New Tank

Hi,

A really good friend of mine is giving up fishkeeping and has offered
to pass on his 120 litre (30 US Gal / 25 Imp Gal) tank. I've been
wondering what to put into it. These are my ideas:

(1) Small tiger barb community: 8 tiger barbs, 4 swordtails, 1
red-finned shark (or, as a variation on this could have 10 smaller
barbs (say pentazona's or cherry barbs), 5 swordtails and 1 red-finned
shark.)
(2) Freshwater planted Angel tank - say 6 fish
(3) Peaceful community tank: Guppy's, neons, platys, corys

Any comments, ideas, suggestions would be great.

Thanks

Muddy.


(PS: My water is pretty hard here, so I'm not sure if I can keep
angels - I would always go for tank bred stock rather than wild caught
fish because I know they're more tolerant, but my pH tends to sit
around 8.0 which really is quite high for fish like this and I would
like whatever fish I keep to be thriving rather than surviving. I do
love angels though. I've always wanted a species tank.)

In article .com,
muddyfox wrote:
Hi,

A really good friend of mine is giving up fishkeeping and has offered
to pass on his 120 litre (30 US Gal / 25 Imp Gal) tank. I've been
wondering what to put into it. These are my ideas:

(1) Small tiger barb community: 8 tiger barbs, 4 swordtails, 1
red-finned shark (or, as a variation on this could have 10 smaller
barbs (say pentazona's or cherry barbs), 5 swordtails and 1 red-finned
shark.)
(2) Freshwater planted Angel tank - say 6 fish
(3) Peaceful community tank: Guppy's, neons, platys, corys

Any comments, ideas, suggestions would be great.

Thanks

Muddy.


(PS: My water is pretty hard here, so I'm not sure if I can keep
angels - I would always go for tank bred stock rather than wild caught

Ah, so that must be why you pick fish that like soft water? :-)

What about hard water fish? African cichlids? Monos, scats, archers, puffers?
(they prefer bit of salt).

If it were me I'd add one Endlers female, feed it well and stand back.





--
Need Mercedes parts? http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

I ahve a similar tank with one angel, one red fin shark, a cory, pleco,
and a few assorted tetras also I started out with 6 guppies, last count
makes it 20+, hopefully they will self limit themselves or the angel
will do it for them.

Richard Sexton wrote:

Ah, so that must be why you pick fish that like soft water? :-)

Apart from livebearers, angels and barbs are the only other fish I know
much about keeping. I guess I'm really sticking with what I know.

What about hard water fish? African cichlids? Monos, scats, archers, puffers?
(they prefer bit of salt).

I did look at cichlids but I can't see myself keeping them. Partly
this is because my reading suggests that they are harder to keep and
I'm just getting back into fishkeeping after a more than ten years away
from it so I figure I'll do some easier tanks first and partly because
I've heard nothing but bad things about their aggressive, territorial
behaviour. I know barbs, esp Tigers, get a bad press, but in a good
sized shoal with lots of swimming room and tank mates they can't bully
they seem fine.

My impression of cichlid tanks is that they are like a war zone and
little can be done to stop it. I can't seem to type the word 'cichlid'
into a search engine without hearing 'this fish ate this fish and keeps
the rest in terror' type stories. Maybe you only hear about the
disasters created through inexperience and lack of proper knowledge but
it doesn't encourage me at all. I suspect that I have quite a
jaundiced view of what can be a very beautiful group of fish.

I do like the look of some of the Monodactylus spp, particualrly M.
sebae, but the nearest I've come to a brackish tank is to add some
aquarium salt for black mollies. How do you look after a fully
brackish setup? Do you need all the kit for marine - protien skimmer,
RO unit, sal****er mix (watered down), UV steriliser etc etc. or is
brackish more like tropical with aquarium salt added and GH and KH
monitered? I don't really like puffers or archers much although scats
are OK.


