Hello, I've arrived....

Greetings to you all, I have been lurking for the best part of two weeks now
and have really enjoyed reading all the posts, replys and suggestions. I am
a "newbie" in more ways than one.
1) I recently returned to the hobby of keeping tropical fish. I used to keep
guppys, mollies and the like when I was back home in South Africa as a
teenager. Things were far from scientific then and I never tested a thing!
Just built the tank, let the silicon dry for a week or so, populated with
gravel, plants from the local stream and then filled with tap water. Allowed
to settle for about a week then added the fish, normally these were obtained
from friends or family. In the end between myself, my father, brother,
brother-in-law and cousins we must have had close on 20 tanks of different
sizes, shapes and occupants!
2) This is my first venture into the world of newsgroups, necessitated by my
desire to know more and to do it right this time! I have been an internet
user for close on 8 years, but have never had the need to navigate the
miriad of newsgroups.

Anyhow, I am now in the UK, midlands and set up my tank on the 13th Dec. I
got a lot of advice from my LFS and read Dick Mills' book cover to cover,
but I found I wanted to know more and still had questions. I naturally
turned to the Internet and found myself at www.thekrib.com hence the
introduction to these NG's. So thanks to the guys at thekrib, the rest of
you will just have to learn to put up with me ;-)

I went through a tough time as my tank cycled and lost 1 of 2 bronze
Corydoras. She developed a fungal growth on her tail and although I treated
her with Myxazin, she did not make it. Anyway after 28 days and with the
ammonia spike well and truly gone, I continued to get high but erratic
Nitrite readings. Eventually this past weekend I took a water sample to the
LFS and he tested it with a more sophisticated test kit, to find that the
true reading was 0.1ppm. The only explanation of course is that the test
kit I have although recently purchased must have been old stock. I therefore
purchased on of these dip stick kits which is giving a true reading. The
fish have been happy for a few weeks now my LFS has pronounced me cycled! So
I celebrated by purchasing a few more fish. 1x Bronze Corydoras to replace
the one sadly lost, (This made the surviving one extremely happy! In fact he
has undergone a major personality change, I know they are shoal fish, but I
wasn't expecting such a drastic change!) 1x Golden Loach to keep the algae
under control, I will add another in a week or so, (he has absolutely
gourged himself on the algae, I swear he has doubled in size since Saturday,
but the tank is spotless!) and 1x Striped Dora to get rid of the tiny crabs
which have materialised. (He is awesome when he comes out, so regal and
everyone respects him without asking questions!)

So the total specs of my tank a

80 litre tank, 76x30x38 cm (approx 17.6 imperial gallons)
pH Started at 7.8 but with the addition of Bogwood has settled at 7.2
Ammonia spiked at 1ppm but has been zero for 10 days now.
Nitrite spiked at 5ppm (I think because the test was inaccurate!)
Nitrate ranges from 1 to 25ppm
GH started at 15 degrees but has settled at 11.
KH is 6
Temp started at 24 degrees C, but LFS advised to raise to 28, as most
parasites can't survive above 27. I recall always having my temp at 27 in
SA, so I decided to try it. So far so good!

I have 4 different type of plants, 1 x Paniculatus, 1 x Windelov, 1 x
Hygrophila difformus, 1 x Nesaea Crassicaulis.

Filter is the Fluval 3 with Polyester and Carbon inserts, a heater and an
airpump with a 6 inch curtain style stone.

So now the full population of fishes is:
2 x Bronze Corydoras
2 x Peppered Corydoras
1 x Striped Dora
1 x Golden Loach

I think I can hear you all murmurring what is a Golden Loach and what is a
Striped Dora? Sorry guys, I can't help, this is what the LFS told me they
were and as yet I have been unable to ID them through the Internet. The Dora
is similar to the Chocolate Dora, except where the stripe on the Choc, ends
at the junction of the tail and the tail then has a vertical stripe, Mine
doesn't it continues through the tail horizontally. Obvious he is quite
ellusive so getting a really good look at him is a bit difficult. Maybe
someone here knows more about this. The same with Loach, I haven't been able
to ID him either. He is a long bodied loach completely golden in colour even
his fins and has the usual sucker mouth of an algae eater. He has been
extremely busy and so is hardly ever still. He seems very aloof and although
is not intimidated by anything, it's more like he does give a sh*t about
them rather! He really only scoots out of the way of the Dora, when he is
out, although during the day goes right into the Doras cave to clean up! I
may have to dig out the digital camera and see if I can get some decent
photos of these guys.

