"Gill Passman" wrote in message
.. .
FishNoob wrote:
I started a new thread, because this no longer has anything to do with
bettas in plastic cups LOL
In article ,
says...
Bet you don't get rid of the Rena - lol...Looks like a bargin to me :-)
Oh, getting rid of it isn't one of the options I'm considering! LOL
Of course you realise that tank number two (3,4,5,6,7.....) is much
easier to set up than your first tank. I suggest that maybe you post
something on seeding tanks which is basically taking bacteria from your
established tank and putting it into the new tank...greatly speeds up the
process and is safer the fish - especially as we don't have access to
these bacteria kick-start products available in the states.
I'm very lucky actually - the tank was used for shows by someone whose
business is setting up and maintaining aquaria (in offices, nursing homes
etc), so it was maintained until right before I collected it, so the
price even included bacteria LOL
I'm still going to be watching out for a mini-cycle, of course, and will
be adding fish very gradually.
Let us know what you decide to put in there
I'm open to suggestions!
First thing I need to do is get something in the bottom of it - gravel?
sand? suggestions? :-)
I'm going to put in real plants, and have had a recommendation for a
company to order from, so there'll be a variety.
I'd also like to put in some rocks, real or fake (probably real, as it's
cheaper LOL) - to build some caves etc. Can I use stuff off the beach for
that? Are the considerations the same as when we added some smaller rocks
(apart from the whole make-sure-it-can't-fall-over thing)? Oh, and a
background. I've seen some I really like, but as usual I like the
expensive stuff best LOL. I think a background with rocks'n'stuff on it,
rather than plants or a plain colour. I read somewhere about someone
putting a cut-to-size mirror on the back of their tank; I might look into
that.
And finally - fish! I really liked the look of some of the cichlids I saw
when I collected the tank - lots of very pretty fish. Some gorgeous blue
ones, the species of which I can't remember. And I wouldn't mind
something that would eat algae - maybe a couple of loaches of some sort.
But again! - suggestions?
And of course there'll be the Rena to play with once I've got the
community in the Rio going ;-)
So you are looking at around 27.5 UK gall....so you have a few options....
My bet is that the gorgeous blue ones are Malawi cichlids so unless you
want to go very specialist and put up with a lot of fighting and "murders"
steer well clear of these....you can't mix these with non-Malawis although
I do keep a Plec with mine but that's it. I have heard of them being kept
with Yoyo loaches but I wouldn't go there personally. If you can't resist
research these fish very, very thoroughly....
Loaches don't eat algae but will eat snails. I have a great passion for
Clown Loaches which you might just about consider (you can always move
them to your next upgraded "bigger" tank as they grow - lol) - Yoyo
loaches are also quite good fun and don't grow so big - in the UK you will
see them as Pakastani Loaches. We've got 3 adults (around 3-4 inches) and
4 juvs in a 30 gall...the adults are in holding until I do my tank upgrade
after christmas - I couldn't resist and we had somewhere to put them.
For algae eaters if it becomes a problem you are best off looking at a
small plec - I have a snowball and a queen arabesque - they don't get too
big, or siamese algae eaters - although finding a true SAE is quite hard -
I actually have Flying Foxes and they do eat some algae but not a great
deal - otos are also a good option - nice and small but quite sensitive to
water conditions - I've heard it said they either thrive or die...if they
thrive they will last a long time.
In terms of substrate it really depends what you want. Personally I steer
clear of sand sand mainly because of what I have read about it possibly
getting impacted. I do have coral/marine sand in my Malawi tank but it is
not as fine as most peoples idea of sand. I've had plants survive and do
very well in gravel - (not too large pieces as this can also lead to
trapped gases). I just did a cull tonight on the plants in one tank that
has what could be termed pea gravel - decided I wanted to see the fish
rather than the plants....I've got one small tank set up with Red Sea
Aquatic Plant substrate but it hasn't struck me that the plants do better
with this than with the gravel and plant food. Another option is flourite
but that is expensive...it goes under the gravel which gets layered on
top...I can't answer for it's effectiveness as I only started looking at
it today....the price did make me take a deep breath though...
Unless you filled the tank with water and added fish right away the
bacteria will no longer be there. It needs fish waste to survive/feed it.
So you are looking at cycling again...but this will be easier as you
already have an established tank as you can seed it. If you are planning
on moving the existing fish from the Rena take the filter with it...then
add new fish gradually and monitor the water - there should be little or
no risk to your existing fish especially if you take the gravel and
ornaments as well. Run this as well as the filter you got with the new
tank...Once you are ready to set the Rena up again there are ways and
means of doing it which I'm not going into right now. If you are thinking
of using the Rena as a QT tank for the new ones I would suggest running
the filter from the new tank in the Rena for a couple of weeks to populate
it with bacteria and then moving the fish and filter together...monitor
the water and then if it looks as if there might be a problem or you
increase the bio-load squeeze the existing Rena filter sponge into the
water of your new tank....I've also taken gravel put it into a toe end of
a tight and then put it in a tank as well as filter media to help seed the
new tank....ornaments also work...Depending on the filter that you have
the Rena you could also move some or all of the filter medium over to the
new filter (depends if you are going to put fish in the Rena right away or
leave some of the existing in there)
I would never take rocks or pebbles from a beach or even the garden come
to that. Rocks/pebbles from the beach will be ingrained with salt which
you don't want for a freshwater set up - as far other rocks/pebbles you
run the risk of them leaching minerals into the water. I know some people
might but it is safest to buy stuff already treated for freshwater
aquariums and even then I rinse it thoroughly. When chosing the decor for
a tank I usually look at the fish I'm hoping to keep and then try to mimic
what they would find in nature...strange how a lot of my tanks have
driftwood - hmmm - the only exception being the ocean rock for the Mbunas
(Malawis)...
If I remember rightly your Rena is much the same size as the one I have in
the kitchen (15 gall) - sits very nicely on the work surface...just
curious as to how I will do a mega 14 people Christmas dinner but will
face that when I have to - :-)
good luck
Gill
Bare in mind, it's only 31" wide but deeper than rekord 80 and 96. Most
cichlids need at least a 4' wide tank as they get to 4+" and need room to
swim. How about thinking about fish that only get to 2" max. As I now have 5
juwel tanks, and have learnt more, my rekord 96 is a neon tetra tank and
rekord 80 is a white cloud minnow tank. I have 15 of each in each tank and
there are very attractive to watch, as they have lots of space to swim. I
used a Rio 125 for 2 spawning angels but as they ate eggs/wigglers they are
now back in a much bigger tank to give them space to swim and I have another
3 tiny angels growing up who need the depth to grow long fins.