Rate Our Tank Set up!

[Essjay]

Ammonia during fishless cycling can kill plants. This is simply because more than a whole day's worth of ammonia is added all at the same time. It's the high level of ammonia until it can be processed which harms sensitive plants. When there are fish in the tank less ammonia is made and it is 'added' in tiny amounts 24 hours a day not a huge amount all at once.

We recommend either
a fishless cycle with no plants then plant the tank when it's finished (usually when only a few slow growing plants are intended)
or
plant a lot of plants and do a plant cycle.

 

[Naughts]

Hey!

My husband and I have just set up our 64l tank and it is currently completing it's fish-less cycle. I have gone on **Advisor to try and figure out a good set up for our first small tank. We are planning on:

• 6x Guppies
• 5x Dwarf Cory
• 1x African Dwarf Frog (Not the clawed kind!)
• 2x Mystery Snails
• 1x Gourami

I've been told about Guppies breeding like rabbits so going to be careful with those!

Does anyone see anything wrong with this set up or has any advice on what would be suitable?

Thanks!

View attachment 143266

The dwarf cory would do better on sand rather than gravel, and in a group of 10 rather than 5.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Ammonia during fishless cycling can kill plants. This is simply because more than a whole day's worth of ammonia is added all at the same time. It's the high level of ammonia until it can be processed which harms sensitive plants. When there are fish in the tank less ammonia is made and it is 'added' in tiny amounts 24 hours a day not a huge amount all at once.

We recommend either
a fishless cycle with no plants then plant the tank when it's finished (usually when only a few slow growing plants are intended)
or
plant a lot of plants and do a plant cycle.

Does it depend on the plants then? I'm asking because I've never had this issue

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

Add the plants, but keep in mind with your design that some fish need a lot of room to swim since this is a FISH tank and not a GARDEN. But if you go look at all the forum on "tank of the month" it seems like the more crowded it is with plants the more likely it is to win. With most of the winner's tanks you can't even see any fish so I think there are a lot of GARDENS rather than FISH tanks. Some fish don't swim around much - like Dwarf Gourami - very sedate fish. One of my favorites. I've never seen aggression in a Dwarf Gourami - there may be some minor territorial disputes but that just amounts to them chasing each other - in my experience they never seriously attack, injure or kill other fish.

Guppies - please get all males if the store will cooperate with you (or order them online at a fish store that allows you to pick the sexes of your fish. Even if you have all females and no males - the females (so I've been told) can retain fertilized eggs for quite some time. And when guppy fish are born you are looking at 100 or more fry - which will get eaten unless you move them to a different tank - then what are you going to do with 100 fish? I'm just not a fan of live bearers like guppies.

I also usually get 2 of the same species of dwarf gourami (make sure you only get dwarf gourami - the non-dwarf ones get pretty large and aren't nearly as pretty as the dwarf gourami. Supposedly there is a virus that some dwarf gourami get and die from - I've had dwarf gourami for 3 yrs and have never seen this virus. One thing to keep in mind, is that dwarf Gourami only live about 3 yrs in captivity (only about one year in the wild) - I kept thinking I was doing something wrong but they just aren't long lived fish.

Finally, check the PH on your water as well as the water hardness. In my city the PH is 9,4 - WAY too high for tropical fish - or about any fish. I use a PH reducer that adjusts all the water to a PH of 7.0 which will work for all the fish you are picking. Some fish - like Cichlids need a PH of 8.0 so i would have to use a product like PHdown to knock my PH from a 9,4 to an 8. I dislike Chichlids for the most part so I just don't buy them, most are too aggressive for a community tank. But they have some peaceful fish that I might consider in their own tank.

Enjoy your tank. You'll get lots of good advice and a little conflicting advice (but not much). It's a great place to learn. I don't know what I would have done as a newbie without it.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Some people can do plants, some can't.
Looking after plants can be as much of a skill and an art as looking after the fish.
Some tanks have plants and some don't.
It's all a matter of personal taste AND taking into account the needs of the fish to thrive. (Many fish need the security that plants provide, amongst many other things).
Plants also facilitate proper waste removal, oxygenate the water and provide more surfaces for your beneficial bacteria to grow on. They'll also provide spaces for various infusoria, which will provide snacks and interest for many fish.

