1st "draft" Of Stocking Plan

[Electric Warrior]

David J, I would just go planted and forget fake plants if I were you. They are so much better to have in your tank, look more natural, and will help break down fish waste/nitrAte, etc. much faster, and help with oxygenation. The fish will also really appreciate it. The tank I currently have is the first planted tank I have ever done, and I would never go back to fake. That said, you will have plants casualties, plants melt, be moving plants around quite a bit, swap plants around, etc., but you will learn as you go. There are quite a few plants out there that are good for beginners, and what I would recommend is start cycling your tank first and find out what your water parameters start to look like, and start choosing plants based on that. The reason is that some plants do better in harder water, while some will be fine with soft, acidic water, etc. Some plants are picky about the water temperature, but some aren't, etc. I am assuming you will not be using C02, so that will eliminate lots of the difficult plants. Just do some online research. There are quite a few online sites with great plant profiles that will tell you everything that you want to now. Some easy plants to start with are things like java fern, anubias, vallisneria, amazon swords, and some crypts (crypts are best to add after the tank has been up and running for a few months imo.) If you do gourami's, some floating plants like salvia natans, dwarf water lettuce, duck weed, etc. are good. If you are def going to do corries, I would go sand.

 

[MBOU]

Well, we have a specific forum section for plants and they can help you out Ps3steveo is the one to help you there!

However... i have a very heavily planted low tech tank, no co2 and no fertiliser dosing, i use JBL Manado substrate (corys to well on the substrate, its softer than it looks!) whic absorbs lots of nutrients and releases it into the plants, also use JBL '7 balls' the fertiliser balls buried into the substrate.

Do big weekly waterchanges (literally 50%) as i have a LOT of plants in there and a lot of fish that produce a lot of waste that feed the plants... the trick is low lighting

Steve can help you better, keeping plants is actually easy once you get the hang of it if you look after them In my thoughts, it is equally as rewarding!! To buy little plants and watch them grow and thrive and watch the fish enjoy them

As for plant species...

Anubias and Java Fern are both great for tying onto bogwood
Cryptocoryne (any species but i like wenditii green, wenditii brown *goes purpley colour as it matures!* nevelli, amicorum etc)
Hygrophilia (any species buy corymbosa and polysperma are my favourites)
Lilaeopsis is a low growing grass (some of the cryptos are low as well)
Vallisneria Spirallis (the straight narrow leaved one is easiest to grow)
Cabomba Aquatica (soft delicate looking but not fluffy as such)
Elodea Densa

There are floating plants but i found them hard to grow in tanks with a hood but plants like vallis, cabomba and hygrophilia polysperma all grow up to the surface and will grow over the surface if you let them (i cut some of mine with scissors every few weeks).

Just a few to be going on by

 

[Electric Warrior]

There are floating plants but i found them hard to grow in tanks with a hood but plants like vallis, cabomba and hygrophilia polysperma all grow up to the surface and will grow over the surface if you let them (i cut some of mine with scissors every few weeks).

Really? I have a hood, and mine grow completely crazy??? I have to pull loads of them out at least once a week because they grow so fast and spread over too much of the surface. My cabomba did grow very fast too, covering some of the surface, but I had to rip it out because the angels loved attacking it for some reason and it just went sad.

 

[Baccus]

Interesting that your cardinal tetras where the worst for eating shrimplets, I only saw my black neons occasionally go for shrimplets and the tank is always overrun with shrimp, even my loaches haven't made a dint in the population. The best shrimp and shrimplet eaters I have had so far where my sparkling gouramis, what they couldn't fit in their mouths they just nipped and nipped at the shrimp till it died from the injuries/ shock.

Duck weed is a small floating plant that can become a real curse, it grows fast and quickly uses up excess nutirients, but it should grow under a hood. A better floating plant (if you can get it) would be Azolla also known as water fern and there are quite a few types some which get lovely red/ bronze leaves this will also grow pretty rapidly. Another common floating plant is Amazon Frogbit.

 

[David J]

Great, thanks again for the advice. I will re post my questions on plants in the correct board but you've all given me some great info to get started on. I reckon I will go for live plants in the end.


Incidentally, my aquarium was delivered today in one piece. Not got it set up yet. Might start building the cabinet tomorrow depending on the time I get home.

Thanks again,

David.

 

[David J]

As for stocking... stocking if you had an external would be far better than if you had an internal...

Internal:

2 x Dwarf Gourami (4 will certainly result in an all out war between gouramis, dwarves arent the friendliest species).
10 x Neon Tetra
6 x Pygmy cory
10 x Cherry shrimp (take up very little space and produce less waste than most fish)
6-10 x .... (any of the following)

-Black Phantom Tetras
-Red Phantom Tetras
-White Fin Bentosi Tetras
-Bloodfin Tetras
-Harlequins (normal, copper or hengeli)
-Lemon Tetras
-Beckfords Pencilfish
-Black Neons
-Emperor Tetras (purple emperors)
-Emerald Eye Rasbora
-Rice Fish

Hi

I am now on day 10 of my fishless cycle and its coming along nicely. Ammonia is being processed, had to re-dose it for the first time today and nitrites and nitrates are on the rise. So turning my attention back to my stocking list and looking for a wee bit more advice/opinions.

