125 Ltr Project

[dazzadub]

Hi all I'm considering getting a fluval Roma 125 in next few days, reason I'm getting this is size and demionsons, it's prob the biggest I can get on a 80cm length which is all I have space wise.

I'm thinking rock and plant but unsure on what to use for the bottom as still unsure what I can place in the tank such as fish.

I have considered a chiclid but limited to types to fit in and plus I like plants.

Based on a plants ( live and silk, plastic mix ) and rock what could I be adding.

Ideally I'd like a show fish as such but also lives nicely in a community, I like colourful fish also as does my daughter.


Questions then

Base ?
Stock ?


Anything else I should consider

 

[noobgamers]

for stocking i would recomend 2 shoals of 8 5cm fish
1 shoal of bottom feeders
and a pleco or ottos and a show fish if you want
for the 2 shoals i would recommend cherry barb neon tetra silvertip tetra guppys and platys (onyl males for gods sake dont have a mix of males and females)
bottom feeders i would recommend any corydoras or khuli or dwarf chain loaches none of these have much colour but very few bottom feeders do have bright colours and the ones that do are very expensive and also they make up for this with their hyper active personalitys
for algae cleaners a pleco cannot be beaten and if you want a show fish ( completely up to you) i would say a pair of bolivian rams sound like by far the best option

 

[monahan95]

I think your best bet would be to go with all live plants instead of a mixture between live and artificial, as I think this can often look 'tacky' and unappealing. Throw in a couple of pieces of bog wood and use a fine gravel or sand as your substrate.
 
Fish wise I think you go for a couple of shoals of smaller variety shoaling fish, such as neon tetra, rummynose tetra, harlequins or like noobgamer said a peaceful species of barb (aka cherry barb). I would then pick what I call "A centrepiece fish" this could be anything from a type of gourami to a species of rainbow such as a praecox rainbow. Again I agree with noobgamer, have a small school of around 5 or 6 cory cats and a pleco to do all the dirty work. Obviously do not make my mistake and choose a pleco that will eventually outgrow your tank

 something like a bushynose pleco should be fine, or even go for a different approach and choose a type of algae eater you may like
 
And finally PLEASE PLEASE make sure you do a fishless cycle before adding fish, its the most fish friendly thing to do  
 
Hope this helps
 
PS i'm speaking from experience as i have a Roma 125

 

[dazzadub]

Cheers, that's the kind of advice I was after, yes a fishless cycle will be done in this as I won't have the issue of having to do a tank change


I'm not 100% on types of fish but was thinking a couple of shoals and harliquiens I like, I was thinking 2 larger fish that were colourful.

Reason I say some fake plants is mainly cost.

 

[Gruntle]

I've found live plants to be on par cost-wise with fake ones, plus they help with disposing of your nitrates.
 
Have a look at your LFS at the fish, come back with ideas and we'll be happy to recommend what would work best.
 
Personally I can't go past my cherry barbs, and am waiting a few months for my tank to mature so I can hopefully add a shoal of neon tetras (will have to check stocking levels when I get that far). I also have rainbowfish, but they are a much larger fish and require a school to be happy, so lucky I have a suitably sized tank for them all (200l).

 

[dazzadub]

I'm thinking

Harliquens
A few corys

That's what I've come up with for the tank so far,

I'd like smear shoal or maybe bigger fish

And maybe 2 centre piece fish


Very limited near me for fish type, Tetras plecs, fighters seem to be the main stock there are fee gorami around and a lot of chiclids


Running out of ideas unless I buy fish online

 

[dazzadub]

Tank and cabinet has been ordered. Will be here tomoz or Sunday as chap at shop is delivering it himself.


I've been advised to do a fishless cycle and run it for 3 week min and get levels checked after 2 weeks, to add bactieria .

 

[dazzadub]

My wife has said she wants the 3 mollies from our other tank in the bigger one.


So when the bigger tank is cycled it will have 3 mollies


What else could go there along with a centre piece fish

 

[Essjay]

If you already have another tank, the easiest way to do a fishless cycle would be to steal some media from the other tank(s) and follow the instructions in here. Just running the tank for 3 weeks won't cycle it, and checking the levels after 2 weeks will show the tank is ready for fish as you'll just be testing tap water. You need to add a source of ammonia to cycle the tank, and if you have not added any ammonia (from a bottle or fish) the reading will of course be zero even if you have no bacteria.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Keeping Mollies in an 80cm long tank for life is a bad idea, they are far too active and like many livebearers they are quite fiesty (which tends to get exagerated in smaller tanks in my experience), just like my Ilyodon xantusi. Although it sounds like these three are currently being kept in something smaller, which is fine for young fish, but not for juveniles and certainly not adults.
 
