Stocking A Fluval Roma 240 Tropical Community Tank

The December FOTM Contest Poll is open!
FishForums.net Fish of the Month
🏆 Click to vote! 🏆

Sp00nman

Mostly New Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2013
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Location
GB
Hi all,
 
I've finally got to the stage where my fishless cycle is complete and the bacteria are clearing 3 ppm of ammonia within 24 hours and its time to finally put some fish in.  My tanks a Fluval Roma 240 with a Fluval 305 external filter.  I'm going with a peaceful community tank of fairly small fish and am looking at getting the following:
 
1 Bristlenose Pleco
5 Otocinclus
5 Sterbai Cory
10 Neon/Cardinal Tetra's
3 Dalmation Mollies
 
I would also like to add a pair of 'showpiece' fish later on.  At the moment I'm thinking Dwarf Gouramis or maybe a pair of Rams once the tank has matured.
 
The tanks got a couple of large pieces of bogwood with about 6 or 7 plants including echinodorus, amazon swords, java fern etc. and has a pea gravel substrate with a sand section in the middle for the corys.  Ph is 7.5.
 
Firstly will these fish be ok with each other?  I'm looking for the pleco and oto's to do a good cleaning job as the tank has a lot of brown algae/diatoms after the fishless cycle.  The tetras and mollies are the kids/wife's request and the rest are mine!!
 
Secondly would this be too many fish for a tank of this size? There's approximately 190-200 litres of water in the 240 litre tank.  I've read numerous different stocking guides and these seem to suggest massively different stocking levels.
 
Finally, if this stocking is OK for the tank would it be OK to add them all at once?  I'm assuming it will be as being able to stock the tank in one go is one of the advantages of fishless cycling as I understand it.
 
Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Have you had nitrite rise and fall yet, or just the ammonia?
 
I'm not great at stocking levels, but I believe this will be okay.
I'd bump the otos & corys up to 6 though.
Stocking all at once should be fine, as you say that is one of the advantages of a fishless cycle.
 
Does not sound like you are overstocked to me, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will step in, although I agree with increasing the numbers of Cory & otos.  My only comment - Have you thought of snails?  I had a similar algae after cycling one of my tanks and got 5 Nerite snails, they travel at turbo speed and keep everything spotless, I never have to clean the glass!
 
No the nerites only breed in brackish/salt water so they do not spread at all.  They do help with reducing pond snails though as they do not leave much algae left for them.
 
They shouldn't overpopulate if you don't overfeed.
I love my mystery snail. :)
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.
Ninjouzata said:
Have you had nitrite rise and fall yet, or just the ammonia?
 
I'm not great at stocking levels, but I believe this will be okay.
I'd bump the otos & corys up to 6 though.
Stocking all at once should be fine, as you say that is one of the advantages of a fishless cycle.
Yes I've had both the ammonia fall and the nitrite rise and fall.  Its been cycling for a good couple of months now and was actually ready a couple of weeks ago but I was going away for a week and so decided to wait till returning before adding fish.  Since returning I've dosed ammonia to 3ppm again to make sure it was still clearing within 24 hours and all is well.  The nitrates were really high but I've done 2 large water changes (50% & 75% the last couple of nights) and nitrates are now down to approx 10ppm. Will probably do a final water change before getting the fish.  Will bump the oto's and corys up to 6.  I know these guys like to be in groups but was just worried about overstocking.
 
214jay said:
Does not sound like you are overstocked to me, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will step in, although I agree with increasing the numbers of Cory & otos.  My only comment - Have you thought of snails?  I had a similar algae after cycling one of my tanks and got 5 Nerite snails, they travel at turbo speed and keep everything spotless, I never have to clean the glass!
Never even considered snails to be honest.  Will look into them?  Do they need any special care?
 
One final question - do you guys have any tips for introducing the fish to the tank in such numbers?  Plan was to open the bags and float to equalise temp while adding a bit of tank water into the bags to avoid any big shocks when they get released into tank.  I know fish settle better with the lights off but how long should they be lept off? Also how long would you leave it before feeding?
 
Apologies for all the questions but having meticulously gone through the fishless cycling to get to this point I don't want to screw it up now!!!
 
Yes worth a look at snails, I swear by them (I have Apple Nerites and Zebra Nerites, very nice looking!) I occasionally drop a cutting of courgette or cucumber in on a weight which they like, otherwise leave them to it.
 
 
One final question - do you guys have any tips for introducing the fish to the tank in such numbers?  Plan was to open the bags and float to equalise temp while adding a bit of tank water into the bags to avoid any big shocks when they get released into tank.  I know fish settle better with the lights off but how long should they be lept off? Also how long would you leave it before feeding?
 
