Attention fish keepers

**Blossom** · 25th November 2008, 08:39

Originally Posted by Morcs

Wasnt planning on using live plants.

A couple of plecos at full size will rip them out...

I have 2 tanks atm, with a third arriving in a week or so. The current 2 are small only 2ft long and just under 2ft long. The new one is 1.2mts long and freaken huge. (ok so I havn't actually measured the height yet as the tank is in wellington atm so not sure of the litreage)
So I am kinda in the same boat trying to figure out what to stick in the new tank.
For what its worth.. My pleco is currently in a planted tank and no real problems. The girl at my local fish shop has been great helping me figure out what fish to keep etc and I just could not do plastic plants as I subscribe to the whole "non chemical" type of fish keeping.

As far as tank size goes.. It seems bigger is easier in the long run if you get the eco system going well. There are fish keeping groups covering most of NZ at http://www.fnzas.org.nz/ and those guys are fantasticly friendly and full of advice etc on setting up again.
Good luck.

**Xile** · 25th November 2008, 10:24

Serious Pete,
Real plants make your tank looks so much nicer and as everybody said too, it would be part of an ecosystem and will help you with cleaning..
and for breeding, use Platys and Mollys, they really easy

**Eddieb** · 25th November 2008, 10:35

I have an 80l (3 foot) tank and wouldn't want to go lower than that for a stable environment. I do a 25% water change (2 10ltr buckets) with a vacumn about every 2-3 weeks to keep the water sparkling.

A couple of Bristlenose Plecs keep everything clean and the Neon & Glowlight Tetra's, Danio's and Golden Barbs keep it looking nice.

A Jebo external filter keeps the water clean and I haven't had to change the filter in 6 months but am planning on opening it up next week to give it a check over.

**Morcs** · 25th November 2008, 11:49

Originally Posted by Xile

Serious Pete,
Real plants make your tank looks so much nicer and as everybody said too, it would be part of an ecosystem and will help you with cleaning..
and for breeding, use Platys and Mollys, they really easy

mmm yes might need to breed mollys, as if you have the orange ones, they tend to get killed rather quickly by a similar coloured betta...

**klingon** · 25th November 2008, 13:09

Originally Posted by Morcs

Wasnt planning on using live plants.

A couple of plecos at full size will rip them out...

No plants and big plecos = lots of water to be carried up & down those stairs!

**Morcs** · 19th December 2008, 13:34

Ended up getting a 65L setup - will hopefully go to a 200L later in the year as and when the fish need more space.

Just finished the fine tuning of the interior. Started stocking last week - got a bristlenose, a betta and an angel.

Now the tank is fully cycled im going shopping tomorrow

pic:

**klingon** · 19th December 2008, 14:07

Originally Posted by Morcs

Ended up getting a 65L setup - will hopefully go to a 200L later in the year as and when the fish need more space.

Just finished the fine tuning of the interior. Started stocking last week - got a bristlenose, a betta and an angel.

Now the tank is fully cycled im going shopping tomorrow

pic:

That's looking gorgeous! Congrats!

Bristlenoses don't grow big like other plecs, and they are fine with live plants - if you keep stocking along the lines you're on, you won't "need" to get a bigger tank at all. Of course ou can go bigger in your own time if you choose.

What colour is your betta? Male or female? I love them but don't seem to have much luck with them.

(RIP Black Betty)

What other fish are you going to add now? The classic to go with an angel is of course a school of lovely little neons. If you introduce them all while the angel is small they should all get along together just fine.

And are you sure the tank is fully cycled? One week would be a remarkably short time for a full cycle (unless you've introduced media from a live filter). Do you have ammonia and nitrite test kits?

More pics please!

**Finn** · 19th December 2008, 14:14

Originally Posted by Hitcher

I don't get the fascination some people have with tropical fish. I'd rather watch the lawn grow, or get people to jab my eyelids with burning needles.

I disagree. I had a fish tank once... in the back of my boat. Kept them alive until it was time to set them free. At least that's what they thought.

**klingon** · 19th December 2008, 14:32

Originally Posted by Finn

I disagree. I had a fish tank once... in the back of my boat. Kept them alive until it was time to set them free. At least that's what they thought.

Finn, with a name like yours you should be kind to fish.

**Morcs** · 19th December 2008, 15:46

Originally Posted by klingon

That's looking gorgeous! Congrats!

Bristlenoses don't grow big like other plecs, and they are fine with live plants - if you keep stocking along the lines you're on, you won't "need" to get a bigger tank at all. Of course ou can go bigger in your own time if you choose.

What colour is your betta? Male or female? I love them but don't seem to have much luck with them.

(RIP Black Betty)

What other fish are you going to add now? The classic to go with an angel is of course a school of lovely little neons. If you introduce them all while the angel is small they should all get along together just fine.

And are you sure the tank is fully cycled? One week would be a remarkably short time for a full cycle (unless you've introduced media from a live filter). Do you have ammonia and nitrite test kits?

More pics please!

I filled the tank, added some additives and new carbon in my filter, ran all the tests the next morning, and all readings were perfect...

The bettas a red male. wanted a blue one though

and the angel is a marbel pearl.

Plan on getting a m/f pair of guppies, around 10 tetras (but leaning toward glowlights rather than neons) and then the rest is undecided, as my knowledge of other cichlids is not great.

**Ixion** · 19th December 2008, 16:07

How do you prepare them? Gut scale and fillet, then pan fry in butter? Or a chowder ? or what?

**Ixion** · 19th December 2008, 16:09

And what is with the current thing about fish threads? Are fish the new goats or what?

**NighthawkNZ:Me** · 19th December 2008, 16:16

Originally Posted by klingon

No plants and big plecos = lots of water to be carried up & down those stairs!

We have a 250lt tank with an Aqua 650 Filter Pump (and we live in a second story flat)
Have to admitt that's it pretty under stocked at the moment...

**klingon** · 19th December 2008, 16:23

Originally Posted by Morcs

I filled the tank, added some additives and new carbon in my filter, ran all the tests the next morning, and all readings were perfect...

The bettas a red male. wanted a blue one though

and the angel is a marbel pearl.

Plan on getting a m/f pair of guppies, around 10 tetras (but leaning toward glowlights rather than neons) and then the rest is undecided, as my knowledge of other cichlids is not great.

Aha! The test results have fooled you (as they have fooled so many before you)! If you haven't had an ammonia reading yet, then your tank is not cycled. You have to go through ammonia --> nitrite (NO2) --> nitrate (NO3) before your nitrogen cycle is complete. If all your readings are 0 on day one, that just means you haven't even started the cycle yet, not that it is finished!

If I were you, I would keep the current stocking levels for at least a couple more weeks and keep checking for an ammonia spike. A britlenose should ride out the cycle pretty well, but I don't know about the angel and the betta. As I said, bettas in my tank haven't proved to be very hardy.

Originally Posted by Ixion

And what is with the current thing about fish threads? Are fish the new goats or what?

No, fish are the new motorbikes. Did you not get the memo?