40g breeder plans...

[Rocky998]

So I have my 20g high right now and I'm thinking I am close to having enough funds to upgrade to a 40g.
My plan is to buy sand, a new heater, an aquaclear 70, and more plants all at once or very close together.
I plan on waiting for the filter as I can still run my AC 30 plus the 10g sponge filter in the new tank which will help with up front costs. Then I MAY wait on buying plants but we'll see where I am for that.
Another thing I have to keep in mind is that fish aren't free
So I have to also think: "If I upgrade the tank size will it be a waste of money if I can't buy any fish".
I want to add on to my gudgeons by putting 3 more in (1 male and 2 females). Then get a school of sterbai corydoras. And POSSIBLY a blue phantom pleco but I really don't know if it's a good idea. If I can't do the blue phantom, I may want to do a pair of rams.
Or if those bottom dwellers don't work, maybe some sort of unique looking bottom dweller. I noticed I have a lot of colorful options but the truth is I don't want a ton of fish with a ton of color... It gets too busy then. I would rather have a unique looking fish (i.e: banjo catfish, Asian stone catfish, butterfly fish, some gobies)
I like things like that.
I would also want some sort of top dwelling schooling/shoaling fish. I'm really unsure of what I want...

As for plants I DEFINITELY want larger anubias and then I will be buying a bundle of potted amazon swords to plant.
I may do some dwarf sags in some areas but I don't know... It's tricky. I also have to make sure whatever plants I get can do well in a higher PH of 8.

 

[Byron]

All I'll mention at this stage is about the rams. If you mean the common or blue ram it must have warmer water than the cories can manage permanently, and the gudgeons also if memory serves me (can't remember which species you have).

 

[Rocky998]

All I'll mention at this stage is about the rams. If you mean the common or blue ram it must have warmer water than the cories can manage permanently, and the gudgeons also if memory serves me (can't remember which species you have).

Good to know Byron! I'll look into that.
I have peacock gudgeons and my water is usually always 78-79°F

I also don't know if I would be able to quarantine new fish with this tank size, so I would probably get most all my fish at once and from The Wet Spot Tropical Fish as I have heard extremely good things about them

 

[Byron]

Good to know Byron! I'll look into that.
I have peacock gudgeons and my water is usually always 78-79°F

I also don't know if I would be able to quarantine new fish with this tank size, so I would probably get most all my fish at once and from The Wet Spot Tropical Fish as I have heard extremely good things about them

Please use scientific names so we know which fish is involved. Common names vary, as here, and I had to dig around to find the species Tateurndina ocellicauda.

Assuming this is the fish, I would lower your temperature a tad. The range give on SF is 72-79F, and with most fish the mid-range is best due to the way temperature affects the fish's physiology. Around 76-77F would be preferable, and this is fine for some Corydoras including C. sterbai, but certainly not for Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (blue or common ram) which needs in the 82-86 F range and this will burn out any cories and the gudgeons.

Tateurndina ocellicauda (Peacock Goby) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[Rocky998]

Please use scientific names so we know which fish is involved. Common names vary, as here, and I had to dig around to find the species Tateurndina ocellicauda.

Assuming this is the fish, I would lower your temperature a tad. The range give on SF is 72-79F, and with most fish the mid-range is best due to the way temperature affects the fish's physiology. Around 76-77F would be preferable, and this is fine for some Corydoras including C. sterbai, but certainly not for Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (blue or common ram) which needs in the 82-86 F range and this will burn out any cories and the gudgeons.

Tateurndina ocellicauda (Peacock Goby) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Oh my! I will definitely lower the temp!
I thought 79 would be great because while it is on the higher side of their requirements, I figured that IF I ever got ich it would be easier to use temperature to kill it off

 

[Rocky998]

Btw... I've only seen the "common name" peacock gudgeons for Tateurndina ocellicauda.
I have never seen the name for anything else except for in the saltwater world

 

[Byron]

Oh my! I will definitely lower the temp!
I thought 79 would be great because while it is on the higher side of their requirements, I figured that IF I ever got ich it would be easier to use temperature to kill it off

Well, if you do not stress your fish (and too high or too low a permanent temperature does stress fish!) they will never get ich. But even if they do, a water change to increase the temp from say 77F up to 81 is not a problem, and increasing the heater to continue the increase up to 86F is easy enough.

 

[Rocky998]

Well, if you do not stress your fish (and too high or too low a permanent temperature does stress fish!) they will never get ich. But even if they do, a water change to increase the temp from say 77F up to 81 is not a problem, and increasing the heater to continue the increase up to 86F is easy enough.

Ok. I will attempt to change the temp on my next WC (Wednesday)

 

[Byron]

Btw... I've only seen the "common name" peacock gudgeons for Tateurndina ocellicauda.
I have never seen the name for anything else except for in the saltwater world

SF has "Peacock Goby" as the common name, and if you search that site for peacock gudgeon you will not find this species at all. Common names are only common to the person using them, no one else. And the scientific name finds the information at one go, accurately.

 

[Byron]

Ok. I will attempt to change the temp on my next WC (Wednesday)

Assuming you mean lowering it, just decrease the heater setting a tad, but do it slowly once each day and monitor the resyult, until it is keeping the water at 76-77F.

 

[Rocky998]

SF has "Peacock Goby" as the common name, and if you search that site for peacock gudgeon you will not find this species at all. Common names are only common to the person using them, no one else. And the scientific name finds the information at one go, accurately.

I don't use the word goby because they aren't gobies. I hate it when their called gobies, they are scientifically considered gudgeons.
When you search "peacock gudgeon" in any search engine like Google or whatever, you get a million results

 

[Rocky998]

Assuming you mean lowering it, just decrease the heater setting a tad, but do it slowly once each day and monitor the resyult, until it is keeping the water at 76-77F.

Yes I will. Thank you for your help!

 

[Slaphppy7]

If you still want rams, give the Bolivian ram a look...much easier to keep and less fussy about water conditions than the GBRs, and your temp would be fine for them

 

[Rocky998]

If you still want rams, give the Bolivian ram a look...much easier to keep and less fussy about water conditions than the GBRs, and your temp would be fine for them

Bolivian rams... Hmm... I've heard of them and seen them but the ones I've seen are mostly white and yellow... Colors I'm not a fan of together at all
Mostly blue with black and then red with a but of yellow and white is fine. That looks nice. Other wise no thanks

 

[Colin_T]

rams, cories, suckermouth catfish and gudgeons equals too many bottom dwellers in the same tank.

the pH is a bit high for some of those fish.

if you are breeding the gudgeons, why not trade them for the aquarium and other items you need?