48l Tropical Aquarium

[Retired Viking]

After having my aquarium set up for some time now, Yesterday I decided to make my first purchase of tropical fish for my 48 litre tank. I decided to go for a school of 10, neon tetras! View attachment 105626View attachment 105627View attachment 105628

Nice looking tank, a little small for a shoal of tetra but they do look good, I keep my neon shoal in my sunken forest tank (55 gallon) gives them plenty of room to swim. Like the look of the salvinia floating on the surface it is good to have shade for tetras, they do not like bright light.

 

[aryan09014]

They are called Salvinia Auriculata. I bought mine from pets@home

They look rlly nice m8, congrats

 

[PygmyMitch]

Nice looking tank, a little small for a shoal of tetra but they do look good, I keep my neon shoal in my sunken forest tank (55 gallon) gives them plenty of room to swim. Like the look of the salvinia floating on the surface it is good to have shade for tetras, they do not like bright light.

Thanks, and yeah I think I might of got a few too many for the tank I have. However when i went to get the fish i didn’t know what i was going to buy, and the petshop that sold me them, said i could of easily had 10 or more in my size tank, as well as possibly getting some corycatfish or something similar as i asked about bottom feeders! So i’m glad i didn’t get anymore than 10!

your tank looks amazing! How many neons do you have in it ? and is it just neons in your tank ?

 

[CassCats]

Given its just that small size, id keep it neon tetras only. Let them have more of the space.

Only cories suitable for that tank size are the pygmy cory species, but they will use up some midwater space too, so that would infringe on the neons space for swimming.


Now, if you upgrade to a 20 gallon long, move the neons there and could do a nice shoal of cories in that

This tank then could house some microrasboras like chili rasboras, boraras, or my favourite the kubotai rasboras... theyre super small and would do fine in the space. Go for a nano tank!

 

[Retired Viking]

Thanks, and yeah I think I might of got a few too many for the tank I have. However when i went to get the fish i didn’t know what i was going to buy, and the petshop that sold me them, said i could of easily had 10 or more in my size tank, as well as possibly getting some corycatfish or something similar as i asked about bottom feeders! So i’m glad i didn’t get anymore than 10!

your tank looks amazing! How many neons do you have in it ? and is it just neons in your tank ?

I currently have 6 ember, 14 glow light ,12 neon and 2 red eyed tetra which were fry I later found from a shoal of 17 red eye tetra I gave away. I started out with 5 red eye tetra which I tried breeding in the tank and ended up with 17 adult red eye in just 2 months or so. They were starting to over run my tank. At the time I had this tank set up as my LOTR castle themed tank. I have to use RO water to soften my water and get it just right for the tetras to breed.

 

[PygmyMitch]

Given its just that small size, id keep it neon tetras only. Let them have more of the space.

Only cories suitable for that tank size are the pygmy cory species, but they will use up some midwater space too, so that would infringe on the neons space for swimming.


Now, if you upgrade to a 20 gallon long, move the neons there and could do a nice shoal of cories in that

This tank then could house some microrasboras like chili rasboras, boraras, or my favourite the kubotai rasboras... theyre super small and would do fine in the space. Go for a nano tank!

Yes i definitely will keep this tank just for the neons, i wouldn’t want to stress them out. But do you think a snail ? or a shrimp ? would be suitable to go in with them ? i’m only thinking so that they can help eat up any left over food and keep my plants healthy!

I would love to have a bigger tank, but currently that is not an option i have But definitely in the future i will be upgrading to a bigger tank.

I do really like your idea tho, and when i do eventually upgrade I would definitely keep my current tank, and use it for something else. maybe one of the rasboras could be the fish i choose!

 

[PygmyMitch]

I currently have 6 ember, 14 glow light ,12 neon and 2 red eyed tetra which were fry I later found from a shoal of 17 red eye tetra I gave away. I started out with 5 red eye tetra which I tried breeding in the tank and ended up with 17 adult red eye in just 2 months or so. They were starting to over run my tank. At the time I had this tank set up as my LOTR castle themed tank. I have to use RO water to soften my water and get it just right for the tetras to breed.

That sounds like an awesome set up you have going on there! and I would definitely like to breed fish in the future! but as of yet im new to keeping tropical fish, so I still have plenty to learn. I have kept Fancy Goldfish in the past so i’m fairly clued up on those guys. But tropical and live plants is all new to me!

 

[Retired Viking]

That sounds like an awesome set up you have going on there! and I would definitely like to breed fish in the future! but as of yet im new to keeping tropical fish, so I still have plenty to learn. I have kept Fancy Goldfish in the past so i’m fairly clued up on those guys. But tropical and live plants is all new to me!

I had 3 koi at one time, as they grew I moved them from tank to tank and they ended up in my 55 gallon tank. They all had their own personality. I ended up giving them to a friend that had a pond so they would have a better life. He kept koi and goldfish in his pond.

 

[PygmyMitch]

I had 3 koi at one time, as they grew I moved them from tank to tank and they ended up in my 55 gallon tank. They all had their own personality. I ended up giving them to a friend that had a pond so they would have a better life. He kept koi and goldfish in his pond.

I love koi and all other pond fish! I could imagine they grew very big, whilst in your friends pond

 

[CassCats]

You could pick out cherry shrimp or maybe a couple amano shrimp.

Or ghosts. Ghost shrimp wont clean algae, but hands down the best clean up crew for missed food.

Ghosts can breed but are difficult in most cases, so dont expect a population to grow by much. They usually eat their larvae and their larvae often need to be raised the same as fish fry (off infusoria for the first while).

Amano shrimp need brackish water to breed, so they will not breed in your tank. But they are among the best plant cleaners, especially for algae.

Cherry shrimp breed well, though neons may snack on some baby shrimp, the adults should be fine with neons. Give some java moss and you should have population growth very well. The baby shrimp are born able to feed themselves like the adults.


BUT. Wait to get shrimp for at least 3 months after your tank has been established. This makes sure the water is stable enough for shrimp and makes sure they have enough biofilm to eat.

 

[PygmyMitch]

You could pick out cherry shrimp or maybe a couple amano shrimp.

Or ghosts. Ghost shrimp wont clean algae, but hands down the best clean up crew for missed food.

Ghosts can breed but are difficult in most cases, so dont expect a population to grow by much. They usually eat their larvae and their larvae often need to be raised the same as fish fry (off infusoria for the first while).

Amano shrimp need brackish water to breed, so they will not breed in your tank. But they are among the best plant cleaners, especially for algae.

Cherry shrimp breed well, though neons may snack on some baby shrimp, the adults should be fine with neons. Give some java moss and you should have population growth very well. The baby shrimp are born able to feed themselves like the adults.


BUT. Wait to get shrimp for at least 3 months after your tank has been established. This makes sure the water is stable enough for shrimp and makes sure they have enough biofilm to eat.

Thanks for the information! I will keep that all in mind when i come to choose one.

I have just noticed that on my ornament there is what appears to be small little balls of white fluff (not too sure how else to describe it) Could that be algae ?

 

[CassCats]

Thanks for the information! I will keep that all in mind when i come to choose one.

I have just noticed that on my ornament there is what appears to be small little balls of white fluff (not too sure how else to describe it) Could that be algae ?

Photo?

It could be excess food that became fungused

 

[Retired Viking]

Getting your tank established is important, I lost several neon and ember tetra when I first set up my 55 gallon tank after it sat empty for over a year. It can take 6 months or so for the tank to settle down. I had been doing mostly hard water fish mollies, cichlids and such. I have a 30 gallon ghost shrimp tank and @NCaquatics is right they are excellent cleaners but wait a few months before you buy any shrimp they are very sensitive to changes in water chemistry.

 

[PygmyMitch]

Photo?

It could be excess food that became fungused

Photo?

It could be excess food that became fungused

This is the best photo i can get, and its not green btw, thats just the colour of the ornament.

 

[PygmyMitch]

Getting your tank established is important, I lost several neon and ember tetra when I first set up my 55 gallon tank after it sat empty for over a year. It can take 6 months or so for the tank to settle down. I had been doing mostly hard water fish mollies, cichlids and such. I have a 30 gallon ghost shrimp tank and @NCaquatics is right they are excellent cleaners but wait a few months before you buy any shrimp they are very sensitive to changes in water chemistry.

Yeah i am testing my water ever week with the API Master test kit. and i have spent many hours researching all about the nitrogen cycle, so i’m pretty clued up on that! which in the past, keeping goldfish i was never aware of!

I will definitely hold off on getting any shrimp anytime soon then!

How about a snail tho ? is there any snails that are hardy and would be beneficial to my tank ?