Newbie, So Don't Laugh!

Hi all,

been keeping fish since August, mainly after reading lots on here. Got a little tank to start with and then about a month ago I bought a bigger one (not that big though). It's a Fluval Duo 600, which is about 18 gallons, I think. In it, I have:

Boyd, my betta
6 Lemon tetras (no names)
6 Brilliant black tetras (no names)
JD, Turk, Carla and Elliott, my 4 Corydoras Schwartzi

Boyd has a white patch under his chin which I can't get to go away. Tried fungus and ich treatments, but they don't seem to help. He was a bit of a rescue case anyway. I found him on the point of expiry in a fish shop and decided to try to rescue him, no other fish then, anyway, so I figured i'd give it a go. He's really active and a beautiful blue and red colour scheme, so he's quite healthy now. The white bit is scaly so maybe it's just a colouration thing?

Anyway, here they are:



Comments welcome!

Oh, and any ideas what else I could keep in there? Maybe shrimp?

This is a lovely little tank you have here
What about a picuture of your new thank though ?

Anyway, in the mean time - how big is this tank ? How many US gallons / Litres does it take ?

What about some lovely bamboo shrimp and apple snails - something like that ? With perhaps 6 neons (this depends though on the size of your tank - it's hard for me to judge).

Ps: here's a pic of my bamboo shrimp - they are facinating creatures

Here we are - still to figure out the attachment thing!






Wow! Cool shrimp!

The little tank's empty just now. It's only 28 litres, so I'm wondering what to put in there now...

The new one's 18 uk gallons.

Lovely tank you have there and great pics .
Its difficult to see the white patch under your bettas chin, can you get any close-up pics?
What sort of fish are you into for your tank? I think some oto's would fit in very well into your tank .

Thanks

What about 1 shrimp, 1 applesnail or a Hara Jerdoni catfish (sorry this site is in German but has really good pics) - they are such cool little catfish and between 1 - 2.5 " max (but the ones I've seen were around the 1" mark and they were wild caught adults).
And then a few Sparkling gouramies (trichopsis pumilus) or some Endlers - they all stay nice and small

bloozoo2 said:

Thanks

What about 1 shrimp, 1 applesnail or a Hara Jerdoni catfish (sorry this site is in German but has really good pics) - they are such cool little catfish and between 1 - 2.5 " max (but the ones I've seen were around the 1" mark and they were wild caught adults).
And then a few Sparkling gouramies (trichopsis pumilus) or some Endlers - they all stay nice and small

Click to expand...

I like the little catfish, and snails and shrimp are nice. Snails are okay with gravel, I take it? Otos are cool but my wife doesn't want any 'of those horrible sucky ones', so they're a no-go lol!

Something which would stay near the top of the tank would be good. Boyd pretty much goes wherever he fancies, then heads up for a gulp of air occasionally. I thought gouramies and bettas weren't a good idea?

Maybe hatchet fish? I have seen yellow labs, but i think one of them would be a bit cramped in this tank and get a bit aggressive. ideally I'd like another specimen fish, but obviously it would have to be one which wouldn't annoy Boyd (when I figure out the camera I'll get a shot of his patch).

What about Blue rams? would they be okay?

i would have thought it would be pretty much fully stocked but anyway.
If you were to get a Blue Ram you could only have one in a tank that size, i think that tank would be a little too small for one anyway...dont quote me on that though.

Have you considered a planted tank btw?

cg360 said:

Maybe hatchet fish? I have seen yellow labs, but i think one of them would be a bit cramped in this tank and get a bit aggressive. ideally I'd like another specimen fish, but obviously it would have to be one which wouldn't annoy Boyd (when I figure out the camera I'll get a shot of his patch).

What about Blue rams? would they be okay?

Click to expand...

If we are talking about your old empty 7 gallon tank :

Unless you can specifically get Myers' hatchetfish (carnegiella myersi) - or also known as pygmy hatchet fish, the normal marble or silver would be far too big for the 7 US gallons of that small tank.

I'm also not sure if a singel Blue Ram would be happy in such a tank, and I would say it's certainly too small for a pair.

I do not know anything about African Cichlids, so can't advise on the lab - but my feeling is, it's a no-go.

I really wouldn't add anything else in your other currently stocked tank as that's more or less fully stocked.

I'll leave it as it is, then. I tought I could get a couple of shrimp, maybe, if they didn't add too much to the load on the filter. I do at least a weekly water change (a bucketful), usually twice a week, and my test readings are really, really low.

The lab I thought was too big, and as a newbie, probably too complex a fish to look after properly.

I'd love to plant the tank properly, but I'm concentrating on making sure the fish are okay in a plastic tank first! Was thinking about the variety packs you can get from greenline, but I'm only using gravel, with no laterite or anything, so i'm not sure.

I think the little tank's going to my sister, who's a teacher, for her class to learn how to look after tropical fish properly. I'm going to help her make the kids make all the right decisions, by doing research, asking questions, taking it slowly etc. Half the fun of the hobby is the complexity of it, don't you think? More engaging than dropping a bunch of fish in a tank of tapwater and letting them get on with it...

Anyway, any suggestions for a hardy bunch for that tank? I thought guppies, but I'm not sure. I could give her my lemon tetras as a starting point (once the tank's cycled obviously).

Some Lampeyes would give it a bit of interest.

Bloozoo, it's the 18 gallon tank I'm talking about. The 7 gallon is empty and I'm going to give it to my sister.
Assuming you think it's the little one i want to fill, that is.

Here's another couple of pics. they're getting better, but i'm no photographer!

this one has Boyd and one each of the cories, lemons and brilliant blacks.






and this one has lots of fish. i like the shape Boyd makes with his body here.

Got a bit of drift wood for the tank. Fish seem much happier now. More purposeful, if you know what i mean.