It would be good to check the PH of the water your fish come in against the water in your tank as PH difference is the biggest killer - This is the main consideration for acclimatizing in my opinion - I leave about an hour and a half per 1PH difference (if that makes sense).  I leave lights off for a couple of hours with new fish and feed the next day in small amounts if they all look happy.
 
Another thing I do to try and avoid parasites is to fill a bucket with tank water just before you put the fish in.  Net the fish out and quickly dunk them in the bucket of tank water then straight into the tank.  Maybe I’m just paranoid but want to avoid any change of bringing parasites in!
 
It may be worth having a very detailed look at the Tetras you buy, particularly neons, check for any twisting of the spine, swelling or signs of white spot as they can be susceptible to ICH and Neon Tetra Disease. Worth looking at all the tanks saying that to check for lots of dead fish as all the tanks are usually connected by a central filter.
 
My 2 cents anyway
fish.gif
 
I've taken to drip acclimation.
 
I pour the bags of fish into a bucket and then use a bit of tubing with a few knots tied into it to make water from the tank drip into the bucket.
Depending on the difference of the water they came from and my tank, and how sensitive the species is determines how long I do that.
*Edit* I don't really have anything particularly sensitive but since I've had some issues getting my rummynose tetras up to a suitable number, I consider them sensitive.
I periodically take out some of the water from the bucket and by the time I'm done I imagine most if not all of the tank water has been replaced.
I think netting might be a little more stressful so I just pour them into my tank.
 
I also put an algae wafer in twice a week for my snails, mainly my mystery snail, and my corys like it too.
 
Thanks again guys. Lots of advice there I'll take on board. Was thinking I'd try doing it without netting fish as this is my first tank (since I was a kid) and not sure what my netting skills will be like. Don't know who'll be more stressed, me or the fish:)
 
I agree with Ninjouzata, drip acclimatisation and if you can avoid netting all the better, however I find even with draining water from the bag there are still lots of particles in the bottom that potentially go in.  The only reason I net is to avoid parasites and I see the way they treat them is fish shops that must be far more stressful!  I cannot watch anymore, they chase them around in the tank with a big net, often catching multiple fish at once, stick them in a bag, spin them round at speed and tie a rubber band on the top.  Then there’s the journey home, the acclimatisation in the bag and finally in the tank! Stressed just thinking about it  
nugget.gif
 
Yeah, your numbers are absolutely fine for a 240 litre tank, in fact you have room for a couple more otos and cories which is actually recommended anyway as each are happier with 6+.
 
Make sure you have 1 male for 2 females mollies if you are only planning on 3, warning though, they do breed!! If you do not want any breeding, get all males or all females.
 
Snails are good, also think you be ok with Red Cherry Shrimps as well.
Both easy to look after and require no extra effort really, snails will eat algae as well as leftover fish food, shrimps exactly the same, although they do like an algae wafer or bloodwoms every now and again.
 
This will still leave you a bit of room for your centre piece pair of fish in future when you are ready.
 
Made the trip to lfs today and managed to get the fish in the tank with few dramas! Unfortunately discovered net was too big to net fish out of bags so had to tilt them into the tank after drip acclimatisation. Lfs didn't have much in the way of snails and shrimps but will be looking to add some soon.

Went for three lady mollies as don't really want to get into breeding just yet but one of them does look a bit plump!! Will have to wait and see.

Anyway fish are all in and seem pretty happy at the moment. Thanks again for all the advice everyone.
 
They will normally come home pregnant, so you may want to read up some.
You can also just leave them be, let them have the babies in the tank, and chances are most will get eaten. >.>
 
Surprise surprise, after less than 20 hours in the tank one of the mollies (not the one we thought was pregnant!!) started having babies. She basically spent all day yesterday alternating between hiding under an arch in a piece of bogwood and coming out and swimming about.  Every time we saw her come back out from the bogwood we found another fry and we were up to 8 by the time we went to bed last night.  A quick check this morning and there were still at least 6 in there.
 
I'm just leaving them in the tank for now and to be honest they seem to be doing ok.  At first the tetra's were hassling them a bit but now they can sometimes be swimming right next to them and they're not bothering them at all.
 
The strange thing is the molly didn't even look pregnant compared to pics I've seen on the internet of pregnant mollies and the number of fry is a lot lower than I've seen quoted.  I'm guessing the stress of the move maybe speeded things up a bit but the fry themselves seem to be fully formed and swimming about without any problems as far as I can see.
 
If they don't get eaten or sucked into the filter what's the best way to try and help them survive in the main tank?  I'm currently feeding flake food and am crushing some up for the fry. No idea whether they are getting any but I have seen them pecking away at plants and rocks in the tank.  I was planning on feeding the fish once a day but cause of the babies arriving yesterday I fed them a small amount twice yesterday and was planning on carrying this on.  Any thoughts?
 

Most reactions

Back
Top