I'd happily challenge the idea of buying Dwarf Gourami in pairs...two males will fight, often when lights are out and just the one female with one male will result in one very harassed lady. Dwarf Gourami, in a small tank, appear better settled when in threes; a male and two females. Properly cared for, a Dwarf Gourami can live upto 5 years*, although it appears the overall strength of the breed has deteriorated over recent times. The Dwarf Gourami is essentially quite a timid fish and seems to thrive best in particularly well-planted tanks. (Check the Seriously Fish website for more Dwarf Gourami info).

*I had trio that lived for 5 years, the female passing exactly one month after her boyfriend. The third lady had passed just a couple of months beforehand.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Add the plants, but keep in mind with your design that some fish need a lot of room to swim since this is a FISH tank and not a GARDEN. But if you go look at all the forum on "tank of the month" it seems like the more crowded it is with plants the more likely it is to win. With most of the winner's tanks you can't even see any fish so I think there are a lot of GARDENS rather than FISH tanks.

love you Jan, you crack me up ❤

 

[A_Fishtown_Called_Malice]

Thanks all for the tips! We have been working on putting some advice given into practice but still a way to go. Expecting it to take quite a few weeks to get everything set up suitably! Waters a bit murky today, potentially from me messing around with the plants!

@Naughts added some sand and larger stones as well for a bit of variety. Should the whole bottom be sand for corys?

@Jan Cavalieri currently planning to keep the middle section of the tank fairly sparse but populate the ends with plenty of plants! I see what you mean by 'Gardens rather than fish tanks'!

@Bruce Leyland-Jones I've sloped the tank but still working on the left side hollows! In your personal opinion, do you think more plants would be suitable for a 64l?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Looks grand! I like to put the tall growing plants to the back so they don't obscure the view of the fish, but you can put your plants wherever you like. Great thing about stems is you can cut them and replant the trimmings to propagate well done

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Thanks all for the tips! We have been working on putting some advice given into practice but still a way to go. Expecting it to take quite a few weeks to get everything set up suitably! Waters a bit murky today, potentially from me messing around with the plants!

@Naughts added some sand and larger stones as well for a bit of variety. Should the whole bottom be sand for corys

@Jan Cavalieri currently planning to keep the middle section of the tank fairly sparse but populate the ends with plenty of plants! I see what you mean by 'Gardens rather than fish tanks'!

I could also point you at well-planted tanks that are ideal for the fish they house...because they are well-planted.

@Bruce Leyland-Jones I've sloped the tank but still working on the left side hollows! In your personal opinion, do you think more plants would be suitable for a 64l?

To be honest, I'm not with @Jan Cavalieri 's apparent animosity towards a well-planted tank.
There's a thread elsewhere in the Forum on the theme of 'What constitutes a well planted tank?'
Obviously, I like plants and in that tank of yours, there's a lot more planting space available, without compromising swimming space. Remember that plants aren't solid blocks and walls and that fish can swim through them with ease. Fish then do so because they provide security and something to explore, for possible food items.

Here's an image from my on-Forum journal;

Tank No.1

Tank No.2

Both of these were taken early on in their cycling and so the plants had yet to grow some.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

You'll notice that my tanks have a very definite back and a front. This makes the planting easier, with taller stuff generally, but not exclusively, at the back.
If you're looking at being able to view a tank from all sides, then the taller stuff tends to gravitate towards the centre of the tank.

