got a new tank today :-)

Hi All,

Actually I blame Elaine - he,he. After seeing her beautiful Hex tank I have
been determined to get one for the living room - I'm not allowed any more
big tanks so getting the little ones in is my only way forward.....Last
night hubbie agreed so off I went to get one today before any minds got
changed.

I've planted it up - loads of plants - filled it and turned on the heater,
the pump and the light. Changed the filter for a Fluval One Plus - the one
that came with it hardly looked up to the job. Tank is 40L (around 6.75 UK
galls). Added plant food and chemicals to deal with the chlorine, chloramine
and heavy metals. Plan is a few minutes before I go get the fish to swap the
filter medium for mature stuff out of my spare Fluval 4 which is hanging
about in my son's 30gall at the moment which he wants me to shift and move
some substrate across - probably looking late next week to do this. One
other thing is that the tank has a mirrored back....

I'm now trying to decide what to put in this tank. I have a number of ideas
but would welcome any ideas from everyone else. This will be a single
species tank.

Ideas so far include:-

Penguin Tetras
Danios - saw some beautiful silver ones today
Fantail Guppies
Harlequins
Serpia Tetras
Dutch Rams - but I'm not convinced that the tank is big enough (I would only
go for 3 if I did this)

Any other ideas or comments?

Thanks
Gill

Gill Passman wrote:
Hi All,

Actually I blame Elaine - he,he. After seeing her beautiful Hex tank I have
been determined to get one for the living room - I'm not allowed any more
big tanks so getting the little ones in is my only way forward.....Last
night hubbie agreed so off I went to get one today before any minds got
changed.

I've planted it up - loads of plants - filled it and turned on the heater,
the pump and the light. Changed the filter for a Fluval One Plus - the one
that came with it hardly looked up to the job. Tank is 40L (around 6.75 UK
galls). Added plant food and chemicals to deal with the chlorine, chloramine
and heavy metals. Plan is a few minutes before I go get the fish to swap the
filter medium for mature stuff out of my spare Fluval 4 which is hanging
about in my son's 30gall at the moment which he wants me to shift and move
some substrate across - probably looking late next week to do this. One
other thing is that the tank has a mirrored back....

I'm now trying to decide what to put in this tank. I have a number of ideas
but would welcome any ideas from everyone else. This will be a single
species tank.

Ideas so far include:-

Penguin Tetras
Danios - saw some beautiful silver ones today
Fantail Guppies
Harlequins
Serpia Tetras
Dutch Rams - but I'm not convinced that the tank is big enough (I would only
go for 3 if I did this)

Any other ideas or comments?

Thanks
Gill


Cool! Glad to hear you got your hex tank. Out of curiosity, how are
you lighting it?

A trio of rams sounds risky because if two pair off, the third won't
have much bottom space to get away. Guppies would be good because they
swim at all levels of the tank. They will also pick food off of the
bottom so you don't need a bottom feeder. Danios will stay at the top
and harlequins in the middle so the tank won't look as full.

A small fish I've always wanted to keep in a species tank are featherfin
rainbows (Iriatherina werneri). They're pricey, though. I had a couple
in a community tank once and the male was beautiful when he displayed to
the female.

Are you going to cheat on the species tank concept and add a couple of
otocinclus and/or some shrimp for algae cleanup? Planted tanks with no
cleaning crew are hard work!

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

In article , "Gill
Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk says...
Hi All,

Actually I blame Elaine - he,he. After seeing her beautiful Hex tank I have
been determined to get one for the living room - I'm not allowed any more
big tanks so getting the little ones in is my only way forward.....Last
night hubbie agreed so off I went to get one today before any minds got
changed.

I've planted it up - loads of plants - filled it and turned on the heater,
the pump and the light. Changed the filter for a Fluval One Plus - the one
that came with it hardly looked up to the job. Tank is 40L (around 6.75 UK
galls). Added plant food and chemicals to deal with the chlorine, chloramine
and heavy metals. Plan is a few minutes before I go get the fish to swap the
filter medium for mature stuff out of my spare Fluval 4 which is hanging
about in my son's 30gall at the moment which he wants me to shift and move
some substrate across - probably looking late next week to do this. One
other thing is that the tank has a mirrored back....

