First Tropical Fish Tank

[damo11802010]

I recently bought a elite style 60 aquarium (60x30x35cm High) about 2 months ago it has a stingray 10 filter placed about 2 inch under water, A 50w elite heater place in the corner and 2 airstones, I also have gravel, A cave, A bridge , abit green fern and a few little other ornaments.

Currently stocked with:
2 x Mollies (male & female pair) did have another two but been told they died after giving birth coz of inbreeding.
2 x Guppies (male)
2 x Red Honey Gourami
2 x Melon Barbs
2 x Yamato Shrimp
(all on advice of worker at pet shop)

I use the aquarium vacuum to do my weekly water changes (I take roughly 15-20% a week out and replace it) im unsure whether i been overfeeding my fish because the vacuum sucked up so much muck.

I just wanted to know what i have done right and wrong? , Am i fully stocked if not any help on what fish to get next? , How many times/much should i feed? , Should i add aquarium salt? , Should i get a catfish/pleco?. Im gonna get bigger tanks in the future but I want to be experienced first. Thank You for any replies and sorry if i made no sense 1st time poster on sites..

 

[Rickzayne]

Think your pretty full. Tbh.

And by the sound of it you've done well and no need to change anything.

Maybe just don't feed them one day a week to make them hunt out excess foods.

 

[damo11802010]

thanks m8 im also unsure whether to put the heater horizontal or vertical?

 

[mtbdean]

Put it at an angle.

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Put the heater diagonally in the tank, so just between vertical and horizontal. If you have it vertical and your thermostat is at the top of the heater, then because warm water rises, the heater will cut out due to the thermostat picking up that the water is warm enough.

 

[Blubble37]

+1 try and get it in the flow of the filter as well - that spreads the heat around quicker...

 

[damo11802010]

Thanks for all your advice guys, shame that im full would of loved to put a algee eater in there, Also does shrimp goes towards the fish to water ratio?.

 

[Blubble37]

shrimp dont have much bioload but they breed like wildfire.

they count as food though!

 

[the_lock_man]

shrimp dont have much bioload but they breed like wildfire.

they count as food though!

Yamato is another name for Amano shrimp - these don't breed in the aquarium, as in the wild, the eggs are washed downstream to the river estuary - therefore the shrimplets (is that the right word?) need brackish water. Also, they grow fairly big (bigger than cherry shrimp, for instance), so I think it's unlikely that they'll end up as fish food.

EDIT: Apologies, having just read the species description again, the baby shrimp move downstream through brackish to fully marine water, before metamorphosing to adults, at which point they move back to freshwater. However, this still means that baby Amano shrimp do not survive in fresh water, therefore I was correct in my assertion that they don't breed in the aquarium (unless the movement through brackish to marine and back again is simulated).

 

[Tizer]

The only comment i can make is with regards to the Melon Barb, they grow quite large and are very fast swimmers, i honestly dont consider your tank big enough for them. if you wanted an algae eater you could free up some space by returning the barbs.

of course you need to ask yourself why you want an algae eater aswell. they need their own special diet and you cant just rely on them to clean the tank.

good luck

 

[Blubble37]

+1

 

[Miles_hot]

In terms of algae eater have you considered otos - my only concerns is that you want a number of them and I'm not sure your tank is big enough. Plecs would seem to be out based on space! As Tizer says you'll need to provide them with their own food to keep them well