Uk - Returning To The Hobby.h

[8511swann]

Hi all,

Just wanted to pop in and say Hello. My wife and I were very involved in keeping tropical fish when we first got married. We had several tanks. A community one, one for cichlids, and a discus set up too. With being a Soldier, it meant we moved around a lot, and ultimately, we ended up calling it a day when we moved to Germany.

Recently, I've set our children up with small tanks in their bedrooms, and it reignited the love of the hobby we had. Having now left the Army, I feel I can actually devote the correct amount of time to the hobby!

I acquired a 200 litre tank, and have been setting it up over the last few days, as well as started cycling it.
Still very cloudy at the moment, but getting there. The tank sits in an unused doorway, and is semi-visible from behind, hence not putting a backdrop on it.

I had so many favourites years ago, and can't quite think where to begin. I used to love neons, harlequins, rummie noses, Bala sharks, firemouths, clown loaches, swordtails etc..

There also used to be a book I used to have, but can't remember the title of it. It was a big book, hardback, and had a dark coloured dust jacket, but can't recall the name. May have been something like the tropical fish encyclopaedia or similar? If anyone knows what I'm thinking of, I'd be grateful, then I can search for a copy!

Anyway, nice to meet you all.
Swanny

 

[CrimsonBoli]

Welcome! From a fellow UK Newbie!
 
Love the look of your aquarium! The arrangement is nice and love the thru-door view

 

[8511swann]

Thank you for the welcome. Most appreciated. It's early days yet, and I'll be planting it up with live plants over the next few days. Then I just need to source some bogwood.

 

[Ch4rlie]

 
Maidenhead aquatics do sell quite a lot of bogwood at their various locations. There'll be one somewhere near you.
 
That tank will clear up nicely and like your gravel/pebbles and small rocks. Nice set up.
 
What sort of stocking were you thinking of getting this time round?
 
Sorry, no idea about which book you were referring to. Can't help there!
 
Keep it up and do post some pics as you go along.
 
And glad you and your wife got your love for fishkeeping back again and passing on your knowledge to your kids! Great! 

 

[8511swann]

Hi Charlie, and thanks for the reply. Not too sure on stock yet.
I'm thinking about a pair of something for the bottom.
8-10 tetras, probably Cardinals,
Pair of rummy noses.
Pair of dwarf gouramis.
A pair of clown loaches - but I seem to be down on volume for them.

Other fish I'd like, but not sure on are a pair of Bala sharks and/or a pair of firemouths, but don't know what to adjust to make it possible!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

to the forum.

Your tank looks lovely!

I'm afraid though that unfortunately the white and green plant you have isn't completely aquatic and will sadly start to rot if it is not removed I can't remember the name of it currently sorry.

Your stocklist looks alright, except for a few things.
Tetras need to be kept in schools of at least 6. So, the rummy noses cannot be in a pair.
Clown loaches also need to be in schools of their own kind, but, unfortunately they will outgrow your tank.
It is rare for a pair of dwarf gouramis to not have any problems, it is much better to have a trio of 1:2 M:F.
Bala sharks need to be in schools and will out grow your tank.
Both the Clown Loaches and the Bala Sharks need tanks at least 100 gallons

 

[Ch4rlie]

Blondie got there before me, lol. 
 
Was just about to say pretty much the same things.
 
She is right about the green & white plant being not suitable, dracena if remember right, I bought 2 from LFS and later found out will die in fully submerged waters, took them out and re-potted them, now on the windowsill in lounge, they are doing fine!!
 
Bala sharks, LFS will sell them without informing anyone they are semi aggressive and will undoubtedly outgrow most home aquariums with very few exceptions! And are shoaling fish so need small groups of 5+ as well for them to thrive.
So not recommended. Also would eat your cardinals, rummy noses and DG's as well probably anyway!
 
Loaches, beautiful and interesting fish but at least 6+ and they prefer sand substrate rather than rocks/pebble.

 

[8511swann]

Thanks Blondie and Charlie. I'd completely forgotten how much my clowns used to love snuffling around in sand! There are patches of coarse sand in the pebble section. I've never had them grow too big on me before, but I accept your advice.