I'm now trying to decide what to put in this tank. I have a number of ideas
but would welcome any ideas from everyone else. This will be a single
species tank.

Ideas so far include:-

Penguin Tetras
Danios - saw some beautiful silver ones today
Fantail Guppies
Harlequins
Serpia Tetras
Dutch Rams - but I'm not convinced that the tank is big enough (I would only
go for 3 if I did this)

Any other ideas or comments?

Thanks
Gill

Went to the Minnesota Aquarium Society aquarium show a couple of weeks
ago and saw some fish I had never heard of or seen before, Scarlet Badis
http://www.diewasserwelt.de/privat/dario-1.jpg. There was a 2.5usg
planted aquarium with six of these 1/2 inch gems, an amazing sight. I
watched them for about 15 minutes, very cichlid like and always
displaying chasing. I can't get those fish out of my mind.

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To email me just pull my_finger

In message , Gill Passman
writes
Hi All,

Actually I blame Elaine - he,he. After seeing her beautiful Hex tank I have
been determined to get one for the living room - I'm not allowed any more
big tanks so getting the little ones in is my only way forward.....Last
night hubbie agreed so off I went to get one today before any minds got
changed.

I've planted it up - loads of plants - filled it and turned on the heater,
the pump and the light. Changed the filter for a Fluval One Plus - the one
that came with it hardly looked up to the job. Tank is 40L (around 6.75 UK
galls). Added plant food and chemicals to deal with the chlorine, chloramine
and heavy metals. Plan is a few minutes before I go get the fish to swap the
filter medium for mature stuff out of my spare Fluval 4 which is hanging
about in my son's 30gall at the moment which he wants me to shift and move
some substrate across - probably looking late next week to do this. One
other thing is that the tank has a mirrored back....

I'm now trying to decide what to put in this tank. I have a number of ideas
but would welcome any ideas from everyone else. This will be a single
species tank.

Ideas so far include:-

Penguin Tetras
Danios - saw some beautiful silver ones today
Fantail Guppies
Harlequins

these are the only ones I have any experience of (though mine are
probably lambchops and therefore **smaller** than the harlequins) and
mine are in an 11 UK gallon tank. imo, they need length of tank and the
one that I have is, I think, as small as they could cope with - they're
about to move into a thirty-two inch tank, where I'll be much happier
about them.

ymmv, as NetMax says...
--
sophie

www.freewebs.com/fishstuff
(under construction. ish.)

"Elaine T" wrote in message
...
Gill Passman wrote:
Hi All,

Actually I blame Elaine - he,he. After seeing her beautiful Hex tank I
have
been determined to get one for the living room - I'm not allowed any
more
big tanks so getting the little ones in is my only way forward.....Last
night hubbie agreed so off I went to get one today before any minds got
changed.

I've planted it up - loads of plants - filled it and turned on the
heater,
the pump and the light. Changed the filter for a Fluval One Plus - the
one
that came with it hardly looked up to the job. Tank is 40L (around 6.75
UK
galls). Added plant food and chemicals to deal with the chlorine,
chloramine
and heavy metals. Plan is a few minutes before I go get the fish to swap
the
filter medium for mature stuff out of my spare Fluval 4 which is hanging
about in my son's 30gall at the moment which he wants me to shift and
move
some substrate across - probably looking late next week to do this. One
other thing is that the tank has a mirrored back....

I'm now trying to decide what to put in this tank. I have a number of
ideas
but would welcome any ideas from everyone else. This will be a single
species tank.

Ideas so far include:-

Penguin Tetras
Danios - saw some beautiful silver ones today
Fantail Guppies
Harlequins
Serpia Tetras
Dutch Rams - but I'm not convinced that the tank is big enough (I would
only
go for 3 if I did this)

Any other ideas or comments?

Thanks
Gill


Cool! Glad to hear you got your hex tank. Out of curiosity, how are
you lighting it?

