Tropical Fish Setup

[danbriant]

I am thinking of getting a Juwel Rekord 60

Now my old tank was
46 x 30 x 30 CM
I am not going to use this as it's old and well nasty lol

I used to do cold water fish and wanted to get into tropic fish.

Now is that tank a good tank to get? How many fish roughly could i get into it etc and if so what type of fish would you sugest

 

[lilfishie]

60 is around 15 US gal which is what i have, as for stocking depends on whether you want shoals/aggressive/peaceful etc

 

[backtotropical]

Juwel make good all round tanks for freshwater. I'd recommend them.

 

[danbriant]

well i live in the UK. London area.
I am new to the whole tropical fish thing. But maybe something nice to look and full of colour. Just need some type of fish that are ideal for new people.

 

[lilfishie]

Platy's are good hardy fish, often used by beginners and come in a variety of colours, very social and peaceful too

 

[danbriant]

well when i get back from holiday i am going to go in and ask for info etc, as i hope to have this setup in around a month or so.
Whats the rough time you leave a new tank empty? I always did it for like 2 weeks with nothing but plants and a filter etc for my cold fish setup.

 

[Slufa111]

well when i get back from holiday i am going to go in and ask for info etc, as i hope to have this setup in around a month or so.
Whats the rough time you leave a new tank empty? I always did it for like 2 weeks with nothing but plants and a filter etc for my cold fish setup.

Hello, I am new myself but have learned alot around here!

Well empty? Until its cycled. May I refer you over to the Fishless cycle guide? You don't have to do a fishless cycle but its easier once you get the fish and its all around less effort if you are on a time pinch with work and etc.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861

Well there you go

 

[danbriant]

yer i did read that before
Right what type of plants are good for fish tanks etc and can i get any fish that will help improve the health of the tank etc

 

[mark.w.jones]

yer i did read that before
Right what type of plants are good for fish tanks etc and can i get any fish that will help improve the health of the tank etc

Don't add plants until you are finished cycling as they can use some of the ammonia and nitrite and many don't cope well with the high temp. + get covered in algae. I would recommend reading all the pinned topics you can find at the top of this forum and the tropical chat one.

Plant wise the following in my experience are relatively easy to grow and fast growing: thai onions plants, java ferns tied to wood, Dwarf ambulia, Cryptocoryne wendtii and hornwort. All sponge / pots / weights removed from roots then pushed into gravel and fed a simple liquid plantfood on a regular basis. Seachem plant foods are good. Plants are very, very good at combatting algae problems.

These websites are useful for plant ID and for picking plants by ease to grow:

http/www.tropica.com/default.asp

http/www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php

If you can't find those plants at your LFS then just pick a few healthy looking specimins and give them a try, they're not too expensive. Just avoid anything that isn't green, anything that has extremely fine wispy, almost thread like leaves and amazon swords. I get all my plants online from greenline aquatics, something to cosider.

 

[Matty P]

Here are some of the easiest plants for tropical aquariums...