What are the starts of your planned (presumably tap) water i.e. how hard is it? Tap water on the south coast is quite hard with a gH reading of 13 or more, which is not good for soft water species that tend to come from South American and Asia. There are exceptions, like X-Ray Tetra, which are quite sedate and so a group of ~8 would work well in your Roma125 with a species that will use the upper water.

 

[dazzadub]

Water hardness is hard.

I'm told by a few this isn't a major issue as most of the fish I will be buying will be from local centres who will be using similar water and the fish will adapt.

With the mollies, I was told my 40ltr was to small and needed double that amount which I e done with the Roma 125 and this is still to small, just don't get it, when people are suggesting bigger fish then these.

Starting it with ammonia if able to locate any, failing that daily dose of food maybe, the other tank I have is only just cycled so wouldn't really want to remove any media from it , so would be a complete fresh set up.

With the mollies it will be they stay where that are or move to a double size tank where they have more space, me personally Dont actually want, but my daughter picked them in the shop and the trainee gave sold them to us for a 22ltr which at the time I had no idea, if push comes to shove I'll have to rehome.


My new tank will all be about the centre piece fish, and will stock around that.

 

[monahan95]

http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=830+1101
this link will give you all the information you need about mollies, I often refer to this site before I buy fish as it has loads of useful information on all kinds of fish

 

[sadguppy]

I had a 125 but sold it on when I got the Roma 240 but also have the 200... Can you tell I love the tank?!

I would probably go with a gourami as a centrepiece fish. A nice powder blue DG would look stunning with a black background, and wouldn't get too big. An angel might be ok but after a year or so it may grow quite large, I have one in each of my larger community tanks, one is huge the other still a reasonable size, however they don't swim very fast though so don't really need the space of a faster species. That's a judgement call on your part really.

With either you can basically stock whatever shoaling fish you like. I am a big fan of the small rainbows, forktails and dwarf rainbows, but they can get expensive so if that was an issue I'd get harlequins or some five banded barbs (pretty but not as feisty as tigers) or the old favourite, cardinal tetras. I think a big shoal of one fish may seem boring but for me it's the way to go, I have 20-odd cardinals in my 240 and they are stunning.

If you are getting shoaling species you could go for a krib or rams as your 'centrepiece' (although probably not the rams as you say your water is hard) but they would mainly stick to the bottom and I wouldn't mix them with cories.

So yea... Some cories are basically a must as they are so darn cute, the alternative for me would be dwarf chain loach which are sociable little fellows - 6-10 for your size of tank would be fine as they don't grow very large. For the cories I would look onto the albino ones which stand out really well against any substrate, I have peppered in one tank and albino in the other and I never really see the peppered cories. And then because I am a plecaholic I'd get a small plec, but not a bristlenose as they're so common.... Something a bit more unusual like a snowball or tiger.

Well, that's what I'd do...

 

[dazzadub]

I have been offered 3 peppered cories and 6 harliquens from my sister's tank. So they could go in and will not cost a penny.

Gourami I like look of, love the deep blue coloured ones but seen people say keep away from mollies.

I mainly bought the Roma for its look, really stands out and seem flawless also except the lids but not much of a issue.

I got given a large bag of very small gravel for the new tank by shop so that may go in well, as it's dark brown and naturel and I do like planted tanks , my 40 I have live and fake and looks real nice mix and easy to keep maintained.


Will have to keep thinking and searching for suitible fish, angels I love the look of but worried they will grow to big, do they not do a dwarf version of these as they would loom nice in mid size group

 

[sadguppy]

The cories will really thank you if you go for sand instead, it's not expensive and so much easier to clean.

The angels don't come in dwarf varieties but the shorter fined varieties would probably be ok in a 125 long term due to the slow nature of their swimming. Mine were smaller than a 50p when I got them, and now their bodies are easily as big as my fist with the larger of the two's (the longer finned) tail and fins bigger than my handspan! You really don't have room for more than one though. Unless you are very lucky and get a pair (and they're impossible to sex at that age!), they don't really like each other a lot and in a tank that small would just take chunks out of each other when mature...I learned that the hard way!