A trio of rams sounds risky because if two pair off, the third won't
have much bottom space to get away. Guppies would be good because they
swim at all levels of the tank. They will also pick food off of the
bottom so you don't need a bottom feeder. Danios will stay at the top
and harlequins in the middle so the tank won't look as full.

A small fish I've always wanted to keep in a species tank are featherfin
rainbows (Iriatherina werneri). They're pricey, though. I had a couple
in a community tank once and the male was beautiful when he displayed to
the female.

Are you going to cheat on the species tank concept and add a couple of
otocinclus and/or some shrimp for algae cleanup? Planted tanks with no
cleaning crew are hard work!

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

The light came with the tank - it's a 10 watt Halogen. Seems OK. The light
also gets reflected off the mirrored back. We'll see how it goes.

Quite like the shrimp idea but I know absolutely nothing about keeping them
so some research will be necessary.

Like the featherfin rainbows (did a google) but I don't think I've ever seen
any locally - but it's worth a look.

The Rams are more something I will try keeping again when I have a more
suitable home for them - I tried once before and lost 4 of them.

The Guppies are an easy option - I have 5 really great blue fantails in the
main tank which I could move. My only reservation is that I don't really
like the idea of moving fish that are settled and happy (that led to the
demise of one of my Rams). Mind you, it would get them away from the Ick
treatment. Still thinking on that one...

Still open to suggestions.....

Thanks
Gill

"Jim Anderson" wrote in message
et...
In article , "Gill
Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk says...
Hi All,

Actually I blame Elaine - he,he. After seeing her beautiful Hex tank I
have
been determined to get one for the living room - I'm not allowed any
more
big tanks so getting the little ones in is my only way forward.....Last
night hubbie agreed so off I went to get one today before any minds got
changed.

I've planted it up - loads of plants - filled it and turned on the
heater,
the pump and the light. Changed the filter for a Fluval One Plus - the
one
that came with it hardly looked up to the job. Tank is 40L (around 6.75
UK
galls). Added plant food and chemicals to deal with the chlorine,
chloramine
and heavy metals. Plan is a few minutes before I go get the fish to swap
the
filter medium for mature stuff out of my spare Fluval 4 which is hanging
about in my son's 30gall at the moment which he wants me to shift and
move
some substrate across - probably looking late next week to do this. One
other thing is that the tank has a mirrored back....

I'm now trying to decide what to put in this tank. I have a number of
ideas
but would welcome any ideas from everyone else. This will be a single
species tank.

Ideas so far include:-

Penguin Tetras
Danios - saw some beautiful silver ones today
Fantail Guppies
Harlequins
Serpia Tetras
Dutch Rams - but I'm not convinced that the tank is big enough (I would
only
go for 3 if I did this)

Any other ideas or comments?

Thanks
Gill

Went to the Minnesota Aquarium Society aquarium show a couple of weeks
ago and saw some fish I had never heard of or seen before, Scarlet Badis
http://www.diewasserwelt.de/privat/dario-1.jpg. There was a 2.5usg
planted aquarium with six of these 1/2 inch gems, an amazing sight. I
watched them for about 15 minutes, very cichlid like and always
displaying chasing. I can't get those fish out of my mind.

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To email me just pull my_finger

Nice looking fish - I'll add them to my list of fish to search for when I go
shopping at the end of the week.

Thanks
Gill

"sophiefishstuff" wrote in
message ...
In message , Gill Passman
writes
Hi All,

Actually I blame Elaine - he,he. After seeing her beautiful Hex tank I
have
been determined to get one for the living room - I'm not allowed any more
big tanks so getting the little ones in is my only way forward.....Last
night hubbie agreed so off I went to get one today before any minds got
changed.

I've planted it up - loads of plants - filled it and turned on the
heater,
the pump and the light. Changed the filter for a Fluval One Plus - the
one
that came with it hardly looked up to the job. Tank is 40L (around 6.75
UK
galls). Added plant food and chemicals to deal with the chlorine,
chloramine
and heavy metals. Plan is a few minutes before I go get the fish to swap
the
filter medium for mature stuff out of my spare Fluval 4 which is hanging
about in my son's 30gall at the moment which he wants me to shift and
move
some substrate across - probably looking late next week to do this. One
other thing is that the tank has a mirrored back....

