New Tank Setup. Good Idea?

[JCull]

Hi, im thinking of buying a 355 litre tropical tank.
In the tank i want Frontosa Cichlids (2-4cm) and clown loaches (6-8cm)
Is this a safe setup?
i can also get the clown loach in smaller sizes, right down to 2-4cm if this is a better idea,
also was wanting 2 or 3 blue lobster.

Thans very much, Jack

 

[ahodge84]

Those clown loaches will actually grow quite large. I've read that they can grow up to 50 cm in length, so you should keep that in mind as you go forward. I am not familiar with cichlids, otherwise I would try to help there.

 

[joshrm115]

its sounds good and you definitely came to the right place. I have been on this forum for little over a month now and there is no way I could of done it with it..

 

[always4lora]

Clown loaches wouldnt grow to 50 cm, they grow around 10-12 inches (20cm?) but they need to be kept in groups which is where the problem is as they can be quite active so having 5 12 inches fish swimming about needs lots of room

 

[Truck]

how long and wide is the tank?

 

[JCull]

Hi the sizes are below:


______________
l l
l l 80.5cm
l l
~~~~~~~~~~~
100cm

The tank comes out 44.6cm


355 litres is the water capacity, the whole capacity including gravel etc is 395 litres

thanks for the replies so far.

 

[Hawkins]

i thought frontosas get to 12" ??

 

[ahodge84]

Clown loaches wouldnt grow to 50 cm, they grow around 10-12 inches (20cm?) but they need to be kept in groups which is where the problem is as they can be quite active so having 5 12 inches fish swimming about needs lots of room

<a href="http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile13.html" target="_blank">http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile13.html</a> says 50 cm, as do some others. I think that may be a high estimate (translates to 19-20"), they have been known to reach 16-18", so 50cm is not a bad estimate. Regardless of the exact numbers, this is a big fish that should be kept in numbers.

 

[HX67]

I think more important than the size of clowns is the fact that Frontosas are from very different water conditions than clowns.
Frontosa like it hard and alkaline, clowns like it soft (max medium hard) and slightly acidic. Suitable parameters do not overlap at all, really.

And I know people keep both in all conditions. That's no excuse for it. Rift lake cichlids and soft water fish don't mix. Thinks me.