What kind of wood/stone

[13ig13alls]

Hi guys. New owner here. I've been reading that some types of wood can smell after a while in the water and some can discolour the water. What kind of wood and rock/stone should I look out for or avoid. I want my water as crystal clear as possible. Thanks in advance

 

[Byron]

Hi guys. New owner here. I've been reading that some types of wood can smell after a while in the water and some can discolour the water. What kind of wood and rock/stone should I look out for or avoid. I want my water as crystal clear as possible. Thanks in advance

Rock that is calcareous will slowly dissolve "hard" minerals into the water and raise the GH, KH and pH. Calcareous rock includes limestone, marble, lava, dolomite, aragonite, along with items like shell and coral. This is not a problem with fish species requiring hard water, but in a soft water fish species tank, and depending upon the GH, KH and pH along with CO2, it may be problematic. Safe rock from this aspect includes river rock which can be very effective to create a stream effect.

Wood will slowly decompose (this can take years depending upon the wood species) and as it does it releases organics and tannins. The latter may tint the water, but this depends upon the type of wood, the age (the tannins do decrease as the wood ages), the parameters (GH, pH and temperature). Soft water fish generally benefit from these tannins. The "smell" is likely the wood rotting, which might mean it is the wrong type of wood (not all is safe), or getting very old. Some fish need wood (plecos for example) and all soft water species will usually appreciate and benefit from having wood in the tank.

We will need to know the fish species in the aquarium in order to suggest possible wood or rock.

All rock and wood can leech toxins over time, depending where they come from, what type, etc.

Welcome to TFF, and the hobby.

 

[13ig13alls]

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking at doing a community tank. Pleco. Platties. Dwarf gourami. Corydora. Kuhli loach. 2 Angel fish. German blue ram cichlids. Guppies and mollies. Obviously not all at once but that's ideally what I'd like.

 

[Byron]

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking at doing a community tank. Pleco. Platties. Dwarf gourami. Corydora. Kuhli loach. 2 Angel fish. German blue ram cichlids. Guppies and mollies. Obviously not all at once but that's ideally what I'd like.

You will need real wood for the pleco, some species must have wood to "eat" for the bacteria in their intestinal tract. The cories will like browsing over wood too, picking off the microscopic critters as food.

You have fish requiring moderately hard or harder water (livebearers, with particularly mollies needing fairly hard water). The angelfish, gourami and rams are technically soft water sp[ecies, but they can manage with moderately hard depending. However, you do need to think this through more, as there is no real compromise with fish when it comes to their physiological needs to function properly. Knowing your source water parameters (GH and pH) will help you and us.

Tank size is also an issue; angelfish need space, and two will almost never work unless they are a bonded pair for breeding. Rams need warm water, 80F/27C in absolute minimum and a degree or two higher would be better. Corydoras willnot manage with this. Cories and loaches are best separated, i.e. one or the other.

 

[13ig13alls]

I better rethink then haha. I'll get the tank cycled and ask you guys on here what's best. I deffo want angelfish so I will work everything around them. Thanks again

 

[Retired Viking]

If you want angelfish it is suggested to have at least five or a mated pair. I had a mated pair for many years. One grew to over 6 inches and the other over 4 inches. I had them in a 55 gallon tank.

 

[13ig13alls]

My tank is the fluval roma 200 so space should be OK for a mated pair

 

[Byron]

My tank is the fluval roma 200 so space should be OK for a mated pair

The dimensions are as important or even more important than volume because of factors like fish activity (faster swimming fish need more tank length than sedate fish) and territory, which is especially crucial with angelfish as the male will establish his territory. From what I could find online, the Fluval Roma 200 is 55 x 100 x 40cm. This will work for a pair of angelfish, so now I can provide some guidance on this aspect.

Angelfish must select their mates; if they do, they will bond. This can last their lives, or sometimes not, but it is the only way to hopefully have success long-term. Any male put in with any female might bond (a real stroke of luck, but rarely the case) but more often not. Such a "pair" might even spawn a couple times, but then the lack of a bond causes the male to kill the female and it is game over.

The only way to acquire a bonded pair is to observe a group of angelfish in a tank and spot a likely pair. This is not always easy, especially in store tanks where the fish are obviously severely stressed all the time. You could acquire a group of at least five and watch for a pair to form in your own tank, then when it does remove the others. Problem here is, what to do with the other three or more unwanted angelfish. As the fish grow, the space of this tank will be no where near adequate.

Assuming you do end up with a bonded pair, tankmates are possible but must be confined to peaceful and equally sedate fish. Corydoras are usually good as substrate fish, and they don't bother the angels and the angels don't usually bother them. Cories however are very good at eating the egg cluster or the shoal of fry at night when the parents are unable to defend them. But if you do not want to raise fry, this won't matter. However, thee eggs/fry might also survive, eventually, at which time you will have to deal with feeding the fry, and re-homing them.

There are some upper-level fish that can make good tankmates, among the quiet peaceful tetras. Active fish like barbs, danios and active tetras are no good; and any species remotely prone to fin-nip will not work.

 

[13ig13alls]

Thank you very much for that detailed explanation. It might be a case of community tank with no angels if that's the case. I'll just have to get some bright and unusual fish to take over as centerpieces

 

[Byron]

Thank you very much for that detailed explanation. It might be a case of community tank with no angels if that's the case. I'll just have to get some bright and unusual fish to take over as centerpieces

We need to know your source water parameters (GH and pH) so we can suggest possible species.

 

[BeckyCats]

If the water parameters are appropriate, what about black skirt tetras? They have a similar look to angelfish (especially the wild-type angels) but are smaller and enjoy being in groups. They are also affordable, hardy, and readily available. They are fin-nippers, so not perfect with every other type of fish, but they are enjoyable to watch. My office had 8 for a few years with neon tetras and cories. They mostly left the neons alone and completely left the cories alone. They really just chased each other around but not in a mean way. It's just how they are.

There are only 4 left so I brought them home and they are now in a tank with small tetras and cories and they are leaving everyone alone except each other.

 

[13ig13alls]

I haven't set the tank up yet but I know the water hardness is on average 45.25 mg/l as calcium carbonate or 18.1 mg/l as calcium

 

[Essjay]

mg/l calcium carbonate is the same as ppm. The other unit used in fish keeping is dH.
Your 45.25 ppm converts to 2.5 dH. You have very soft water.

 

[Byron]

This helps us. Looking first at the various fish mentioned in post #3, you must completely rule out all livebearers (mollies, guppies, platies, and other like swordtails) as these fish must have moderately hard water in order for their physiology to function.

The other fish mentioned therein are soft water so no issues there concerning the water.

Dwarf gourami I would forget; unless you can get these direct from a reputable/reliable breeder, they may carry the iridovirus which is not treatable. If you like this fish, the Honey Gourami is similar and much better. We also mentioned rams needing high temperatures, so if you did go with these you would be restricting your options for tankmates more; cories for example will burn out at such temperatures.

Pearl Gourami is a lovely larger fish for soft water. [But with gourami, as with cichlids, only one species in a tank, with very few exceptions.] There are dozens of characins (tetras, hatchetfish, pencilfish) and most of the rasboras. Danios and barbs, but this is a species-specific group as some work in "x" tank while others won't, depending. Applies to the other fish too for that matter, but not usually as extensively. The wrong barb, or an active danio in with sedate fish is a disaster waiting to occur.

 

[13ig13alls]

Excellent thanks for that