I'm now trying to decide what to put in this tank. I have a number of
ideas
but would welcome any ideas from everyone else. This will be a single
species tank.

Ideas so far include:-

Penguin Tetras
Danios - saw some beautiful silver ones today
Fantail Guppies
Harlequins

these are the only ones I have any experience of (though mine are
probably lambchops and therefore **smaller** than the harlequins) and
mine are in an 11 UK gallon tank. imo, they need length of tank and the
one that I have is, I think, as small as they could cope with - they're
about to move into a thirty-two inch tank, where I'll be much happier
about them.

ymmv, as NetMax says...
--
sophie

www.freewebs.com/fishstuff
(under construction. ish.)

I think you have a good point here.....the Harlequins in my son's tank seem
much happier since they moved up to the 30gall from the smaller tank

Gill Passman wrote:
"Jim Anderson" wrote in message
et...

In article , "Gill
Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk says...

Hi All,

Actually I blame Elaine - he,he. After seeing her beautiful Hex tank I

have

been determined to get one for the living room - I'm not allowed any

more

big tanks so getting the little ones in is my only way forward.....Last
night hubbie agreed so off I went to get one today before any minds got
changed.

I've planted it up - loads of plants - filled it and turned on the

heater,

the pump and the light. Changed the filter for a Fluval One Plus - the

one

that came with it hardly looked up to the job. Tank is 40L (around 6.75

UK

galls). Added plant food and chemicals to deal with the chlorine,

chloramine

and heavy metals. Plan is a few minutes before I go get the fish to swap

the

filter medium for mature stuff out of my spare Fluval 4 which is hanging
about in my son's 30gall at the moment which he wants me to shift and

move

some substrate across - probably looking late next week to do this. One
other thing is that the tank has a mirrored back....

I'm now trying to decide what to put in this tank. I have a number of

ideas

but would welcome any ideas from everyone else. This will be a single
species tank.

Ideas so far include:-

Penguin Tetras
Danios - saw some beautiful silver ones today
Fantail Guppies
Harlequins
Serpia Tetras
Dutch Rams - but I'm not convinced that the tank is big enough (I would

only

go for 3 if I did this)

Any other ideas or comments?

Thanks
Gill

Went to the Minnesota Aquarium Society aquarium show a couple of weeks
ago and saw some fish I had never heard of or seen before, Scarlet Badis
http://www.diewasserwelt.de/privat/dario-1.jpg. There was a 2.5usg
planted aquarium with six of these 1/2 inch gems, an amazing sight. I
watched them for about 15 minutes, very cichlid like and always
displaying chasing. I can't get those fish out of my mind.

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To email me just pull my_finger


Nice looking fish - I'll add them to my list of fish to search for when I go
shopping at the end of the week.

Thanks
Gill


Cool idea - they're gorgeous in that pic. They're anabantoids rather
than cichlids so I wonder how territorial the males actually get. Many
anabantoids can be a bit of a handfull. I might look for one of those
for one of my tanks.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

In article , eetmail-
says...
Cool idea - they're gorgeous in that pic. They're anabantoids rather
than cichlids so I wonder how territorial the males actually get. Many
anabantoids can be a bit of a handfull. I might look for one of those
for one of my tanks.



I've been researching them today, lots of reports about them being hard
to feed. Some/most only eat very small live foods.

While watching those six, they reminded me of a tank full of Mbuna's.

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To email me just pull my_finger

Jim Anderson wrote:
In article , eetmail-
says...

Cool idea - they're gorgeous in that pic. They're anabantoids rather
than cichlids so I wonder how territorial the males actually get. Many
anabantoids can be a bit of a handfull. I might look for one of those
for one of my tanks.




I've been researching them today, lots of reports about them being hard
to feed. Some/most only eat very small live foods.

While watching those six, they reminded me of a tank full of Mbuna's.

Hmm...or a tank full of female bettas? Fine as long as things stay
civilized and nobody gets shredded. Live foods only is not my favorite
sort of fish, though.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com