Recommendations For Juwel Rekord 96

[kindeke]

Hi,

I recently purchased a second hand Rekord 96, and as soon as the missus gives the go ahead, i will install it in the lounge.
The tank will be in a shallow alcove so it shouldn't be in direct sunlight ( the blinds are closed most of the day as well).

The idea is to use a light rock background, white or light sand bottom, and a fairly minimalistic approach with some plants, rocks and caves, probably one or several terraces.
Fish wise I really don't know what to go for, as I don't know very much about them, in fact, I don't know much about the whole thing!

I would really like a mixture of sizes, and very colourful to offset the light rock and sand, but the main point is that I want a "happy" tank, so if that means I can only have 10 fish then so be it, i don't feel the animals should suffer in their short lifetime on my accord.

About the sandy bottom : I assume this will be ok for plants, but what I'm worried about is the water changes and cleaning. Can I still use the normal mehtod with a siphon?
The filter system is supposeed to be good enough on the rekord 96 to changed the water every 4 weeks, but I will probably do weekly or fortnightly 20% changes?

Does anyone have any answers?

Thank you so much.

 

[shelaghfishface]

first you need to read this [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/[/URL] then you need to start working on groveling teqniques (sp) to win the misses around
i like your approach to the fact that they wont suffer on your account.............. sorry pressed the wrong button and posted without finishing what i was writing
you can use play sand from argos for the bottom of the tank,cost £2.50 but you will need to spend a good while rinsing it, i dont know about the filter sorry, but lots on this forum have jewel tanks, so you are in very good company, you can use the same vac method as normal, but the sand will need to be stirred up to release pockets of gas that can be toxic to fish, also water changes should be done on a weekly basis and inbetween should your water tests dictate so.
the plants will be fine in the sand from my experience, i have used basic plants tho,

oh well now its the misses you need to work on.... good luck. having been one myself once upon a time, i know just how difficult and unagreeable we can be sometimes, maybe you should find out if theres anything she needs.. new shoes... new car ... new house lol.. good luck and a very warm welcome to TFF
shelagh xxxx

 

[stumpy57]

you will be fine with most things i started with the same set up and it was in the same sort of place i starded with angles and guppys and move on i just asked at the fish shop and thay helped me out a lot

 

[shelaghfishface]

is that written on your new laptop stumpy?? very nice too...
anyway, you do have to be carefull when taking advice from the fish shop, as remember they are running a bizzniss (have no idea how to spell that word), what i would suggest is taking the advice home with you to dwell on, and getting a few more impartial opinions on here. no one one here is making any gains from messed up tanks, and you will find most are dedicated fish keepers rather than fish havers


heres that link again didnt work the first time sorry http/www.fishforums.net/content-page/113...Cycling/page/0/

 

[ALW]

is that written on your new laptop stumpy?? very nice too...
anyway, you do have to be carefull when taking advice from the fish shop, as remember they are running a bizzniss (have no idea how to spell that word), what i would suggest is taking the advice home with you to dwell on, and getting a few more impartial opinions on here. no one one here is making any gains from messed up tanks, and you will find most are dedicated fish keepers rather than fish havers


heres that link again didnt work the first time sorry <a href="http/www.fishforums.net/content-page/113...Cycling/page/0/" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/content-page/113...Cycling/page/0/</a>

(I think you mean Business shelaghfishface), as for recommendations for your tank how about this: (South American Themed)

2 Gold Rams (Papilochromis ramirezi) male and female
1 Small Pleco (Either Bristlenose, Clown, Candy Striped, Flash, King Tiger or something of similar size)
4 Ottos (Otocinclus affinis) like to be kept in groups
3 Silver Dollars (Metynnis argenteus)
10 Tetras (Black Neon, Cardinal, Glowlight, Neon, Rummynose to name a few)

 

[shelaghfishface]

is that written on your new laptop stumpy?? very nice too...
anyway, you do have to be carefull when taking advice from the fish shop, as remember they are running a bizzniss (have no idea how to spell that word), what i would suggest is taking the advice home with you to dwell on, and getting a few more impartial opinions on here. no one one here is making any gains from messed up tanks, and you will find most are dedicated fish keepers rather than fish havers


heres that link again didnt work the first time sorry <a href="http/www.fishforums.net/content-page/113...Cycling/page/0/" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/content-page/113...Cycling/page/0/</a>

(I think you mean Business shelaghfishface), as for recommendations for your tank how about this: (South American Themed)

2 Gold Rams (Papilochromis ramirezi) male and female
1 Small Pleco (Either Bristlenose, Clown, Candy Striped, Flash, King Tiger or something of similar size)
4 Ottos (Otocinclus affinis) like to be kept in groups
3 Silver Dollars (Metynnis argenteus)
10 Tetras (Black Neon, Cardinal, Glowlight, Neon, Rummynose to name a few)

lol cheers!, i dont actually spell it like that, i just wrote it like that so he would get what i meant... bet you dont believe tho do you

anyway that a nice idea, def something to think about

 

[rabbut]

Silver dollars get to 8 inches length, so IMO they are too large for a 98...

