a good fit in that tank either. I would probably look into a school of small mid-level swimmers.

Damn...... i was so sure i worked it out right.

 

[mlawson]

Hi there,

I introduced myself on here about a week ago (thanks for the kind replies) and mentioned at the time that I had a few questions that needs answering. Well, I’ve done some research etc and read loads about fish, but I still need a few things clarified. Please help....

Here is my set-up:

Rekord 70 tank
Live plants (Various)
2 x Coral Blue Gourami
6 x Kuhli Loaches
Temp @ around 25oC

Want to add:

Glass Catfish
Dwarf Puffer (See question below)
Hillstream Loach (See question below)
Golden Ram Chichlid
Small Angel Fish
Corydoras (Not sure which yet)

Questions:

1. How often should I feed fish and how much.

2. Should I vary their diet, if so - to what.

3. How often should I change my water and how much.

4. Any recommendations on particular brands of water cleaner

5. Any recommendations on particular brands of flake food (I Live in the UK)

6. Can anyone suggest odd looking fish that would get on well with the others

7. Would a Dwarf Puffer be definitely out of the question.

8. Can a Butterfly loach / Hillstream loach survive in my tank.

9. If a Kuhli loach is not able to burrow (due to substrate being to large) will it get stressed and die.

10. Can anyone suggest a good community set up (including the fish I already have) in case there is some kind of fish I havent thought of.

11. How often do I change the filter pads in the Rekord 70.

12. Would you advise buying difficult to find fish over the net.

13. Can anyone see any problems with the kind of fish I keep / want to keep.

I realise that some of these questions dont have a straight forward answer but I would appreicate your feedback, thanks for taking the time to read this.

Matt

1. Feed as much as they will eat in a few minutes, 2 or 3 times a day.

2. It is better to vary their diet. Feed frozen foods such as Bloodworm once a week and
add some vegetable in their diet, like blanched lettuce. For a treat give them some live
food, such as brine shrimp.

3. With your tank you should change about 25% a week. Cleaning the filter media every month. ( In old aquarium water).

4. Not sure what you mean by this.

5. Any flake will do, but go for the best. I use TetraPro or Aquarian.

6. I wouldn't but many more fish, but you could get away with a group of small tetras.

7. Yes, they don't do well in community tanks. Best to leave out.

8. As far as I know these loaches grow quite large and need cool, well oxygenated water.
So it wouldn,t be suited to your tank.

9. They may get distressed. They do need to burrow and will not act normally otherwise.

10. You could opt for some small tetras a group of 4-6 maybe such as glowlight tetras.

11. The Juwel fine filter pad is meant to be changed once a week, but because of the expence
you may aswell leave it alltogether. The other sponges should be changed every 6-12 months. I think.

12. I would not recommend this, it is stressful for the fish on the journey and it could
end up dead.

13. I wouldn't add any fish to your setup, but you could add some small tetras. All your fish enjoy soft acidic water,
this is something you could try to repecate later.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Muzzy is right. your tank is about 18.5 US gallons so allowing for 1" of adult fish per gallon as a guideline you need to allow around 3" for each Kuhli loach and 2" for the gouramis.

So thats:

6x3" = 18" loaches
2x2" = 4" gouramis

22" total

You are already fairly overstocked so should definitely not be thinking about adding anything else I'm afraid. If you do anything I'd consider getting rid of a few of you Kuhli loaches to make way for a small school of something.

Filter wise your poly pads (cotton wool like ones) you can leave in until theyre falling apart and look fairly gross. Usually a few months. Squeeze out weekly in old tank water. The coarse and fine sponges will last 12 months at least. Squeeze out fortnightly in old tank water. Don't over do it though as a lot of bacteria hang out here. The carbon sponge you don't need unless youre removing meds or cloudiness from your tank. Get rid of it completely and replace with more sponge.

 

[dizzied]

The 1" per gallon rule is retarded.

The gouramis will cover the surface and the kuhlis stay at the bottom, which leaves enough swimming room for a school of small fish. Kuhlis also do little to the bioload of the tank. If anything, you can always overfilter the tank.