 

[A_Fishtown_Called_Malice]

Hmm @CaptainBarnicles and @Bruce Leyland-Jones that is some food for thought regarding plant placement! Considering a larger piece of wood (there's one at the back but bit murky so can't see in the picture) and grafting some moss to it. I am probably going to go with a middle ground between that picture in your forum and this current set up. Love plants but not confident in my ability to keep them thriving yet! Going to give propagating a go

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Add the plants, but keep in mind with your design that some fish need a lot of room to swim since this is a FISH tank and not a GARDEN. But if you go look at all the forum on "tank of the month" it seems like the more crowded it is with plants the more likely it is to win. With most of the winner's tanks you can't even see any fish so I think there are a lot of GARDENS rather than FISH tanks.

This seems an unfair judgement, especially when you can't see a tank in 3D, you're going off a 2D image.

Here's my current entry in TOTM for an example, which isn't a winner, but I'm not gonna drag someone else's tank into this, so it'll do as an example;

Looks like a lot of plants, right? But that's almost entirely along the back wall. The front 3/4 of the tank is open swimming space, with only the large crypt and the sessiliflora on the left hand side intruding further forward into the swimming space, where the otos and pygmies love to hide.

Most of the fish in this tank are pygmy cories, but you don't see them in this photo because they tend to spook and hide at the back among the plants when I'm hovering in front of the tank with the huge dark eye of the camera pointing at them. But when I look to my left right now, I can see a school of 20 or so of them swimming around and gathering on the beach for food.

I'd suggest not judging how much swimming room is in a tank based on a single 2D picture, when you really don't know what you're looking at.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Thanks all for the tips! We have been working on putting some advice given into practice but still a way to go. Expecting it to take quite a few weeks to get everything set up suitably! Waters a bit murky today, potentially from me messing around with the plants!

@Naughts added some sand and larger stones as well for a bit of variety. Should the whole bottom be sand for corys?

@Jan Cavalieri currently planning to keep the middle section of the tank fairly sparse but populate the ends with plenty of plants! I see what you mean by 'Gardens rather than fish tanks'!

@Bruce Leyland-Jones I've sloped the tank but still working on the left side hollows! In your personal opinion, do you think more plants would be suitable for a 64l? View attachment 143356

Hi! I really like what you're doing with the tank so far! And it's awesome that you're thinking through your stocking plan while the tank is cycling, before running to the store and buying fish - so you're already coming out ahead of many beginners to the hobby! It's so common for people to fall in love with fish at the store and impulse buy (and people who aren't new to the hobby are often guilty of this too!) then having a disaster, and wind up leaving the hobby before they've really had a chance to get started.

So kudos to you and your hubby for being patient and practical, seriously

Being a cory fanatic who loves my little pygmy cories (and this is a good sized tank for a school of them!) do you know yet which species of dwarf cory you're thinking of getting?

The entire base doesn't need to be sand, but a good amount of it being fine sand is very important for them, and it's crucial that any ideas of gravel aren't sharp gravel, since this can injure them when they're scavenging for food items. They're also a species that really appreciates a lot of planting and ground cover for them to dive to safety when they spook, so along with a lot of planting, consider getting some leaves to leave lying on the substrate, like Indian Almond leaves, oak or beech. Fully dried out, they can be left to decompose in the tank, or removed when you get tired of the little bits of leaf making a mess - but the micro organisms that break down the leaves also become food for the fish, and the leaves are known to have healthy benefits for the tank too.

Since you like gardening above the water line, you'll enjoy a planted tank too, I'm sure! The good news is that most of the skills are transferrable, you just have some new species to learn, and don't need to worry about watering them

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I'm a novice aquarium 'gardener' too but here's what I've managed to come up with..

This is just one side of my tank, too long to get a detailed photo but as you can see my sword is a mess and the anubius isn't looking too hot but it's a journey and a challenge! I've been in the hobby nearly 20 years on and off but honestly I'm still learning and don't know half of what some other folk here know

 

[Naughts]

[/QUOTE]

@Naughts added some sand and larger stones as well for a bit of variety. Should the whole bottom be sand for corys?

That would be ideal yes. But you could also only give them a section, provided the rest of the substrate is smooth and scrupulously clean.