I would keep everything else though, but don't add more, or you pass 1.5 inches per gallon, and some of those are messy, thus adding more to the tank would overload the filter. The usual rule is one inch per gallon, though this is relatively flexible

Recomended ammended stocking from andy's post;
2 Gold Rams (Papilochromis ramirezi) male and female
1 Small Pleco (Either Bristlenose, Clown, Candy Striped, Flash, King Tiger or something of similar size)
4 Ottos (Otocinclus affinis) like to be kept in groups
10 Tetras (Black Neon, Cardinal, Glowlight, Neon, Rummynose to name a few)

The Juwel systems are high-maintnance, so once a month won't be suffice. You need to clean one of the three blue sponges a week, rotating, and change the white pad weekly also. The carbon sponge should be shelved as it has no practical use unless you need to remove meds e.t.c. Get it replaced with another blue sponge

Waterchages should be once a week, arround 20%, and you clean the filters in the old tank water This preserves the bacteria that you build up during the four(ish) weeks you spend fishless cycling, while adding bottled ammonia.

Sand does not need stiring. The gas pockets oxidise into harmless components upon contact with the water, thus they are of no threat to your fish Stiring the sand creates more work for you, and the fine particles that get stired up are sharp and thus could damage your fishes gills

All the best
Rabbut

 

[ALW]

I thought that Silver Dollars only grew to a max of 6 inch, and in the aquarium most often around 4.5-5 inch. Never kept them so dont know.

 

[tenohfive]

Would some other dwarf cichlids be an option for this size of tank? Sounds about right for the rock, sand and minimal plants approached. Most other fish I believe prefer some form of planting.

 

[kindeke]

Would some other dwarf cichlids be an option for this size of tank? Sounds about right for the rock, sand and minimal plants approached. Most other fish I believe prefer some form of planting.

I have been looking online for some time now, which of these can i have :

- Peppered cory cat - they are small and keep the substrate clean, which would be ideal as I want to use sand. The y recommend you keep them in groups of 6 or more, so I would have 6 of these. MY PH is slightly on the high side at 7.5, they prefere 6 to 6.5 according to Mr. Google.

- Red Betta

- German Blue Rams

- Purple Emperor Tetra

- Fresh Water clam

- Zebra danio

- Opaline Gourami

- Steel Blue Killifish

- Rummy Nose Tetra

All of the above are ok with a PH level of 6.0/5 to 8.0

Any objections on these species together. They are all supposed to be peacefull and easy to keep, but I might have to put slightly more plants in than I was anticipating.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

quick word before we move on to stocking, if you're putting a structured backgroun on before you fill the tank use aquarium silicone to put it into place, allow the silicone to go off before sealing. make sure it is AQUARIUM silicone, normal bathroom stuff is not safe for us in fishtanks. the normal fixings for structured backgrounds aren't brilliant and you get gaps which fish can become trapped in and die. Worth getting this right at the outset!


- Peppered cory cat - fine
- Red Betta - nope, not for community tanks, they aren't called fighting fish for nothing!! need to be kept alone
- German Blue Rams - fine
- Purple Emperor Tetra - fine
- Fresh Water clam - nope, more trouble than they are worth, they usually just die and when they do the pollute the tank and will kill all the other livestock
- Zebra danio - fine
- Opaline Gourami - just about fine, tank's on the small side but ok
- Steel Blue Killifish - nope, need species only tank
- Rummy Nose Tetra - fine

from that list i would suggest the following

6 dwarf cories (6") (not quite peppereds but very very cute and much smaller, be more suitable for this size tank, google c. pgymaeus, c. hastatus and c. habrosus )
2 german blue rams (6") (need the tank to be mature before you add these though, could replace them with a trio of apistogramma or nanacara though...
6 rummy nose tetras (6")
6 purple emporer tetras (9")

that would give you a nice level of stocking for the tank, manageable but you still get a nice mix of species.

 

[waterdrop]

quick word before we move on to stocking, if you're putting a structured backgroun on before you fill the tank use aquarium silicone to put it into place, allow the silicone to go off before sealing. make sure it is AQUARIUM silicone, normal bathroom stuff is not safe for us in fishtanks. the normal fixings for structured backgrounds aren't brilliant and you get gaps which fish can become trapped in and die. Worth getting this right at the outset!
<...>

interesting... "structured background" ... another UK term but fairly obvious what it means, 3D backgrounds that are installed at the back of the inside of the tank I presume? MW, I don't quite then understand the rest of your sentence "allow the silicone to go off before sealing" What does that mean?

What are the types of structured backgrounds commonly seen these days? Years ago I had a beautiful made mostly of real rocks, all embedded in some sort of compound that looked brown from the back but couldn't be seen from the rock face. It had two plastic covered bendable cables coming out the top which held it against the back wall so it wouldn't tip forward but it fit the back wall dimensions so tightly that it didn't need any help to be safe for little fish. I've not seen anything remotely like this since returning to the hobby.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes, structured means 3D, you get them know, they're basically just plastic sheets made all 3D to look like rocks or roots or whatever. I'll try and find a link.....

Problem is they don't always fit the tanks exactly and can bend out of shape, so you have to make sure they are properly stuck down first.

hmmmm not sure what the US english term is, when you talk about something like silicone 'going off' you mean it cures or sets. Basically you know if you silicone something the silicone afterwards is all wet and can be manipulated and you then have to leave it for a little while and after a day or so it'll still be flexible but solid and can't be manipulated like when it's wet. tell me if that doesn't make any sense

here's an example.... you can get nicer ones but they cost you!!

http/www.birstall.co.uk/products/wjuw29.html

 

[OldMan47]

In the US we say it cures. In my own experience, the times given by manufacturers for curing the silicone are optimistic. It has cured long enough when there is no more odor coming from it when you put your nose right up to it. Don't even try that the first day or two because the volatile components in the silicone that need to "go off" are not good for your health. By day 3 or 4 you are using one of the most sensitive intruments around to detect whether there is any left at all.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

we also say 'cures' .... thing saying it 'goes off' is a builder thing ym hubby uses!