If it were me I'd add one Endlers female, feed it well and stand back.


Well, I have always had a soft spot for guppy's and I do love the tiny
little fry. I've usually ended up with too many though. They would
look georgeous - lots of them in a nice sized tank.

Thanks ever so much for your ideas. I was really hoping the more
experienced folk here would be able to open my eyes to new
possibilities which is exactly what you've done!

Thanks,

Muddy

PS: I know angels are cichlids too but they seems lot easier to keep
and not really territorial at all when not breeding.

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:09:49 +0000 (UTC),
(Richard Sexton) wrote:
(PS: My water is pretty hard here, so I'm not sure if I can keep
angels - I would always go for tank bred stock rather than wild caught

Ah, so that must be why you pick fish that like soft water? :-)

What about hard water fish? African cichlids? Monos, scats, archers, puffers?
(they prefer bit of salt).

If it were me I'd add one Endlers female, feed it well and stand back.

Cool. Endler's I mean. 30 gallons would be a pretty snug fit for 6
angels.

-- Mister Gardener

In article .com,
muddyfox wrote:

Richard Sexton wrote:

Ah, so that must be why you pick fish that like soft water? :-)

Apart from livebearers, angels and barbs are the only other fish I know
much about keeping. I guess I'm really sticking with what I know.

What about hard water fish? African cichlids? Monos, scats, archers, puffers?
(they prefer bit of salt).

I did look at cichlids but I can't see myself keeping them. Partly
this is because my reading suggests that they are harder to keep and
I'm just getting back into fishkeeping after a more than ten years away
from it so I figure I'll do some easier tanks first and partly because
I've heard nothing but bad things about their aggressive, territorial
behaviour. I know barbs, esp Tigers, get a bad press, but in a good
sized shoal with lots of swimming room and tank mates they can't bully
they seem fine.

Afrcans are esier to keep than angels IMO.

My impression of cichlid tanks is that they are like a war zone and
little can be done to stop it. I can't seem to type the word 'cichlid'
into a search engine without hearing 'this fish ate this fish and keeps
the rest in terror' type stories. Maybe you only hear about the
disasters created through inexperience and lack of proper knowledge but
it doesn't encourage me at all. I suspect that I have quite a
jaundiced view of what can be a very beautiful group of fish.

I don't keep cichlids but a lot of my friends do. The problems with
uneven agression apparanly stem from mixing africans from different
lakes. Stick to one lake and you're ok.

I do like the look of some of the Monodactylus spp, particualrly M.
sebae, but the nearest I've come to a brackish tank is to add some
aquarium salt for black mollies. How do you look after a fully
brackish setup? Do you need all the kit for marine - protien skimmer,
RO unit, sal****er mix (watered down), UV steriliser etc etc. or is
brackish more like tropical with aquarium salt added and GH and KH
monitered? I don't really like puffers or archers much although scats
are OK.

Add salt. That's it' Simple as pie.


If it were me I'd add one Endlers female, feed it well and stand back.


Well, I have always had a soft spot for guppy's and I do love the tiny
little fry. I've usually ended up with too many though. They would
look georgeous - lots of them in a nice sized tank.

Thanks ever so much for your ideas. I was really hoping the more
experienced folk here would be able to open my eyes to new
possibilities which is exactly what you've done!

My favorite tank for years had one species of Cryptocoryne and Endlers
and that's it. Both took off like mad and there were hundreds of each.



--
Need Mercedes parts? http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

"muddyfox" wrote in message
oups.com...

Richard Sexton wrote:

Ah, so that must be why you pick fish that like soft water? :-)

Apart from livebearers, angels and barbs are the only other fish I know
much about keeping. I guess I'm really sticking with what I know.

Google tropical fish and you will learn a lot about what's out there and
their water preferences. With our hard alkaline water I bypass all the fish
I know wont thrive in my tanks. I'm surprised Bettas live as long as they
do for me.

