Tank Fitted In Wall

[locust267]

You'll most probably get less algea if you have live plants in there as it's more competition for the algea etc. Once mature it will create a much more stable environment, you dont need to go over the top, just a few plants - Moss balls are meant to be very good as they like exactly the same stuff as algea.

Also you'll need to make sure the lights are not on too much and have a siesta somewhere in the middle as algea hates periods of darkness etc. If you dont have live plants at all I'd suggest only having the lights on for times when you are actually in the room.

Yes rasboras/harlequins should be "ok" in there

I was also going to suggest some shrimp or snails etc?

Vicki

 

[Davo86]

A few more possible suggestions are

Male Endlers
Sparkling Gouramis
white cloud mountain minnows (these prefer cooler temps)
pygmy hatchetfish
black neons
kuhli loach
pygmy cories

 

[steve_b21]

Thanks Vicki and Davo....


Male Endlers - These look good, the females are bigger than the males right?

Sparkling Gouramis - These look good, do they come in different colors?

white cloud mountain minnows (these prefer cooler temps) - do not really like the look of these im afraid

pygmy hatchetfish - Should be ok, as they only grow to about 1"

black neons - Look good, dont sure how they will look against my black background though? Although saying that i will have the white light ready soon.

kuhli loach - I like the look of these as they are 'different', but i have black gravel at the bottom of my tank, so i guess the sharp edges might end up casuing the loach harm. Also i read that they could grow up to 3.5".

pygmy cories - These look fine.

rasboras/harlequins - Again , these seem fine.


Taking the fact that a many of you know much more than i do about fish, Question now how many of which fish should i get? taking in account that i currenty have 3 widow tetra's already in the tank.

 

[Davo86]

What filtration does the tank have??

In theory you should have about 20" of (fully grown) fish left to play with, provided your water change maintenance regime is good and filtration is adequate
However in the narrower tank i'm guessing there are going to be more fluctuations in temp etc and so I would stock a little lighter to compensate for this.

Lastly Widow tetras can be quite fin nippy so you may have to watch them as the likes of sparkling gouramis and Endlers may become targets

 

[Athena]

Lovely looking tank!! I think shoaling fish would look good in there, that way, although you are limited by the amount of small fish to choose from, you can choose 2 or 3 types from the smaller species (providing they are all compatible!) and get a shoal of each of those few species.

I just had a look through one of my community fish books and found these fish that remain under 2" in length:

Honey Gourami - 1.8"
Checker Barb - 1.8"
Cherry Barb - 1.8"
Male guppies 1.6" (females can grow too large at about 2.5" - I have a female who is over 2")
black-winged hatchet fish - 1.8"
White Cloud Mountain Minnows - 1.8"

(then there are the Harlequins, as mentioned above and various small tetras).

You would have to do some homework and check out which fish are compatible with each other as I don't have experience of most of those, so not sure. Whatever you end up with I'm sure it'll look amazing when you're sitting there of an evening with your room lights dimmed and your tank lights on - will be a real talking-point amongst your friends, no doubt!

Regards, Athena

 

[locust267]

Thanks Vicki and Davo....




Taking the fact that a many of you know much more than i do about fish, Question now how many of which fish should i get? taking in account that i currenty have 3 widow tetra's already in the tank.

Hmm, well usually it's 1" fish per US gallon and you have about 26 which technically means you can have about 26" of fish. That rule is general and wouldn't apply to 2x13" fish for example. Going by the fact most of your fish will be lets say 2" max you could theoretically fit about 13 fish in there.

However I would be inclined to stock less as it's only 5" deep and at least see how the fish like it in there before you add anymore, maybe someone else could have their say on this matter as it would be interesting to see how much depth effects stocking levels. I am saying this purely for the life of the fish rather than the filter efficiency.

Moving on to how many of what, personally I would put schoaling fish in there so anything like neons etc in groups of 6 or more, same goes for the harlequins/rasboras. With cories I beleive they should also be in groups, I think at least 3 or 4 is reccommended but the more the better.