For information, (just in caseit is a factor regarding fish stock) I have sand in the tank along with bogwood and some small rocks. I will be adding more rocks soon. No plants yet as I'm waiting for the cycle to finish to try and avoid algae getting messy. I intend on adding the following plants:

Jungle val (Vallisneria americana (gigantea)
Anubias barteri var. angustifolia
Java moss - Taxiphyllum barbieri (Vesicularia)
Frog bit - Limnobium laevigatum
Cryptocyrene.
Maybe a moss ball or 2.

My short list for fish is as follows:

Neon or Cardinal tetra X 10
Pygmy cory X 6
Dwarf Gourami x 2
10 x of one of the following: lemon tetra, cherry barb, Red Phantom Tetras, Black Neons, Emperor Tetras.
Crystal red shrimp or Cherry Shrimp x 10
Siamese Algae Eater x 1
Assassin Snails x 2

My questions:

Anyone have an opinion on which to go for, neons or cardinals? I read that the cardinals are a bit harder to keep.

Any idea where I can pick up the cory's? The shops keep lots of other types of cory but never seen the Pygmy and I'm dubious about ordering online.

Any opinions on which of the other small species I've listed to go ok with the others? I am particularly keen on the lemon tetra and cherry barbs.

Shrimp. My local shop has Crystal Red's and I like them but everyone here always talks about the Cherry Shrimp. Any thoughts?

Lastly, if I have understood correctly, the above numbers are ok with my tank size and internal filter (90L and Fluval U2 (110l p/hr)). My original intention was to stock gradually but I have learned that because I'm fishless cycling I should be ok to fully stock right away? Is this correct?

Many thanks,

PS: if anyone is in Midlothian and not already aware, maidenhead aquatics have opened a shop in Leith. Went there the other day and my other 2 local shops pale into insignificance compared to this place although it seems to specialise in marine but they have lots of tropical in there too. I will be back.

 

[David J]

Hi

Anybody got any input on the above?

Cheers,

David.

 

[spongy]

I would go for the cardinal tetras, I've only had my tank up and running for 6 months and mine have been ok, and I also did a fish in cycle, for the smaller species I'd go for black or red phantom tetra as I have the blacks and once mature are a very pretty fish.

 

[MBOU]

The Siamese Algae eater gets pretty big, 12-15cm, IMO too big for your tank and they are also a shoaling species, not happy on their own....

A better alternative would be a group of 4 Otocinclus They get to about 4cm and are fantastic algae eaters and are out and about during the day, not nocturnal like some algae eaters. Alternatively, 1 Bristlenose Pleco would work too but they do tend to get lazy and stop bothering to eat the algae lol.

- If you can't find pygmy cories, how about 4-5 Panda Cories?

-Neons vs Cardinals... I would say it is up to you, there is very little difference in care between the two, the neons are less hardy than they used to be and about on par with cardinals these days. Will refer back to this in a minute...

-Personally, I wouldnt ever immediately stock a tank, fishless cycled or not. Its just too risky and if anything does go wrong and you have an ammonia spike... you will have to start again almost from scratch, recycling the tank. I would stock one species at a time, even if you only leave it 5-7 days between adding species.

As some are more delicate/need more food like algae, you would want to leave those until later on...

I would start with:

Week 1 - Tetra Species you havent decided on yet (all of your options there are hardy as anything!)
Week 2- Neons/Cardinals
Week 3 - Corys
Week 4 - Dwarf Gouramis
Week 5 - Otos/Bristlenose, Snails.
Week 6-8 - Shrimp (people suggest cherries as they are easier to keep and less tempermental than crystals).

Better safe than sorry! Makes the fun of stocking the tank last longer as this is the fun bit!

 

[David J]

Hi

Thanks for your replies.

I will stock gradually I think. I'm still undecided on the other group of small fish but have plenty of tI e until my cycle is finished to decide.

Can I ask about the gourami's? I was looking to put 2 in. A male and a female but I read that if there is only one female the male will hassle her to much and will eventually die because of it therefore it is better to have 2 females to every male so I am considering getting 3 total (1m & 2f). However, I read elsewhere that 2 are fine.

Any views on that?

Thanks for the info on the others. I had a look at the panda cory and right away decided I will go for them. I couldn't stop smiling when looking at pictures of them. They look like right wee characters. I think I'll take a look at the otos too thanks.

 

[MBOU]

The more female gouramis the better really! You should have room for that extra female