Are there any loaches that would be suitable? Will the fire mouths be ok?

The plants at the moment are all fake! Just giving me an idea of where to put things. Yes, that tall one is what I would call a spider plant, and they grow very well in the bathroom!

 

[8511swann]

I've just realised that when we were into the hobby first time around, the Internet was still a bit of a novelty, and i dont think we even had a home PC!.

The only real source of advice we had was books and retailers. I used to put a lot of faith in retailers, but looking back now, having read through modern thoughts on stocking, it seems they were telling us anything we wanted to hear, as long as we bought the fish! Certainly my community tank at one point must have been horribly overstocked.

Thanks for all of the advice so far.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yup you are right a lot of LFS do tell us what we want to hear in order to buy whatever we fancy.
 
Good advice from LFS is pretty rare, more so in large chain stores. Better of with a privately owned store, mine gives good advice (most of the time anyway!) but I always do some research and ask on this forum about opinions on stocking for fish, plants, substrate etc before committing to anything.
 
These guys here are pretty good at advising whats best for the fish, not whats best for you.
Thats why I like this forum a lot, fish, inverts and plants (and any other pets!) being the priority.
 
Firemouth, Thorichthys meeki, i don't know much about those cichlids but lovely looking fish with those colours!
According to research on Seriously Fish:
 
"Provide a sand or fine gravel substrate, as Firemouths are extensive diggers. Plenty of cover is also important, in the form of wood or clay pots – the latter being especially effective if you wish to breed Firemouths."
 
 
Can grow up to 7", but usually males 5", females 4"
 
Least 89 litres for a pair.
 
Not ideal for a community aquarium with small fish, can be housed with similar sized peaceful fish. Might be aggressive during breeding.
 
Actually you are tempting me with that choice of fish, if I get another tank I might just get these!! lol
 
Having difficulty finding loaches suitable for your tank size with that rocks/pebbles layout. 
 
But if you change to sand/gravel substrate, you will have a lot more options, especially with corys (am a big fan of these!) and perhaps polka dot loaches. But would be a lot of trouble to change substrates now.
Could POSSIBLY be ok for a Malawi sort of set up perhaps? Your tank is pretty much the minimum size for a malawi setup.
 
Sorry cant be of more help really. There are others on this forum who could advise a lot better than I can. Just be patient and they will come!

 

[Blobfish]

Hello!  I'm new to the forum too.  Your tank looks a really nice size.  I think with regards to LFS advice, maybe some mislead deliberately but there are also different opinions and experiences on most subjects.  It is great to have the internet to look things up on though.  Is the book you are thinking of a fish encyclopedia by a Dr somebody, a German maybe?

 

[BrianMcC]

hey welcome to the forum I think the book is dr Axelrod's atlas gives you pics of almost every fish and requirements in full colour 4,500 pics and cost around 50 quid back in 1989 my edition anyway hope this helps!

 

[ncguppy830]

hello, welcome to the forum!

 

[8511swann]

Hello!  I'm new to the forum too.  Your tank looks a really nice size.  I think with regards to LFS advice, maybe some mislead deliberately but there are also different opinions and experiences on most subjects.  It is great to have the internet to look things up on though.  Is the book you are thinking of a fish encyclopedia by a Dr somebody, a German maybe?

 
 

hey welcome to the forum I think the book is dr Axelrod's atlas gives you pics of almost every fish and requirements in full colour 4,500 pics and cost around 50 quid back in 1989 my edition anyway hope this helps!

I found the one I was after late last night, it's "The Complete Aquarium Encyclopaedia of Tropical Freshwater Fish" by J D Van Ramshorst! Just looked on Amazon, and that Dr Axelrod looks very similar, might have to get me one of those!.
 
Thanks very much for the warm welcome everybody.

 

 

[daizeUK]

Hi there!  I love the pebbley effect you've achieved on the floor of your tank.  I look forward to seeing it planted up and cycled, I'm sure it will look great!
 
Who needs doors when you can have a fish tank