What about hard water fish? African cichlids? Monos, scats, archers,
puffers?
(they prefer bit of salt).

I did look at cichlids but I can't see myself keeping them. Partly
this is because my reading suggests that they are harder to keep and
I'm just getting back into fishkeeping after a more than ten years away
from it so I figure I'll do some easier tanks first and partly because
I've heard nothing but bad things about their aggressive, territorial
behaviour. I know barbs, esp Tigers, get a bad press, but in a good
sized shoal with lots of swimming room and tank mates they can't bully
they seem fine.

My impression of cichlid tanks is that they are like a war zone and
little can be done to stop it. I can't seem to type the word 'cichlid'
into a search engine without hearing 'this fish ate this fish and keeps
the rest in terror' type stories. Maybe you only hear about the
disasters created through inexperience and lack of proper knowledge but
it doesn't encourage me at all. I suspect that I have quite a
jaundiced view of what can be a very beautiful group of fish.

I should put my flame retardant suit on before saying this but I AGREE with
you about cichlids. Also I don't find the south American cichlids all that
attractive and they get large. The Malawi (African) cichilds are much more
colorful and only a little less aggressive. Some of those also get large.

I do like the look of some of the Monodactylus spp, particualrly M.
sebae, but the nearest I've come to a brackish tank is to add some
aquarium salt for black mollies. How do you look after a fully
brackish setup? Do you need all the kit for marine - protien skimmer,
RO unit, sal****er mix (watered down), UV steriliser etc etc.

No, not for a braskish tank. But many plants will not survive in brackish
water.

or is
brackish more like tropical with aquarium salt added and GH and KH
monitered? I don't really like puffers or archers much although scats
are OK.


If it were me I'd add one Endlers female, feed it well and stand back.


Well, I have always had a soft spot for guppy's and I do love the tiny
little fry. I've usually ended up with too many though. They would
look georgeous - lots of them in a nice sized tank.

The problem I had with guppies is the age-old overpopulation to where none
grow out to a normal size. Then what do you do with them? The stores want
large guppies and don't take the small ones....... and once overcrowded you
need to do constant gravel vacuuming and water changes - sometimes 2 or 3
times a week. I think you can see how I ended up with mostly goldfish and
koi.

Thanks ever so much for your ideas. I was really hoping the more
experienced folk here would be able to open my eyes to new
possibilities which is exactly what you've done!

Google around or pick up a good book on tropical fish from your LFS. Bone
up on what does well in your water, make a list and go from there. :-)
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

"muddyfox" wrote in message
oups.com...
PS: I know angels are cichlids too but they seems lot easier to keep
and not really territorial at all when not breeding.
==================
The problem with angels is once they start to breed they continue on and you
have to remove all the other fish or you have a war zone in your tank. Been
there. Done that several times. Angels don't stay small for long. They
were always one of my favorite tropical fish. But every time a pair started
to breed I either had to remove the pair and return them to the LFS or
remove all the other fish being harassed by them. It's something to think
about......
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

In article .com,
muddyfox wrote:
Well, I have always had a soft spot for guppy's and I do love the tiny
little fry. I've usually ended up with too many though. They would
look georgeous - lots of them in a nice sized tank.

Plant heavily. When I had an all guppy tank, their pretty bloodlines
got more and more diluted, or concentrated, not sure which, but after
a year or so each new spawn brought drabber and drabber babies.
However, that hasn't prevented me from planning another similar tank
for the near future.

Thanks ever so much for your ideas. I was really hoping the more
experienced folk here would be able to open my eyes to new
possibilities which is exactly what you've done!

What I have learned from RAFM:
Filling a large tank with plants and one species of smallish fish to
capacity. There are so many kinds of fish that don't do much for me,
until you add 30 or 40 or more to a single species tank. I think
Gill's species tank of Blue Eyed Gertrudes got me thinking along those
lines. Your own mention of all tiger barbs sounds great.

-- Mister Gardener