I dont think cherry barbs are that fussed about being in groups but perhaps someone could confirm?

If you have any sharp gravel I would defo stay away from any bottom dwellers such as cories and louches, maybe even best to swap it over?

You'll be suprised at how well the black neons will light up in the tank

Guppies can be good fish to look at and male guppies would look fab in there (dont get a mix as they will breed loads and thats not what you want in your tank), although be very careful where you get your guppies, do your research first as there are very many bad strains out there, you will need to find either a breeder or very good LFS. Websites give good hints and tips for looking out for good guppies

Vicki

 

[steve_b21]

I did have male guppies in there when i first set the tank up, along with neon tetra.... but they all died one by one. DId notice chunks of thier bodies missing though, so maybe the neon tetra's had a bite?

harlequins/rasboras and cardinal tetra's i might get, say about 6 tetra, and 4/6 harlequins/rasboras?


Or could i just get 2 each of the fish listed before

 

[TheMerovingian]

how would you clean the tank? and how would you feed the fish?

 

[locust267]

I did have male guppies in there when i first set the tank up, along with neon tetra.... but they all died one by one. DId notice chunks of thier bodies missing though, so maybe the neon tetra's had a bite?

harlequins/rasboras and cardinal tetra's i might get, say about 6 tetra, and 4/6 harlequins/rasboras?


Or could i just get 2 each of the fish listed before

Neon tetra's are good fin nippers so chances are the guppies died through stress of being attacked.

I would defo say you are better off with the schoals of tetra's and harlequins rather than 2 of each, the fish will be happier and a bigger group will look more impressive.

Vicki

 

[steve_b21]

how would you clean the tank? and how would you feed the fish?

There is a 4/5" gap at the top of the tank, which just about lets me get my hand down. Changing water is no problem at all.

Neon tetra's are good fin nippers so chances are the guppies died through stress of being attacked.

I would defo say you are better off with the schoals of tetra's and harlequins rather than 2 of each, the fish will be happier and a bigger group will look more impressive.

Vicki

ouch , poor guppies....

Are neon tetra, or cardinal tetra better? When i bought my last batch of neon tetra, they were tinyyyyy, i even might think a few got sucked into the actual filter as they were so small.

 

[tangokitty]

That tank is pretty neat!!

 

[shelaghfishface]

im impressed by the tank, but more imressed by the size of that sofa!!

 

[locust267]

Well I think neon's are generally smaller so you could probably get more in there, although many people have said cardinals are much hardier than neons but I haven't got any experience with them.

Is your gravel actually sharp or just not conventional as it's black? Do you know the brand (if any)?

Vicki

 

[steve_b21]

Is your gravel actually sharp or just not conventional as it's black? Do you know the brand (if any)?

Vicki

I cant remember the brand, but it was from Oldbury Aquatics in bham. Took me ages to find black gravel. l will try takin a pic later if ive got some lyin about somewhere.

1 more question.... Real or fake plants? sorry to be a pain lol

im impressed by the tank, but more imressed by the size of that sofa!!

lol , ive got this nack of doing unusual things, hence the sofa and the tank in wall.... i also have a 120" projection screen in the same room, dont ask me why lol

 

[locust267]

I would say real plants, the reason being is that they will provide a more natural environment and actually aid the filter etc, as mentioned before moss balls are very good at fighting algea and perhaps get some hairgrass, vallis torta, hygrophila polysperma etc in there, the latter will grow tall but not require too much root surface and are fairly easy plants to maintain in way of fertilizer/lights and CO2. You will probably find that the polysperma will grow like mad without adding anything but if you add something like seachem flourish once or twice per week then they should all do fairly well although never as good if you were to have a deeper tank.

If you bought the gravel from an aquatic store I'd say it's ok - The reason I ask is I'd hate for you to miss out on cories. In that case I'd get some cories and a schoal of cardinals/neons.

Also could someone inform me how big otto's get? I know they are fab at munching up algea should it occur and need to be kept in groups of at least 3 but I dont know if these are suitable or not?

Vicki