The sites I have searched so far for these two a

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/
http://www.fishprofiles.com/
http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/
http://www.loaches.com/index.html

This weekend I plan to add a few middle and top dwellers to balance things
out a bit! (That's if I can stop my wife from falling for all these catfish!

Anyhow, I now have RSI and you have all gone to sleep already, so I will
stop prattling on and say thanks for a great resource, I am pleased to know
that you guys (and gals!) are there in a time of need and who knows maybe
one day I will be able to help one of you too.

Keep it safe

Gordon.

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 21:50:11 -0000, Gordon newsin_at_hgp.nildram.co.uk wrote:
1) I recently returned to the hobby of keeping tropical fish.

I just wanted to say "Welcome!" and that it's very refreshing
to see someone who has done so much homework and seems to really
care about their fish, and so on. Cheers and welcome!


--
. ( www.gorge.org/fish )
\_____)\_____ O
/--v____ __` . o
)/

Hello Gordon,
You're not that far away from me;o)
Your Golden loach is Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/algeater.htm
Not the best of algae eaters for a small tank ;o(

Your dora is possibly http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm

You've put in quite a lot of fish for such a new tank so maybe wait a couple
more weeks before adding your mid zone fish? You're already exceeding the
new tank stocking guidelines of 1"/gallon.

What fish are you planning?

Sue

Welcome to you sir. Enjoy, relax and share.

"Gordon" newsin_at_hgp.nildram.co.uk wrote in message
...
Greetings to you all, I have been lurking for the best part of two weeks
now
and have really enjoyed reading all the posts, replys and suggestions. I
am
a "newbie" in more ways than one.
1) I recently returned to the hobby of keeping tropical fish. I used to
keep
guppys, mollies and the like when I was back home in South Africa as a
teenager. Things were far from scientific then and I never tested a thing!
Just built the tank, let the silicon dry for a week or so, populated with
gravel, plants from the local stream and then filled with tap water.
Allowed
to settle for about a week then added the fish, normally these were
obtained
from friends or family. In the end between myself, my father, brother,
brother-in-law and cousins we must have had close on 20 tanks of different
sizes, shapes and occupants!
2) This is my first venture into the world of newsgroups, necessitated by
my
desire to know more and to do it right this time! I have been an internet
user for close on 8 years, but have never had the need to navigate the
miriad of newsgroups.

Anyhow, I am now in the UK, midlands and set up my tank on the 13th Dec. I
got a lot of advice from my LFS and read Dick Mills' book cover to cover,
but I found I wanted to know more and still had questions. I naturally
turned to the Internet and found myself at www.thekrib.com hence the
introduction to these NG's. So thanks to the guys at thekrib, the rest of
you will just have to learn to put up with me ;-)

I went through a tough time as my tank cycled and lost 1 of 2 bronze
Corydoras. She developed a fungal growth on her tail and although I
treated
her with Myxazin, she did not make it. Anyway after 28 days and with the
ammonia spike well and truly gone, I continued to get high but erratic
Nitrite readings. Eventually this past weekend I took a water sample to
the
LFS and he tested it with a more sophisticated test kit, to find that the
true reading was 0.1ppm. The only explanation of course is that the test
kit I have although recently purchased must have been old stock. I
therefore
purchased on of these dip stick kits which is giving a true reading. The
fish have been happy for a few weeks now my LFS has pronounced me cycled!
So
I celebrated by purchasing a few more fish. 1x Bronze Corydoras to replace
the one sadly lost, (This made the surviving one extremely happy! In fact
he
has undergone a major personality change, I know they are shoal fish, but
I
wasn't expecting such a drastic change!) 1x Golden Loach to keep the algae
under control, I will add another in a week or so, (he has absolutely
gourged himself on the algae, I swear he has doubled in size since
Saturday,
but the tank is spotless!) and 1x Striped Dora to get rid of the tiny
crabs
which have materialised. (He is awesome when he comes out, so regal and
everyone respects him without asking questions!)

So the total specs of my tank a

80 litre tank, 76x30x38 cm (approx 17.6 imperial gallons)
pH Started at 7.8 but with the addition of Bogwood has settled at 7.2
Ammonia spiked at 1ppm but has been zero for 10 days now.
Nitrite spiked at 5ppm (I think because the test was inaccurate!)
Nitrate ranges from 1 to 25ppm
GH started at 15 degrees but has settled at 11.
KH is 6
Temp started at 24 degrees C, but LFS advised to raise to 28, as most
parasites can't survive above 27. I recall always having my temp at 27 in
SA, so I decided to try it. So far so good!

I have 4 different type of plants, 1 x Paniculatus, 1 x Windelov, 1 x
Hygrophila difformus, 1 x Nesaea Crassicaulis.

Filter is the Fluval 3 with Polyester and Carbon inserts, a heater and an
airpump with a 6 inch curtain style stone.

So now the full population of fishes is:
2 x Bronze Corydoras
2 x Peppered Corydoras
1 x Striped Dora
1 x Golden Loach

I think I can hear you all murmurring what is a Golden Loach and what is a
Striped Dora? Sorry guys, I can't help, this is what the LFS told me they
were and as yet I have been unable to ID them through the Internet. The
Dora
is similar to the Chocolate Dora, except where the stripe on the Choc,
ends
at the junction of the tail and the tail then has a vertical stripe, Mine
doesn't it continues through the tail horizontally. Obvious he is quite
ellusive so getting a really good look at him is a bit difficult. Maybe
someone here knows more about this. The same with Loach, I haven't been
able
to ID him either. He is a long bodied loach completely golden in colour
even
his fins and has the usual sucker mouth of an algae eater. He has been
extremely busy and so is hardly ever still. He seems very aloof and
although
is not intimidated by anything, it's more like he does give a sh*t about
them rather! He really only scoots out of the way of the Dora, when he is
out, although during the day goes right into the Doras cave to clean up! I
may have to dig out the digital camera and see if I can get some decent
photos of these guys.

The sites I have searched so far for these two a

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/
http://www.fishprofiles.com/
http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/
http://www.loaches.com/index.html

This weekend I plan to add a few middle and top dwellers to balance things
out a bit! (That's if I can stop my wife from falling for all these
catfish!

Anyhow, I now have RSI and you have all gone to sleep already, so I will
stop prattling on and say thanks for a great resource, I am pleased to
know
that you guys (and gals!) are there in a time of need and who knows maybe
one day I will be able to help one of you too.

Keep it safe

Gordon.

"Gordon" newsin_at_hgp.nildram.co.uk wrote:

SNIP Greets and specs

Hello, and welcome back to the hobby.

So now the full population of fishes is:
2 x Bronze Corydoras
2 x Peppered Corydoras
1 x Striped Dora
1 x Golden Loach

I think I can hear you all murmurring what is a Golden Loach and what is a
Striped Dora? Sorry guys, I can't help, this is what the LFS told me they
were and as yet I have been unable to ID them through the Internet. The
Dora is similar to the Chocolate Dora, except where the stripe on the
Choc, ends at the junction of the tail and the tail then has a vertical
stripe, Mine doesn't it continues through the tail horizontally. Obvious
he is quite ellusive so getting a really good look at him is a bit
difficult. Maybe someone here knows more about this. The same with Loach,
I haven't been able to ID him either. He is a long bodied loach completely
golden in colour even his fins and has the usual sucker mouth of an algae
eater. He has been extremely busy and so is hardly ever still. He seems
very aloof and although is not intimidated by anything, it's more like he
does give a sh*t about them rather! He really only scoots out of the way
of the Dora, when he is out, although during the day goes right into the
Doras cave to clean up! I may have to dig out the digital camera and see
if I can get some decent photos of these guys.

The sites I have searched so far for these two a

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/
http://www.fishprofiles.com/
http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/
http://www.loaches.com/index.html

Well, I did a little searching, and I've come up with some possibilities.

For the golden loach, does it look more like the golden zebra loach
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages...cilliaris.html or the
golden colour morph of the weather or dojo loach
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/wloach.html
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages...icaudatus.html (check
through the pages for pictures of the golden morph).

For the dora, I did some searching and found a pictu
http://www.aquascape.co.uk/picture.html (about halfway down the page) which
looks exceedingly similar to the striped raphael catfish
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...ydor/166_f.php although
it might be a Orinocodoras eigenmanni
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...ocod/612_f.php as noted
on the planetcatfish page for the raphael. The dora name seems to be
referring to the family name of doradidae, so it may be that your shopkeep
was able to identify up to family and was unsure from there.

This weekend I plan to add a few middle and top dwellers to balance things
out a bit! (That's if I can stop my wife from falling for all these
catfish!

The trick that works for me is boredom. If I prattle on about about my
fish, plants, tank, design plan, etc. in great detail and at great length,
she eventually gives up, sighs, and says those four magic words:

"Whatever you'd like dear".