 

[muzzy]

The 1" per gallon rule is retarded.

Hi dizzied could you explain why its retarded?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the " per gallon rule doesn't work for everything, however it does give a fairly good idea the amount of fish you shoudl have.
yes your fish are at different levels of the tank which means the level of overstocking you have now is fine. however i don't think you have room for any more fish in there.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Chiming in with Miss Wiggle. Khuulie loaches don't make a lot of mess, so I don't think the tank is overstocked. I don't think the inch/gallon is exactly retarded, but like with all rules it's knowing when to apply it. In this instance, I wouldn't count khuulies as even 3 inches, given their elegant waistline. But I would leave well alone here. Personally I would keep the 6 khuulies rather than exchange them for anything else, they are lovely little fish and they will enjoy themselves more in a nice school like this.

If you have gravel, make sure they have plenty of hiding spaces- caves, bits of bogwood, thickets of plants. The more secure they feel, and the better their hiding places, the more you will see of them.

To me this sounds like a nice little setup. Gouramis are both meat (insects, small crustaceans) and plant eaters, khuulie mainly carni/insectivores. So a nice mix of flakes, with the occasional treats of bloodworm and peas (or other veg), will do the gouramis nicely; the khuulies will enjoy sinking tablet foods for loaches, and any bloodworm or other small live foods. They may try out the vegetarian selection too.

I have the same Rekord 70 tank. I rinse out the filter floss pad in old tank water during every weekly water change, and take a new one when it will no longer come clean (every 3 weeks or so). As for the sponges, I rinse out one every week in old tank water, meaning every spogne gets done once a months. I have exchanged the carbon sponge for another blue sponge, so I don't have to keep changing, but keep a spare carbon sponge in case I ever need to clear medicine or anything. If you do use the black carbon sponges, you do need to change these as recommended.

I really do not understand the posters who say you can't buy fish online because they would end up too stressed being posted. How on earth do you suppose the fish get from the wholesaler to the lfs? And if they are wildcaught, how do you suppose they got from the river to the wholesaler? Or do you imagine the fish you buy were all bred in the shop? If you buy fish from a reputable online store, they are quite likely to send them out by courier- definitely the luxury way for a fish to travel. A reputable breeder will send them by next-day delivery post, which again is almost certainly less stressful than standard lfs procedures. I have ordered online several times, both from a store and from a breeder, and on each occasion the fish have arrived in much better condition than most fish I see in the stores round here. But naturally you want to be careful with who you buy from.

 

[muzzy]

Thank you Miss Wiggle and Dwarfgourami for explaining. In my nievity i wanted to help but i guess i still need to learn a thing or two.......

I think ill just stick to asking questions not answering!! Might be easier.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Thank you Miss Wiggle and Dwarfgourami for explaining. In my nievity i wanted to help but i guess i still need to learn a thing or two.......

I think ill just stick to asking questions not answering!! Might be easier.

don't be disheartened, it's good to chime in and try to help people, this forum would be buggered if no one did it.

just try and stick to topics your sure of, or if your not sure then do a bit of research through google and see if that can come up with anything helpful. it'll help you to learn as well

 

[Dave Spencer]

I really do not understand the posters who say you can't buy fish online because they would end up too stressed being posted. How on earth do you suppose the fish get from the wholesaler to the lfs? And if they are wildcaught, how do you suppose they got from the river to the wholesaler? Or do you imagine the fish you buy were all bred in the shop? If you buy fish from a reputable online store, they are quite likely to send them out by courier- definitely the luxury way for a fish to travel. A reputable breeder will send them by next-day delivery post, which again is almost certainly less stressful than standard lfs procedures. I have ordered online several times, both from a store and from a breeder, and on each occasion the fish have arrived in much better condition than most fish I see in the stores round here. But naturally you want to be careful with who you buy from.

You make a good point there. I have some Cardinals that were wild caught. Guess I might reconsider mail ordering those shrimp I have always wanted, but never been able to find at my LFS.

 

[mdjw76]

Thanks everyone for taking time out to help me.

Your info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks