First Tank. Any Suggestions?

[photoj]

This is my first tank it's a 30gal. For fish I have 3 Black phantom Tetras, 3 Black Tetras, 2 red Platy, 1 wag tail platy, 1 sword tail and a clown pleco. I'm feeding them tropical flakes and the loach is getting Hikari tropical wafers. For plants 2 Hygro, 1 green Cabomba and a piece of Malaysian drift wood. I'm running an external filter with two mechanical media and one bio media plus an under gravel filter. Tank is at 78F.

I would love to do a fully planted tank but might hold off on that for a little while until i get a little more experience. I am finding that i need more in this tank. Any thoughts?

Cheers
Photoj

 

[Truck]

i say increase the tetra numbers to 8

 

[slakey]

Your gonna need alot bigger tank then 30Gals for that Clown Loach =]
Atleast 400L unless you rehome it. It's a nice tank, you could try some Vallis

 

[photoj]

Your gonna need alot bigger tank then 30Gals for that Clown Loach =]
Atleast 400L unless you rehome it. It's a nice tank, you could try some Vallis

My mistake I meant a Clown Pleco. Will he be ok?

 

[emma12321]

The clown plec will be fine, your tank looks great, the tetras need to be in groups of 6+ of their own kind ideally, not sure what sex your swords or platy are but the can and will cross breed. Ideally live bearers should be in groups of 1 male to 2 or more females or you could keep them in same sex groups if you don't want babies ( they can store sperm for up to 6 months though so you might get some babies anyway).

Emma

 

[paul_219]

Thats a nice tank. But i guess u must add some more tetras and platies in your tank. It can hold some more fish in it.

 

[photoj]

My plan is to get one more Platy and two more Tetras. I'm more thinking about what can i do with the aquascaping? Anyone have any design ideas?

Cheers
photoj

 

[pippoodle]

My plan is to get one more Platy and two more Tetras. I'm more thinking about what can i do with the aquascaping? Anyone have any design ideas?

Cheers
photoj

are your platties male or female if they are a mix then dont add any they will increase their numbers themselves - and the platys WILL crossbreed with the swordtail if they are not all male or all female

plants

i would add some vallis , wisteria (grows like mad) , some java or christmas moss and maybe a couple of floating plants incase the platys do have fry - amazon frgbit grows like mad and looks good

nice looking tank so far

Sarah x

 

[Straydum]

is that an undergravel filter you got there? i don't think it'd help much seeing how on much substrate you have (poop would probably never reach it). is that your main filtration system?

 

[photoj]

is that an undergravel filter you got there? i don't think it'd help much seeing how on much substrate you have (poop would probably never reach it). is that your main filtration system?

It is an undergravel system. I put it in when I first set up the tank. There is also an external filter hanging on the back. Is it too much substrate? Should I take the undergravel out? Someone told me i might as well leave it until.l the tank is fully cycled.... almost there.

 

[photoj]

are your platties male or female if they are a mix then dont add any they will increase their numbers themselves - and the platys WILL crossbreed with the swordtail if they are not all male or all female

plants

i would add some vallis , wisteria (grows like mad) , some java or christmas moss and maybe a couple of floating plants incase the platys do have fry - amazon frgbit grows like mad and looks good

nice looking tank so far

Sarah x

Sarah,

I belive both the red platies are male i'm not sure about the wagtail or sword tail. Is the cross breeding something to be concerned about? I really like the idea of the Christmas moss. I'm don't reall want to jump into the whole CO2 thing with the plants yet until i get everything else under control. When would I need a CO2 system? How many plants can the tank support with out it?

Cheers
photoj