Anyhow, I now have RSI and you have all gone to sleep already, so I will
stop prattling on and say thanks for a great resource, I am pleased to
know that you guys (and gals!) are there in a time of need and who knows
maybe one day I will be able to help one of you too.

Keep it safe

Gordon.

I hope I was somewhat helpful, once again, welcome back to the hobby. It's
always nice to see new faces.

Jeff

Sue wrote:

Your Golden loach is Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/algeater.htm
Not the best of algae eaters for a small tank ;o(

Agreed, Gordon you may want to replace it with an ancistrus catfish, you
may see them sold as bristlenose catfish. Small, peaceful and so ugly
they are gorgeous.

Peter

Anyhow, I am now in the UK, midlands and set up my tank on the 13th Dec. I
got a lot of advice from my LFS and read Dick Mills' book cover to cover,

I`ve just got started, only in the last month or so. I`ve read Mr. Mills`
book too, found it quite helpful, again I looked around the web and found a
few useful sistes, including this one.

http://www.bestfish.com/index.html

This weekend I plan to add a few middle and top dwellers to balance things
out a bit! (That's if I can stop my wife from falling for all these
catfish!

Going to leave mine for a while, just added the second batch this weekend (a
Bristle nosed catfish and 5 neon tetras)

Geoff

"Sue" wrote in message
...
Hello Gordon,
You're not that far away from me;o)
Your Golden loach is Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/algeater.htm
Not the best of algae eaters for a small tank ;o(

Yes, thats him!.............. Oops, I'll have to have a word with that LFS
guy! Well Goldilux, as we've nicknamed him, is doing a fine job for now. I
will have to watch him for aggressive behaviour. Thanks for directing me to
this site, I have bookmarked it too now.


Your dora is possibly http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm

You've put in quite a lot of fish for such a new tank so maybe wait a
couple
more weeks before adding your mid zone fish? You're already exceeding the
new tank stocking guidelines of 1"/gallon.

I think you are right and I may well wait another week although everything
is stable and even adding these 3, this weekend past didn't have any
significant impact.


What fish are you planning?

I'm not sure yet really, I need to do some research and see what will suit
my water parameters. As above I need to be careful about overstocking and
can see us getting another tank in the not too distant future! We really are
spoilt for choice over here so it is a bit difficult to pick just a few, but
I expect we will see what is available at the time and be lead by what takes
our fancy on the day. My wife wants me to get Angels, but I have in mind
they need softer water. Like I say I need to do some research. In time I
expect I might specialise in one or two favourites, (I'm that type of
personality apparently!) but for now I just want a few interesting fish to
ease me back into the hobby.


Sue

Yes we looked at these, but wanted something, "uncatfishy", if you know what
I mean! Seems like that would have been a better option, but we really love
this guy, he has a great personality. If or rather when he gets lazy and or
aggressive, we will have to consider getting him a tank of his own! Perhaps
with some other fish, who are able to deal with him.

Anyhow, thanks for the suggestion.


"Peter Ashby" wrote in message
. uk...
Sue wrote:

Your Golden loach is Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/algeater.htm
Not the best of algae eaters for a small tank ;o(

Agreed, Gordon you may want to replace it with an ancistrus catfish, you
may see them sold as bristlenose catfish. Small, peaceful and so ugly
they are gorgeous.

Peter

I enjoy my Siamese Algae Eaters (SAE). They are shapped like Zebras,
but have only one stripe down the length of their bodies. They get
much larger than Zebras and are great at keeping algae under control.
As for territory, they go where ever they like. When I work in my 75
gallon tank they nibble at my arm, fearlessly but harmlessly.

I enjoyed the story of your early fish life. I too started my fishy
days as a youth, but no where near as creative. Just kept adding
tanks in my bedroom and got my dad to add shelves to keep up.



On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 20:45:43 -0000, "Gordon"
newsin_at_hgp.nildram.co.uk wrote:

Yes we looked at these, but wanted something, "uncatfishy", if you know what
I mean! Seems like that would have been a better option, but we really love
this guy, he has a great personality. If or rather when he gets lazy and or
aggressive, we will have to consider getting him a tank of his own! Perhaps
with some other fish, who are able to deal with him.

Anyhow, thanks for the suggestion.


"Peter Ashby" wrote in message
.uk...
Sue wrote:

Your Golden loach is Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/algeater.htm
Not the best of algae eaters for a small tank ;o(

Agreed, Gordon you may want to replace it with an ancistrus catfish, you
may see them sold as bristlenose catfish. Small, peaceful and so ugly
they are gorgeous.

Peter